Elsa Hiltner
@elsahiltner.bsky.social
She/her. Activist for pay equity in the arts. Co-founder of @onourteam.bsky.social Views are all mine, as some require us to say.
Pinned
Elsa Hiltner
@elsahiltner.bsky.social
· Feb 21
Is Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events on the ropes?
The department has lost about a quarter of its staff in the last year. Other signs point to problems at DCASE, which helps drives crucial economic activity for the city.
chicago.suntimes.com
My OpEd is out in the Sun-Times. I had a lot to say in 650 words, and there is so much more to be said. I hope others pick up the threads and start pulling.
Because DCASE is so important.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Because DCASE is so important.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Hey Chicago. I've planned this program with LCA and @icirr.bsky.social on ICE Actions at Arts Venues - Feb 9 at 6:30pm on Zoom OR in-person in Chicago.
Register for free and spread the word: law-arts.org/event/ice-ac...
Register for free and spread the word: law-arts.org/event/ice-ac...
ICE Actions at Arts Venues: Train the Trainer Event - Lawyers for the Creative Arts
In this program, we will provide specific best practices advice in responding to visits from ICE at your venue, including:
law-arts.org
January 28, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Hey Chicago. I've planned this program with LCA and @icirr.bsky.social on ICE Actions at Arts Venues - Feb 9 at 6:30pm on Zoom OR in-person in Chicago.
Register for free and spread the word: law-arts.org/event/ice-ac...
Register for free and spread the word: law-arts.org/event/ice-ac...
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
Just saw this, and it makes me wonder how you think you should still be in the United States Senate — let alone a Democrat — if you’re going to follow up the first two paragraphs with the third.
This is a dead child, and your response sounds like Al Gore talking about Reinventing Government.
This is a dead child, and your response sounds like Al Gore talking about Reinventing Government.
Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez died in government custody.
She had sickle cell and congenital heart disease but couldn’t access timely and adequate medical care.
We need to reform immigration detention.
She had sickle cell and congenital heart disease but couldn’t access timely and adequate medical care.
We need to reform immigration detention.
January 28, 2026 at 6:44 AM
Just saw this, and it makes me wonder how you think you should still be in the United States Senate — let alone a Democrat — if you’re going to follow up the first two paragraphs with the third.
This is a dead child, and your response sounds like Al Gore talking about Reinventing Government.
This is a dead child, and your response sounds like Al Gore talking about Reinventing Government.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
www.theverge.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
January 27, 2026 at 12:22 AM
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
The people of Minnesota did that. Not Schumer and Jeffries, not Walz and Frey, not the standard-bearers of decorum. The People.
January 27, 2026 at 12:42 AM
The people of Minnesota did that. Not Schumer and Jeffries, not Walz and Frey, not the standard-bearers of decorum. The People.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
This article / presentation is profoundly moving -- particularly at this moment in time. On art. And principles. And betrayal.
Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Face to Face With History’s Most Dangerous Painter (Gift Article)
Jacques-Louis David, artist and politician of the French Revolution, has beguiled our critic Jason Farago for years — and scared him, too. Let him show you why.
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM
This article / presentation is profoundly moving -- particularly at this moment in time. On art. And principles. And betrayal.
Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I do think that a possibly underrated dynamic in The Horrors is that the Right as it has reconstituted itself under Trump legitimately can’t understand sincere moral or physical courage
January 26, 2026 at 2:13 AM
I do think that a possibly underrated dynamic in The Horrors is that the Right as it has reconstituted itself under Trump legitimately can’t understand sincere moral or physical courage
Actively *doing* hope is how we will win.
January 25, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Actively *doing* hope is how we will win.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I think a lot of us get hope wrong. Hope, I do not believe, is an emotion. In fact, hope makes space for lots of emotions to exist alongside it. You can DO hope scared, angry, sad etc...
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
January 25, 2026 at 2:05 AM
I think a lot of us get hope wrong. Hope, I do not believe, is an emotion. In fact, hope makes space for lots of emotions to exist alongside it. You can DO hope scared, angry, sad etc...
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
Toni Preckwinkle has called for the abolition of ICE.
January 25, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Toni Preckwinkle has called for the abolition of ICE.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
People are being executed in the street over a problem that straight up does not exist and both parties are complicit in the lie
January 24, 2026 at 5:49 PM
People are being executed in the street over a problem that straight up does not exist and both parties are complicit in the lie
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I mean there are hundreds of people on the planet if you really think about it
January 24, 2026 at 2:27 AM
I mean there are hundreds of people on the planet if you really think about it
When this many people come out in -9 degrees, you know we are going to win.
It’s -9 degrees. Downtown Minneapolis is packed for the anti-ICE rally and the crowd keeps growing
January 23, 2026 at 8:45 PM
When this many people come out in -9 degrees, you know we are going to win.
