At our last Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 meeting some participants said they wanted to know more about working in collectives. We immediately went to Avram Finkelstein who has a wealth of experience with working in collectives on public health topics.
Avram agreed to share his insights on working in collectives like ACT-UP and GRAN FURY, as well as working in public spaces with broad, non-art audiences. We originally intended this to be about 15-30 minutes, but then the conversation just got rolling and was of such high quality, we rolled along with it.
Avram Finkelstein is an artist, activist and writer living in Brooklyn, and a founding member of the Silence=Death and Gran Fury collectives.
Merith Basey is Executive Director of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines in the United States. Rebecca Bray and Steve Lambert are co-directors of the Center for Artistic Activism.
Video
Table of contents
| Time | Topic Link |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | Intro |
| 15:30 | Storytelling in Capitalism |
| 24:55 | The Opening Sentence |
| 28:13 | Critical Analysis |
| 29:00 | Simple but not simplistic |
| 36:45 | Working in Collectives |
| 44:15 | Voting |
| 48:27 | Plan Campaigns |
| 52:35 | Growing into your role |
| 1:00:03 | Working in Public |
| 1:06:35 | Tips for Collective Projects |
| 1:11:08 | Q: Doubt the collective? |
| 1:20:39 | Q: COVID conversations? |
