|
| |
|
| |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
« Community Research Service Learning | Main | U.S. Community-Based Theater »
Is This What Democracy Looks Like: Art, Elections & Beyond
Instructor: Caron Atlas New York University, New York, N.Y. Tisch School of the Arts Art and Public Policy program (Fall 2004) Goal and process The goal of this course is to broaden our perspective and deepen our understanding of the intersection between art, culture, participatory democracy, and social change. While a key focus will be the 2004 national election, our framework will be much broader: the ongoing role of the artist as activist and arts organization as a public space for civic engagement. Our discussions will be grounded in the principles and values of how participatory democracy connects to systemic change, and how artists can play an integral role in this process. The class will emphasize dialogue, inquiry, and on-the-ground experience. The instructor will bring her experience with such projects as National Voice and the Animating Democracy Initiative, students will bring their volunteer experiences, and guest artists, organizers, and policymakers will stimulate critical thinking and reflection through their range of practice. Given that our topic that will be changing day by day, the course will be flexible and adaptive. This syllabus is subject to revision to allow us to respond to events that will be unfolding this fall and to take advantage of the guest speakers' schedules. We will begin by developing a series of questions to pose to ourselves and our guests: how we approach our work, how it ties into concepts and strategies for change, what systems support and sustain it, what methodologies and creative processes are engaged, and what finally, is the impact. Volunteering A significant part of the course will be your experience volunteering on an appropriate election or civic participation effort. These can be on and off campus, with artists, arts organizations and arts networks, and with groups working outside of the arts. They may be partisan or nonpartisan and connect with the national election, local elections, or ongoing issue related efforts. You are expected to volunteer a minimum of 25 hours during the semester and to keep a journal about your volunteer experiences. Reading, assignments, and exam Readings will provide background and analysis, including history, theories, and principles of this work. They will also offer further examples and provide context for the guest presentations. Readings are included in two reading packets as well as Web sites and emails. Writing assignments will provide opportunities for reflection and analysis, and to document your volunteer experience. There will be one 8-page paper where you will connect your volunteer experience with what you are reading and learning in class. In addition there will be three short writing assignments connected to readings, research, and guest presentations; a presentation; and a take home final. Grades Grades will be based on attendance, participation, presentation, writing assignments, volunteer experiences 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:
Course Outline (Subject to change, additional readings will be added.) We will also discuss student volunteer experiences and current news in each class. September 9 SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION, RFK IN EKY, AND COMMON CAUSE TRAINING – GUEST MEGAN QUATTLEBAUM You will receive your syllabus and complete a survey. The first part of the class will focus on RFK in EKY: The Robert Kennedy Performance Project, directed by John Malpede, exploring the effects of the "war on poverty" in eastern Kentucky. This four day project (September 8-11) presents an historic moment, holds a mirror up to it and asks that participants join the discussion exploring what's happened in our relationship to government, community, and each other since 1968. The second part of the class will be a training in nonpartisan voter engagement by Common Cause's Vote for America project. September 16 SESSION 2: DIALOGUE, INQUIRY, AND CLASS OVERVIEW We will start by reviewing the syllabus, volunteer requirement, and expectations for the class. In this class we will discuss the principles of dialogue and interactive learning that are the basis of this course, and develop questions to ask our guests and inform student volunteer experiences. There will also be reports from the field: the RFK in EKY project and Art and Democracy National Gathering of Artists and Activists, and student experiences during the summer. Readings: RFK in EKY info distributed in first class; Packet 1:Linda Burnham, "When Kennedy Came," American Theatre; Liz Lerman, "Are Miracles Enough?" Daniel Yankelovich, The Magic of Dialogue, Transforming Conflict into Cooperation - excerpt. Packet 2: Paulo Freire, excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Web