Inspired by art’s potential to elicit critical conversation and generate new ideas, Ballroom Marfa launched Marfa Dialogues, an initiative to bring together voices reflective of the many perspectives of our diverse community. Marfa Dialogues aims to discover new perspectives on social issues by examining them through the lens of artistic practice. During our inaugural event, we addressed some of the pressing and complex issues that confront all of us who live in the border region that joins and divides the United States and Mexico.

Ballroom Marfa and The Washington Spectator, in collaboration with The Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa Public Radio and Marfa Book Company, presented Marfa Dialogues: Politics and Culture of the Border, three days of art, film, music, and literature that addresses the concerns and aesthetics of the border. Participants include journalists Cecilia Ballí, Charles Bowden, Mark Danner, Robert Halpern, Dahr Jamail, and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto; publisher Hamilton Fish, GRITtv host Laura Flanders, Professor of Political Science Kathleen Staudt, filmmaker Luis Carlos Davis, Las Cruces-based artist David Taylor.