Artist and activist Alicia Grullón (SPCUNY Faculty Fellow 2022-23) joins host Catherine LaSota on this episode to discuss the foundations of her own practice as a socially-engaged artist, including her background in acting and her continued interest in the concept of "backstage." Alicia and Catherine also talk about the ways that our relationships to people and places affect our experience of time, and Alicia shares some information about her Percent for Green project, which addresses climate change and environmental injustices.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 23 available here.

About our guest:

Alicia Grullón is a Bronx-based interdisciplinary artist whose work critiques the politics of presence in political, environmental, and social spheres through image-making, performance, and social practice. At the core of her practice is a focus on exploring the metaphorical and emblematic connections between place and our bodies. Her social practice project Percent for Green (PFG), inspired by the NYC bill Percent for Art, positions art as a form of civic dialogue and legislative imagination. PFG proposes redirecting one percent of city-funded construction budgets to grassroots environmental justice initiatives in frontline communities. Her recent solo exhibition Like a Slow Walk with Trees at Amherst College extends her investigation into belonging, displacement, and the politics of land and labor. Grullón has exhibited widely, including at The 8th Floor, Bronx Museum of the Arts, BRIC House for Arts and Media, El Museo del Barrio, and Columbia University. A 2024 Mellon Initiative Community Fellow at The New School and 2025 Creative Time R&D Fellow, she has also received awards from the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of New York, Franklin Furnace Archives, the Colene Brown Art Prize, and the Walentas Fellowship at Moore College of Art and Design. Her activism as a co-lead organizer of the People’s Cultural Plan challenged the city's first ever cultural plan by addressing housing & displacement, labor and cultural funding equity. A frequent collaborator with museums, grassroots organizations, and academic institutions, she has published writing in Hyperallergic and several anthologies on social practice and feminism. Beyond the studio and classroom, Grullón is known for her panache in bringing people together, often over an open fire, and cooking good food for a large crowd as an act of care, celebration, and community.

More about Alicia Grullón:

Website: aliciagrullon.com

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Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Gaius LaSota for our Part of the Practice music.
Part of the Practice logo courtesy of Maliyah Mohamed.

Social Practice CUNY is funded by the Mellon Foundation.