
Since its foundation last spring, the Madison organization Half-Stack Sessions has pushed for the local music community to be more inclusive and less sexist, and has hosted several conversations dealing with diversity in the arts—sometimes in the form of semi-private events just for women and non-binary people, and sometimes at public events and shows. Here, Half-Stack partners up with Milwaukee creative agency BlackPaint Studios, whose founders, Katie Mullen and Jordan Pintar, will reflect on their experiences through a social-justice and diversity lens. BlackPaint's work has included social justice-focused murals, work on behalf of Planned Parenthood, and a series of pieces that reflect on sexism in the advertising world. Here, they'll discuss how their work fits in with pushing for social change, and how they confront problems of harassment and exclusion within their own industry. —Scott Gordon