Lit Fest 2020 Salon: What's Art For?

We’re living through dark times that require vigilance in the face of climate change, rampant poverty and homelessness, political strife, and so much more, so is art even necessary? How do we justify spending time making and consuming art when we should be at a protest or making money? What does art even do? On a rainy evening in June (in Denver, anyway), authors Sheila Heti and Arianna Reines, artist Derrick Velasquez, and Museo de las Americas Executive Director Claudia Moran met over Zoom, along with moderator Mike Henry, Lighthouse's Executive Director, to discuss the place of art in 2020 and beyond.