New London’s Poet Laureate Rhonda Ward talks about how art can soothe and inspire during these trying times

The county begins to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic while we also brace ourselves for another spike in cases. And as protests and unrest hit many parts of the country as a result of recent examples of police brutality toward the black community, including the recent death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, we have started to reach out to local artists of color to get their thoughts on the unrest, the events that led up to it, and the role that art can play during times like these.