NEW YORK, NY.- The Solomon R. Guggenheim presents four public programs for the Summer of Know, an annual conversation series dedicated to engaging with current issues and designed to spark cross-disciplinary dialogue and debate. This year, the series is cocurated by For Freedoms, a platform by artists for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. These discussions feature contemporary artists, activists, policy makers, and thought leaders who are at the forefront of the ideas, organizing, and actions most urgently impacting society and culture today.

The first program of the 2020 series will be held on Thursday, August 13, at 2 pm. For Freedoms members, artists Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas, and art historian and producer Michelle Woo will lead a discussion on healing, justice, and the power of listening. The conversation will be moderated by Claudia Peña, the interim executive director of For Freedoms. This free program will be live-streamed on Guggenheim.org and on the Guggenheim’s YouTube channel.




The second program will be offered on Thursday, August 27. Details on that program as well as the remaining program dates and topics will be announced on guggenheim.org/summerofknow.

Founded in 2016 by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, and Michelle Woo, For Freedoms is a platform for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. Inspired by American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—For Freedoms’s exhibitions, installations, and public programs use art to deepen public discussions on civic issues and core values, and to advocate for equality, dialogue, and civic participation. As a nexus between art, politics, commerce, and education, the platform aims to inject the anti-partisan critical thinking that fine art requires into the political landscape through programming, exhibitions, and public artworks. In 2020, For Freedoms will build on its 50 State Initiative campaign, which was launched in 2018 as the largest creative collaboration in United States history.

Although the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building is temporarily closed, the Guggenheim remains a virtual community committed to igniting ideas, discussion, and creativity. The museum offers a variety of virtual tours, activities, and classes that invite visitors to experience the Guggenheim even while not at the museum. Access programs as well as resource materials designed for children, families, teachers, and those who are blind or with low vision continue to be available, in addition to content about the museum’s collection and collection artists.