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Community-Based Theatre: Art, Culture and Social Change
Instructor: Caron Atlas
New York University, New York. N.Y. (Fall 2003)

Goal and process:

Our goal is to broaden our perspective and deepen our understanding of the intersection between art, culture, and social change in creation, cultural organizing, and cultural policy. Guest artists, organizers, and policymakers will present interactive case studies to stimulate critical thinking and reflection about the practice of this work. A discussion of values and principles will be a through-line for this course.

We will begin by developing a series of questions to pose to our guests about how they do their work, how it ties into concepts and strategies for change, what systems support them, what methodologies and creative processes they engage, and what impact the work has. Guests will also be asked to talk about the questions they are asking of themselves and their colleagues.

Reading, assignments and exam:

Readings will provide background and analysis including history, theories, and principles of this work. They will also offer further case studies and examples of reflective writing and provide context for the guest presentations.

Writing assignments will develop practical skills in analysis, documentation, criticism, and fundraising. There will be two longer assignments (7-8 page papers). One will focus on writing about the process and product of a project or program. The second will be the development and presentation of a grant proposal. In addition there will be two short (2-3 page) papers connected to the readings and guest presentations and a final exam.

Grades:

Grades will be based on attendance, participation, presentation, writing assignments, and final exam. Late assignments will be penalized. Because this class will be built around class discussion and guest presentations, attendance and participation are very important. Please note the university's policy on plagiarism as noted in the Student Handbook.

Grades will be based on the following:

• Attendance 10%
• Participation 10%
• Presentation 10%
• Written Assignments 40%
• Final exam 30
• There will also be two opportunities for extra credit described following the course outline.

Course Outline

September 2

SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
We will review the course outline and requirements and begin to develop an overview and history of the work through a timeline exercise. A screening of "PACT: Dialogues on Art, Culture and Social Change" will be a catalyst for a discussion of critical issues including the development of partnerships, power relationships, measuring impact, and aesthetics. You will receive a student survey to fill out and return on September 9.

September 9

SESSION 2: HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND CRITICAL ISSUES / ESTABLISHING THE QUESTIONS
We will continue our discussion of critical issues, gain an overview of the history and principles of community cultural development and theater for social change, and learn of some of the influences on this work. Using this information we will create a framework of questions for our guests.

Readings: Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, Creative Community Chapters 1-5; Jan Cohen-Cruz, Motion of the Ocean, "The Shifting Face of US Theater for Social Change since the 1960s", Theater; Graciela Sanchez, declaration from the lawsuit Esperanza vs City of San Antonio; Cocke, Newman, Salmon-Rue, "Matrix Articulating the Principles of Grassroots Theater"

Student survey due

Assignment- due September 23. Write a 2- 3 page essay about a key principle, historic influence or issue raised by the readings and the PACT Video. Augment these resources by visiting the reading room of the Community Arts Network (www.communityarts.net) and draw from at least one additional reading for your essay.

September 16

SESSION 3: THE CITIZEN ARTIST
CASE STUDY - MARTY POTTENGER, Abundance
We will examine the role of the artist as citizen, stimulating and engaging in civic dialogue and linking dialogue to change. We start from an expanded notion of "cultural citizenship" which is not limited to voting or legal status, but rather how culture is engaged in public life.

Marty Pottenger won an Obie award for City Water Tunnel #3 (see readings.) She is currently working on Abundance, produced by the Working Theater which will have an off-Broadway production in the Spring of 2003 as well as a US tour.

Abundance is a community arts project about money as told through the stories of people in the United States. Through interviews with billionaires and minimum wage workers and ongoing civic dialogues with people from across the economic spectrum, Abundance initiates a conversation in which people from across this particularly

American spectrum of economic difference can gather and begin to communicate their personal experiences as players on the economic field.

Readings: From The Citizen Artist, Marty Pottenger, "The Making of City Water Tunnel Number 3" and Emily Hicks, "The Artist as Citizen: Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Felipe Ehernberg, David Avalos and Judy Baca," (both readings can be found at http://www.thecitizenartist.com), Adrienne Kennedy, "Why I Refused the National Medal of the Arts, "letter between Milan Kundura and Carlos Fuentes, Liz Lerman, "Are Miracles Enough?"

Web site: http://www.Abundanceproject.net

September 23

SESSION 4: CULTURAL ORGANIZING: WORKING FROM A COMMUNITY BASE, CREATING NETWORKS

CASE STUDIES - ROSALBA ROLON, PREGONES THEATER
We will hear about how Pregones creates original theater and plays a critical role in its home community in the Bronx, and is also a leader in national and international artist networks.Since 1979, Pregones Theater has worked to create innovative and challenging theater, rooted in Puerto Rican traditions and popular artistic expressions, with the aim of offering Latino & other communities an artistic means to reaffirm and enhance their roles in society. Rosalba Rolon is the artistic director of Pregones Theater and president of the board of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC).

