Here’s the question for Missy Pfohl Smith: What prompted the creation of the ARTs + Change Conference?
Worldwide, it’s the rising tide of polarization, and social media’s role in it, she says. Closer to home, it was the death of Daniel Prude a man in the midst of a mental health crisis at the hands of the Rochester Police Department “that sparked all the protests and brought up the problems that have been happening here for a long time, but really became acute in that moment last summer,” says Pfohl Smith, who organized the conference.
“And then also, of course, here we are, in these really raw moments for our students and our community members, and yet we can’t be together, we are separated.”