Beat the heat in Baltimore August 5-7, 2005, at Fluid Movement's fourth annual synchronized-swimming extravaganza, featuring 68 community performers. This year's performance, "Postcards from the Deep End: The Flurry Family Vacation," takes place in "Fluid Movement's trademark swimming, dancing, glittery style!" at the Riverside Park Pool, preceded opening night by live music from the Secret Crush Society. Fluid Movement was founded in 1998 by activist/acrobat and Open Society Institute Community Fellow Keri Burneston. Board members include Avi Decter, director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, and Ed Rutkowski, founding director of the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation and co-author of "The Urban Transition Zone - A Place Worth a Fight." [LINK]

Artist Lily Yeh, founder of Philadelphia's Village of Arts and Humanities, has a new organization called Barefoot Artists, which "brings the transformative power of art to the most impoverished communities in the world." Their current focus is the two-year Rwanda Healing Project, which will engage 100 female-headed families from the Survivors Village in the Cyanzarwe District and dozens of workers and volunteers from the nearby city of Gisenyi. Activities include the transformation of Survivors Village and The Genocide Memorial Park honoring genocide victims from the Rugerero area, where over 800,000 people were slaughtered within 100 days in 1994. "Making art in stark environments like these generates a positive and powerful energy, the likes of which I have not experienced anywhere else," reports Yeh. [LINK]

"Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development" by Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard is back in print. When "Creative Community" was published by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2001, it was widely welcomed as a much-needed introduction to the theory, historical antecedents and practice of community cultural development in the United States. It quickly became a mainstay of academic and community training programs in the community arts field. The original edition is now out of print, but Adams and Goldbard have brought out a text-only version, now available for download or in print. By September, it will also be available at online bookstores. For more information, contact Arlene Goldbard at arlene@arlenegoldbard.com. [LINK]

Arts Council England announced July 12, 2005, the publication of its National Carnival Arts Strategy, placing carnival as a major artform in England. The Arts Council, which has a history of funding Caribbean and Latin American carnival disciplines, aims with this new strategy to provide the carnival arts sector with the same awareness of and access to funding as other artforms, says a council press release. It is hoped that the strategy will act as an advocacy tool for the increased recognition of carnival as an artform and also be a major contribution to the Arts Council’s race equality and diversity objectives. The strategy sets out some practical ways for carnival arts to develop between 2005 and 2007 to meet the Arts Council’s Ambitions for the Arts. (Thanks, IFACCA.) [LINK]

The City of Detroit has decided to close the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism in an attempt to reduce the city's $300-million budget shortfall. Barbara Kratchman, president of ArtServe Michigan, responds in the Detroit Free Press, making the case that "communities throughout Michigan are building economic development strategies based on the strengths of vibrant cultural activities. ...Arts and culture in Detroit is one cause that merits investment because it offers educational opportunities to people; connects generations and cultures; creates community development; promotes volunteerism; enhances quality of life; attracts businesses, highly skilled workers and families, and generates revenue for taxpayers rather than draining it away." (Thanks, Center for Arts and Culture.) [LINK]

The public will soon have unfettered access to a huge, free photography museum on the Web, says Randy Kennedy in the N.Y. Times (7/20/05). Photomuse.com is a new site by the International Center of Photography and the George Eastman House -- the world's oldest photography museum, with more than 400,000 photos and negatives dating back to the medium's invention. While there are dozens of digital databases of photography on the Web, many are commercial sites that don't allow the public free access. Said Center Director Willis E. Hartshorn, "We didn't want simply to create a scholarly site only for researchers. We wanted something that would allow anyone with the interest to easily explore ... the history of photography and the impact it's had on our culture." [LINK]

"You Are Here" is the McKnight Foundation's second book about the development of the arts in Twin Cities suburbs. "You Are Here" provides more reflections on suburban cultural development; an interactive map with a representative sample of "art places and happenings"; and a series of profiles that explore how some of these places came into being. Says the publisher, "Although the region needs large institutions to set standards and act as cultural anchors, people also want arts experiences that are close to home and part of their daily lives." The McKnight Web site has a .pdf of the report of the eight-county study and a linked "metro guide to suburban public arts adventures." [LINK]

