We're excited to bring you the text of a recent speech by Arlene Goldbard at Ukiah Players Theatre in California, part of a meeting of people interested in making Ukiah a center for local stories through theater, digital storytelling and other community cultural-development practices. Ukiah Players is well known for its community performances that bring Ukiah's citizens and their stories to the stage. Goldbard extols for "the story revolution," a movement "that is every day stating the case for human resilience, diversity and connection at a time when that is what the world most needs. Why not do it here first? As the Spanish poet Antonio Machado said, 'Traveler, there is no road. We make the road by walking.'” [LINK]

"For humans to survive on this planet over the next century and beyond — with limited resources and no population control mechanisms in place — we need a radical shift in the understanding of our intricate interdependence with nature," says Patricia Watts, founder of ecoartspace, in a story for CAN this month. She talks about six projects that illustrate the ways ecological art has changed from the 1960s and '70s, when it was dominated by land art and earth art. Ecoart now provides a context for environmental education, and is achieved hand-in-hand with communities, says Watts. Ecoartists seek to gain access to and become advocates for communities, working as both co-learners and co-creators. She discusses intriguing community-based projects in Rhode Island, California, New York, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. [LINK]

Sit in on a course in the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin this month. Graduate student Claire Canavan guides us through Geeta Cowlagi's class exploring issues of sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking on the campus. Cowlagi is an education trainer with the Voices Against Violence project at UT, which uses Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to open up dialogue on thorny social topics. The project specifically targets the 18-24-year-olds on campus, says Canavan, because many college students are experiencing relationships for the first time. Using Forum Theater, students set up a scene of potential conflict, then ask their classmates to intervene and change the course of the action. [LINK]

If you are thirsty for information about contemporary visual art in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean "within the context of international art processes," visit the Universes in Universe site by Berliners Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder. Rich in graphics, it offers regional arts directories; exhibition calendars, reports and photo tours; submission calls, grants and opportunities; and a magazine. The latest edition, "Contemporary Art from the Islamic World," has in-depth reports, interviews and essays about art schools in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon; Cairo's gallery scene; tours through exhibitions by Arab and African artists and the Tunisian Biennial; and a report, "The West and the Muslim World: A Muslim Position," by six intellectuals from Egypt, Palestine, Malaysia, Bosnia, Syria and Pakistan. (Thanks, Art4Development.net.) [LINK]

"A Life in 15 Seconds" is the theme of a contest sponsored online by TakingITGlobal in its Global Gallery. Recognizing that every 15 seconds one young person is infected with HIV, the international youth-organizing project launched the contest on World AIDS Day, and will accept submissions of "images that represent fragments of life in 15 seconds" through January 30, 2005. The contest "aims to explore the meaning of the smaller beautiful things in life that many of us take for granted and that too many are not able to live. A life can change forever in 15 seconds." The winner, who must be a TakingITGlobal member under the age of 30 to participate, will receive a Hewlett-Packard scanner. (Membership is free.) [LINK]

Global trade agreements make it increasingly difficult for countries to support their own artists and cultural institutions with subsidy funding or other measures, says Alfred Marseille in a report from the November 2004 Netherlands Social Forum (on The Power of Culture site). Agreements to liberalize the global market protect the interests of large multinational corporations, said forum speakers, and threaten cultural democracy because they offer countries increasingly less leeway for pursuing their own policies, such as support for national cultural production. They recommended that culture be named the fourth pillar of sustainable development, alongside the environment, combating poverty and economic development. They supported UNESCO's preparation of a legal basis for protecting at-risk cultural diversity in developing countries (a move expected to be blocked by the U.S.). [LINK]

The British group PLATFORM has initiated a radical new art site called the Museum of the Corporation for examination of and debate about the social and environmental impact of corporate power worldwide. They hope the museum will be a site where the current polarization of the debate can be resisted and truly new insights shared. In the first two years, the museum "space" is temporary; activities have included "Loot?" (walks around London investigating the history of the East India Company, the first transnational company) and "Degrees of Capture" (investigating relationships between academic research and corporate sponsors). This month (1/05), watch the Web site for a broad call for ideas from artists, activists and business people. (Thanks, Beverly Naidus.) [LINK]

