An audio interview

Audio Interview questions

A collection of questions to be used by audio interview submitters.

On the situation itself

• Describe what has changed in your daily life — not politically, but personally — since federal agents began operating in this city.
• Where is the line, for you, between what is legal and what is legitimate? Has that line shifted recently?
• If someone you knew — a neighbor, a colleague, someone from your community — were detained, what would you want people to understand about what that means?

On the artist's role and obligation

• What does it cost you, as an artist, to stay quiet right now? What does it cost you to speak?
• Has there been a moment in your artistic life — past or present — where you felt your work was demanded of you by the times? What was that like?
• Some people argue artists should stick to their craft and leave politics alone. Make the case against that — or for it.

On what art actually does in moments like this

• Think of a specific work of art — a play, a song, a poem, anything — that helped you survive a difficult time. What did it actually do for you that a news article or a speech couldn't?
• Theater, specifically, requires people to be in the same room. Why does that matter right now, more than it might in a normal year?
• What story do you think this community needs to hear that isn't being told?

On community

• Who in your life has surprised you — positively or negatively — in how they've responded to what's happening here?
• Describe this moment where the community came together to do something. What made it possible?
• What are you afraid of losing — not as an individual, but as a community — if this continues?

A stretch question worth considering

• Ten years from now, someone will look back at this period in Minneapolis and ask what the arts community did. What do you want that answer to be?

Send your response via this voicemail link: https://www.speakpipe.com/PlaylistAudioInterview