Arts and cultural partnerships between large and small organizations are not as beneficial as foundations hope they will be, says researcher Francie Ostrower in a recent Cultural Comment on the Center for Arts and Culture site (excerpted from Stanford Social Innovation Review). Many foundations have an ideological commitment to partnerships as ends in themselves, rather than tools. Ostrower's Urban Institute study of the Wallace Foundation’s Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation initiative (intended to encourage community foundations to expand audience-building programs) showed such partnerships often result in "misplaced incentives, inadequate funds, inappropriate objectives and logistical difficulties." Partnering can cost too much time, money and commitment and prove ineffective, Ostrower found, yet foundations continue to stick by the policy of requiring grantees to collaborate. [LINK]

Since taking office in 2002, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has anonymously donated $55 million to arts and social-service groups around the city through the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation of New York, reports Leonard Jacobs on Backstage.com (7/13/05). The donor's identity has long been an open secret and it's bound to help his re-election campaign, says Jacobs, but he calls the donations a welcome boon. "This year, due to the ballooning of Bloomberg's donation, 229 arts and cultural groups will receive grants, compared to the 198 organizations that benefited in 2004 and the 162 groups that benefited in 2003. The grants are especially valuable because they defray general operating expenses -- a scarce catch in contemporary arts and cultural philanthropy." See the story for a list of beneficiaries. (Thanks, Arts Journal.) [LINK]

Edi Rama, mayor of Tirana, Albania, is an artist who took the city for his canvas, says Jane Kramer in the New Yorker (6/27/05). "The first thing he did as mayor [2000] was to order paint. He blasted the façades of Tirana’s gray Stalinist apartment blocks with color — riotous, Caribbean color," she says. He called it an "intervention." He carted away 123,000 tons of concrete and 90,000 tons of garbage, says Kramer. He dredged Tirana’s Lana River, seeded 36 acres of public parks, relaid old boulevards and planted 4,000 trees. People enjoy Tirana now. “People can say that my color is only makeup,” Rama says. “But suppose all makeup disappeared. Suppose all women had no makeup, no pretty dresses, no pretty hair.” Read it on Tirana's Web site. [LINK]

Under Pressure 22, the newsletter of the International Theatre of the Oppressed (ITO) organization, breaks news about TO activity all around the world. The issue includes stories about the Flying Jokers project for Moldova, Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro; the introduction of TO into Kyrgyzstan ("after the revolution and before the elections, a country in turmoil"); an "intervention theatre" training at Bukavu, Congo; an interview with Sanjoy Ganguly during his visit to Vienna, in which he talks about Theatre of the Oppressed in India, about the unhappiness of Europeans and about politicizing theater work; and news from Uganda and Italy. [LINK]

Controversial new Stations of the Cross were recently dedicated at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Green in East Norwalk, Conn. Artist Gwyneth Leech was commissioned to paint stations that blend traditional Christian iconography with contemporary elements. She depicts Christ's journey to the cross, incorporating the suffering of people around the world caught in the midst of armed conflict: the war in Iraq, abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and genocide in Sudan."The year that I worked on the commission, starting in March 2004, was dominated by conflict in the Middle East, especially the war in Iraq. The many photographs of the torture and humiliation of captives, whether by soldiers or by insurgents turned the Way of the Cross into a contemporary narrative," says Leech. [LINK]

Activist Grace Lee Boggs has been passionately speaking and writing about the need for movement building lately. YES magazine recently reprinted a Boggs article from the Michigan Citizen that concentrated her wisdom on this topic, drawn from conversations with activist John Maguire. Since so much organizing is going on in the community arts world right now, we thought this story would be of interest on CAN. Boggs and Maguire have fresh, brief thoughts on rejecting victimhood, recognizing the humanity of one's opponents, creative transformation of ourselves and our institutions, dialectical thinking, intergenerational inclusion and restorative justice -- "new ways of thinking and being that restore community and advance us another step in our evolution as human beings." [LINK]