Two youth-arts companies from Mexico joined 15 U.S. recipients of the 2004 Coming Up Taller Awards in December, each winning group receiving $10,000 to further its work. The Mexican winners were the Programa de Atencion a Grupos Vulnerables (Vulnerable Groups Attention Program) in Quintana Roo, which gives youth from the local Juvenile Readaption Center the opportunity to perform in an orchestra using instruments they have created, and the Desarrollo Creativo (Creative Development) program of Vientos Culturales (Cultural Winds) in Chiapas, which has enabled more than 5,000 young people to participate in visual and performing arts workshops, performances and exhibitions, using a house built by community members. Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, founded by the Clintons. [LINK]

Artists and musicians are enthusiastic Internet users and they believe the Internet helps them make and sell their work, says a new study, "Artists, Musicians and the Internet" from the Pew Internet & American Life Project (12/5/04). Pew surveys show there are 32 million Americans who consider themselves artists and about 10 million ("Paid Artists") earn at least some level of compensation from their performances, songs, paintings, videos, creative writing and other art. Pew says 77 percent of all artists and 83 percent of all Paid Artists use the Internet, compared to 63 percent of the entire adult population. Substantial numbers of them use the Internet to gain inspiration, build community with fans and fellow artists and pursue new commercial activity. [LINK]

"Performing the World 3: The Performance of Creativity and the Creativity of Performance" is a conference planned for October 14-16, 2005, at Tarrytown House, Tarrytown, N.Y. Sponsored by the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, it explores the growing global performance movement and "what all this ensemble creativity, improvisatory play and stage-making might mean for human development and social change." Looking at the potential of a performance approach to unleash and nurture the human capacity to create, collaborate and change the world, the conference fields of interest include education, psychology, medicine, organizational change, community development, participatory research and evaluation, political organizing and more. The conveners are accepting proposals for conference sessions. (Thanks, Art4Development.net.) [LINK]

Tom Tresser's Creative America, a volunteer project passionately dedicated to getting artists to run for office, plans its first "candidate-training session" in Chicago, Ill., on January 22, 2005, at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre. The all-day session is designed to show creative professionals how to run for local office using grassroots, progressive strategies and how to be grassroots organizers or managers for social-change campaigns. The training ($20.06) will cover: the place of creativity in the historic and economic life of America; why artists and creative professionals are needed in the civic arena; who is pursuing an "anti-creativity" agenda and why; translating your creative credentials into political assets; and how to get your message out, recruit and manage volunteers and raise funds. [LINK]

Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, Minn., continues to serve its community with amazing arts-based programs that address the deepest and most immediate local concerns. A prominent series has been "Immigrant Status," with visual exhibitions, brown-bag dialogues, film screenings, performances and community workshops around the issues of the city's burgeoning immigrant populations. This month, Intermedia will hold a "Health Fair for Uninsured and Under-insured Artists and Arts Organizations," co-presented with Springboard for the Arts (1/22/05). They also open "Home Sweet Home Again," a show of visual artwork and poetry, co-presented with the Family Housing Fund, addressing the acute shortage of affordable housing in the Twin Cities that keeps thousands of individuals and families with children homeless (1/27/05). [LINK]

As chair of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has placed the arts front and center with his initiative "The Arts: A Lifetime of Learning." The initiative's Web site has a "Why the Arts?" section that outlines several rationales (academic, social and civic engagement, economic development and quality of life) for the essential role of the arts in the K-12 education of every child; a collection of the governor's statements on the importance of arts education; and the story of Arkansas's efforts to provide all students with access to quality instruction in and through the arts. In addition, there are links to ECS' arts-in-education site and highlights from the arts session at the 2004 National Forum on Education Policy. (Thanks, NASAA.) [LINK]

