Monthly Archives: December 2019

Application is open for the 2020 Chashama North, ChaNorth Artist in Residence Program

Open Calls

In 2006 Chashama opened the ChaNorth international artist residency in Pine Plains, New York. The ChaNorth residency offers the opportunity for emerging and mid-career artists to work and live in the Hudson Valley for four weeks. Annually the program hosts 49 artists during six 4-week sessions running from April through November. ChaNorth accepts applications in all creative fields, including but not limited to visual arts, choreography, writing, music composition, and performance. National and international artists artists are welcome to apply.

ChaNorth upholds the storied tradition of the Hudson Valley by providing local and international artists with a supportive and secluded environment in which to create new work. The artist residency is embedded in the rural communities of the surrounding towns, serving as a cultural resource for the Hudson Valley. The program offers networking, exhibition and teaching opportunities and promotes awareness and understanding of visual arts in a rural community through engagement with the artists. ChaNorth also sustains a successful partnership with McEnroe Organic Farm to supply healthy, fresh produce for the artist residency through a work exchange program. 

For more information and how to apply please read below. 

Application Deadline is January 15th, 2020

APPLY: https://chashama.submittable.com/submit/152797/chanorth-apply-for-the-summer-2020-artist-in-residence-program

Artists enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs at the time of application are not eligible to apply to ChaNorth.

FELLOWSHIP AND EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES

ChaNorth offers
– one fellowship award, per season, for a young artist under 30;
– two solo show awards
– an annual curated alumni show

Both solo shows and the group show are presented, the following year, at Chashama exhibition spaces in New York City.

ChaNorth fosters a strong alumni community, offering artists various exhibition opportunities including 2019 LIGHT YEAR, Manhattan Bridge Public Art, video exhibition.

GUEST VISITORS PROGRAM
During the ChaNorth residency, artists have multiple opportunities to share their work and network with others, including 2-3 studio visits per session from critics, curators, gallerists, and residency directors. Previous studio visitors have included:

– Nora Khan, a writer focused on emerging issues within digital art and the philosophy of technology
– Will Hutnick, artist and curator residency director at the Wassaic Project, NY
– Junho Lee, Founding Director of NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
– Olga Dekalo, Assistant Curator at the Katonah Museum of Art in Westchester, New York

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Artists are invited to participate in an evening of artists’ talks and presentations, at the Pine Plains Free Library and participate in the Open Studios Program. Both events are open to the public.

Pine Plains Free Library in Partnership with Chashama North, is offering artists to create and lead an hour community workshop. The library offers for each artist a $50 thank you fee.

Resident Artists, can apply to exhibit their work at the Pine Plains Free Library.

MCENROE ORGANIC FARM WORK EXCHANGE
Fostering community engagement and strengthening and supporting our local community, ChaNorth collaborates with McEnroe Organic Farm’s Education Garden where resident artists are asked to participate in 3 hours of work exchange each week.In return, our shared kitchen is stocked with fresh produce and whole grains. Shared meals act as the anchor of the program, resident artists gather once or twice a week for a potluck dinner.

2020 Summer Residency Sessions

Session 1: Friday, April 3rd – Thursday, April 30th, 2020
Session 2: Monday, May 3rd – Sunday, May 31th, 2020
Session 3: Friday, June 5th – Thursday, July 2nd, 2020
Session 4: Monday, July 6th – Sunday, August 2nd, 2020
Session 5: Friday, August 7th – Thursday, September 3rd, 2020
Session 6: Monday, September 7th – Sunday, October 4th, 2020
Session 7: Friday, October 9th – Thursday, November 5th, 2020

The application process is in two stages: The Jury Panel will shortlist artists, shortlisted artists will be asked for a 10 -15 minute Skype/phone interview to be scheduled from February 2020. Artists are selected based on quality and commitment to their work, their project description, and their ability to interact positively with the community. ChaNorth accepts at total of 49 artists for the 2020 summer season. 

Jury Panel for 2020 Summer Residency Season

Yasmeen Siddiqui is the founder of Minerva Projects, is an independent curator, essayist and sometimes lecturer, committed to voicing marginal narratives. Her writing has appeared on Hyperallergic and in ART PAPERS, the Cairo Times, Medina Magazine, Flash Art, Modern Painters, NKA and The Brooklyn Rail, and in books and exhibition catalogues.

