EXHALE: Reflections on Guaranteed Income

For the first time since its inception in 2016, Emerging Curators Institute, led by new Director Barak adé Soleil and assisted by members of the 2024-25 fellowship program, curates a multidisciplinary exhibition that features a diverse community of artists from across Minnesota who participated in Springboard for the Arts’ Artists Respond: People, Place, and Prosperity and the Guaranteed Income for Artists Program. 

Thoughtfully invited by Springboard for the Arts to serve as curator, we drew from a collection of artworks, testimonies and reflections of creativity expressed by artists from within the cohort that Springboard organized focusing on guaranteed income. Through in-depth conversations with Springboard staff, some artists in the cohort, and research that was shared, we gained insights into how the monthly stipend beautifully supported selected artists within Rondo, Frogtown neighborhoods of Saint Paul and (later) in Otter Tail County, and the importance of advocating for guaranteed income as part of an expanding intention to build a more equitable future for communities within and beyond Minnesota. - Barak adé Soleil,  Director of ECI

As defined by Springboard for the Arts, guaranteed income (also known as basic income) is a monthly, cash payment given directly to individuals. It is unconditional, with no strings attached and no work requirements. A guaranteed income is meant to supplement, rather than replace, the existing social safety net and can be a tool for racial and gender equity.

Seeking to amplify the scale and breadth of the exhibited artists’ works, signifying their individual perspectives and collective imagination, ECI distinctively shaped Exhale: Reflections on Guaranteed Income at Springboard’s Community Hall in September as part of the global Basic Income Action Week and will premier a unique exhibit presentation at  Cargill Gallery, located within the Hennepin County Library Central in downtown Minneapolis.

Featuring artists: Alicia Thao, Artists who wish to remain Anonymous, Arneé Martin, Briauna Williams, DejaJoelle, Erinn Webb, Jess Torgerson, Kandace Creel Falcón, Kashimana, Katharine DeCelle, Lara Reynaldo, Michele Spaise, Nancy X. Valentine, Patsy O’Brien, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, T. Mychael Rambo, Torri Hanna, Vanessa Gallagher, and Vanessa Gamble.

Guaranteed Income
Is art in progress, waiting
To be found by you

• Haiku by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarri

EXHALE Highlighted Programming: 

ECI Fellows Respond: Saturday, November 16, 1pm - 3pm

Join Emerging Curators Institute’s 2024-25 Fellows as they share insights into curating and offer responses to the exhibition.  Masking is requested for this event.

Accessibility

• Cargill Gallery is wheelchair accessible. 
• Masking is requested for the opening reception on Thursday, October 10th and ECI Fellows Respond event on Saturday, November 16th, in support of communities disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. High quality masks will be available. 
• Audio descriptions will be available.
• ASLinterpretaton will be available for the opening and ECI Fellows Respond event.
• For more information or questions surrounding accessibility, please email access@emergingcurators.org

Image Credit: Illustration by Briauna Williams