ANIMATING DEMOCRACY E-NEWS

 Animating Democracy News and Updates

Animating Democracy to host arts-based civic engagement peer group at the Americans for the Arts 2006 Annual Convention

www.artsusa.org/events/2006/convention/default.asp
In June 2006, an arts-based civic engagement peer group will convene as part of the Americans for the Arts 2006 Annual Convention, Living Cultural Democracy: Arts in Changing Communities. Split into two interactive sessions, the group will gather to meet new colleagues and take advantage of a valuable opportunity to discuss trends and changes within their communities. An Animating Democracy roundtable opportunity to exchange arts-based civic engagement program ideas and practices will also be offered during the convention. For more information on the convention schedule—including keynote speakers and local activities in Milwaukee, or to register—visit the 2006 convention website.

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 News from the Field

Lockdown! premiers in Salt Lake City

http://arts.utah.gov/publications/OVATIONS/winter_2006/lockdown.html
In 1997, during a Meet the Composer residency, Composer Phillip Bimstein made weekly visits to the Washington County Youth Crisis Center in Utah, where he mentored a young group of inmates and recorded interviews in which youth expressed their fears, regrets about past crimes, and hopes for the future. Bimstein mixed digitally processed excerpts from the taped interviews with recorded sounds in the detention center—slamming cell doors, electronic locks, ratcheting handcuffs, metal detectors, alarms, and the guards’ walkie-talkies—to create Lockdown!, a three-movement musical work. Before the premier by blue haiku in Salt Lake City earlier this month, Bimstein gave sneak-preview performances to detention centers in outreach programs, offereding a unique opportunity for introspective dialogue among the youth.

Chinatown Heritage Project unveils A Chinatown Banquet

www.chinatownheritage.org
www.chinatownbanquet.org
On April 27, 2006, Chinatown Heritage Project will unveil A Chinatown Banquet—a groundbreaking public art and education project that re-envisions the legacy of Boston’s Chinese community in a video installation at the United Commercial Bank. The Boston, MA, Chinatown Heritage Project—a partnership between the Asian Community Development Corporation, the Chinese Historical Society of New England, the Peabody Essex Museum, and United Commercial Bank—combines arts, culture, humanities, and community planning in a multifaceted approach to community development. An interdisciplinary public art and multimedia project based on the metaphor of a Chinese banquet, A Chinatown Banquet raises awareness about the history, culture, and conditions of Boston’s Chinatown. Featuring a menu of eight multimedia “courses,” the banquet is a compendium of Chinatown’s history, unique flavor, political struggles, culture, and physical environment.

While helping to create the banquet, high school students learned media production skills, urban history, art, and community awareness. The banquet engaged members of the community in the study and celebration of their character and cultural significance, directly linking civic participation, art, and activism. It dramatically expanded understanding and awareness of the Chinatown community among decision-makers, elected officials, and others. The videos will be projected through the storefront windows of the Asian American Bank on a nightly basis. The bank will be the main stop on a planned Chinatown Heritage Trail.

Institute for American Indian Arts names new president

www.iaia.edu/Presidential.php
Beginning July 1, 2006, Cassandra Mauelito-Kerkvliet, former president of Dine’ College in the Navajo Nation community of Tsaile, AZ, will succeed Della Warrior as president of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM. IAIA is a multitribal center of higher education dedicated to the preservation, study, creative application, and contemporary expression of American Indian and Alaska Native arts and cultures and a participant in The Animating Democracy/Working Capital Fund Exemplar Program of Americans for the Arts.

New York University announces social justice fellowship

www.wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/sjf/
The Wagner School of Public Service at New York University has opened the application process for the NYC Social Justice Fellowship. Previously known as the Community Fellows Program of the Open Society Institute, the fellowship supports innovative public interest projects that address not merely direct service needs but structural policy problems on matters vital to marginalized communities, such as immigrants' rights, environmental justice, health, the arts, workers' rights, civic participation, education, and equitable economic development.