Lauren Bierly is an installation artist and Manager of Special Exhibitions and Projects for The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bierly has been a guest critic for Trestle Art Space, chaNorth Residency, and Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and is a chaNorth 2018 Resident Artist Alumni.

Peter Gynd is a fifth generation artist, independent curator, and the director at Lesley Heller Gallery in New York City’s Lower East Side. Peter Gynd has been a guest critic/consultant/visitor at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Residencies Unlimited, Kunstraum, and ChaNorth Artist Residency, and a guest juror at 440 Gallery and Sweet Lorraine Gallery.

Mia S. Willis (they/them) is a Black performance poet whose work has been featured by or is forthcoming in Under the Belly of the Beast (Dissonance Press), FreezeRay, Curating Alexandria, WORDPEACE, Peculiar, Foothill, Button Poetry, and Slamfind.

Application Fee is $30 to cover administrative costs. 

This year we had to introduce the application fee due to high number of applications, the two stage selection process, involving a jury panel and conducting phone/skype interviews. Thank You for your understanding. 

Cost of Residency, four-week session: $950. The fee is highly subsidized, thanks to Chashama generous support of donors and grants.

Residency fee includes: private room, private studio and fully stocked kitchen.

The fee does not include: transportation costs to and from chaNorth ( except one scheduled pick up on the day of arrival at 4:15 pm in Wassaic Train Station, if needed) and artists’ materials cost.

Additional Information

WHAT YOU WILL NEED FOR APPLYING

Preferred session period
Artist statement and Statement of Interest in chaNorth Residency: (200 words or less)
Third-person paragraph highlighting your professional achievements (250 words or less)
CV
Work Samples, including a work in progress, studio image
1 professional reference
workshop program, if you wish to apply to be considered to lead a workshop at the Pine Plains Free Library
For collaborative artists wishing to share studios/accommodations

and for all other questions should be directed to chanorth@chashama.org.

PLEASE review the FAQ section of our website before emailing us! http://www.chanorth.com

APPLY: https://chashama.submittable.com/submit/152797/chanorth-apply-for-the-summer-2020-artist-in-residence-program

Acting for Climate Goes Into the Water

Artists and Climate Change

By Peterson Toscano

Helping the public engage in climate change requires skillful communication and a lot of creativity. One troupe of performers in Northern Europe decided to break out of the box altogether. In the summer of 2019, they presented a performance piece in Norway and Denmark. Instead of bringing the audience into a theatre, Acting for Climate took their show to eight different harbors. For a stage, they used a very large wooden boat. Into the Water is a theatrical circus performance aimed at raising ecological awareness. In addition to the performance, they organized festivals at each of the harbors.

Acting for Climate members Abigael Rydtun Winsvold and Nathan Biggs-Penton recreate the performance for our listening audience. Hear about the circus artists and their amazing feats as they climb the eight-story high mast, do acrobatics, and take the audience on a wild and moving ride. After each performance, the troupe connected with the audience for further discussion.

Abigael found the response to be better than she imagined:

People came up to us and said that they were really really touched. Even sixty-year-old men, which I don’t normally see crying. I barely have seen anyone I don’t know crying in this age group. They came up to us and said, “Wow! I’m really touched. I’m just going to take a walk and cry for myself right now.” That was really touching for us to hear people were touched by the performance, not only excited, but also shaken a bit somehow.

Coming up next month, Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, a new book that fuses faith and personal narrative with climate action.

If you like what you hear, you can listen to full episodes of Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

(Photo courtesy of Acting for Climate.)

This article is part of The Art House series.

______________________________

As host of Citizens’ Climate Radio, Peterson Toscano regularly features artists who address climate change in their work. The Art House section of his program includes singer/songwriters, visual artists, comics, creative writers, and playwrights. Through a collaboration with Artists and Climate Change and Citizens’ Climate Education, each month Peterson reissues The Art House for this blog. If you have an idea for The Art House, contact Peterson: radio @ citizensclimatelobby.org

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

Powered by WPeMatico

Helping the public engage in climate change requires skillful communication and a lot of creativity. One troupe of performers in Northern Europe decided to break out of the box altogether. In the summer of 2019, they presented a performance piece in Norway and Denmark. Instead of bringing the audience into a theatre, Acting for Climate took their show to eight different harbors. For a stage, they used a very large wooden boat. Into the Water is a theatrical circus performance aimed at raising ecological awareness. In addition to the performance, they organized festivals at each of the harbors.