When a 22-year-old American with Vietnamese roots went to Vietnam in summer 2004 to study the psychology of street children, she found herself teaching them how to draw , say Nhu Lich and Thien Long on Thanh Nien News.com. “I would like to become a pediatrics doctor for the United Nations and share in the responsibilities of relieving the hardships of street children throughout the world. Doing this work now will help me later,” said biologist Shoshana Lara Woo. "I chose to teach children to draw so I can analyze their thoughts and dreams through their pictures. I can also learn about their personalities and characters. Besides being entertainment for the children, drawing also helps me understand what kind of people and events affect the children." (Thanks, Art4Development.net.) [LINK]

Imagine a community-wide broadcasting site where arts organizations could post audio interviews and discussions relating to their programs, asks Andrew Taylor in The Artful Manager, his blog on ArtsJournal.com. Think pod-casting: a new form of audio distribution bubbling up around the Internet through a combination of Internet news feeds, downloaded audio files and portable personal audio players like the Apple iPod. It's an automated way of delivering and updating content that could benefit forwarding-looking arts organizations, who, says Taylor, are in the business of cultural management — delivering rich content to an audience, one way or another. Content could include performances as well as interviews and conversation surrounding a stimulating project. [LINK]

Los Angeles Poverty Department took its play "Agents & Assets" to the Cleveland Public Theater in November 2004. Every performance of the play (about the allegation that the CIA sold crack cocaine in L.A.'s black communities to finance the Nicaraguan Contras) was followed by community discussions. Guests included Ed Orlett, manager of the "treatment, not jail" initiative in Ohio; Inter-Faith Council Director Tony Vento, on the war on drugs' impact in Central America and Colombia; and Alfred McCoy, author of "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia." Journalist Dan Forbes, attorney Myron Watson and Director Brian Davis addressed organized opposition to Ohio drug reform and the war on drugs' impact on urban communities. See playwright Linda Eisenstein's story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (11/24/04). [LINK]

The Bauen Camp, a Wyoming summer camp for teens exploring arts for social change, has embarked on a multi-city, community-building outreach project for a diverse group of young people 13-18 throughout 2005-2007. Each year 48 outstanding young people from Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago and New York who show potential in one or more artistic disciplines will be selected to attend the camps by their teachers and mentors. A Bauen Camp Network will be established in each community to carry on the explorations in community building begun at the camp. An evaluation, measuring the success of the use of arts to build strong communities, will complete the project. The first outreach Bauen Camp Network is already in place in Australia. [LINK]

Critic Frank Rich, N.Y. Times, 1/2/05: "The day that news of the slaughter at the mess tent in Mosul slammed into the evening news, CBS [showed] 'The Kennedy Center Honors,' the carefree variety show in which Washington's top dogs mingle with visitors from that mysterious land known as the Arts … handing out medals to those representing 'the very best in American culture,' as exemplified by honorees like Australia's Dame Joan Sutherland and Britain's Sir Elton John. Festive bipartisanship reigned. Though Sir Elton had said just three weeks earlier that 'Bush and this administration are the worst thing that has ever happened to America,' he and his boyfriend joined the president and Mrs. Bush in their box. John Kerry held forth in an orchestra seat below." [LINK]

Philadelphia's Iron Age Theater has prepared a unique study guide for its updated touring production of progressive historian Howard Zinn's play "Marx in Soho." It stars Bob Weick, who plays Karl Marx returning from the afterlife for one hour to clear his name. Marx tells his life story and uses current news and events to clarify his ideas and their relationship to contemporary America. The study guide offers readings about Marx, his family and his contemporaries (Engels, La Fargue, Bakunin, Proudhon); a history of the Paris Commune; and an essay by Howard Zinn on war, poverty and government from his "Terrorism and War." Zinn is the author of 20 books, including "The People's History of the United States." The study guide is on the Web. [LINK]

