ANIMATING DEMOCRACY E-NEWS

 Animating Democracy News and Updates

Critical Perspectives reviewed by Harvard Educational Review

www.hepg.org/her/issue/4 

Critical Perspectives: Writings on Art and Civic Dialogue, edited by Pam Korza and Caron Atlas and including an introduction by Lucy Lippard, was featured and reviewed in the fall 2006 issue of the Harvard Educational Review. Featuring 12 essays from three Animating Democracy Lab projects, Critical Perspectives deepens understanding of arts-based civic dialogue work through the engagement of multiple writers—arts writers, a journalist, community participants, anthropologists, a sociologist, a storyteller, historians, and project directors—as they approach each project from their unique vantage points. “Indeed the oft-cited ability of the arts to incorporate multiple perspectives is embodied in the text of this book, which makes its content accessible to multiple audiences, such as educators, academics, artists, activists, and community developers. This book is especially useful for artists who are or want to be involved in community development, community developers looking for innovative ways to foster civic dialogue, and educators and artists who are looking for critical and creative ways to reflect on and write about their work.”

 

 

 News from the Field

Great Expectations to address how Philadelphia might become “the next great city”

www.fels.upenn.edu/greatexpectations.htm
The University of Pennsylvania's Project on Civic Engagement has launched a major initiative called Great Expectations: Citizen Voices on Philadelphia's Future, which features a series of public forums and mayoral election-related events to identify key issues Philadelphia needs to address in order to become "the next great city". A joint project of the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board and the university’s Project on Civic Engagement, Great Expectations is bringing together hundreds of civic leaders and citizens to participate in more than two dozen forums scheduled regionwide at community centers, churches, hospitals, college campuses, and public libraries. Great Expectations will include reporting, research, and public forums on best practices; innovations and solutions to municipal problems that have worked in Philadelphia or elsewhere; major election-related events, including online, radio, and televised debates; and a citywide Deliberation Day, two weeks before the May primary. The project will culminate in the declaration of a citizen-generated agenda for the Next Great City to be delivered to the new mayor and city council in 2008.

State Department announces grants supporting international exchange

http://exchanges.state.gov/education/rfgps/febu16rfgp.htm
The Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department has announced a new grant opportunity for projects that support exchanges and build relationships among U.S. nonprofit organizations and civil society and cultural groups in Africa, East Asia, Europe, the Near East, North Africa, South Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Eligible projects should promote mutual understanding and partnerships between key professional and cultural groups in the United States and counterpart groups in other countries through multiphased exchanges taking place over one to two years. In addition, projects should encourage citizen engagement in current issues, with a particular focus on youth and those who influence them.

The deadline to submit an application is February 16, 2007.

Animating Democracy is interested in hearing from cultural organizations that intend to make proposals or are interested in such international opportunities. E-mail Animating Democracy Project Manager Michael del Vecchio at mdelvecchio@artsusa.org with project and organizational information.

California Council for the Humanities offers grant support for youth-based film projects

http://calhum.org/guidelines/guidelines_ydf_intro.htm
The Youth Digital Filmmakers grant program is offering grants of up to $30,000 to youth-based film projects that engage California youth in creating film about how they see California. Part of How I See It—a new phase of the California Council for the Humanities’ California Stories Initiative designed to connect Californians by uncovering personal and community stories—each project will bring together a California-based filmmaker, a humanities scholar, and a community-based organization to create humanities-based media in which youth explore connections (or disconnections) in their individual lives and communities.

Applicants must be a California nonprofit organization or municipal/state agency (or be sponsored by one). Proposal deadline is April 2, 2007.

Pew Partnership opens nominations for Civic Change Award

www.pew-partnership.org
Established in 1995 by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, nominations for the 2007 Civic Change Award have opened. The 2007 Civic Change Award will recognize organizations or individuals committed to improving civic life that have demonstrated long-term concern for the success of their communities by implementing collaborations specifically aimed at reducing the high school dropout rate.

In order to qualify for the award, the nominee must be able to demonstrate community collaboration, innovative implementation, and evidence of effectiveness. Nominations for the 2007 Civic Change Award will be accepted until March 31, 2007.

 

 Articles and Publications

New Monograph from Americans for the Arts: “Cultural Torchbearers of the Community: Local Arts Agencies—Then and Now”

ww2.AmericansForTheArts.org/vango/core/orders/product.aspx?catid=9&prodid=671
In this special double issue, released in December 2006 and written by established arts professional Maryo Gard Ewell, Ewell delves into the history of the local arts agency and how the model has evolved since its inception in the 1940s. This Monograph includes a review of the “big ideas” that have impacted the movement; explorations into LAA collaborations and cultural planning projects; and a special section profiling visionary arts leaders Bill Aguado, Ralph Burgard, Robert E. Gard, and Ashley King.

Deliberative Democracy Consortium launches new blog

www.deliberative-democracy.net/blog/
The Deliberative Democracy Consortium—a network of researchers and practitioners working together to strengthen the field of deliberative democracy—has launched a new blog that explores cutting-edge thinking about citizen engagement. Launched in June 2006 (and now chock full of great resources and recent research), the blog features posts from a variety of civic engagement scholars and practitioners, including Archon Fong, associate professor of public policy at Harvard; Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement); and Lars Hasselblad Torres, staff researcher at AmericaSpeaks and coordinator of deliberative-democracy.net.

 

 Events on the Horizon

National Conference on Civic Engagement
Dates: February 15–18, 2007
Austin, TX

www.texascampuscompact.org
Texas Campus Compact and the University of Texas at Austin will co-host the first National Conference on Civic Engagement. Bringing together students and professionals in higher education, as well as community partners and organizations from the private and public sectors, this national conference will offer best-practice workshops, dynamic speakers, and a learning environment for all involved in civic engagement efforts to examine and redefine the role of civic responsibility for community and political leaders, educators, and students.

 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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