 more watching us in remote parts of the planet. I first want to thank Connie and Corey and the whole team here at the Experimental Station for letting us, in a sense, take over their space for today. They've been incredibly hospitable and generous with enabling this to take place. So immense thanks to the Experimental Station team. And I also want to thank Cecilia Bevan, who I was hoping would be here, but she's not, I think, here yet this morning. But Cecilia made the mural for us on the Blackboard also to make us feel welcome and to ensure that we feel very warmly hugged in this space. So thanks to Cecilia. So Artslink Assembly, what is the Artslink Assembly? It's a question I'm asked often, but it's actually very simple. It's literally that. It's an assembly. It's an assembling, a gathering of artists, of people. It's bringing ideas, ways of thinking, ways of looking, and ways of being in the world, all in one space. And as Artslink, we bring artists from around the world and we gather together with their colleagues and peers wherever we are. So today in Chicago, so thank you all for being here from Chicago. And tomorrow we'll be online with artists and cultural leaders in Ukraine, again, gathered for the assembly. So as Artslink, we assemble artists and cultural leaders from around the world together with their peers. And what we seek to do is really look at how we can share perspectives, build connections and really focus on how we generate the networks and connections that we know feed our work but also feed the broader needs of the society we're part of. The format of the assembly is deliberately intensive, so I'm sorry about that. But it's short presentations from individuals. It's very tight conversations. And it's also critical discussions. And the whole point of that is that you're receiving ideas and we've built into the day long breaks. There's pauses in the morning, there's a long lunch break, and then there's the gathering around dinner tonight where we can meet, connect and share our perspectives and really explore the ideas that you're engaging with through the day. So CS Artslink works with people, I should say, and not organizations. We work with individuals, not institutions. And we find ourselves increasingly working with artists and cultural workers who have been displaced from their homes, even from their land. We all know the histories of war and aggression, of displacement and extraction. And these are the very practices that shaped where we are today, this place we call the United States of America. And it's vital we recognize both these histories and practices and work thoughtfully and deliberately to repair the impact that this has had and continues to have on all peoples who are living here. Yet these practices continue now, today, in the 21st century, currently in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Nagorno-Karabakh, in Syria, in Sudan, in the DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo, in Myanmar, in China, the list is shamefully long. We believe it's vitally important to work with and support independent artists, many of you guys here, and arts leaders who work in opposition to war and who help build dialogue and empathy between people. I believe and the work of the organization is built around the idea that artists can really help us reimagine and rebuild civil society transnationally. So we strive to support and empower those independent artists and arts leaders who share our values of compassion and freedom. These two days, I hope will inspire us and help us see how we can all work towards ensuring the future can be a place where we can and want to be. Thank you all for being with us today. I hand you over to Megha. Good morning, everyone. Welcome. Thank you so much again for being here. I want to invite you all to practice with us today. When we practice another world where we aren't separated by the geographies that do separate us, but instead make up lots of other little worlds based on different things, our values, our shared strategies, our questions, that map would look really, really different, wouldn't it? So this is basically how we put together this program today. Some of the presenters that you'll see here know each other well, and many of them are meeting for the very first time and live in different corners of the world. But from our perspective, they're already in touch. They're already working together. And in fact, they're already collaborating with many of you. So we created this space here to understand that the separations that we've been taught are false, they're a sham, and we can abandon them for something different. But this way of thinking requires practice, and that's what we want to do together today, to evolve our understanding and always attune to the nuance and complexity that we know, but at the same time remind ourselves that there are really simple truths, that we are guests on this land, that we're transient visitors on this planet, that those neighborhoods over there aren't really that far away, maybe they're ours, and that those are our children and they belong to the earth and to all of us. So how do we grow our stamina to uplift this way of thinking and to choose actively to affiliate across our differences, whether big or small? What does it mean for us to assemble here today as this varied group of artists and organizers, researchers, students, funders, sharing space, carving out our very precious time to prioritize a thinking through artistic practice? And we're doing this in Chicago, a place where artists seem to be in a constant state of reflection and refinement, where they are the ones who are ushering in more full three-dimensional perspectives on our land, our architecture, our inheritance, our governance, not to mention public art, public good, nonviolence, and love. So this is our hope for today to practice this together in this space, and we will hear from an incredible group of presenters who are doing this every day, practicing this from their unique vantage points. It's really an honor to bring them together with you, and I am very happy to start the program. Thank you.