DEMOCRACY

DEMOCRACY explores how craft is intertwined with our nation’s defining principles. PBS broadcast premiere December 11, 2020.

Featuring: Robert L. Lynch, President of Americans for the Arts, speaking about craft in U.S. history and the role of government in the arts; National Museum of African American History and Culture curator Joanne Hyppolite, Ph.D., speaking on the role of craft in the African-American experience and the legacy of continued racial injustice in this country; the Hearts of Our People exhibition at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, featuring art by Native American women; calligrapher Sammy Little demonstrating cursive handwriting and its importance in our founding documents; Cheyenne Peace Chief Harvey Pratt, designing the National Native American Veterans Memorial at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; the Veterans History Project, where we hear from veteran artists who express themselves through craft; democratic approaches to creativity in the exhibition Islands in the Land, organized by visionary curator Eudorah Moore; and Berea College, where traditional Appalachian craft is kept alive through innovative programs and a diverse and integrated student body.