United Photo Industries will be teaming up with For Freedoms, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists co-founded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman in 2016. On the inaugural week of their 50 State Initiative, the For Freedoms team will present a Town Hall event for Photoville’s opening night to highlight a freedom which is close to all of our hearts—Freedom of Speech. As forums for inclusive public conversation and civic dialogue, For Freedoms Town Halls bring citizens together with contemporary artists, designers, and policy makers, welcoming many and diverse points of views. With special guests and performances, this evening will bring together the visual storytelling and artistic communities to ask how, both now and in the past, artists’ right to freedom of speech has been alternately infringed, upheld, and empowered. What is the importance and the power of creating art as a speech act?

The evening will also include a special performance by the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of more than 50 women who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices.

Following the For Freedom Town Hall, please join us for a screening of THE FENCE 2018 and the announcement of the People’s Choice winner.

THE FENCE is an annual call for entries to produce an outdoor photography exhibition in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Boston, Atlanta, Santa Fe, Durham, Sarasota, Denver & Calgary.

THE FENCE 2018 features a diverse roster of 42 photographers hailing from around the globe. They share stories across seven thematic categories — Streets, People, Home, Play, Nature, Food, Creatures — which we hope you’ll find compelling, comedic, and convicting.

Additionally, we create an annex series of Regional Photographers Showcases which feature local photographers and reflect the talent found in each region. This year, we are pleased to present showcases of photographers from New England, New Mexico, Colorado, Calgary, Sarasota and The Triangle of North Carolina.

THE FENCE 2018 has truly been a community endeavor. We’re grateful to all the photographers who shared their work through our submission call, to our dedicated jury members who contributed their time and expertise, and to our wonderful partners in each of our host cities for helping us share this work to an ever-growing audience.

Launched in Summer 2017 in response to the Trump presidency, the Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC) is a collective of more than 60 women who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices. The women range from Broadway performers, touring musicians, film and television actresses, solo recording artists, gospel singers, political activists and are led by Broadway singer and educator Abena Koomson-Davis. Representing a multitude of identities, professions, creative backgrounds, and activist causes, the RRC prides itself on its diversity. The great artist and activist Harry Belafonte once said, “when the music is strong, the movement is strong.” In that spirit, the RRC hosts a series of regular musical events, Resistance Revival Nights, where the community gathers to rejuvenate our spirits and honor the protest songs that have historically been central to civil rights movements. We believe that art and culture are essential to changing hearts, minds, and history; and we commit to the principle that joy is in itself an act of resistance.