Cultural and Creative Institutions as Interventions

When thinking about creative practice, it is necessary to find ways to challenge and intervene in cultural and creative institutions to help them become dynamic. Through a position and vision of intervention, students can become agents of change through their own creative practice. As students at the Media Academy undertake their own creative projects, we seek to help them become “unconventional agents” and “eccentric loners” as they understand the power and potential in embracing their role as creative and cultural facilitators in order to invoke change among cultural industries and institutions. Specifically, we explore case studies from Mexico and Cuba in which citizens and culture industries clash over issues of representation, artistry, voice, and empowerment. These case studies highlight the opportunity for citizen intervention and dialogue in institutions and spaces that have historically been reserved for a community elite.