<div dir="ltr">hello everyone,<br><br>Welcome to the fourth and final week of our May discussion of social practice. This week’s guests on EMPYRE have been selected to help us think about the particularly challenging intersections that emerge between artists, communities, and institutions as Social Practice is increasingly crystalized as a genre and as a funding model. Those guests are Michaela Leslie-Rule and Corrina Mehiel. <br><br>I've generally thought that this might serve as an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that (funding) institutions and socially practiced artworks present to one another, and, I suppose, the opportunities...?... Basically I'm thinking about how Dont Rhine’s comments in week 1 present a critique of the ways in which institutions expropriate value from the participants of socially practiced art ("participation in its value form"). To the extent that such institutions are themselves implicated in processes of displacement and gentrification, and to the extent to which such institutions are de facto put to service as an extension of the State, such critiques should serious pause all of us who imagine art as a force for social transformation. As artists and curators, what do we do with that going forward? Where you encounter meaningful strategies for working against these tendencies? Are there other pressing issues that come up in the interchanges between artists of social practice and institutions of various sorts? <br><br><br>Corrina Mehiel (US) is an artist / art professor, with a background in community arts education. An adjunct professor at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Mehiel teaches social practice and studio inquiry in the BFA and MAAE programs. She holds a BA from The Pennsylvania State University and an MFA from the University of Cincinnati. With roots in Seattle, Washington and Central Pennsylvania, Mehiel identifies as an American more than from a particular city or state. She spent the greater part of the last decade abroad, living in India, Australia and Dubai. Currently a studio assistant for the social practice pioneer Mel Chin, Mehiel is a collaborator for his Fundred Dollar Bill Project which aims to educate children and families to make a lead safe environment for all. In addition to teaching, maintaining a studio practice and collaborating on socially engaged projects, Mehiel is a graduate student in the Public Policy program at Portland State University, with research on policy shaping through artistic and civic engagement. <br><br>Michaela Leslie-Rule (US), MPA, MPH is an artist and social scientist. As the owner of Fact Memory Testimony <<a href="http://factmemorytestimony.com">http://factmemorytestimony.com</a>>, she has been fortunate to collaborate with ITVS’ Women & Girls Lead Global, Memphis is Music Initiative, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Nike and Firelight Foundations’ Grassroots Girls Initiative. Embedded in Leslie-Rule’s approach to advocacy, communication and strategy, is a commitment to elevating community voices through the use of storytelling. She is particularly interested in participatory methods for measuring and documenting social and organizational change, and has designed and implemented participatory evaluation, strategic planning and documentation projects on four continents. Leslie-Rule also uses a storytelling approach to design and produce multimedia advocacy campaigns. As the producer of Global Fund for Women’s IGNITE: Women Fueling Science and Technology global campaign and online storytelling project, she curated and oversaw the creation of five online galleries, designed and implemented a five-city international girls’ hackathon and oversaw a coordinated advocacy effort between the Fund and UN Women demanding equal access to and control of technology for women and girls worldwide.<br><br>Leslie-Rule holds Masters of Public Health and Public Administration from the University of Washington with a focus on advocacy and multimedia storytelling in global health. She also earned a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. You can learn more about Leslie-Rule’s approach and see samples of her work at <a href="http://www.factmemorytestimony.com/">http://www.factmemorytestimony.com/</a><br><br><br>--<br><a href="http://www.kylemckinley.com/">http://www.kylemckinley.com/</a><br><a href="http://buildingcollective.org/">http://buildingcollective.org/</a>
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