ANIMATING DEMOCRACY E-NEWS

 Animating Democracy News and Updates

Animating Democracy presents at the University of Washington

ww3.AmericansForTheArts.org/AnimatingDemocracy/resources/resources_001.asp
The University of Washington (UW) is exploring how arts and culture can enhance community-based research and teaching through its Cultural Studies Praxis Collective (CSPC), a multiyear collaboration among faculty and academic staff at UW Bothell, UW Seattle, Cascadia Community College, and Bellevue Community College. At the heart of CSPC’s efforts is the question: How can the best traditions of cultural studies and public humanities scholarship be used to generate creative and collaborative practices across communities?

Animating Democracy Co-Director Pam Korza was invited in November by CSPC and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities to share findings from Animating Democracy. Korza co-facilitated a day-long workshop with UW Bothell faculty member Elizabeth Thomas called “Arts- and Community-Based Project Development and Assessment.” The workshop uses hands-on exercises and project case studies with goals ranging from community development to political activism. Students examined the arts as a resource, practice, and strategy that can facilitate collaborative research, action, and reflection. In a second campus-wide presentation, Korza talked about the unique contributions of the arts and humanities for advancing public dialogue and engagement related to critical issues in communities.

The workshop was part of a series offered by CSPC in association with the Institute on the Public Humanities for Doctoral Students at UW Seattle. Institute fellows explore diverse forms of on-and off-campus collaboration, learn to imagine community-based projects of differing scales—including examining how projects develop and evolve—and investigate methods for addressing the inevitable challenges encountered along the way.

 

 News from the Field

Sojourn Theatre presents One Day

www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=djbej
www.sojourntheatre.org/current.asp
As part of a yearlong project in collaboration with visionPDX, a Portland-based initiative sponsored by the mayor’s office, Sojourn Theatre presented One Day throughout Portland, OR, this fall. One Day is a play about what Portland looks like today and the challenges the city faces as it residents imagine the future of their city. Part multinarrative performance, part civic dialogue, One Day tells the story of eight fictional Portlanders (composites based on themes drawn from Sojourn Theatre’s research and visionPDX's civic engagement work) and the choices they have to make within a 24-hour period in the city. Then, the play opens up and invites audience members to talk with the characters about their choices.

African Presence in México begins five-year tour

www.mfacmchicago.org
The African Presence in México, the 2006 Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum’s groundbreaking exhibition, began its five-year tour in Monterrey, Mexico. The exhibition examines a missing chapter in Mexican history by highlighting African contributions to Mexican culture during the past 500 years. In honor of its opening in Monterrey, the exhibition will feature a special documentary about the Mascogos, a group of Afro-Mexicans who migrated near Monterrey, to Northern Mexico. The exhibition will be on view in Monterrey through February 2007, before continuing its tour through Mexico.

Asian Arts Initiative announces call for artists for site-specific installation project

www.asianartsinitiative.org/involved/callVisual.php
Chinatown In/flux: Future Landscape is a public exhibition project that affirms the rights of neighborhood residents and community members to define and control land and make decisions about Philadelphia's Chinatown. Through site-specific installations in neighborhood locations, the exhibition aims to expand the physical and social boundaries of Chinatown, catalyze community-wide imagination, and present a positive vision for Chinatown's future.

The Asian Arts Initiative invites applications from artists throughout the United States to build relationships with Philadelphia's Chinatown and develop site-specific installation projects that will engage residents and workers, evoke the community's history, and also imagine its future. The call for applications is extended to artists working in all media. Installation projects with performance or time-based elements must have the capacity to be repeated or somehow have a consistent presence throughout the six month exhibition. Selected artists will be expected to attend a planning retreat to meet with and give presentations to local community members, spend time identifying potential site locations, and refine their project concepts.

For more information about the application process, visit the Asian Arts Initiative website. The application deadline is January 15, 2007.

Headwaters Foundation for Justice accepts applications for Social Change Fund

www.headwatersfoundation.org
The Headwaters Foundation for Justice—a Minneapolis based foundation that supports grassroots groups working to address the root causes of injustice—is currently accepting applications for its Social Change Fund. Through the fund, awards are made to organizations and groups that operate with a long-term vision for social justice and that use grassroots organizing in Minnesota to build power and affect social change. Grants support a wide range of activities and interest areas, including racial justice, economic justice, and social justice. Application deadline for the program is February 1, 2007.