Acting for Climate members Abigael Rydtun Winsvold and Nathan Biggs-Penton recreate the performance for our listening audience. Hear about the circus artists and their amazing feats as they climb the eight-story high mast, do acrobatics, and take the audience on a wild and moving ride. After each performance, the troupe connected with the audience for further discussion.

Abigael found the response to be better than she imagined:

People came up to us and said that they were really really touched. Even sixty-year-old men, which I don’t normally see crying. I barely have seen anyone I don’t know crying in this age group. They came up to us and said, “Wow! I’m really touched. I’m just going to take a walk and cry for myself right now.” That was really touching for us to hear people were touched by the performance, not only excited, but also shaken a bit somehow.

Coming up next month, Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, a new book that fuses faith and personal narrative with climate action.

If you like what you hear, you can listen to full episodes of Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

(Photo courtesy of Acting for Climate.)

This article is part of The Art House series.

______________________________

As host of Citizens’ Climate Radio, Peterson Toscano regularly features artists who address climate change in their work. The Art House section of his program includes singer/songwriters, visual artists, comics, creative writers, and playwrights. Through a collaboration with Artists and Climate Change and Citizens’ Climate Education, each month Peterson reissues The Art House for this blog. If you have an idea for The Art House, contact Peterson: radio @ citizensclimatelobby.org

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

Powered by WPeMatico

Helping the public engage in climate change requires skillful communication and a lot of creativity. One troupe of performers in Northern Europe decided to break out of the box altogether. In the summer of 2019, they presented a performance piece in Norway and Denmark. Instead of bringing the audience into a theatre, Acting for Climate took their show to eight different harbors. For a stage, they used a very large wooden boat. Into the Water is a theatrical circus performance aimed at raising ecological awareness. In addition to the performance, they organized festivals at each of the harbors.

Acting for Climate members Abigael Rydtun Winsvold and Nathan Biggs-Penton recreate the performance for our listening audience. Hear about the circus artists and their amazing feats as they climb the eight-story high mast, do acrobatics, and take the audience on a wild and moving ride. After each performance, the troupe connected with the audience for further discussion.

Abigael found the response to be better than she imagined:

People came up to us and said that they were really really touched. Even sixty-year-old men, which I don’t normally see crying. I barely have seen anyone I don’t know crying in this age group. They came up to us and said, “Wow! I’m really touched. I’m just going to take a walk and cry for myself right now.” That was really touching for us to hear people were touched by the performance, not only excited, but also shaken a bit somehow.

Coming up next month, Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, a new book that fuses faith and personal narrative with climate action.

If you like what you hear, you can listen to full episodes of Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

(Photo courtesy of Acting for Climate.)

This article is part of The Art House series.

______________________________

As host of Citizens’ Climate Radio, Peterson Toscano regularly features artists who address climate change in their work. The Art House section of his program includes singer/songwriters, visual artists, comics, creative writers, and playwrights. Through a collaboration with Artists and Climate Change and Citizens’ Climate Education, each month Peterson reissues The Art House for this blog. If you have an idea for The Art House, contact Peterson: radio @ citizensclimatelobby.org

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

Powered by WPeMatico

Guest Blog: “Let’s Go!” The Launch …

Creative Carbon Scotland

Blog #6 in a series of blogs from playwright Lewis Hetherington about his work with Glasgow cycling charity Bike for Good and Creative Carbon Scotland.

I can’t believe it’s almost six weeks since the launch of Let’s Go! our film about cycling, community and climate change after many months of getting to hang out with the wonderful people of Bike for Good. The premiere was, fittingly, at their Southside Hub. We were delighted that this film, celebrating their ethos, was first publicly viewed in the place it was made, with so many of the film’s stars amongst the audience.

