This month CAN brings you an entire book documenting South Carolina visual artist Gwylène Gallimard's years-long project, "The Charleston / Atlanta / Alaska Challenge: an art program: contemporary, environmental, participatory." The project begins, breathtakingly, with a three-month-long canoe trip on the Yukon River from Canada to the Bering Sea. It ends, poignantly, with a massive art installation in Charleston's Old City Jail including the work of 400 people. Gallimard is a French-born artist living and working in Charleston and making large documentary canvases drenched in images, objects and language from her collaborative community projects with hundreds of people in the American South. The Web package also includes commentary by Linda Burnham and an interview with Gallimard by S.C. writer Darryl Lorenzo Wellington. [LINK]

When was the last time you saw a positive (or even negative) image in the media of a teenage girl with disabilities, asks Jennifer Roche in a new CAN story. Rather than wait for a positive reflection, the Empowered Fe Fes created their own video instead. Roche introduces the Chicago teens and quotes Fe Fes organizer Susan Nussbaum: "I have never seen anything like the growth I have seen in the past few months. I think their sense of pride and identity comes from an awareness that is not forced upon them, but that’s all around them [during this process], and that’s that life with a disability is going to be okay. It is as valid an experience as any kind of journey that one undertakes in life." [LINK]

Theater scholar Sonja Arsham Kuftinec teaches Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed techniques in Minnesota and also facilitates dialogue for Seeds of Peace, a U.S. program that brings together youth from select conflict regions. She merged the two practices in a series of “wandering minstrel” workshops, February-July 2004, traveling to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia, Israel and the Occupied Territories to conduct image-theater workshops with people aged 15 to 22. This month Kuftinec writes for CAN about her workshop in Kabul, which "underlined the internal complexity of Afghan society, culture and history alongside impassioned and often risky commitment toward change." It's exciting to witness this example of Boal technique in action with young people living in a global hotspot. [LINK]

The Cornerstone Theater's artist ensemble is producing its first-ever feature-film project, written and directed by Shishir Kurup. "Sharif Don't Like It!" will star Cornerstone Ensemble actors, community participants and prominent guest artists. The film is a tragicomedy based on Kurup's acclaimed solo work and explores the fallout from the USA Patriot Act and its effect on individual lives. Cornerstone calls the project a natural extension of its recent shows that integrated live video with theater ("An Antigone Story" being a recent example), and an opportunity to apply its collaborative methods to the filmmaking process. Micro-cinema presentations, local screenings and festival showings are the slated venues. You can read part of the script on the Cornerstone Web Site. [LINK]

New York's Battery Dance Company is a "model of cultural diplomacy," according to Middle East expert Robert Satloff in his new book "The Battle of Ideas in the War on Terror." Battery is the first American dance company to perform in Arab nations under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. During the spring of 2004 (not a high point in Arab-U.S. relations) the company gave a free performance at the Muhammed V Auditorium — Rabat, Morocco's Carnegie Hall. Hundreds showed up for the performance, which ended with stunning break-dance by six Moroccan teens who had been workshopping with Battery. "The crowd went wild, marveling at the acrobatics, the athleticism, the power of these young dancers, their young dancers," says Satloff. "They brought the house down." [LINK]

If you ask most Canadian performing artists what role they'd like to play, the answer would be "self-employed," says theater critic Richard Ouzounian in the Toronto Star (11/12/04). They may get their wish. A Canada Revenue Agency ruling has allowed an appeal against its decision in the case of Thunder Bay's Magnus Theatre, which stated that actors on even a short-term contract were still "employees" of the organization. Performing artists have had the tax status of independent contractors for many years in Canada, but the CRA recently changed its interpretation of some statutes. While such a move would have given artists some immediate employment benefits, it also would have deprived them of numerous long-term deductions that allow them to make ends meet. (Thanks, NAAO.) [LINK]