Sales of Japanese comics — more familiarly known as manga — are exploding in the U.S., tapping into a new audience for comics: young girls, says George Gene Gustines in the N.Y. Times (12/28/04). These "shojo manga" celebrate strong female characters in adventure yarns or stories focusing on love and relationships. U.S. manga sales were $90-$110 million in 2003, and 2004 showed strong double-digit growth. American comic books for young girls have not been popular since the late 50s, the era of Betty and Veronica, said comics author Trina Robbins. "Manga is bringing back the very same subjects, but with a twist, a 21st-century Japanese sensibility," she said. "The girls are cute, they're never insulting and they never have big breasts." [LINK]

St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London has come under attack from medical professionals and politicians because of its decision to spend £250,000 ($467,000) on artworks for its new breast-cancer screening center, says Gareth Harris on theartnewspaper.com (1/8/05). Using private donations, the hospital bought 12 paintings and installations because, it says, there is evidence that art speeds patients’ recovery by improving their spirits. Harris says research by Texas A&M scientist Roger Ulrich shows that patients exposed to “emotionally appropriate works of art” were less anxious, requested less medication and recovered more quickly post-operation. But, Ulrich added, “Certain research indicates that types of emotionally challenging, provocative works of art can actually worsen stress, pain and other outcomes. These works sometimes include, for example, critically acclaimed, quality paintings." (Thanks culturalpolicy.com). [LINK]

Art & Community Landscapes, an artist residency program by the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Park Service and the NEA that addresses conservation concerns through site-specific public art projects, has announced its 2004-5 grantees ($50,000 each). Maura Bordes Cronin, a Massachusetts public artist who explores the potential of landscapes in transition, will help North Carolina's Perquimans County develop a Greenway/Blueway Plan for 100 miles of fragile shoreline. Cronin has proposed sculpture, installation and festival projects for the area addressing the importance of ancestry, heritage and natural conservation. Mark Dannenhauer will help reclaim neglected, contaminated Chelsea Creek near Boston by "re-storying" the riverway, i.e., providing opportunities for community members to create photographs, sound recordings and puppets documenting Chelsea Creek's history, ecology, people and places. [LINK]

Big news from the National Center for Creative Aging: NCCA Executive Director Susan Perlstein won the Gloria Cavanaugh Award for Excellence in Training and Education from the American Society on Aging, acknowledging her 25 years of dedication to the emerging field of creative aging. Also, NCCA has secured support from MetLife Foundation and media sponsorship from Time Warner Cable for its national public-awareness campaign, "The Art of Aging: Creativity Matters," making possible prime-time PSAs on cable TV. And the NCCA and the Council for Senior Centers and Services (CSCS) will jointly sponsor an "Art of Aging" exhibition and town hall meeting January 27, 2005, for the annual CSCS conference in New York. More than 15 senior centers contributed panels of artwork created by their members. [LINK]

Some of the most compelling commentary on Iraq, says Carol Kino in the N.Y. Times (12/13/04), comes from a New York painter, Steve Mumford, embedded with military units in hot spots like Baquba, Tikrit and Baghdad on and off since April 2003. Mumford has posted frequent dispatches Artnet.com, each accompanied by drawings and paintings — many made on the spot — illustrating people and places in the story. A selection of his drawings is on view at White Columns in Manhattan through Jan. 30, 2005. For some artists and critics, says Kino, the work lacks the expected political edge. "I think it's difficult for them to look at what I'm doing because I don't take an antiwar position," Mumford said. [LINK]