In the second part of the class we will discuss examples of artists organizing themselves including NALAC; Alternate Roots and the American Festival Project. The readings include some historical and international examples as well.

Readings:Information about Teatro Pregones from Performing Communities http://www.performingcommunities.com (theater profile, field notes, interview summaries, and Bob Leonard, "The Twin Rigors of Art and Community") Artists Against Poverty Manifesto, Charles Frederick, "Imaginaction," Lucy Lippard, "Trojan Horses: Activist Art and Power," Erika Munk, "Let the Artists Live," Poets Against the War materials, Sam Hamill letter and Adrienne Rich poem.

Web sites: Teatro Pregones www.pregones.org Alternate Roots www.alternateroots.org; NALAC, www.nalac.org; National Performance Network, www.npn.net; American Festival Project, www.appalshop.org/afp

Assignment due

September 30

SESSION 5: FROM INDIVIDUAL TRANSFORMATION TO SOCIAL CHANGE: LIBERATION AND IMAGINATION
CASE STUDY - PING CHONG, Ping Chong & Company
We will explore the connection between liberation, social change, and imagination by discussing theories of change growing out of popular education and the application of these theories to theater. Ping Chong will discuss "Children of War," a new multi-disciplinary theatre work based on the personal testimonies of a diverse group of young people who have experienced war, civil turmoil, and/or domestic trauma. Youth participants range in age from 12-19 and in origin from El Salvador, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Kurdistan and the United States. 

Readings: Excerpts from Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Pedagogy of Hope; Augusto Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, Maxine Greene, "Imagination, Breakthroughs, and the Unexpected," Releasing the Imagination, and Susan Griffin's "To Love the Marigold," Vaclav Havel, excerpt from a speech in Davlos.

Web site: www.pingchong.org

Assignment distributed- due October 14 - short (2-3 page) responding to a series of quotes related to our readings and presentations.

October 7 

SESSION 6: CONTINUATION OF SESSION 5 AND CRITICAL WRITING
PART ONE : CASE STUDY - TRACIE MORRIS, Multi-disciplinary Poet 
We will continue last week's theme with Tracie Morris, a multi-disciplinary poet who connects imagination and social change. Tracie Morris has worked in theater, dance, music and film, and is a published author. She has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia and has two books of poems published. Tracie has participated in over a dozen recording projects to date. Her sound poetry has most recently been featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial.

PART TWO: CASE STUDY- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES, ANIMATING DEMOCRACY
What's the best way to write about civically engaged art projects? The Critical Perspectives project engaged teams of writers to focus on three of the thirty-two projects that are a part of the Animating Democracy Initiative. Each of the three selected projects works with a team of three writers who brought different perspectives to the project. These writers were asked to experience the process as well as the product of the work and speak with a range of people involved the projects. The writers were asked to consider the project’s artistic and civic interests and inquiry, and to write a piece that draws upon their own unique bodies of knowledge and experience.

Readings: Miguel Algarin, "The Sidewalk of High Art," Critical Perspectives essays about Dell' Arte's Denteniam Project by Michael Fields, Ferdinand Lewis, Jim O'Quinn and David Rooks, and Lucy Lippard's introduction to the Critical Perspectives publication, "Shaming the Devil." Linda Burnham's "Telling and Listening in Public: The Critical Discourse."

Web site: http://www.artsusa.org/AnimatingDemocracy

Video: Dell'Arte

 Critical writing assignment distributed, due October 28; concept due Oct. 21.

October 14

SESSION 7: RECREATING SOCIAL IMBALANCES AND REVEALING POWER RELATIONS
CASE STUDY: JOHN MALPEDE, LOS ANGELES POVERTY DEPARTMENT, (LAPD) AND KENNEDY PERFORMANCE PROJECT
John Malpede is the founder and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Poverty Department and is also currently performing Artaud’s To Have Done With the Judgement of God under the direction of Peter Sellars. John will discuss two ongoing projects: Agents & Assets (with LAPD) is a re-creation of a Congressional Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, built through a residency process tied to organizing around drug policy reform. The Kennedy Performance Project (with the American Festival Project) is a re-creation of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 "War on Poverty" tour of Appalachian Kentucky, as an opportunity to galvanize discussion of the historic and current needs of the region.