We had the red carpet out, a twelve-piece brass band called Brass Aye?, a giant golden throne, flower bedecked archways, not to mention an extensive selection of fancy dress for those who wanted to glam up for the event. Not a single thing was bought or made for the event; it was all borrowed, repurposed, upcycled… It felt so important that the design matched the politics of the film. It certainly made me think how vital it is that we consider every part of an artistic process as green, not just the content. It’s totally possible to create spectacle without it costing the earth.

Crowd clapping and smiling

The centrepiece was, of course, the film itself, presented on a pedal-powered projector no less! The projector needed two bikes going at some lick to be operational. As a matter of fact, the projector did fail a few times! This lapse in power was great; it really drew attention to the amount of energy it takes to run even a relatively small and domestic piece of technology. At the heart of this film, I think, is a gentle but firm and steady plea to re-imagine our relationship to the world, by considering the impact of our everyday existence. The simple act of seeing the effort it takes to power a projector really underlined this idea.

two girls on stationary bikes

We showed the film twice to a packed room – some people stayed to watch it both times! The feeling of compassionate interaction on screen was mirrored by the warmth and generosity of those watching. We had plenty of volunteers to pedal the bikes and provide power; noticeably far more young volunteers than older ones. There were scores of young people ready to put their energy into making things happen, a hopeful metaphor for the future perhaps, but I’m looking at us grown-ups to say – we still have to step up. We can’t just cross our fingers for the next generation sorting it out.  It’s not about feeling bad, it’s about taking action, wherever we can, whenever the opportunity presents itself, to make the choice to make the world better.

Festive audience sitting inside

After each screening we invited people to sit on our giant golden throne and talk about the film to ask what had caught their attention? What had it made them think about? At the end of Let’s Go! one of the young people was asked what he would do if he was King of Glasgow, and he said, rather brilliantly, that he would “be nice to people”.

Child sitting on a golden throne being filmed

So we invited people to comment on what they would do if they were in charge. The answers were as varied, brilliant and bonkers as you might expect. We’re currently working through all the footage to make a series of mini films, which we can’t wait to share early next year.

Once again it was almost all young people that came forward. Their plans and environmental ambitions were hugely optimistic and uncompromising, and maybe that’s what we need; wide-eyed energy, hope and a total refusal to accept that we are aiming for anything other than perfection. We might not get all the way there, but if perfect is our direction of travel then one might hope we’re at least on the right path.

Watch “Let’s Go!” here.

Photography: Michal Lausch.

Read the other blogs in this series:

#5: Meaning Making (July 2019)

#4: I CAN’T WAIT TO DRIVE A CAR! (April 2019)

#3: Crises. Crocuses. Creativity. (February 2019)

#2: The joy of the present and the great unknown of the future (September 2018)

#1: Can Cycling Save the World? (July 2018)

This embedded artist project is part of Bike for Good’s VeloCommunities Project, which is funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund.

Please get in touch with Creative Carbon Scotland’s culture/SHIFT Producer Gemma.lawrence@creativecarbonscotland.com if you wish to find out more about this project or more about other culture/SHIFT projects which support collaborations between artists and environmental initiatives.

The post Guest Blog: “Let’s Go!” The Launch … appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Q18 DESCRIBED: CREATIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY, DISABILITi

Audio Described/Screen Reader Friendly, news, Quarterly

Lead Editor’s note: We will be publishing excerpts from Q18: dis/sustain/ability, guest edited by Bronwyn Preece, in order to make the content accessible to blind readers with audio screen readers. We’ll also be including audio descriptions of the Quarterly’s original layout designed by Stephanie Plenner, described by Katie Murphy. Please stay tuned for future posts and share widely.

In this our fifth chapter, Neil Marcus shares thoughts on disability, theater, hope and embedment.

Audio Description of photos in “Creativity, Sustainability, Disabiliti”

CREATIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY, DISABILITi

Neil Marcus

“You don’t have to quote me unless I say something relevant. I am just myself.”

–Manfred Warmuth

portland may08 112

Photograph from a talk on “Disability Culture” by Petra Kuppers: “The Olimpias” Art Collective at Portland Art Festival, May 2008

RETHINKING SHAKESPEARE: 

IS YOURS THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF II?

my thoughts on theater and disability
its about making sense of chaos.
its about making the spirit visible.
its about discovering all the connections and linkages that make us
human together and describing them.
disability as having a meaning in disability, has no meaning. 

