Summer Arts Series 2021

Occurred on July 8 • July 22 • July 30

When friends gather, conversation happens. It can be around a campfire, in a restaurant, or over drinks in a cozy living room or backyard. During the Pandemic many of us sorely missed get-togethers that inspire thought-provoking conversations, deep insights, and great laughs. 

For the Summer 2021 Arts Series, we at The BTS Center created a modern online salon* with you and artists from four different continents. At each event we met two fascinating, accomplished, and engaging artists, and experienced their work firsthand. Then these artists dived into lively discussion and chat with each other about art and some of the issues that mean the most to us today—justice, climate, civil society, and more.

But why just watch the magic happen? At each event, you had the option to connect with a small group to share your own thoughts and insights. We ended these gatherings with your questions for our artists. This was a salon for the 21st Century where brilliant people gathered for meaningful and artful conversation. 

*About salon-style gatherings: In the early 1900’s the world was changing quickly—politically, socially, and artistically.  Starting in 1903, an American couple, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, organized literary and artistic salons in their Paris apartment. Little known creatives on the cusp of major breakthroughs filled the intimate space. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse turned up along with up-and-coming writers F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Sherwood Anderson. They shared some of their work and then engaged in late night lively discussions about art, politics, love, and the rumblings of massive global shifts already beginning to happen.