Sewing a protest banner and watching a documentary about the first American revolution.
You know, me time.
You know, me time.
January 22, 2026 at 12:53 AM
Sewing a protest banner and watching a documentary about the first American revolution.
You know, me time.
You know, me time.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
oh man, the Walker Art Center is going to be closed on Friday
(If you're not from the Twin Cities, this is like MoMA closing in support of a general strike—a very big deal)
(If you're not from the Twin Cities, this is like MoMA closing in support of a general strike—a very big deal)
Walker Art Center joins growing list of organizations closing on Jan. 23
"This reflects our institutional values to center our community, support our staff, and to approach our work with care and safety in mind," a representative says.
bringmethenews.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:28 PM
oh man, the Walker Art Center is going to be closed on Friday
(If you're not from the Twin Cities, this is like MoMA closing in support of a general strike—a very big deal)
(If you're not from the Twin Cities, this is like MoMA closing in support of a general strike—a very big deal)
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
"In the next ten to twenty years, automation will grind jobs to dust as it grinds out unbelievable volumes of production . . . labor will have to intervene in the political life of the nation to chart a course which distributes the abundance to all instead of concentrating it among a few." #MLKDay
“The contemporary tendency ... is to base distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning it is necessary to adjust this inequity.” —MLK
Unfinished Revolution
Dr. King’s goal was full employment and universal health care.
www.bostonreview.net
January 19, 2026 at 12:59 PM
"In the next ten to twenty years, automation will grind jobs to dust as it grinds out unbelievable volumes of production . . . labor will have to intervene in the political life of the nation to chart a course which distributes the abundance to all instead of concentrating it among a few." #MLKDay
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention.
The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
www.ms.now
January 16, 2026 at 6:55 PM
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention.
The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
Really looking forward to seeing this on Monday at the Chicago History Museum. I'm just so proud/inspired/in awe of @collaboraction.bsky.social and Willie Round.
www.wbez.org/theater-stag...
www.wbez.org/theater-stag...
A new play about Martin Luther King Jr. humanizes the man and his pivotal year in North Lawndale
Written by North Lawndale native Willie Round, “Lawndale King” focuses on King’s advocacy but also helps audiences understand the person behind the icon.
www.wbez.org
January 17, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Really looking forward to seeing this on Monday at the Chicago History Museum. I'm just so proud/inspired/in awe of @collaboraction.bsky.social and Willie Round.
www.wbez.org/theater-stag...
www.wbez.org/theater-stag...
Listen up, fellow white people:
pulling this reflection on white silence/fear over here, too:
January 16, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Listen up, fellow white people:
Spend some time with this essay.
time.com/7345628/anti...
time.com/7345628/anti...
Why Minnesotans Fear ICE
The weight of state violence isn’t abstract, it’s personal, argues Minneapolis poet Bao Phi.
time.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Spend some time with this essay.
time.com/7345628/anti...
time.com/7345628/anti...
Collaboraction presented me with their Emmy Award for the work I've done.
Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.
Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.
January 16, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Collaboraction presented me with their Emmy Award for the work I've done.
Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.
Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
trump doesn't want people to be angry about ICE murdering people, he just wants ICE to murder people. being angry about that is what *you* should want. you're a politician, man. you should know that anger over injustice is like, one of the best ways to channel political power into action. grow up
State investigators have been on the scene in North Minneapolis.
I know you’re angry. I’m angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets.
But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace.
Don’t give him what he wants.
I know you’re angry. I’m angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets.
But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace.
Don’t give him what he wants.
January 15, 2026 at 7:21 AM
trump doesn't want people to be angry about ICE murdering people, he just wants ICE to murder people. being angry about that is what *you* should want. you're a politician, man. you should know that anger over injustice is like, one of the best ways to channel political power into action. grow up
Go see this when you can!
Diving into Ty Defoe and All My Relations Collective's new show SKELETON CANOE hands-on, Objibwe dramaturg Sierra Rosetta reflects on how it suggests healing paths for Indigenous futurity.
Carving a Way Forward: The Indigenous Futurity of ‘Skeleton Canoe’
Ty Defoe and All My Relations Collective’s new show, seen last year in 2 cities, uses puppetry, dance, and multimedia to tell a story of belonging.
www.americantheatre.org
January 14, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Go see this when you can!
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
For today's horribles: the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on banning trans athletes. It's the most bigoted thing they'll do this term. I'll be jotting down my thoughts here.
January 13, 2026 at 3:01 PM
For today's horribles: the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on banning trans athletes. It's the most bigoted thing they'll do this term. I'll be jotting down my thoughts here.