“it doesn’t rain disability.” 

SELF SUSTENANCE

…in a Godzilla world in the location of Manhattan…Godzilla roams the city streets with huge car sized footsteps.  Car alarms go off constantly. Godzilla is upset by the ruckus.

wheeee yuhhh wheeee beeep beep!! A big nuisance.  irritant…bother.

in a Godzilla world, everything topples around her.  towers, freeways, stores, trees. and Godzilla spits fire.  ssss…

THOUGHTS OF POETIC EMBEDMENT


Hello dear friend of the petrified wasp-in-pine sap:
I heard of your search for documents or documentability.
I search for the same. Striving for clarity and new forms of expressions in my own ‘disability’ [bad word] related prose poetry/theater of life.
Personally, I like the words hypertext, subtext, metaphor link and offshoot:
where words and ideas constantly embark on spin off words and ideas and
movement shakes and dances out of every crevice of thought.

I often work off graphic images. A sign reading ACCESS TO PLANETARIUM
with appropriate stick wheelchair figure mid sentence prompts my bodythinking.

Hence pictures take us to words, ideas to explore.

crip planetarium

“Department of English, University of Michigan” Photo by Neil Marcus

WHAT GIVES YOU HOPE?

Email exchange:
Neil Marcus66<!– (10:46:23 AM)–>: doing art……living artistically I think helps me …………………it gives me good direction
Neil Marcus66<!– (10:48:29 AM)–>: I as always fascinated by movies about prisons. how people cope?
Ester — (10:49:04 AM)–>: With?
Neil Marcus66<!– (10:51:01 AM)–>: difficult situations.. another favorite topic…………..marooned…………..
Ester– (10:52:36 AM)–>: Themes of isolation? Separateness?
Neil Marcus66<!– (10:54:22 AM)–>: yes definitely and discovering tremendous resources………….

Picture = 1000 words
Idea = staff of life
Poem = 1000 ideas

Art on the walls.  Art in the trees. Art in the gaze.  Art in the clay.

Art in the flesh.  Art in the move. Art in the stroke.

I am doing my criptography (the painting of brush stroke simple figures that in my mind are all representations of disabled people moving) the view of the view of the view of the view of the view:

SELF SUSTAINING ACTS  

to insinuate oneself onto
to insert ones self
into public discourse/sphere
appropriate popular culture
with culinary delights
sandwiches made with garden fresh tomatoes peanut butter
and homemade jam
To be spastic
to be proud
To boldly go where  …
you want to  go in this intrepid universe
with great enterprise

NORMALIZING RELATIONS

I found this road sign on the campus of the National University of Australia outside of the Chefly Library. It was lovely to run into.  As far as I know, it is a one-of-a-kind artwork and/or perhaps a ‘public work of art,’ as Australia is famous for government-funded art in public spaces. 

I have never seen the universal access sign in this format.

 I imagine someone had walked by it one day and saw the need to humanize it a little.  This was truly a revolutionary act to me. With a flower, no less. 

ausie crip

Thoughts about the importance of road signs and getting the message right. 

Art Full. 

The flower presented here really undermines the static purely ‘functional’ representation of disability. 

 â€œI’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time to die.” 

–Replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner

                                                         RE-MINDS

We don’t always remember how glorious it is to be human…what we live

through and how we come out. It is hard to speak of such experiences

but we all do have them.

I quote Blade Runner above because I think the android’s view of life

is well articulated. I look to the outsider for commentaries on the

human life. Aliens androids prisoners: the disenfranchised.

Humans often can feel our own lives and struggles outside our numbness

if given a bit of distance/perspective. All of us have exceptional

things to express.  Moments that have touched us deeply. I see access

to these memories as being our only limit. 

Do we believe we are artists and philosophers? 

Do our lives have meaning?

Do we have something to say?

METEORIC

meteoric-2

‘Meteoric’ Neil Marcus, Sketch from Superfest Film Festival SPSU, 2016 

EXAMPLE OF RELEVANCE

After the evening show, we have the Q and A with the audience and in front of 200 people, a woman asks me: “What kind of woman do you like, I mean you say you are a lover and all. I was just wondering?”   I fumble A LOT and say “friendly ones” then “next question please.” Matt makes a joke saying, “what’s your phone number?” He continues, “You have such perfect timing Neil and such control. Is there anything you can tell others to help them?”  I answer, “Well…to appreciate ones body no matter what it does or doesn’t do, helps.” 