site: (for RFK project and Art & Democracy gathering) www.appalshop.org September 23 SESSION 3: CIVIC PARTICIPATION & VOTER ENGAGEMENT We will explore the historical roots of civic participation and learn about the work of National Voice, a coalition whose goal is to maximize the impact of nonprofit groups on citizen participation in the 2004 elections. We will discuss the wide range of work that's happening across the country including many efforts including artists, arts organizations and arts networks; and efforts focussed on young voters. Readings: Packet 1: Damien Cave, "Mock the Vote," Rolling Stone Magazine; Jeff Chang, "This Ain't No Party," Alternet; International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Turnout as percentage of voting-age population; Elizabeth Weinstein, "Major Grass-roots Push Aims to Boost Youth Vote," Wall Street Journal Online; Howard Zinn, editor, "Women's Declaration of Rights," "HUAC Interrogation," "Fannie Lou Hamer," The People Speak. Packet 2: Frank Adams with Miles Horton, "This Is a Movement for Democracy" Web Site: www.nationalvoice.org First short writing assignment (2-3 pages) distributed - due October 7. September 30 SESSION 4: THE CITIZEN ARTIST - GUEST MARTY POTTENGER 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.) Most recently she has completed Abundance, which had an off-Broadway production in the spring of 2003 as well as a US tour. Abundance was a community arts project about money as told through the stories of people in the United States, including interviews with billionaires and minimum wage workers and ongoing civic dialogues with people from across the economic spectrum. Readings: From The Citizen Artist, Marty Pottenger, "The Making of City Water Tunnel Number 3" (http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/cwt3_making_cit.php); Suzanne Lacy, "Seeking an American Identity: Working Inward from the Margins" (www.artsusa.org/animatingdemocracy/resource_center/publications.asp) Packet 2: "Bernice Johnson Reagon," interview with Claire Peeps;Adrienne Rich, "Why I Refused the National Medal of the Arts," letter between Milan Kundura and Carlos Fuentes. October 7 SESSION 5: MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK — GUEST LUDOVIC BLAIN Ludovic Blain is Associate Director of the Democracy Program at Demos where he focuses on promoting democratic reform efforts at the state and local levels. He's also the founder of the Generational Leadership Listening Sessions, a program gathering the leadership challenges and best practices from progressive Gen X and Y non-profit directors. He has 15 years of advocacy, organizing, and communications experience, including a decade at the New York Public Interest Research Group, helping to shape local and national government reform, environmental justice, and consumer protection policies. He co-founded the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, the East Coast office of We Interrupt This Message, an anti-racist media training and strategy center, and several other regional and national groups. He has also led community capacity building in Northern Ireland, Haiti, The Gambia, Denmark, and Canada. Ludovic has a good overview of the election and we will leave time for you to ask him questions about what's going on and how the system works or doesn't work and how he's trying to reform it. Readings: Look at www.demos-usa.org - particularly the toolkits on felony disenfranchisement and election day registration. (www.demos-usa.org/pubs/FD_-_Tookit.pdf) and www.demos-usa.org/pub14.cfm) Packet 1:Benjamin R. Barber, "Serving Democracy by Serving the Arts and Humanities," Creative America First short writing assignment due. Second short assignment distributed - due October 21. October 14 SESSION 6: MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY — GUEST DEE DAVIS We will analyze the powerful role of the media - both in this election cycle as well as historically. We will look at both grassroots and mass media and examine when media facilitates democracy and when it inhibits it. Dee Davis is the president of the Center for Rural Strategies, a public-spirited communications organization that seeks to improve rural life by increasing public understanding about the importance and value of rural communities. The Center's goals are to use media strategically to reframe the broad public discourse that defines rural communities, and create an environment in which positive changes can occur. Over the years Dee has been actively engaged in media, as Executive Producer of Appalshop, Chair of the Independent Television and Video Service Board, and as a media producer for political campaigns. Readings: Packet 1: Annenberg Public Policy Center, National Annenberg Election Survey; Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, "Video Sewa" Making