Mission

The Hemispheric Institute connects artists, scholars, and activists from across the Americas and creates new avenues for collaboration and action. Focusing on social justice, we research politically engaged performance and amplify it through gatherings, courses, publications, and archives. Our dynamic, multilingual network traverses disciplines and borders and is grounded in the fundamental belief that artistic practice and critical reflection can spark lasting cultural change.

About Hemi

Founded in 1998 at New York University, Hemi has built an Americas-wide network that includes over 60 member universities and affiliated cultural centers, dozens of collaborating human rights and social justice organizations, and thousands of individuals who participate in our programs. Hemi offers an anti-colonial model for engagement between ‘north’ and ‘south’ by promoting multi-sited, multilingual collaborations and acknowledging everyone as a potential producer of art and knowledge. Hemi convenes large-scale international gatherings every two years; publishes original scholarship via online platforms; supports emerging artists, scholars, and activists; and historically preserves documentation of performance practices. Hemi has received support from the Ford, Henry Luce, Mellon, Nathan Cummings, and Rockefeller Foundations, among others.