During the night and the next day, I think about that first question. I think about who I am, the position I’m in and what I’m doing.  Part of it is FEEDBACK. It’s sustenance. I’ve created a situation. Me performing audience. Inspired dialogue. It’s a situation where no matter what I think, act or do, I cannot fail. It’s failsafe. Because I’m always out there doing my best. WOW. And I usually always get applause. What does this tell me?  I’m telling you this because I think it is to be a model of physical therapy. Emotional therapy. Self help.

foot 2

A dancer’s foot. My foot.

In an oral history interview of artists with disabilities, using the technology of ‘instant messaging’ I was able to articulate:

medusa

                                                        â€œMedusa” by Neil Marcus. Touch pad art. 2012

Neil Marcus66<!– (11:00:58 AM)–>: I’m a human bridge in a moment of time spanning as far and as relevant as my thoughts will carry me
Esther – (11:04:58 AM)–>: I’m a human bridge in a moment of time, spanning as far and as relevant as my thoughts will carry me.

MY AUTO CORRECT ON “DISABILITY”…:

“disability/ disabled”: an un quantifiable concept, immeasurable, non-poetic, medicalized word that represents no thing or no body EXCEPT as a idea in need of revolution.

The concept of “Disability” is non sustainable.

love joy art …sustainable self renewing   

I listen to the waves at the seashore and watch them roll in. in and out. They never stop.
My mind wanders. I think of love. I smell the sea life air. I think of grains of sand slipping through my wet toes. I think of starry nights and streaming comets and glowing rounded moons. I think of thousands of fishes that will run with the tides at a certain season and time each year.
There are moments in my life when everything is so completely and totally understandable, all I can do is gasp in wonder and cry a special brand of joyous tear and try to tell someone all about it.
There is a postcard that I TREASURE. I found it in a postcard store in 1984. It totally says a lot of what I want to say. Maybe it says everything! !
the card stock is braille with braille dots as the postcard “scene” thats raised little “bumps”on a white background. The effect is that you are sending this postcard to someone and its so complete that at first glance…it seems like nothing is there. To a sighted person, the card seems blank. It’s all white.
Turn it over. In very small print it says ,
”I often imagine myself being here. Sitting on the beach, listening to the waves, feeling the salty air upon my face and tongue. Everything seems possible. i wish you were here”
so.. it’s not blank. The front is the poem translated into braille. Touch. speaks a language that is very real but is little known.  What could be more communicative than a fingers touch.
And the artistic statement is so strong. my words don’t do it justice.

 Biography

Neil Marcus is a Spastic artist and performer living in Berkeley, California, USA. His books include Special Effects: Advances in Neurology (2011), and Cripple Poetics: A Love Story (2010), and The Princess and the Dragon  (a disabled fable) (unpublished). His most performed play is Storm Reading (1988).

Major Influences:

100 million miracles [flower drum song] Dir. Gene Kelley

easy rider

the mothers of invention

re evaluation counseling

love revolution

Cyrano de Bergerac

performance art

storytelling

calligraphy

sprouting

poetry/rhythm

human liberation

dance

body as art

disable/d liberation

touch

idea … weaving

At age 13 I began learning co-counseling. Theories of liberation and oppression. This enriched my thinking. My world. I could live. I could give. I could love. I had a brush with which to touch-up the world.  Ideas popping. I was radicalized. I had a vibrant self. I had expression. I had raves. 

recording

Filming: “disability/disabled country”

Smithsonian video by Neil Marcus/filmed and edited by Jai Jai Noire,

National Museum of American History, 1987/2014

Photo by Gary Ivanek

OPEN CALL COAL PRIZE 2020 – VIVANT (Biodiversity)

Open Calls

In 2020, the COAL Prize is devoted to the erosion of biodiversity. This eleventh edition is part of the program VIVANT, a cultural Season for Biodiversity carried by COAL and its partners in preparation for the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) to be held in Marseille from the 11th to the 19th of June, and in anticipation of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (China, October 2020). 

