Sunday, September 20, 2026 at 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica
**Citizen Artist Reading Group** **Sunday, September 20th | 10 AM - 12 PM** **Virtual - **Meeting Link**** **Free + Open to the Public** *High Performance* magazine, and later *The Citizen Artist* anthology, documented and amplified the voices of artists working outside traditional institutions, embedding their practice in the fabric of civic life. By revisiting these groundbreaking publications, we aim to spark dialogue, collective memory, and action—drawing from a powerful lineage of artist-led civic engagement and radical experimentation. The *Citizen Artist Reading Group* is a year-long inquiry into the intersections of art, politics, performance, and community. Meeting monthly from January–December 2026, the group will engage foundational and experimental texts that have shaped the fields of social practice, community-based performance, and art/life. Together, participants will explore themes ranging from feminist lineages and environmental interventions to activism, justice, and collective transformation. All sessions are virtual and public. Special guests will be invited to each session. **Session 9 – September 20, 2026** Readings: [Living with the Doors Open: An Interview with Blondell Cummings – Veta Goler ](https://wayback.archive-it.org/2077/20100906201021/http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/living_with_the_1.php)(p. 225) We Are All Connected: Elders Share the Arts – Susan Perlstein (p. 235) Miles from Nowhere: Teaching Dance in Prison – Leslie Neal (p. 243) Maintaining Humanity: An Interview with Grady Hillman about Arts-in-Corrections – Steven Durland (p. 251) Guests: Suchi Branfman SUCHI BRANFMAN, choreographer, curator, performer, educator, and activist has worked from the war zones of Managua to Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and Kampala’s Luzira Prison to NYC’s Joyce Theatre. Her work strives to create an embodied terrain, grounded in storytelling, dialogue, listening and action. Branfman is currently amidst a ten-year choreographic residency at the California Rehabilitation Center, a medium security state men’s prison in Norco, CA, is Artistic Director of the multi-faceted Dancing Through Prison Walls project and serves on faculty at Scripps College. She is a community gardener, a prison abolition activist, an 18th Street Arts Center/ California Arts Council Creative Corps Fellow, Lucas Arts Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center, Recess Art’s SESSION Fellow, City of Santa Monica and City of Los Angeles individual artist grants fellow. Dancingthroughprisonwalls.org #carenotcages