A modest 15-month living stipend plus an allowance for health benefits and tuition reimbursement are included. Special interest is given to supporting people from disadvantaged communities and communities of color. The application process for the 2006–2007 class will close on Monday, May 1, at noon.

Los Angeles Poverty Department’s The Real Deal chosen to participate in the 2006 Beverly Hills Film Festival

www.lapovertydept.org
The Real Deal, a documentary chronicling the evolution and impact of the homeless performance group Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) and founder John Malpede, has been chosen as an Official Selection of the 2006 Beverly Hills Film Festival. Produced by the Halo Group, The Real Deal was directed by Tom Jones and written by Jones and John Malpede. Jones uses a one-man performance by Malpede, recorded at Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, as the basis for the film. Intertwined throughout Malpede’s multidimensional recounting of LAPD’s story are conversations with former LAPD participants; clips from 20 years of performances; and in-depth interviews with homeless activists, government officials, and longtime supporters of the theater group, including acclaimed theater director Peter Sellars.

The Beverly Hills Film Festival will take place from April 5–9, 2006. The Real Deal will premiere on Saturday, April 8, 11:15 a.m. at the Clarity Theater, 100 N. Crescent Dr., Beverly Hills.

U.S. State Department announces grant competition

www.exchanges.state.gov/education/rfgps/maio11rfgp.htm
On April 6, the U.S. State Department announced its Arts Exchanges on International Issues Program grant competition. The grant program, typically making awards of $100,000, supports programs that use the arts to engage underserved youth in selected countries abroad and to foster linkages and build partnerships between U.S. and overseas nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. These international arts exchange projects will encourage democracy-building by demonstrating the opportunities for freedom of thought and expression and underscoring the importance of empowerment in an open society. Past awardees include Appalshop, CEC/ArtsLink, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Tribeca Film Institute. The deadline for applications is May 11, 2006.

Great Leap announces Production & Development Assistant Internship

www.greatleap.org
Great Leap—a Los Angeles-based multicultural performing arts organization dedicated to creating and presenting original works in theater, music, and dance—has announced an internship in Production & Development this summer. Great Leap's Production & Development Assistant will be involved in the coordination and publicity of its community arts mentoring program, Collaboratory; grant and fundraising development efforts; and creating, updating, and editing web and other publicity materials.

Interested applicants should e-mail their resume to luke@greatleap.org. The deadline for applicants is April 28, 2006.

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 Articles and Publications

Center for Civic Participation announces arts and democracy web project

www.ccp.org/forms/new_voter_project.html
The Center for Civic Participation, a national organization that strives to increase civic engagement in order to both strengthen democratic institutions and encourage public involvement in civic life, has announced a new web project to gather information regarding projects and organizations focusing on arts and democracy. Visit the Center for Civic Participation website or contact Lena Richardson (lena@ccp.org) to submit your story. Once gathered, the information will be included on the Center for Civic Participation website as a resource to the field. Note: only projects that are nonpartisan will be included.

Portsmouth receives governor’s award for support of the arts community

www.seacoastonline.com/news/04092006/accent/96894.htm
On April 13, 2006, Portsmouth, NH, received the Community Spirit Award at the 40th Anniversary Gala of the Governor’s Arts Awards. Awarded by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Community Spirit Award recognizes a New Hampshire city, town, village government, or community-wide nonarts organization that has significantly supported the arts within the previous five years through funding and/or program initiatives. Judy Rigmont, community arts coordinator at the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, believes that the community’s commitment to art as a dimension of civic life can be traced back to 1992, when the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange worked with residents and presented the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Project—where community stories served as a catalyst for the creation of a new dance. "It taught people about talking…They learned the power of art in the community," says Rigmont.