The sixth mass extinction that threatens the diversity of life affects both species and ecosystems. In France, at present, 18% of species, or nearly one in five species, are already considered extinct or threatened. The last similar crisis dates to 65 million years ago and sealed the fate of the dinosaurs. Unlike the previous five, this sixth extinction of the living is due to the impact of human activity. Five major causes have been identified: the changed use of natural areas, overexploitation of species, pollution, climate change and invasive alien species. A response from governments, the private sector, representatives of civil society and citizens is urgently needed to cease the decline of life’s diversity. 

Stop the global crisis of plastic pollution, reduce the impact of human activities at sea and on land, adapt to climate change, fight against deforestation, protect rivers, marshes, grasslands and coastal mangroves, strenghten the protection measures for great apes, marine mammals and counter the organized trafficking of wild species. The heterogeneity and interweaving of biodiversity protection issues requires a wide range of actions – regulation, prevention, adaptation and implementation of nature-based solutions. Transformative changes in our societies are needed to restore and preserve nature.

By facing a situation as complex as it is urgent, the 2020 COAL Prize invites artists from all over the world to rally in order to report on a world that is still alive, to feel and experience biodiversity, but mostly to act and get involved with nature protection actors. 

Presented and awarded at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 in Marseille in June 2020, the COAL Prize will contribute to the decisive step towards accelerating French and international public policies and raising citizens’ awareness of the need to preserve the environment and its biodiversity. 

The COAL Prize is supported by the Ministry of Ecology, the Ministry of Culture, the European Union through the ACT network, the French Agency for Biodiversity, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and the François Sommer Foundation and is in partnership with the IUCN French Committee, the Natural Reserves of France, the Federation of Regional Natural Parks of France, the WWF, the French Southern Region, the city of Marseille and the Parc national des Calanques and all the partners of VIVANT.

DOWNLOAD THE OPEN CALL

Address any questions to : CONTACT@PROJETCOAL.FR

Read a short play for Climate Change Theatre Action

CCTA

We are looking for any fun person who would be willing to read a short play (5 min) to themselves, a friend, a house plant, a pet (interspecies performance, yay!) to represent your state as part of Climate Change Theatre Action. If you are in any of the following states before December 21st, we’re looking for you!

  • Alabama
  • Delaware
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Kentucky
  • Nevada
  • West Virginia
  • Wyoming

More info: http://www.climatechangetheatreaction.com/about/

If you’re interested or have any questions email ccta@thearcticcycle.org

ARTPORT_making waves newsletter

news

(December Edition)
A newsletter of the stories you might have missed including upcoming events
by ARTPORT_making waves. Edited by Anne-Marie Melster.

State Studio Berlin, 14 December  2019, 3 – 8 pm 

Address: Hauptstr. 3, 10827 Berlin

Description (State Studio, Berlin,14 December 2019)
For the fourth and final event of the Berlin part of WE ARE OCEAN at State Studio Berlin, an independent project space for art and science, we are presenting for the first time in full length the film “WE ARE OCEAN – A film made in collaboration with secondary school students in Berlin and in Brandenburg” by Berlin-based artist Lisa Rave, which was created during a series of WE ARE OCEAN workshops with students this summer. In the afternoon we will conduct a final student workshop, which will formulate future scenarios for the climate protection of the oceans (please register for workshop participation at communication@artport-project.org). The students will present their findings following the film presentation in three short interviews with one member of the WE ARE OCEAN team, one of the participating educators and the audience, and formulate further questions for the project to continue in other cities. Afterwards, the bar of the State Studio invites for a more informal exchange. Throughout the duration of the event, the basement features the approximately one-hour program of artistic short films on the theme of the sea and ecology, poetry and politics that has been put together specifically for WE ARE OCEAN (presented in a loop).

3 – 6 pm
A workshop for registered school students (workshop room).

