‘Artists Against Genocide’ Aims to Educate, Heal and Mobilize in SF

Black feminist writer Toni Cade Bambara once declared that the role of the artist is to “make the revolution irresistible.” That mantra has guided the organizers of Artists Against Genocide, a 14-hour event that invites the public to learn, grieve and organize around the human rights crises in Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Haiti on Jan. 14 at San Francisco art space CounterPulse.

“We’re making it something that is exciting and also communal,” says Chibueze Crouch, who put together the event with fellow theater, dance and performing artists Styles Alexander, Clarissa Dyas, Kim Ip and Ainsley Tharp.

The all-day event offers panels and teach-ins, with speakers that include Sharif Zakout of Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Cat Brooks of Anti Police-Terror Project, with support from local record label 7000COILS. Dancer, choreographer and Yoruba priest Amara Tabor-Smith will lead a movement workshop aimed at helping attendees process and release emotions. And a protest poster-making station and phone booths for calling legislators will offer space for participants to channel their sorrow, rage and solidarity into action.

“We’re also having a potluck,” says Alexander. “That’s so crucial in these moments — just breaking bread together.”

Alexander, who is a member of the queer performance collective Rupture, one of the first arts groups in the Bay Area to put out a formal statement of solidarity with Gaza, began dreaming up Artists Against Genocide in October. They and their co-organizers anticipated that, by January, there could be some fatigue among the public after months of protesting and calling Congress to demand a ceasefire.

“It’s the day before Martin Luther King Day, so it all feels very potent for rejuvenation of a moment that — we don’t know how long until it’s over,” Alexander says.

Fellow organizer Ip hopes the event will help creatives realize their power for mobilizing change. “We do have an amazing toolkit, as artists and producers and creators, where we are able to see on a big-picture scale and think critically about society,” she says.

But the organizers are careful to underscore that although they’re drawing from the Bay Area’s rich legacy of performance protest, one doesn’t need to be a professional artist to attend or participate. “There is an artist in everyone,” Alexander says.

Artists Against Genocide is free to attend and begins at 12 p.m. on Jan. 14 at CounterPulse in San Francisco. Panels start at 3 p.m., and performances begin at 5 p.m. and go until 2 a.m. ASL interpretation will be available, and the teach-in will be recorded and shared after the event.