Great Leap opens search for managing director
www.greatleap.org
Great Leap—a 28 year old, multi-ethnic performing arts organization in Los Angeles—has opened a search for a new managing director. Great Leap uses community residencies and the creative and collaborative process of performance to deepen understanding among diverse communities. The position is responsible for the overall management of Great Leap, including financial management, fundraising, programming, marketing, public relations, and board development. This person will be key in organizing Great Leap’s new interfaith residency program, To All Relations: The Art of Weaving Faiths; overseeing the artist mentorship program, Collaborator; supporting the development of new performance works; and developing new earned income streams from performances, residencies, and other related activities. To apply, e-mail a resume and a cover letter to Luke@greatleap.org, or mail your materials to Great Leap, Inc., 1145 Wilshire Blvd., Suite100-D, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Phone: 213.250.8800. Resumes must be received by December 1, 2006. Position will remain open until filled.

Art Sanctuary hosts East Coast debut of Agents and Assets

http://lapovertydept.org/
In early November, the Los Angeles Poverty Department and Art Sanctuary—a Philadelphia-based cultural organization that uses the power of black art and intercultural programming to transform individuals and draw inspiration from the inner city—presented three performances of Agents and Assets. The play is designed to highlight the intricate relationships and consequences of the U.S. government’s “war on drugs”. Following each performance, a panel discussion featuring politicians, recovery practitioners, recovering persons, and community residents was held.

Civic Ventures opens nominations for 2007 awards

www.civicventures.org
www.purposeprize.org
Civic Ventures, a think tank and an incubator for generating ideas and inventing programs to help society achieve the greatest return on experience, is currently accepting nominations for the Purpose Prize—an award for older American social innovators. The Purpose Prize gives five $100,000 and 10 $10,000 investments in Americans over 60 whose creativity, talent, and experience is transforming the way our nation addresses critical social problems. Dozens of other innovators will receive national recognition for their work. The application deadline is February 1, 2007, and awards will be announced in September 2007.

 

 Articles and Publications

Dance Exchange launches blog to promote Gumdrops and the Funny Uncle

http://funnyuncles.org
Peter DiMuro, producing artistic director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, has launched a new dance-making blog to showcase preparations for two December performances of Gumdrops and the Funny Uncle, a new Dance Exchange piece exploring how we define family. Featuring videos of rehearsals, the blog also encourages visitors to contribute their own stories. “The Dance Exchange has been at the forefront of incorporating community in the development and performances of our art,” DiMuro says. “Now, we are exploring what it means to bring the same approach to communities online.”

New Village Press publishes new book by Arlene Goldbard

www.newvillagepress.net
New Village Press has published New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development by Arlene Goldbard. The book uses personal stories, rousing accounts, detailed observations, and histories to explore how communities express themselves via community-based arts. New Creative Community is rich with photographs and the author has incorporated updated material on practices, policies, methods, and antecedents previously published in her 2001 publication, Creative Community (published by the Rockefeller Foundation).

 

 Events on the Horizon

DIWAN: A Forum for the Arts
Dates: March 29–April 1, 2007
Dearborn, MI

www.accesscommunity.org
In April 2007, the Arab American National Museum (AANM) will host DIWAN: A Forum for the Arts—a conference devoted to stimulating a national dialogue among artists and their audiences about the state of Arab American Art and to documenting the contributions of Arab Americans in the fields of the performing arts, visual arts, media arts, and literature.

The conference is currently seeking papers, artistic presentations, and proposals for panels and papers. Presentation at the forum is open to scholars, artists, and activists. The deadline for proposal submission is December 20, 2006.

Why Dialogue? (and when, and how, and where?)
A Conference for Community Groups, Researchers, Teachers, Students, and Others
Dates: June 15–16, 2007
New York City

www.networkforpeace.com
The Network for Peace, in collaboration with Marymount Manhattan College, will present Why Dialogue?(and when, and how, and where?). The conference will consider the place of dialogue in democratic and global societies; examine the uses of dialogue in education, planning, management, negotiation, and conflict resolution; examine the challenges and risks of engaging in dialogue; explore how dialogue differs from other forms of conversation; and provide a forum for networking.

 

 About Animating Democracy

Animating Democracy is a four-year initiative of Americans for the Arts and is made possible with support from the Ford Foundation.

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