Readings: "Recreating Imbalance," John Malpede, Theater, "Too Close to Home," "Snipers Nest," Lucy Lippard , "LAPD review," Sasha Anawalt; Suzanne Lacy, "Seeking an American Identity: Working Inward from the Margins" http://www.artsusa.org/AnimatingDemocracy, Robbie McCauley, "Thoughts on My Career, The Other Weapon and Other Projects"

Video: Kennedy Tour and LAPD

Web site:www.inmotionmagazine.com for Nic Paget Clark interview with John Malpede (optional additional reading)

Assignment due

October 20- Maxine Greene extra credit (see end of syllabus for details)

October 21

SESSION 8: THEATER, DEVELOPMENT, AND GLOBALIZATION
"Culture is about recombining elements in a different way. If there's a crisis in development, maybe it's from a lack of imagination. In our society, how much space is there to reimagine the world?" Hassan el geretley, director el Warsha, Egypt. 

We will use the readings to explore global examples of the challenges of theatre connected to social change that aspires to listen, liberate and "evolve and authentic language" rather than impose an agenda. Examples include Mecate in Nicaragua, the Karmiriithu Education and Culture Center in Kenya, the Drama Unit as part of the Community Environment Project in Mali, and the experience of interculturalism in India.

Readings:Nidia Bustos, "Culture is a Rope to Tie Things Up in a Secure Bundle." Rustam Barucha, "Interculturalism and Multiculturalism in an Age of Globalization: Discriminations, Discontents, and Dialogue", Ngugu Na Thiango "The Language of African Theater," Alex Mavrocordatos and Pathika Martin, "Theatre for development: listening to the community"

Video

Concept for critical writing paper due

October 28

SESSION 9: CREATIVE LEADERSHIP FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
CASE STUDY - JAWOLE WILLA JO ZOLLAR, URBAN BUSH WOMEN
Founded by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in 1984, Urban Bush Women explores the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. UBW synthesizes contemporary dance, music, and text with the history, culture and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora, creating performance works that explore the transformation of struggle and suffering into the bittersweet joy of survival. Dedicated to encouraging cultural activity as an inherent part of community life, UBW also engages in extensive community-based activities and in the training of artists in the UBW technique, which gives equal weight to an artist's creative and social concerns. Creative leadership for social change is a current concern of Jawole's, and is the focus of this session. 

Readings:UBW materials, Daniel Goleman, "The Leadership Repertoire;" "Bernice Johnson Reagon," interview with Claire Peeps; Leadership for a Changing World guidelines, Nominee Assessment Form, and articles.

Video and interactive leadership exercise

Critical writing assignment due - discuss

November 4

SESSION 10: MAKING THE CASE FOR SUPPORT and CRITICAL WRITING PRESENTATIONS
We will discuss fundraising for art and social change.

Readings: Claudine Brown, "Support for Art and Social Justice," Andy Robinson, "Writing a Winning Proposal," Guidelines from Nathan Cummings Foundation, Rockefeller PACT, and Creative Works Fund, Arts Partners Site Assessment Form

Web sites: www.nathancummings.org; www.rockfound.org; www.creativeworkfund.org; www.kfw.org

 Assignment: Proposal writing assignment distributed,due December 2; concept due November 18.

November 11:

SESSION 11: MEDIA AND ACTIVISM: IMAGES AND ETHICS
CASE STUDY: APPALSHOP
We will meet artists from Appalshop, a community-based media center and explore ethical issues and methodologies related to media and activism.

Appalshop began in 1969 as the Community Film Workshop Council of Appalachia, a War on Poverty initiative to train young people of color and poor youth in film and television production. The students turned their cameras on the local life around them, finding a new appreciation for the region's culture and its pressing social concerns, and forming their own not-for-profit organization. Appalshop is devoted to perpetuating the culture of the mountain region of Kentucky, working to break down negative stereotypes about mountain people and rural life. Appalshop has since grown to include Roadside Theater, June Appal Recordings, Appalshop Center Programs, WMMT-FM radio and The American Festival Project, and has evolved to an internationally recognized, multi-disciplinary rural arts and education center.

Readings:Center for Social Media links, Dee Davis "Full Faith and Credit," George Stoney and EVC, forward and introduction, Turn on the Power!

Web sites: www.Appalshop.org, www.centerforsocialmedia.org, www.evc.org

Video: "Stranger with a Camera"

November 18:

SESSION 12: CULTURAL POLICY
CASE STUDY - KINSHASHA HOLLMAN CONWILL, CULTURAL BLUEPRINT FOR NEW YORK CITY
We will discuss cultural policy as experienced in New York through the Cultural Blueprint for New York City and internationally through the World Commission on Culture and Development and Boal's legislative theater. We will also discuss current cultural policy issues and recommendations.

