(Berkeley, CA) July 28, 2020—This fall marks the launch of the Feminist Art Coalition (FAC), a consortium of more than one hundred art institutions across the United States presenting a series of programming informed by feminist thought and practice. Each participating museum or cultural organization will mount its own FAC program, including exhibitions, performances, lectures, symposia, and new commissions. Originally planned to coincide with the 2020 United States presidential election, the initiative remains on schedule to launch in September 2020 with more than thirty exhibitions opening this fall, followed by additional programming that will run through 2021.

The FAC is an unprecedented collective endeavor by US arts organizations of different scales to generate and support public consciousness of feminist themes and catalyze civic engagement during a critical moment in the history of the country. Initially convened by the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), the FAC has expanded into a multivenue, grassroots initiative administered by the participating institutions. Each organization has developed its own project that embodies the coalition’s shared commitment to advancing social justice within and beyond the art world. Reflecting the broad geographic and institutional diversity of the participants, these projects range widely from major artist retrospectives and group exhibitions to film festivals to scholarly colloquia to performance-art commissions and much more.

Despite the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FAC remains committed to mounting a robust series of programming in fall 2020, in order to contribute to the vital national discourse around social justice and gender equity surrounding the presidential election. Nearly forty participating museums have affirmed that their programs will go forward this fall, and all participants are working closely with their respective public health authorities to ensure a safe visitor experience. To accommodate those institutions that, due to the pandemic, are not yet able to resume regular operations, the coalition has expanded its scope to encompass programming that will extend through 2021, providing a national audience with more than a full year of art programming centered on feminist themes.

The FAC was inspired in part by the Women’s March that took place on January 28, 2017, one day after Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States. After a series of informal conversations and meetings, in spring 2018, a working group of curators came together to build on the momentum generated by this grassroots feminist uprising and to conceptualize and shape the project together. Through a multiyear process of research and development, the group has brought together a diverse slate of art institutions to produce a series of programs intended to catalyze a transformative dialogue about contemporary feminisms across and beyond the art world. The project’s steering committee consists of Vic Brooks, senior curator of time-based visual art at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC); Aldeide Delgado, director of the Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA); Apsara DiQuinzio, senior curator of modern and contemporary art and Phyllis C. Wattis MATRIX Curator at BAMPFA; Anne Ellegood, Good Works Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Henriette Huldisch, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs, Walker Art Center; and Rita Gonzalez, head of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

“The Feminist Art Coalition was conceived in the aftermath of the 2016 election, which provided a searing reminder that our work toward a more equitable future remains far from complete—a message that has been painfully reinforced by the world-altering events of the past few months, as marginalized voices across America have spoken up to demand equality in the midst of a devastating global pandemic,” said Apsara DiQuinzio, speaking on behalf of the FAC. “In these unprecedented times, the Feminist Art Coalition’s mission to advance the cause of social justice and gender and racial equity across and beyond the art world feels more vital than ever before.”

The coalition currently includes participation by 103 cultural organizations, encompassing a geographically and institutionally diverse cross-section of the arts sector. A partial summary of FAC programs that will take place in fall 2020 appears below (schedules subject to change); for a complete list of participating institutions and summaries of their FAC programming through 2021, visit feministartcoalition.org.

• 516 ARTS
o Feminisms (exhibition) / September 26, 2020, through January 2, 2021
o Women Curate Women (panel discussion) / October 9, 2020
• Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
o Genesis Belanger: Through the Eye of a Needle (exhibition) / September 20, 2020, through May 9, 2021
o Lucia Hierro (exhibition) / November 15, 2020, through April 4, 2021
• Anchorage Museum
o Women of the North (exhibition) / November 6, 2020, through April 11, 2021
• Arcadia Exhibitions, Spruance Gallery, Arcadia University
o Proto-Feminism in the Print Studio (exhibition) / September 15 through November 22, 2020
• Armory Center for the Arts and the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College
o Alison Saar: Of Aether and Earthe (exhibition) / September 14, 2020, through February 14, 2021
• Art21
o A New Wave (film screening) / October through November 2020
• Artpace San Antonio
o E. V. Day (exhibition) / September 10 through December 27, 2020
• Bellevue Arts Museum
o Anna Mlasowsky: Never Odd or Even (exhibition) / September 7, 2020, through January 17, 2021
o Yellow No. 5 (exhibition) / November 6, 2020, through April 18, 2021
• Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
o Catherine Opie: Political Landscapes (installation) / September 2 through November 29, 2020
o Vote Feminist Parade by Michele Pred (performance) / November 1, 2020
• BronxArtSpace
o Beasts Like Me: Feminism and Fantasy (exhibition) / October 22 through November 21, 2020
• Brooklyn Museum
o Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And (exhibition) / November 2020 through April 2021
• Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art
o Kate Rhoades: Propaganda of the Deed (exhibition) / September 11 through November 21, 2020
• The Contemporary Austin
o Deborah Roberts: I’m (exhibition) / September 12, 2020, through January 13, 2021
• Crosstown Arts
o Two Ways to Be Strong (exhibition) / September 4 through November 1, 2020
• DePaul Art Museum
o Jennifer Reeder: Girls on Film (1995–2020) (exhibition) / October through November 2020
• Emerson College Media Art Gallery
o Hurricane: Georgie Friedman (exhibition) / September 30 through November 15, 2020
• Fairfield University Art Museum
o Virtual conversation between Ruby Sky Stiler and curator Ian Berry (conversation) / September 10, 2020
o Ruby Sky Stiler: Group Relief (exhibition) / September 18 through December 19, 2020
• Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College
o Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond (exhibition) / September 17, 2020, through June 6, 2021
• Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
o Diana Al-Hadid (exhibition) / Fall 2020
o Math Bass (exhibition) / Fall 2020
o Bambitchell: Bugs and Beasts Before the Law (exhibition) / Fall 2020
• Los Angeles Nomadic Division
o Gatherings (performance) / Fall 2020
• Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)
o My body, my rules (exhibition) / October 9, 2020, through May 9, 2021
• Portland Art Museum and Northwest Film Center
o Joryū Hanga Kyōkai, 1956–1965: Japan’s Women Printmakers (exhibition) / August 2020 through February 2021
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
o Seeing Citizens: Picturing American Women’s Fight for the Vote (exhibition and new commission) / March 23 through October 3, 2020
• Renaissance Society, Chicago
o Nine Lives (exhibition) / September 12 through November 15, 2020
• Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum
o Shahazia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities (exhibition) / October 2, 2020, through January 24, 2021
• Root Division
o Until It Shatters (exhibition) / November 3 through December 5, 2020
• Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art
o Keith + Kari (exhibition) / September 9 through December 13, 2020
• Seattle Art Museum
o Barbara Earl Thomas: The Geography of Innocence (exhibition) / November 14, 2020, through June 13, 2021
• The Shed
o Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water (exhibition) / October 1, 2020, through January 16, 2021
• Skirball Cultural Center
o Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope (exhibition) / October 15, 2020, through March 14, 2021
o Here to Stay: Aram Han Sifuentes (exhibition) / October 15, 2020, through March 14, 2021
• Suzanne Lemberg Usdan Gallery, Bennington College
o Lisa Anne Auerbach (exhibition) / Fall 2020
• Swissnex
o the cursed system (exhibition) / October 22, 2020, through February 12, 2021
• Walker Art Center
o Don’t let this be easy (exhibition) / July 30, 2020, through July 4, 2021