"Roof Like a Liquid Flung Over the Plaza," an 84' steel canopy by Vito Acconci at an art center in Memphis; a "Firehouse: by Dennis Oppenheim in Denver; and "Rabble," a flock of butterflies forming a jet fighter by Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter in Raleigh are only three of "the year's most innovative and exciting public art projects" included in the Public Art Network's "2004 Year in Review Slide Set." Curated by Glenn Harper, editor of Sculpture Magazine, and artist Ellen Driscoll, the set contains an annotated slide script and 140 images. Samples are on the Web. It's available from the Americans for the Arts Bookstore for $165; a CD-ROM of the set is $150 (for nonmembers). Pricey but a great library/teaching tool. [LINK]

The Art Connection is an art donation and placement program that's "bringing art to life" in Boston, Mass. Working with artists and collectors who wish to donate artwork to public and nonprofit organizations, the program acts as an art clearinghouse, simplifying the donation process and offering a wide range of original works for selection by qualifying nonprofit agencies. So far they have placed 2,000 artworks from 135 donors in 165 recipient agencies. They've also helped similar organizations to start up in Baltimore, San Francisco and D.C. Their Web site offers a brief, downloadable "how to" on starting such a program. We've included this site on our "Working Methods" list of tools for doing good community art. (Thanks, NASAA.) [LINK]

A new master's degree program at the Center for Art Education of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Md., focuses on visual artists who want to pursue a career in art-based youth and community development. The Master of Arts in Community Art, directed by Ken Krafchek, is a 36-unit program spanning two summers and one academic year, grounded in principles of social justice. It includes classroom study of community arts theory and practice plus a residency with a community organization. Students learn to conceive, implement and manage programs and events that engage children, youth and adults in meaningful art experiences; document and assess the effectiveness of their projects in meeting community interests; plan curriculum; and develop proposals and fundraise. [LINK]

CANuniversity listserv members are talking about universities, art and war. Beverly Naidus will soon teach "Art in a Time of War" at the University of Washington, Tacoma, which is "surrounded by military bases." The topic of war has not yet polarized the students in ways she expected, says Naidus. "Many of them are veterans or come from military families and the majority are in a state of rage about how they have been exploited, manipulated and what they are made to do," she says. "They also have lots of stories to tell and need to tell them in order to heal." And Australian artist Anne Riggs writes about her MFA on the First World War. Join the listserv by sending a blank e-mail to: canuniversity-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. [LINK]

New Zealand's University of Otago has established what is believed to be the first fellowship in community dance, the Caroline Plummer Dance Fellowship. The initial award went to community dance leader Petra Kuppers, who teaches at Rhode Island's Bryant University. Kuppers is a disabled dancer and author of "Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on Edge." The fellowship was inspired by the vision and achievements of a young Otago dance student who died from cancer in April 2003. Plummer’s parents set up a trust to commemorate her belief in the power of dance for healing, education, cultural understanding and artistic expression. Kuppers begins her site-specific dance project in July 2005. Otago also has fellowships in art, music and writing. [LINK]

Three new members of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts, were confirmed 11/22/04 by the U.S. Senate. The three were nominated to the council by President George W. Bush. They are: James K. Ballinger (director of the Phoenix Art Museum), Gerard Schwarz (music director of the Seattle Symphony) and Terry Teachout (drama critic of the Wall Street Journal). The National Council on the Arts advises the chair of the NEA, who also chairs the Council, on agency policies and programs. It reviews and makes recommendations to the Chairman on applications for grants, funding guidelines and leadership initiatives. For more information about the National Council on the Arts and its members, visit the NEA Web site. [LINK]

