NAAO+ An Oral History of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations
NAAO+ An Oral History of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations
Podcast Description
The National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO) was founded in 1982 and lasted nearly 20 years. NAAO was a point of connection for a vibrant group of people driven to present new art in places big and small across the United States.
Here you will find unvarnished accounts of the explosion of new art in the closing decades of the last century. Artists’ organizations, also known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and presentation of contemporary art in the US. The stories you’ll hear reveal what happens when artists and their supporters work together to present art that challenges the status quo. And how NAAO and its members fought against the far right’s efforts to shutter the National Endowment for the Arts during the Bush no.1 and Clinton administrations.
Those days echo loudly today. We feel unsafe about our future as people who care about each other, who understand that creativity is a must in a free society, and who understand history is made by people and the choices we make. An appallingly primary connection between then and now are how the far right successfully targets groups to create fear and hate. How it exploits individual preferences, circumstances, and discomforts to dampen and silence what should be unmitigated and loud outrage over their war against people of color, immigrants, artists, students, women, and free expression. No answers are guaranteed here, but the gifts of sharing history firsthand— the oldest method known to humanity of learning from our past while we build our future, are abundantly available here. As Edmund White put it, “your deepest sense of duty and obligation is to history and to the people you knew and loved.” Amen to that.
People whose lives intersected with NAAO are Fred Wilson, Penny Boyer, Inverna Lockpez, John Fleck, Karen Finley, Tim Miller, Sherman Fleming, Holly Hughes, Pat Oleszko, Jock Reynolds, C. Carr, Victoria Reis, Robert Atkins, Isaac Butler, Jeff Hoone, Hudson, Loris Bradley, Martha Wilson,Holly Block, Roberto Bedoya, Helen Brunner, Mel Chin, Ed Cardoni, Susan Wyatt, Alice Lovelace, Amalia Mesa Baines, Mary Dorman, Tomas Ybarra Fausta, Joy Silverman, Michael Peranteau, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Anne Focke, Ted Berger, Renny Pritikin, Charlotte Cohen, David Avalos, Claire Copley. and many more. All of them have stories to tell, and for those who have passed, we will have episodes of remembrance.
This podcast has as its patron saints the glorious Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and StudsTerkel.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers themes including the evolution of alternative art spaces, the historical context of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the ongoing cultural struggles against political oppression, with episodes showcasing artists' personal stories and reminiscences of pivotal moments in art history.
The National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO) was founded in 1982 and lasted nearly 20 years. NAAO was a point of connection for a vibrant group of people driven to present new art in places big and small across the United States.
Here you will find unvarnished accounts of the explosion of new art in the closing decades of the last century. Artists’ organizations, also known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and presentation of contemporary art in the US. The stories you’ll hear reveal what happens when artists and their supporters work together to present art that challenges the status quo. And how NAAO and its members fought against the far right’s efforts to shutter the National Endowment for the Arts during the Bush no.1 and Clinton administrations.
Those days echo loudly today. We feel unsafe about our future as people who care about each other, who understand that creativity is a must in a free society, and who understand history is made by people and the choices we make. An appallingly primary connection between then and now are how the far right successfully targets groups to create fear and hate. How it exploits individual preferences, circumstances, and discomforts to dampen and silence what should be unmitigated and loud outrage over their war against people of color, immigrants, artists, students, women, and free expression. No answers are guaranteed here, but the gifts of sharing history firsthand— the oldest method known to humanity of learning from our past while we build our future, are abundantly available here. As Edmund White put it, “your deepest sense of duty and obligation is to history and to the people you knew and loved.” Amen to that.
People whose lives intersected with NAAO are Fred Wilson, Penny Boyer, Inverna Lockpez, John Fleck, Karen Finley, Tim Miller, Sherman Fleming, Holly Hughes, Pat Oleszko, Jock Reynolds, C. Carr, Victoria Reis, Robert Atkins, Isaac Butler, Jeff Hoone, Hudson, Loris Bradley, Martha Wilson,Holly Block, Roberto Bedoya, Helen Brunner, Mel Chin, Ed Cardoni, Susan Wyatt, Alice Lovelace, Amalia Mesa Baines, Mary Dorman, Tomas Ybarra Fausta, Joy Silverman, Michael Peranteau, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Anne Focke, Ted Berger, Renny Pritikin, Charlotte Cohen, David Avalos, Claire Copley. and many more. All of them have stories to tell, and for those who have passed, we will have episodes of remembrance.
This podcast has as its patron saints the glorious Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and StudsTerkel.
NAAO+ is a podcast dedicated to the oral history of the National
Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO). Artists’ organizations, also
known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and
presentation of contemporary art in the US. NAAO was founded in 1982 to
serve them and lasted about 20 years.
In this trailer we will take a short ride through some of NAAO’s advocacy
efforts on behalf of artists and artists’ organizations. It can’t be
emphasized enough how fast moving the far right attacks on art and artists
were during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s coupled with the fumbling by
the National Endowment for the Arts and its Chair, John Frohnmeyer. NAAO
had to work quickly to get the word out, provide updated advocacy
information and materials, and respond when demanded. This was the era of
snail mail, telephone lines, pc’s and fax machines. Two reasons we and the
field could move so quickly were our already established ties to advocacy
on the left, both on a local and national level. The other was we knew our
enemy —-Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). We were well versed in his tactics
against communities we counted ourselves as members and supporters of.
Here I cover board and staff advocacy activities, give an in-depth look at
Nobody Remembers Everything by Vince Leo, a favorite publication of mine,
and touch on the beginnings of the National Campaign for Freedom of
Expression (NCFE), an organization that gave artists a strong
uncompromising voice in DC and was co-founded by Joy Silverman. People
mentioned in this podcast are Inverna Lockpez, Joy Silverman, Penny Boyer,
Vince Leo, Lane Relyea,, Leonard Bernstein, Bella Lewitsky, David
Wojnarowicz, and Cynthia Mayeda.
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