SPARK! Creative Lab kicks off YIELD with a free panel discussion and community dialogue exploring some of the complex layers that inform the land beneath us, including (but by no means limited to) indigenous, historical, cultural, civic and environmental perspectives. Lively questions and personal reflections are welcome! This workshop is open to the public. Participants will also have the opportunity to contribute to the collaborative poem that will serve as the bedrock of YIELD’s artistic work over the next nine weeks.

Ultimately, this discussion will be curated into a collaborative poem that forms the basis of YIELD's ensuing artistic work - WE NEED ALL VOICES to accurately reflect the magnificent spectrum of the Oklahoma City community. Members of historically marginalized cultures and communities are especially encouraged to attend.

RESERVE YOUR FREE TICKETS HERE*

*CAPACITY LIMITED TO 50, AND MASKS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. CLICK HERE FOR OCAC COVID PRECAUTIONS AND PROTOCOLS.

PICTURED ABOVE: Dr. Bob Blackburn, Historian; Stephanie Jordan, Nature Conservancy/Okies for Monarchs; Dr. Henrietta Mann, Cheyenne Activist & Educator; Thuan Nguyen, Asian District Cultural Association; Dr. Elisha Oliver, Biocultural Anthropologist, Visual Ethnographer, DEI Consultant; Adam Soltani, CAIR Oklahoma; Gloria Torres, Calle dos Cinco ; Pat Webb, Oklahoma Artist in Residence; The Silence Foundation; Moderated by Suzette V. Chang, Cultural Anthropologist, Founder/CEO Thick Descriptions, Chair, Oklahoma Humanities Board of Trustees

YIELD is commissioned by Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center as a local artistic response to artist Maren Hassinger’s sculptural installation Nature, Sweet Nature currently on view in OCAC’s Sculpture Garden. Blending Hassinger’s focus on interdependence and equality with the mission of SPARK! Creative Lab, YIELD is conceived and directed by SPARK! Executive Director Nicole Poole and Dancer, Choreographer & Filmmaker Jessica Ray, with support from our company of artists and our community.

ALL YIELD programming is presented free to the public thanks to the generosity of our Founding Sponsors, Glenna & Dick Tanenbaum.

YIELD/Tilling the Soil is funded in part by Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily represent those of OH or NEH.