Moments & Fieldnotes

“I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces … And joy in that regard is a work, that can become a state, that can become a way of life.”

—Willie Jennings, theologian

Fieldnotes from Practicing Joy
Winter 2020–2021

The layered crisis presented by the COVID–19 Pandemic has intensified and amplified systems of oppression that have for centuries defined our shared reality. With this context, Grace Farms Foundation’s Arts Initiative has returned to an archive of programming records from the past five years, with a new guiding question: What practices are required to sustain life and liberation? This inquiry has led us to the following selection of resources from the 2018 Practicing Joy program, featuring a chorus of interdisciplinary perspectives from those who convened at Grace Farms to study the nature, agency, and proclivity of joy. It is our hope that their insights serve as a source of fortitude in the days ahead.

—Kenyon Victor Adams, Arts Initiative Creative Director
—Pamela Ruggio, Arts Initiative Curator

Introduction

Part One: Joy and Sorrow

Featuring contributions from choreographer and dancer, Camille A. Brown; essayist, Garnette Cadogan; theologian, Maria Fee; poet, Ross Gay; and artist, Julianne Swartz.

Part Two: Joy as Resistance

Featuring contributions from Arts Initiative Creative Director, Kenyon Victor Adams; choreographer and dancer, Camille A. Brown; essayist, Garnette Cadogan; poet, Ross Gay; scholar, Adam Stern; and artist, Felandus Thames.

Part Three: Joy in Recognition

Featuring contributions from Arts Initiative Creative Director, Kenyon Victor Adams; choreographer and dancer, Camille A. Brown; essayist, Garnette Cadogan; poet, Ross Gay; and artist, Julianne Swartz.

Videos: Souki Mehdaoui
© Grace Farms Foundation