The fall "Foreign Affairs" issue of Public Art Review comes out of the chute with a bang, sporting a "National Geographic" cover and a celebration of their new online "Public Art Review Anthology." This issue asks how geo-political forces shape public art, how social changes affect artists' work in communities, how today's artists build upon their homelands' art history or ignore it altogether, how American artists fare in foreign lands and what we can gain by examining art practices elsewhere. Features discuss public art in England, Central Europe, Finland, China, Australia, India and Taiwan, as well as public art conferences in Washington, England and Philadelphia. Ami Gilman interviews Spencer Tunick, creator of mass nude projects. And it's all in full color. [LINK]

Volunteers spent a week in November 2005 on "The Xtreme Dream" House Project, a surprise makeover of a needy family's entire house in Rochester, Minn. It was part of the Suite Dreams Project, which creates healing environments for children affected by serious medical conditions. Founded by "two busy moms," Kris Appleby and Kay Ponicall, Suite Dreams drafts hundreds of artists and other volunteers to create the "suite" of each child's dream in homes and hospitals. For "Xtreme Dream," they did the whole house, also giving single mom Irene Piusinski a beauty/fashion makeover, a year's worth of groceries and a new mini-van (with the help of Variety, a local charity). Suite Dreams has its own sweet dream: going national. Read an interview on the Art & Healing Network. [LINK]

"'Arts: The Catalyst, Craigmillar' shows how a poor housing estate on the edge of Edinburgh influenced many in the world in how to use art as catalyst for social care and action," says public artist David Harding in the catalogue for an exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland (through 12/31/04). "Here in the '60s and '70s … Craigmillar Festival Society became a strong political force, exerting some control over planning, building, social and cultural-development decisions," increasing poverty action funding and employing 700 workers in 57 neighborhood projects. "This was ‘cultural democracy’ in action and not the democratization of the received, establishment culture that is at the very heart of the U.K. arts councils’ policies and the basis of New Labour ‘social inclusion’." More Craigmillar info on Communiversity's Web site. [LINK]

James Garrett, a St. Paul, Minn., poet/architect who wrote for CAN about Hip-Hop and architecture, is developing an environmentally friendly $1.1-million, five-unit townhouse project in St. Paul, the James Griffin Garden Rowhouses. It's named for his grandfather Jim Griffin, a civic activist who served on the city's school board and was one of its highest-ranking black police officials. According to Toni Coleman in the Pioneer Press (11/26/04), Garrett and Eric Goodlow (partners in 4RM+ULA, or Form plus Urban Land Acquisition) will be able to create a "more sustainable, less ecologically destructive space" with support from a new city program designed to help fledgling developers. Its location near Interstate 94 offers a symbolic way of reclaiming the Rondo neighborhood home Garrett's grandfather lost when the freeway was built. [LINK]

While the U.K. blossoms with new permanent arts establishments, in the U.S. it's the same old story: Artists move into temporary space, sparking downtown rejuvenation, but their galleries and studios cease to be art spaces as soon as permanent tenants are found. Kansas City, Mo., is the latest scene of the crime. Alice Thorson in the K.C. Star (11/18/04) says the "artist-driven" Urban Culture Project is filling empty storefronts and drawing huge crowds downtown. “I think it's a fine arrangement for all sides. We have vacant space,” says one real estate agent, and artists "help reinvent a given area and move on to the next area.” Said UCP founder David Hughes, “It's a temporary project that serves a function in the current environment.” Whee. [LINK]

"What you're seeing is the miracle of the National Lottery," says Paul Collard, creative director of the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, according to Tom Hundley in the Chicago Tribune (11/19/04). U.K.'s National Lottery provided more than $180 million for the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Sage Music Centre, the two most impressive new projects in the city's spectacular Quayside renovation. Says Collard, the national fondness for gambling generated an "unbelievable" cash investment for arts and culture, "and we had the good luck to be absolutely first in the queue." Officials say the Tyne riverside cultural renaissance has helped reverse the decline of Newcastle, which Time lists as one of Europe's "secret capitals," and Newsweek named one of "the world's eight most creative cities." (Thanks, IFACCA.) [LINK]

