The interconnectedness of Black arts and cultural institutions is essential to the mission of community impact and affecting change. That’s one of the observations made by University of Kentucky Assistant Professor Jaleesa Wells, Ph.D., from the Department of Arts Administration.

For 12 months — from June 2023 through May 2024 — Wells explored the relationships between three East Oakland, California arts organizations: Artist as First Responder, Black Cultural Zone and Eastside Arts Alliance.

“The crux of my project was interviewing the stakeholders, interviewing their community members, board members, artists and the community that they interacted with,” Wells said.

Those groups were cultural institutions, she said, that went beyond the confines of their respective physical spaces.

On this edition of “Behind the Blue,” Tom Musgrave of UK Public Relations and Strategic Communications and Shauna Morgan, Ph.D., an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in Department of English Creative Writing Division, join Wells to discuss her exploration of those three groups and how she is applying what she’s learned in her work at UK.

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