Happy New Year: A few new sources of funding are available, and could be applied to community arts! The State Department, for example, offers new funding for professional exchanges between U.S. nonprofit arts organizations and their counterparts in Africa, East Asia, Eurasia, Central and Southeastern Europe, the Near East/North Africa, South Asia and the Western Hemisphere. The program seeks proposals that will demonstrate the effectiveness of arts and cultural programs addressing many concerns of community arts: 1) Conflict Resolution; 2) New Opportunities for Youth, especially in Muslim countries; 3) Respect for Cultural Identity and Creative Products; 4) Governance, Accountability and Transparency in Cultural Management; and 5) HIV and AIDS Awareness and Prevention. Application deadline: February 15, 2005. Awards range: $50,000-$300,000. (Thanks, California Alliance for Arts Education.) [LINK]

New creation and touring funds for ensemble theaters are available from the two-year Ensemble Theatres Program, administered by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP). For community-based ensembles, this could mean national exposure for the artworks and methods that have had great impact in their home communities. The program acknowledges that ensemble theater work "has grown despite the absence of an infrastructure to support these efforts." Part of the Theatre Initiative launched in 2000 by the Duke and Mellon Foundations, the program provides $20,000-$40,000 grants for projects, $5,000-$10,000 grants for infrastructure and $2,000 travel subsidies. Applications are due March 1, 2005. API applauds this initiative, the need for which became apparent during our research for "Performing Communities: The Grassroots Ensemble Theater Research Project." [LINK]

California's James Irvine Foundation has announced grants totaling $3.5 million in a new initiative, "Communities Advancing the Arts." Eight community foundations in California will each receive grants ranging from $300,000 to $600,000 for two parallel programs: regranting programs to local arts organizations and/or individual artists, and capacity-building programs within the community foundations to increase support for the arts through donor education and cultivation activities. Irvine says its new initiative reflects a drastic shift in state funding for the arts, especially in California, now ranked last in the U.S. (three cents per capita). Irvine recommends increased support for community foundations, whose assets are held in donor-advised funds, and says these are among the fastest-growing giving vehicles in the U.S. today and outnumber private foundations. [LINK]

The application deadline has been extended to January 31, 2005, for applications to Artography, a "grantmaking, documentation and field learning" pilot program around changing demographics in the U.S., administered by Leveraging Investment in Creativity (LINC) and supported by the Ford Foundation. Its goals are to recognize, strengthen and reflect on exemplary artistic and organizational practice as seen through the changing-demographics lens. It intends to support artistically exemplary, diverse and community-responsive arts organizations; establish a dynamic and self-directed learning community of practitioners in order to document and share ideas and practices; and enrich the vocabulary, concepts and strategies for addressing arts and culture in a changing America. Artography will provide two-year grants of $50,000-$100,000 for general operating expenses to approximately 8–12 "mid-sized" nonprofit organizations. [LINK]

The British arts community is furious over a three-year freeze in arts funding announced by the government on December 14, 2004. "The last five years have seen a revolution in the arts in Britain," said National Theatre Associate Director Tom Morris in the Guardian (12/19/04). "John Major's National Lottery was already paying off the debts of bankrupt arts organizations when Tony Blair … doubled the arts budget. For those of us who had lived on boiled pebbles since arts funding was mangled by Margaret Thatcher, it was like an unannounced sleepover with the dream fairy." Now, he says, we're told the arts have "had their turn." (Some perspective: Britain annually spends $16 per capita on the arts; the U.S. spends 54 cents.) (Thanks, Arts Journal.) [LINK]

Sick of talk about funding? Clear your head at the American Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore, Md., dedicated to what some call "outsider art" and the propositions that America is best served by her self-taught pioneers, and that being overly indoctrinated with ideas of what "cannot work" only stifles human innovation and idea-making. One of their educational goals is to expand the definition of a "worthwhile life." Recent exhibitions have included "HolyH20: Fluid Universe," "High on Life" and "The End Is Near!" Events for 2005 include the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race (for the coveted Mediocre Award and the highly prized Next-to-the-Last Award), Mondo Exotica (the most outrageous party in Baltimore) and shrine workshops from a Voodoo priestess. Teacher resources: Make your own art car — and robot! (Thanks, Fluid Movement.) [LINK]

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