Jubilee Arts, the venerable community arts organization in West Bromwich, central England, has changed its name to The Public, and, in winter 2005, will open The Public Building, "the largest community art development in Europe." It will cost £40 million through an arts-and-community-development public-funding partnership. A 260-meter-long spiraling ramp runs through the building's four stories, which house spaces for family workshops, art projects, lifelong learning, small-scale publishing ventures, community Web casting, concerts, films, parties and meetings. The building also includes cafes, restaurants, shops, conference facilities and office space. And it's the focus of a £250-million regeneration of the town already under way with a new sports academy, shopping center, community health center, library and bus, rail and road links. [LINK]

What about the impact of the 2004 elections on various arts-funding measures at the state and local levels? Americans for the Arts Action Fund released its 2004 Election Impact on the Arts report on 11/11/04, saying local arts policy and funding are poised to break new ground. Ballot initiatives supporting the arts passed "convincingly" in six out of eight states. Successes happened in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Utah and Virginia; the two failures were in Missouri and Montana. The successful measures were mostly percent-for-art, tax, loan and other funding initiatives that will support, for instance, the building or improvement of cultural facilities, civic art districts and the return of arts programs to the schools. The report is online. [LINK]

Predictors of more culture war night be surprised to hear that when Congress finalized FY 2005 spending with the passage of the omnibus spending bill on 11/20/04, cultural funding was one of the few domestic spending areas that realized some small increases, says Americans for the Arts. A comparison —

• National Endowment for the Arts: FY 2004, $120.97 million; FY 2005, $121.26 million.
• National Endowment for the Humanities: FY 2004, $135.30 million; FY 2005, $138.05 million.
• Arts in Education programs through the U.S. Department of Education: FY 2004, $35.1 million; FY 2005, $35.6 million.
• Office of Museum Services: FY 2004, $31.4 million: FY 2005, $34.72 million.

Keep up with Congress at Americans for the Arts' E-Advocacy Center on the Web. [LINK]

Massive arts support didn't help John Kerry win the presidential election, but did it hurt? The Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones asked cultural critics (KRT Wire 11/12/04). "The Republicans ran directly and very successfully against the arts here," said Ohio State professor Alan Woods. "In Ohio, Bush played the Midwest off against the culture of the coasts. I don't think the arts are at all persuasive to people in Ohio anymore." Writer Neal Gabler envisions the Bush administration continuing to oppose the artistic and entertainment establishment. "What they've realized now is that cultural warfare not only works but it triumphs — that stigmatizing, demonizing not only is a device, it is the device. It is the way to govern the country," Gabler said. [LINK]

Ever since the U.S. presidential election, commentators and politicians everywhere have been calling for a return to national unity. Hogwash, says critic Julia Keller in the Chicago Tribune (11/14/04). "At one point, after all, the nation's leaders thought slavery was just dandy. The consensus was that women shouldn't vote. … Then someone had the courage to challenge the status quo and a new idea was born." Conformity and unity of thought have never helped the world advance, either culturally, politically or artistically, says Keller, and the lesson is vivid in the arts. "Only through avoiding consensus, only through steadfastly refusing to be unified, have artists progressed and evolved," and the same holds true for politicians, activists and American society as a whole. (Thanks, ArtsJournal.) [LINK]

Caron Atlas, now an organizational consultant and the former director of Appalshop's American Festival Project, worked for National Voice during the 2004 elections, helping the organization stay in touch with the efforts of artists and arts organizations to get out the vote. National Voice is closing this month and Atlas conducted an initial evaluation of the effort. The coalition of 1,000 non-partisan organizations and community groups claims partial credit for 15 million new voters (one in seven). They shipped 11.3 metric tons of "November 2" t-shirts, and placed 250 phone calls a minute on 11/2, reaching 100,000 voters. Thirty thousand people visited the NV Web site and thousands signed up for volunteer opportunities across the country. Materials are on the Web for another 12 months. [LINK]

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