Beyond Alternatives is a response to the growing energy, that artist-led projects generate both historically and within a contemporary context. The symposiums and projects are a way for conversations to happen that are place-specific and respond critically to the work that artists do. Beyond Alternatives is deliberately is not a how-to, instead, it brings critical thinking to the foreground, and recognizes important cultural activities that are already happening as artists collaborate with institutions, cities, other artists invested in going beyond a grassroots approach. Beyond Alternatives aspires to have a critical conversation that is open to the specificity of places outside of large metropolitan areas sustaining both the challenges and opportunities those places present to artists and organizers.