The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Toolbox debuted online July 11, 2005, with a body of knowledge reflecting the Dance Exchange’s 28 years as a pioneer in art-and-community collaboration. The new site offers step-by-step techniques for choreography, community-building and constructive human interaction, including guiding principles, links, a wealth of essays by Founding Artistic Director Liz Lerman and more. The easy-to-use Web interface allows users to create their own paths into the material. You can browse the tools themselves, their underlying principles or essays offering historical background, real-life examples, theory and philosophy; you can use "if/try" scenarios to solve specific problems (an excellent use of Web technology); and you can read about the tools in action at the Dance Exchange. [LINK]

A proposal before the U.S. Congress would give tax incentives to a commercial radio station for giving its license to a performing arts group. The Cultural Radio Tax Credit Act was introduced by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) June 15, says Leonard Jacobs on Backstage.com (7/6/05). HR 2904 would provide a tax credit to the owner of a radio broadcasting station that "donates the license and other assets of said station to a nonprofit corporation for purposes of supporting nonprofit fine arts and performing arts organizations. ...The owner must ensure that the nonprofit group...will run it as a for-profit entity, with all profits 'dedicated' to supporting not-for-profit arts groups in the station's service area." The bills is seeking sponsors. (Thanks, Arts Journal.) [LINK]

Retiring from the NEA after 30 years, poet A.B. Spellman spoke recently about his "baby," the Expansion Arts grant program (1971-1996). Its purpose, he said, was to find and develop professional arts organizations that were "deeply rooted in and reflective of the culture of minority inner-city, rural and tribal communities. ...And these were movements of artists who went back into their communities, attempted to mine the culture that was there, and to get their communities invigorated and re-enlivened by art. Their behaviors were a little different from most of the arts organizations at the time. ...there was sort of an applied-arts aspect of the Expansion Arts program, which created a certain controversy here at the Arts Endowment." Why? Read more on the NEA site. [LINK]

"The controversy generated by the hate group Save Our State over the Baldwin Park monument, 'Danzas Indigenas,' has been a mixed blessing for SPARC," says artist Judy Baca in SPARC's newsletter (7/8/05). "It has reminded us of the potency of public artworks to unite communities." SPARC responded online and by organizing against hate groups. "In the process, we also invented a new mural form using traditional protest signs, thirty participants in choreographed movements, quotes from an on-line forum that spoke back to Save Our State. ...The new mural, 'Tu eres mi otro yo/You Are My Other Me,' sounds a cautionary note to not become what we despise." Catch up on SPARC's Web site and join its Web forum. [LINK]

New on CAN: A design workshop by the NEA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation has been quietly promoting small-town economic development and viability. Jennifer Roche writes about Your Town: Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design and the community development it has sparked in small towns across the U.S. Every year Your Town workshops teach rural community leaders how to assess their town’s physical assets and make the best of them. “If (small towns) have a plan and their vision is based in reason, a remarkable amount of success can come of it,” says Richard Hawks, co-founder of Your Town. "It’s communities who don’t know who they are and what they want to be that get victimized.” [LINK]

What would downtown Rochester, N.Y., look like if hundreds of huge photos were hung on the exteriors of its buildings for a whole year? Find out at the Web site of R.O.M.A., the Rochester Outdoor Museum of Art. Art student Ken Ichiro Sato proposes the idea with a slide show of Rochester's big buildings transformed with massive color photos. Sato wants to "revitalize" the downtown area using the rich photography culture and history of Rochester, home to Kodak and Xerox. He has plans to initiate an international photo contest, create downtown walking tours of the year-long exhibit and generate family activities. So far it's just a dream, but the slide show is great. [LINK]

Today CAN offers Caron Atlas' review of "Creative Community Building through Cross-Sector Collaboration, a European Mapping and Consultation Initiative" from the U.K.'s Centre for Creative Communities (CCC). Issued jointly with Greece's Melina Project, the publication focuses on exemplary cross-sector policies, theories and practices in nine European countries. The areas of collaboration include arts and education, arts and social cohesion, and arts and health. Atlas, a N.Y.-based consultant on community-based art, compares the principles of the European projects -- recognizing culture as a human right, and acknowledging the integral and vitally important connection between art, culture and daily life -- with cultural policy in the U.S., which she finds "often marginalized, narrowly defined, invisible, market-driven or feared." [LINK]