Performing Communities released by New Village Press

www.newvillagepress.net/pub_performingCommunities.html
Performing Communities: Grassroots Ensemble Theaters Deeply Rooted in Eight U.S. Communities has been published by New Village Press. Written by Community Arts Network’s (CAN) co-founders Robert H. Leonard and Ann Kilkelly, and edited by Linda Frye Burnham, the book of critical essays with an introduction written by community-arts expert Jan Cohen-Cruz is based on CAN's study of eight grassroots ensemble theaters and their long-term relationships with their communities: Carpetbag Theatre Company, Cornerstone Theater Company, The Dell'Arte Company, Jump-Start Performance Co., Los Angeles Poverty Department, Teatro Pregones, Roadside Theater, and WagonBurner Theater Troop.

Preaching to a Bigger Choir: Sojourn’s The War Project reviewed by Willamette Week

www.wweek.com/editorial/3219/7324/
In early 2005, Sojourn Theatre launched The War Project to examine “How, as a nation, we decide what to kill and die for.” Throughout the year, the company traveled to Chicago, Vermont, and Washington, DC, to interview recently returned soldiers from Iraq, anti-war activists, and politicians and also hosted six week-long public workshops in fall 2005. From these sessions, Artistic Director Michael Rohd created The War Project: 9 Acts of Determination, which opened in March at Sojourn’s new studios space in Portland, OR.

In the Willamette Week, Jonathan Weatherford wrote: “9 Acts refuses to hand over any simple answers. Steady, honest justifications for why we fight counterbalance the theme that death is a tragedy that does not diminish with quantity. Every time the play arrives at a nice digestible conclusion, the actors yank it away and go on to deepen the conversation.”

For more information on the project, visit Sojourn Theatre’s website: http://www.sojourntheatre.org/current.asp.

Public Conversations Project releases Fostering Dialogue across Divides

www.publicconversations.org/pcp/index.asp?page_id=270&ca
After 17 years of groundbreaking work in the field of dialogue, the Public Conversations Project (PCP) is releasing its definitive guide to conducting successful dialogues on many heated topics. Fostering Dialogues across Divides: A Nuts and Bolts Guide from the Public Conversations Project, written by Laura Chasin and Maggie Herzig, takes first-time dialogue practitioners step-by-step through the Public Conversations Project process, while offering seasoned practitioners enlightening new insights. Available now, Fostering Dialogue across Divides serves as an invaluable tool for anyone interested in conducting meaningful dialogues between parties in conflict. Fostering Dialogue across Divides: A Nuts and Bolts Guide from the Public Conversations Project can be downloaded from the PCP website or purchased for $21.00.

National Issues Forum offers free discussion guides for Democracy’s Challenge: Reclaiming the Public’s Role

www.nifi.org/discussion_guides/detail.aspx?catID=6&itemID=5083
Many Americans are turning away from public life, becoming spectators rather than participants in our democracy. People are frustrated with politics and the seemingly insurmountable partisan divide. Democracy's Challenge: Reclaiming the Public's Role tackles head-on the obstacles and issues people face in a democracy that appears to have nudged its citizens onto the sidelines. The Democracy’s Challenge forums encourage citizens to think about what they can do to strengthen the relationship that a democracy demands between the government and its people. The book presents three perspectives on the problem, each of which suggests a somewhat different course of action.

The National Issues Forum invites anyone interested in hosting a Democracy’s Challenge forum to take advantage of a limited-time offer for free supplementary materials, including one copy of the full-length Democracy's Challenge issue discussion guide, 30 copies of the eight-page discussion-guide-in-brief, one copy of the moderator's guide, and one video. To get your free set of materials, contact the National Issues Forum at 800.600.4060.

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 Events on the Horizon

Living Cultural Democracy: Arts in Changing Communities
Americans for the Arts 2006 Annual Convention
Dates: June 3–5, 2006
Milwaukee, WI

