Bio

Arif Smith is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and arts administrator. His polymodal artistic work centers on African-rooted cultural practices and diasporic citizenship, exploring marronage, intertextuality, and Black radical imagination. Smith was a 2017-18 Artist-in-Residence at University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life and Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, and received the 3Arts Make-A-Wave Award in 2021. Currently, he is the Director of Programming for the Community Ventures Department at Old Town School of Folk Music, which includes Music Moves Chicago and School Partnerships. Smith is a Research Associate at the Field Museum. He is also a member of Black Monument Ensemble, Los Medicos, Iré Elese Abure, and is founder of the Frog Belly Society.