Nora - All Art is Political
Have you kept any consistent passions or hobbies in your life, from a young age? Nora Bartel has been participating in theatre since she was just two years old. Being part of this creative community has given Nora a safe space, especially as she navigates the world’s current political landscape, as a teenager. “I do theatre with Youth Theatre, at the U. It’s a partner program with the University of Utah. I’ve been doing that since I was two. They have a competition team for that, called Youth Theatre Conservatory, which I started my freshman year, three years ago.”
Nora has so much pride in Conservatory for their group’s togetherness, vulnerability, and collaboration. As the community captain, she is so grateful for this group and she experiences a deep sadness at the end of each show. As a group, they have written a show from their personal experiences. “Being able to have a group where we can talk about [difficult topics] openly, and collaborate enough to put all of our thoughts about these really heavy topics together, that definitely makes me proud.” Conservatory is more than a theatre group, it’s a community of members who care deeply and champion their beliefs in a collective art.
“Recently we took a show that we wrote to the Fringe Festival, in Edinburgh, called ‘Dear America’, which was very political commentary. We wrote it; which was really cool. It covered climate change, mental health, gun violence, human rights, and censorship. We did two home performances and we’re doing the National Theatre’s Educators Conference, at the U.”
Nora shares that gun violence has been a “through line” for her, ever since elementary school. She participated in a walk out with older classmates in elementary school, she led a walkout in middle school, and she’s currently on her high school’s newspaper team, where she continues to write about and raise awareness around gun violence. Nora stands up for her beliefs and actively impacts change within her environments. She is an advocate for children who have lost their lives to gun violence.
Nora has experienced two school lockdowns. She’s participated in protests since a young age and she was “quite close” to the shooting at the No Kings Protest. “We ran. It was scary. That was also like three weeks before we left for Edinburgh, to do a show about gun violence.” Nora’s mother added, “You told me after that your years of training just kicked right in.” Nora’s confidence in navigating an active shooter is both admirable and heartbreaking. Is this what public school in the United States is teaching our future generations? How to prepare for gun violence, that they will inevitably face in their lifetime.
When asked how all of this has impacted Nora she responded, “I mean, it’s hard. I think it's kinda the biggest part of my life. I’m a very political person. It’s a very fundamental part of my identity. All the stuff that I care about is political. What I choose to write about even if it’s pop culture, here’s my ‘Top 10 Films by Only Female Directors Who Broke Boundaries.’ What I create and what I take in is all kind of rooted in that, because if I don't care about that then I don't know what to do. It's such a big part of everything. I think it's a big privilege to not care about it or think about it all the time, because we think about it all the time. I’m a woman. I’m gay. I go to Catholic school. We live in Utah.
“Censorship is everything. Gun violence is every day for school, but censorship is everything I care about. All I wanna do is write and perform, in my free time. Once I graduate, that’s what I care about, is writing and performing. Censorship impacts me and what I wanna do.”
Nora is wise beyond her years; surrounding herself with people and things that help her to find strength and confidence in her beliefs. “It’s not right and left, it’s human rights.” She creates and performs her artistry from a space of raising awareness, but more importantly to bring comfort to people who share her beliefs. “If someone who disagrees happens to see it and it happens to change their mind, then that’s just an added bonus, but I don’t do it for that.”
“I have a lot of faith in myself. I think that I think the right things.”
Art is an outlet for Nora. “Even just writing whenever something bad happens, like the shooting at UVU.” Whether it’s writing an article, performing, listening to music, or watching movies, art helps Nora to cope and process what’s going on, in the world around her. Having a community like Conservatory where she’s been able to come together and write shows about what’s been going on has been a “saving grace”. “Everything is going terribly, but we’re gonna go do this show and maybe 80 people will see it. And then that will be 80 more people who know what we're feeling, which is good enough.”
“All art is political. I think Bowie had the right idea; Love dares you to care for people.”