By Tanvi Shah
Designed by Jill McCracken
What started as Activating Artivism, a virtual Zoom back in 2020, has expanded to an in-person festival and a four-part series of panels supported by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. JD Neinast and Amanda Shea are the co-founders of Activating Art, formerly known as Activating Artivism, and both of them are no strangers to the art and music community here in Boston.
JD has been a curator of music shows and events that uplift marginalized communities for many years. Most recently, he started Sound Kicks Out, an extension of himself. “I want to know your stories and I want to make sure you are loved, are embraced, are appreciated, are listened to, are heard, are visualized, and all of the things.” JD is one of the best humans I have ever known in my whole life and he genuinely cares and supports people. (Don’t let his height intimidate you!) Amanda Shea is a powerful and captivating spoken-word multidisciplinary artist around the Boston area. She’s an educator and activist, and the way she shows up for everyone (I do mean everyone) is so moving and makes me tear up inside.
Back in 2020, after we witnessed the murder of George Floyd, JD went to Amanda with the idea of starting Activating Artivism to provide the community and artists with an outlet for their feelings about social injustice while raising awareness and money for nonprofits.
The first year of Activating Artivism was the most special because we were at home, scared, worried, isolated, and we wanted to connect with the community and feel like we could support the Black and Brown communities in non-transactional ways. Both Amanda and JD asked the important question of whether there was enough money to make up for the discrimination and issues that marginalized communities face everyday. They quickly realized there isn’t. The fact that an idea started by 2 people who care has turned into almost 3 years of events is so powerful. In 2021, Activating Art held an in-person version of the original virtual Zoom at Starlight Square, and 150 people showed up.
Amanda said it best, “This is historic. This is a social justice movement that’s been so consistent and has grown so exponentially.” Activating art is a social justice movement. To clarify, Activating Art isn’t a non-profit and isn’t a for-profit org. Both JD and Amanda have used their personal funds to support this movement for the past couple years. Additionally, they have raised a total of $40k (and counting) through donations for many nonprofits around the Boston area, including the New England Innocence Project, Trans Resistance, MissionSAFE, and 617Peak to name a few. This year, Activating Art received a grant of $15k from the City of Boston, which has helped them amplify the visibility of Activating Art.
Over the past month, there have been weekly series at Civic Pavilion about topics that aren’t spoken about. These panels included “Advocacy and Equity in the Arts,” “The Intersectionality of Trans and Reproductive Rights,” “Wealth and Mental Health,” and “The Legalization of Marijuana and the Prison Industrial System.” The goal of these panels was to break barriers and have those hard conversations to get to the root of these deep-seated issues and determine how we can do our part to support and uplift marginalized communities.
Activating Art isn’t a one-and-done type of situation. “This is something that JD and I give back to every year and want to continue to do so,” Amanda said. JD and Amanda hope to continue to have these important conversations and apply them in the education sphere, integrating them into curriculums and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
This year, thanks to Billy Dean Thomas, the City Hall Plaza Engagement Manager has helped activate the panel series and festival at City Hall Plaza. “Billy Dean has been key to making Activating Art work. As an artist themselves, they know how artists work, and they have helped us push things through with the city and have shown up,” JD said of his contribution. “Throughout this process, Billy Dean has really been there for me and encouraged me to keep going,” Amanda added. A lot of other people have been doing the work for this festival and have been vital to the planning and organizing process: Morgan, Cassandra, Brandie, and Jill.
A range of artists have been represented as part of Activating Art over the years. During the virtual zoom back in 2020, I found some of my now-favorite artists, including Notebook P who sang some originals from his car (he still sings from his car in case you were wondering), and I also re-fell in love with Amir Rivera and Amber Ais, who bring so much of themselves to their music. This year, the choice of artists was no different — the artists are people who incorporate social justice into their own music and who we don’t see too often (but should) like Terry Borderline and Khanscience Wisdom. An artist that Activating Art would love to collaborate with is DJ WhySham for her “Finally Fest” happening in 2024, and an organization that they would like to work with in the near future is A Beautiful Resistance and Jeneé Osterheldt for their work at the Museum of Science. “We are friends and family here. We’re a community.”
The big Activating Art festival is this Sunday, September 10th from 12-5pm at City Hall Plaza, and it’s about bringing people together. “It’s a family-friendly festival and there’s no age demographic. It’s a space full of love and light, and you’re going to learn something.” Activating Art is very intentional in what it stands for. An important thing to note is that it’s intergenerational and involves people of all ages, races, and identities. Social justice issues aren’t limited to a specific age, and there are more issues that need to be addressed like sustainability and housing, gender-affirming care, and mental health equity for artists.
Sunday is a pay-what-you-can setup, and all the donations go to 617Peak and the New England Innocence Project. There will be QR codes around the plaza that you can scan to donate to these orgs. So come out on Sunday, support this social justice movement, and be a part of history for artists and activism.