Waves, Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change; James Fallows, "News and Democracy," Breaking the New; Greg Mitchell, excerpts from Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics Web Sites:www.centerforsocialmedia.org, www.votinginamerica.org, www.ruralstrategies.org, and www.publicmediacenter.org October 21 SESSION 7: BUILDING DEMOCRACY LOCALLY IN THE BRONX, CHICAGO AND DETROIT - GUEST PAUL LIPSON Paul Lipson was formerly the executive director of the Point Community Development Corporation; a nonprofit organization dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. Paul Lipson has recently become the Chief of Staff to Congressman Jose E. Serrano (16th CD). We will also discuss other examples of local participatory democracy as described in our readings. Readings: Packet 1:Grace Lee Boggs, "These Are the Times That Grow Our Souls;" Robin Epstein, "Cooperate, Confront and Follow Your Heart," Citizen Power; Packet 2:Archon Fung, "Deliberative Democracy, Chicago Style: Grass-roots Governance in Policing and Public Education," Deepening Democracy - Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance Web Sites: www.thepoint.org, www.house.gov/serrano Second short writing assignment due. October 28 SESSION 8: PART 1: POLLING, FOCUS GROUPS AND OTHER ELECTION PRACTICES - GUEST PETER FELD Peter Feld will demystify the use of polling and other election practices. Peter is currently Director of Custom Research at Condé Nast Publications. Previously, he spent over 10 years in polling and strategic political consulting, most recently at Global Strategy Group, as well as at the firms of leading Democratic pollsters Peter Hart, Geoff Garin, Keith Frederick, Greg Schneiders, and Celinda Lake. He has polled for political candidates, labor unions, professional associations, non-profit organizations like the Kaiser Family Foundation, and corporations such as MCI, Oracle, and Chase. Peter has conducted focus groups among Serb and Croat refugees, and was chosen by the National Democratic Institute to lead the first post-war political focus groups in Kosovo, in April 2000. He worked on the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael S. Dukakis, and was research director for the 1992 presidential campaign of Paul E. Tsongas. PART 2: DEMOCRACY IN 1967 & 2004 - GUEST WILLIAM ARNONE Bill Arnone is a Partner in the Human Capital practice of Ernst & Young LLP, based in New York. While he was in college Bill was encouraged by his political science professor to learn about politics by working for a politician. He joined the staff of New York senator Robert F. Kennedy and was responsible for constituent services. It changed his life and he has been deeply involved in Democratic politics since then. Readings: Packet 1: Michael Schudson, "How People Learn to be Civic," B. Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture, Packet 2: Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres, "The Problem Democracy is Supposed to Solve," The Miner's Canary- Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy additional readings TBA Third short writing assignment distributed - due November 11. November 4 SESSION 10: ELECTION DEBRIEF We will reflect on what happened on November 2 and discuss what needs to happen next, both in electoral politics and more broadly, in building a participatory democracy. What is the role for artists in ongoing civic participation efforts and activism? Readings: Election related readings TBA. Packet 1: Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, "Unifying Principles," Creative Community, The Art of Cultural Development; Adams and Goldbard, Community, Culture, and Globalization, excerpt; Dudley Cocke, Dee Davis, and Arlene Goldbard, Artists Call for Cultural Policy.Packet 2: Yvonne Bynoe, "Still We Rise," (excerpt) Stand & Deliver - Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop Culture; by email: Get Your Vote On by Malika Sanders, YES! Spring 2002 Issue: What Does It Mean to Be an American Now? Nov 2 reflections due. November 11 SESSION 11: CREATIVE LEADERSHIP — GUESTS KATHIE DENOBRIGA & SANDY AUGUSTIN What happens when artists become political leaders? How do artists use creative methodologies to further participatory democracy? We will look at examples of artist leaders in the US and abroad and discuss what contributes to effective leadership. Kathie DeNobriga is a theater artist and consultant to grassroots organizations and philanthropic organizations. She was a Fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership program and serves on the city council of Pine Lake, Georgia. Sandy Augustin is the artistic director of Intermedia Arts, a Minneapolis cultural center whose mission is tour build understanding among people through art. Readings: Packet 1: Ben Cameron, "Cultural Citizenship," American Theatre; Vaclav Havel, excerpt from speech in Davlos, Gary O. Larson, "Our Community is