CONTEXT

Founded in 1995 by Kathy Randels ArtSpot was incorporated in Louisiana in December 2000 and received its 501(c)3 status from the IRS in October 2002.  Our performances have toured throughout the world, we offer workshops, and practice partnerships with artists and organizations in New Orleans and beyond who are committed to eliminating oppressions and creating a more just and equitable nation and world.

Our work addresses challenges that persist in southeast Louisiana: the oppression of women and gender equity; the legacy of slavery, from systemic racism to mass incarceration; and our reliance on the fossil fuel industry to the detriment of our ground, water, air and selves.  We see our performance work as aiding in healing our people and our ecosystems, and strive ultimately to help shift our state’s economy from extractive to regenerative and healing.

We believe that all stories and voices deserve expression, and that performance is an essential element of collective healing for all communities, especially those whose voices are not often heard.  We have worked with one of these underheard communities—currently and formerly incarcerated women—for almost 30 years.  In that time, we’ve witnessed just how rancid Louisiana’s criminal legal system can be—and that has connected us more deeply to advocacy groups and other organizations that are working to ameliorate, reimagine and end the damage caused by incarceration.

A focus on environmental issues in general, and Hurricane Katrina in particular, committed us to making site-specific work; it became important to us that the community and place in which we worked and performed be as integral to the creation of new work as the artists involved.  Since 2005, we’ve created eight original site-specific outdoor performances and partnered with organizations such as A Studio in the Woods, the Gulf Restoration Network (Healthy Gulf), and Gulf Future Coalition, to name just a few.

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