Kinshasha Holman Conwill is an arts and management consultant. Her most recent major project was A Cultural Blueprint for New York City, a non-partisan, citywide special project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, for which she served as project director and managing editor of its report, Culture Counts: Strategies for a More Vibrant Cultural Life for New York City. She was director of The Studio Museum in Harlem from 1988 to 1999; is Chairman of the National Museum Services Board, a member of the Board of Overseers of CalArts, and a member of the boards of the Municipal Art Society of New York and New Visions for Public Schools.

Readings: Culture Counts, A Cultural Blueprint for New York City; Our Creative Diversity, Report on the World Commission on Culture and Development, excerpts; selection from Caron Atlas, "Cultural Policy: in the Board Rooms and on the Streets;" Augusto Boal, Legislative Theatre, excerpts

Concept due for proposal writing assignment

November 25

SESSION 13 ART AND ORGANIZING
CASE STUDY: MITTY OWENS: PROJECT CULTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE
We will discuss the principles, strategies, and challenges involved in connecting arts and social activism, including the role of the arts in social movements. This will include the dynamics of partnerships between artists and organizers; the development of community ownership and decision making; the transformative power of image, story, and metaphor; and the tensions that may arise when an activist's need for outcome clashes with an artist's creative process.

Mitty Owens is founder of Project: Culture and Social Change, a board member of Global Exchange and Grassroots Leadership, and a program officer at the Ford Foundation. Project: Culture & Social Change is an initiative that supports the blending of cultural and political work by bringing together cultural activists and community organizers; sharing concrete strategies and tools for integrating creativity and passion into our political work; and nurturing creativity and imagination for personal rejuvenation and building community.

Readings:Erica Kohl, "Organizing and Theater: Bus Rider's Union," Matt Schwarzman, "Drawing the Line at Place: The Environmental Justice Project," excerpts from Free Southern Theatre on the Free Southern Theatre, Fifth Avenue Committee mission and principles, Alisa Solomon, "AIDS Crusaders Act up a Storm." (Additional optional reading, excerpts from Vaclav Havel's Disturbing the Peace)

START PRESENTATIONS

December 2

SESSION 14 PRESENTATIONS
Proposal writing assignment due

December 9

SESSION 15 PRESENTATIONS AND WRAP UP.
Assign and discuss final exam

December 16 - FINAL DUE

Extra Credit Opportunities
Attend one of these events and write a 2-3 page essay about something that struck you - from the exhibit or the talk - and relate it to what you've been discussing in this class

September 4 - October 4, 2003

Opening reception: Thursday, September 4th, 6-8 pm.
P·P·O·W Gallery, 555 West 25th Street, 2nd Floor
REVOLUTION, is a show of art works by Brett Cook-Dizney. Born in 1968 in San Diego, Cook-Dizney was influenced by aspects of graffiti and community art while studying zoology, education and fine art in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Along with his gallery work, he continues to work on permissional and non-permissional public work, including a collaborative project in South Central Los Angeles addressing divinity, the Gentrification Project with 10 installations throughout Harlem, a series on the streets of Brooklyn in response to the Hip Hop show at the Brooklyn Museum, and a project addressing segregation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge. Cook-Dizney’s community work typically depicts people living in the areas where the work is installed, bringing art to a wide audience that does not always frequent museums and galleries. Using ethnographic and pedagogical strategies, the work always involves the participation of the subject. "Its about giving people a voice, empowering marginalized communities", explains the artist.

October 20

Maxine Greene (who we will be reading for the September 30 class) will be giving a presentation "The Poetical, Ethical, and Social Imagination: Visions of Change "as part of her Forum Series "The Arts and Social Possibility" at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, 6-7:30

Readings

Readings are noted on the syllabus. You will find the readings in the following sources:

Reading Packets

Two reading packets (available dates are estimates)
Packet 1 will be available from Advanced Copy Center by September 3
Packet 2 will be available from the NYU bookstore by September 23

Books

Available from NYU bookstore by September 5 (estimate):
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed
Alisa Solomon, ed. Theater and Social Change Theater, Volume 31, no. 3

Provided to you in class:
Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, Creative Community, The Art of Cultural Development
New York Foundation for the Arts, Culture Counts: Strategies for a More Vibrant Cultural Life for New York City

Web sites

Additional readings will be available via the Web - URL are listed on the syllabus.