Bree Newsome Bass will talk about her work as an artist and grassroots community organizer.

Bree Newsome Bass is an American filmmaker, musician, speaker, and activist from North Carolina, where she continues her work as an artist and grassroots community organizer. She is best known for her act of civil disobedience on June 27, 2015, when she was arrested for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds in the aftermath of the Charleston Shooting.

The resulting publicity put pressure on state officials to remove the flag, and it was taken down permanently on July 10, 2015. She previously served as the Western Field Organizer for Ignite NC an organization focused on building youth and student leadership, and she is one of the founders of The Tribe, a grassroots organizing collective created in the aftermath of the 2014 uprising in Ferguson that was instrumental in organizing the removal of SC’s confederate flag in 2015.

Her awards are numerous and include recognitions for her work as both an artist and activist, including a 2016 NAACP Image Award. Newsome Bass is lately focused on the issue of housing justice and remains a prominent public speaker on the topic of racial and economic justice as well as the importance of the arts in social movements.