Tune in from home for a three-part online series of presentations and discussions on art, history, and community exploring the 250-year history of the Shakers — a Christian sect of pacifists recognized for communal living and gender and racial equality — and their remarkable influence on contemporary art and artists. Hear live presentations from different speakers throughout New England each week for three weeks, including from the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Harvard University and Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine. This program accompanies the ICA exhibition Believers: Artists and the Shakers.  

Pre-registration for this online series is required in order to receive web links. This series of presentations will be offered using Zoom.  

Week 1: March 11 | Contemporary Art and the Shakers  

Learn about the beginnings of the ICA’s work with the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine with Jill Medvedow, the ICA’s Ellen Matilda Poss Director and an Arts, Religion, and Culture Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and Jeffrey De Blois, Mannion Family Curator at the ICA and organizer of Believers: Artists and the Shakers.

Week 2: March 18 | Shakerism and Sabbathday Lake, Maine  

Brother Arnold Hadd, one of two living Shakers in the U.S., will discuss Shakerism and its misconceptions and introduce the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine.

Week 3: March 25 | Spirit-Driven Women Making Art

Ann Braude, Director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and Senior Lecturer on American Religious History at Harvard Divinity School, will provide greater historical context, particularly the role that women played as spiritual leaders in early America.

Expand your knowledge of the Shakers after the series concludes and meet featured speakers Brother Arnold Hadd and Jeffrey De Blois in person during The Artist’s Voice program and community reception on April 10.