Engaged in a Collaborative Improvisation," American Canvas Richard Louv, "Mapping the New World of Leadership." Packet 2: Augusto Boal, Legislative Theatre, Yvonne Bynoe, "Lessons from our Political Grandmother: Ella J. Baker," and excerpts from "Who Shall Lead Us?" Vaclav Havel, excerpts from "Public Enemy" and "The Politics of Hope," Disturbing the Peace Third short writing assignment due. Long writing assignment (8 pages) distributed - due December 9. November 18 SESSION 12: ART AND ORGANIZING OVER THE LONG HAUL We will discuss the principles, strategies, and challenges involved in connecting arts and social activism over the long haul 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. Readings: Packet 1: Caron Atlas, "Reimagining Cultural Policy," Public Art Review;Judith F. Baca, "Birth of a Movement," Community, Culture, and Globalization;Thomas C. Dent, Richard Schechner, and Gilbert Moses, Free Southern Theatre on the Free Southern Theatre, Lucy Lippard, "Trojan Horses: Activist Art and Power," Art After Modernism; Alisa Solomon, "AIDS Crusaders Act up a Storm." November 25 - No class, Thanksgiving December 2 SESSION 13: CULTURAL POLICY & CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP We will discuss basic principles and concepts related to cultural policy, including cultural democracy, cultural equity and cultural citizenship. Examples include the Cultural Blueprint for NYC, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center's lawsuit against the city of San Antonio, and Los Pastores, also in San Antonio, whose performance of a shepards' play is linked to their cultural citizenship. Readings: Packet 1:Culture Counts, A Cultural Blueprint for New York City; Packet 2: Richard R. Flores, "Aesthetic Process and Cultural Citizenship: The Membering of a Social Body in San Antonio." Latino Cultural Citizenship; Justin Lewis, "Designing a Cultural Policy," The Politics of Culture - Policy Perspectives for Individuals, Institutions, and Communities; Renato Rosaldo, "Cultural Citizenship, Inequity, and Multiculturalism," Latino Cultural Citizenship- Claiming Identity, Space, and Rights START STUDENT PRESENTATIONS PRESENTATIONS December 9 SESSION 14: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS Long writing assignment due. GUEST: BRAD KALBFELD Brad Kalbfeldis theDeputy Director and Managing Editor of theAssociated Press, and is in charge of television and radio news wires, domestic video services, television graphics and audio services. He joined AP in 1977 as a radio-TV writer in New York and was given day-to-day responsibility for the broadcast wires in 1980. He is author of The AP Broadcast News Handbook. December 14 SESSION 15: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AND WRAP UP. December 17 - FINAL EXAM DUE EXTRA CREDIT Wed, October 13, 12-2pm: Arts as a Vehicle for Social Activism panel including Caron Atlas, Ludovic Blain (Demos), Claudine Brown (Nathan Cummings Foundation) and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Urban Bush Women). This discussion will be held at Demos at 220 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor. Lunch will be provided. Founded in 1999, Demos' work combines research with advocacy -- melding the commitment to ideas of a think tank with the organizing strategies of an advocacy group. Fri, October 15, all day: Tisch Community Day focusing on art and the elections. More information to be provided. 11am Russell Simmons, 11:30-2:45 artist panel, 3pm elections and democracy panel. There will also possibly be an opportunity for you to present your work related to this class and your volunteer experiences in an evening session on October 15. Web Sites: www.demos-usa.org, www.ubw.org, and www.nathancummings.org READING PACKETS There are 2 reading packets for this course - it is important that you get these packets as they contain required readings. Reading Packet 1 Available at Advanced Copy Center, 552 LaGuardia Place (between Bleecker & West 3rd )- 212-388-1001 Contents Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, "Unifying Principles," Creative Community, The Art of Cultural Development Reading Packet 2 Available from the NYU Book Store, 18 Washington Place, 212 -998-4667 Contents Frank Adams with Miles Horton, "This Is a Movement for Democracy." Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander A few useful web sites (this is the beginning of a list we will build in class - these particular sites include many good links) National Voice: www.nationalvoice.org good overview of what's going on in the nonprofit world related to the elections - also see www.november2.org for National Voice media campaign and www.electionmatch.org for volunteer opportunities A Good Resource: Office of Community Connections: www.nyu.edu/tisch/community, 212 998-1508 Some upcoming events to look out for:
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