About Face Youth Theatre's "Home Project" is a response to some startling statistics about youth homelessness in Chicago. In spring 2005, a group of teens, ages 14-20, began a process of interviews and story gathering on the streets of Chicago. They found that each year an estimated 15,000 Chicago youth experience homelessness; of these, 40 percent — approximately 6,000 — identify as lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender; there are fewer than 40 beds in Chicago-area shelters designated for them. The Home Project became a theatrical laboratory in the summer of 2005 where AFYT participants investigated true stories and adapted them for the stage, culminating in four performances July 28-31 at the Theatre Building Chicago. The project is directed by Megan Carney. [LINK]

Today, CAN reviews "Disability and Contemporary Performance" by Petra Kuppers. Choreographer Stuart Pimsler, who makes dance theater with healthcare professionals, discusses Kuppers' historical and cultural perspectives on the evolution of the disabled performer. "Along the way," says Pimsler, "the author contextualizes this discussion within a political format, demonstrating that the label of 'disabled' is but another cultural construct defined by the majority." Pimsler briefly surveys the contemporary history of community-based performance and its impact on the vernacular of concert dance. He shows how Kuppers uses Michel Foucault's concepts of "otherness," "normal" and "the blind spot," and juxtaposes those theoretical underpinnings with numerous examples of performance work created with and by disabled artists. [LINK]

The cultural policy of Uganda, established in 2003, links the arts to social development, writes Inge Ruigrok in an online series on cultural policy in non-Western countries. The Ungandan ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development has integrated culture into the national plan to combat poverty, she says. It promotes cultural industries as a source of income for the poor and encourages the use of indigenous know-how. The ministry emphasizes decentralization, encouraging local authorities to formulate their own cultural policies, based on the national guidelines. There's a Culture Office in each of the 56 districts that make up Uganda. See the Power of Culture Web site for Ruigrok's stories on cultural policy in Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Namibia and Angola. [LINK]

Are biotechnology and bioengineering too powerful to be left in the hands of business and government alone? Should artists should be able to use them too, asks Randy Kennedy in a thorough N.Y. Times story (7/3/05) on the new field of bioart. Art experiments with bacteria and genetically altered plants and animals have caused a disturbing reaction among government agencies and university ethics committees, especially when artists use their work to challenge the power government and business hold over science. Some scientists fear the fuss could have a chilling effect on collaborative research. But activist artists like Critical Art Ensemble complain that bioart divorcing itself from political questions is just another curio in the cultural world's "market for novelty." [LINK]

"Ghost Ship" is a new public art project by artist Chris Burden, commissioned by Locus+ in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. "Ghost Ship"involves the autonomous voyage of a boat from Fair Isle, Scotland, due south along the eastern shores of the British Isles to Newcastle. It will arrive on July 27 during the last leg of the Tall Ships Races 2005 as part of the 2005 Alive International Festival of the Rivers and the Sea. "Ghost Ship" is a traditional 28-foot Shetland sailing boat, a "Sixareen," hand built on Fair Isle by Ian Best and fitted with the technology and equipment to navigate by itself. The project makes reference to the regional heritage of boat building and recent cultural shifts toward new technology. It will be on public view until July 29. [LINK]

The July-August 2005 issue of American Theatre explores "history theater" and new challenges to criticism. The issue includes a wide-ranging interview with Native American playwright William S. Yellow Robe Jr. by South Dakota journalist David Rooks, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Yellow Robe's play, "Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers," examines the toll of 19th-century events on contemporary reservation life. Randy Gener writes about a two-pronged project by Perseverance Theatre that explores early-20th-century Filipino immigration to Alaska. And Ben Cameron suggests that critics may have a larger cultural role than "cultural endorser" -- now that Zagat has entered the Manhattan theater scene. [LINK]

"[Artists Bono and Bob Geldof] are lending legitimacy to power," said George Monbiot (6/21/05) in the Guardian, referring to the rock stars' effort to reduce poverty in Africa by appealing to world leaders. "...they have assumed the role of arbiters: of determining on our behalf whether the leaders of the G8 nations should be congratulated or condemned for the decisions they make." Bono reponded on "Meet the Press": "Am I being used? In a certain sense perhaps, but it works both ways. If they deliver...they deserve credit. If they blow it, then they deserve our boos and our hisses and they will lose our audience, and our audience is a big audience. I don't mean the U2 audience, but music constituency. They're the floating vote." [LINK]