www.artsusa.org/events/2006/convention/default.asp
Immigration, migration, mobility, racial and ethnic fusion—historically and today, shifting demographics are a profound reality in U.S. cities and towns. These shifts transform every level of community life, from the ways citizens relate to each other to aspects of community priorities and economic policy. It is in this environment that civic and business leaders endeavor to develop creative, viable communities. The arts play a major role in this development. They are a stimulus for imagination and innovation, a proven platform for community building, an engine for economic development, and a vehicle for diverse cultural expression. The challenge for arts leaders is to activate the full power of each community’s diverse cultural assets. Participants in the Americans for the Arts 2006 Annual Convention will explore opportunities for cultural development in the context of cultural democracy. Living Cultural Democracy: Arts in Changing Communities offers an array of on-point presentations, in-depth dialogues, and onsite experiences. Arts professionals and civic leaders can contribute to and benefit from lively exchanges about the implications of demographic trends, cultural competence within arts agencies, strategic partnerships, and new service models. Milwaukee is a bold collection of cultures, creativity, and cool that is leveraging these assets to regenerate and build its future.

Art for Social Healing: The Boston Gathering for Practitioners and Supporters
Date: June 10, 2006, 9:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Boston

www.zings.org
Art for Social Healing is community-based arts organization that directly supports civic dialogue, social action, community development, peace and reconciliation, and other social goals. The Boston Gathering for Practitioners and Supporters will bring together practitioners of participatory community arts, funders of arts and social healing, and representatives of community organizations interested in the use of arts in their work and to explore ongoing collaborations. Sessions will include an opening plenary with Playback Theater, several 75-minute workshop sessions exploring hands-on methods, field accomplishments, and small group discussions creating a common vision.

The Kitchen’s Sidney Kahn Summer Institute: Come Together
Dates: July 17–August 4, 2006
New York City

www.thekitchen.org/si2006/about.html
The Kitchen, in coordination with Sarah Lawrence University, will host Come Together—a three-week intensive program in art and social engagement, focusing on expanded ideas of art-making and creativity in relation to collaboration, community involvement, and activism. Throughout the program, artists will explore a wide range of socially responsive and community-based art practices as they go out into The Kitchen’s Chelsea neighborhood to research and develop site-related projects. Faculty/guest artists include Sam Gould, Red 76; Emily Jacir; John Malpede; Elisabeth Subrin; and Mierle Laderman Ukeles.

The application deadline is May 8, 2006. A limited number of partial scholarships are available. Financial aid applicants are strongly urged to apply early. For application and complete program information, contact the Summer Institute Coordinator at 212.255.5793, x14.

Call for Proposals: 2006 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation
Dates: August 4–6, 2006
San Francisco

www.thataway.org
The 2006 National Coalition on Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) Conference, August 4–6, 2006, in San Francisco, will bring together practitioners, scholars, trainers, artists, activists, teachers, and students from all of the various streams of dialogue and deliberation practice to continue developing this growing field. Since the first conference in 2001, NCDD has worked with Animating Democracy to highlight artists who increase civic dialogue through their work. The NCDD conference committee is interested in finding creative ways to prominently highlight the arts at this year’s conference and has issued a call for proposals. Possible opportunities may include: a two-hour workshop that helps people learn about and experience your work, a display that helps participants learn about and engage in dialogue in response to your work, an interactive plenary session that allows people to watch and engage in your work, and others.

To submit a proposal, e-mail Leah Lamb, arts and dialogue manager for the 2006 conference, at leahlamb@gmail.com, with your ideas and a brief description of your work by April 30.

Network for Academic Renewal Conference
Diversity and Learning: A Defining Moment
Dates: October 19–21, 2006
Philadelphia

www.aacu.org/meetings/diversityandlearning/index.cfm
The diversity education reform movement is at a critical crossroads. How diversity programs are defined—in language, in intellectual frameworks, in scope, and in the civic commitments to the larger world at the heart of the work—will determine the course and content of the next generation of reform. The sixth biennial Network for Academic Renewal Conference will offer attendees the opportunity to candidly assess what is working and what is not in diversity education. Participants will examine the effectiveness of past structures, programs, and conceptualizations that are presently still effective; and will explore the emerging new directions and challenges. The Network for Academic Renewal encourages session proposals.

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 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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Do you have news you would like to share with Animating Democracy and the broader world of art and civic engagement? Send an e-mail to adi@artsusa.org with "Animating Democracy E-News" in the subject line. Please be sure to include full contact information.

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