3 – 8 pm
A screening of WE ARE OCEAN curated film program with artistic short videos by Ursula Biemann (CH), Forensic Oceanography (GB), Tue Greenfort (DK), Michelle-Marie Letelier (CHI), Parvathi Nayar (IN), Ana Vaz (BR), Susanne M. Winterling (D), Marina Zurkow (US) (in the basement)

6 – 6:30 pm
Lisa Rave: “WE ARE OCEAN – A film made in collaboration with secondary school students in Berlin and in Brandenburg” (first floor)

6:30 – 7:30 pm
Dialogue situations with selected participants (first floor): Christian Rauch (STATE Studio), Julia Moritz, Lisa Rave, Anne-Marie Melster, Students and teachers of: Schule am Berlinickeplatz, Barbara-Zürner-Oberschule Velten, Montessori Gesamtschule Bernau

7:30 pm onward
Open bar

Webinar
Virtual Blue COP 25

“Can the arts mobilize youth
for the preservation of the Ocean?”

PLEASE JOIN US

Connect: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtd0eRkjwgrp0HZyp6xDeIg

SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER AT 08:30 am CET

Description (Webinar)
We decided to contribute something CO2-emissions-reduced to this year’s Climate Conference COP25 in Madrid: Virtual Blue COP25 invited us to hold a webinar on WE ARE OCEAN.

The webinar WE ARE OCEAN on 07 December 2019 has the transdisciplinary project WE ARE OCEAN by ARTPORT_making waves as a point of departure and will illustrate and discuss the role of art, education in combination with science in the implementation of environmental awareness in the broader public. The activity will have two different components: The screening of an excerpt of the artistic video by Lisa Rave created as part of her commissioned WE ARE OCEAN workshops in and around Berlin and a panel discussion with Anne-Marie Melster (ARTPORT_making waves, moderator), Julia Moritz (Co-curator of WE ARE OCEAN), Nick Nuttall (Earth Day Network), Nancy Couling (BAS Bergen School of Architecture).

Portrait of Nick Nuttall

ARTPORT_making waves is proud to announce that Nick Nuttall is joining our Advisory Board. Nick is the Strategic Communications Director for Earth Day 2020 and Former Director of Communications and Spokesperson for UN climate change and UN Environment.

Nick Nuttall has over 40 years’ experience in communicating climate and environmental issues. He was the Director of Communications and the Spokesperson for the 2015 Paris Agreement and spearheaded the communications and outreach for the UN Environment from 2001 to 2013.
Before that Nick was an award-winning journalist with The Times newspaper in London. Throughout his career, and in his personal life, art and culture have been significant companions. In the United Nations, he led several communications initiatives in which artists were engaged including a Song for Paris involving young musicians.

Nick has supported the Save the World Festival which brings together international artists from many disciplines with scientists and experts on sustainable development and recently was an advisor to the play Tornado.
As Director of Communications of the Global Climate Action Summit in California in 2018, Nick promoted artistic and cultural engagement. Earth Day, which in 2020 marks its 50th anniversary, is actively engaging artists under its Artists for the Earth initiative.

In his private life, Nick has performed with the Bonn Players and Bonn University Shakespeare Company is lead singer and guitarist with the band Sleepers Den while being a backing singer for the German artist Bernadette La Hengst. His other passions are tennis and his childhood English football team, Burnley.

ARTPORT_making waves Staff Picks

The ARTPORT_making waves Staff Pick is exactly what the name implies, a selection of recent articles, videos and content that have been curated by the staff at ARTPORT_making waves. Explore, Learn and Discover the world of climate change mitigation and climate action.

Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03595-0

An aeroplane flies over a glacier in the Wrangell St Elias National Park in Alaska.
Credit: Frans Lanting/Nat Geo Image Collection

Carbon markets shape agenda at UN climate summit

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03695-x

Protestors gather in London, UK, to call for climate action ahead of COP25 as part of the Global Climate Strike movement.Credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty

Our Partners and Funders

(Top image: State Studio Berlin, Foto: Anne Freitag)

Opportunity: UK theatres grants scheme open for applications

Creative Carbon Scotland

Theatres, apply now to Theatres Trust UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme for urgent building work.

Applications for the next round of the UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme are being accepted.

It is a capital fund set up by the Theatres Trust to award up to £5,000 to theatres across the UK run by charities and not-for-profit groups.

Priorities include projects that address urgent building repairs, improve operational viability, introduce environmental improvements, and enhance physical accessibility. Please note that applications for technical equipment and refurbishment of soft furnishings are a low priority for the scheme.

Deadline for applications is Monday 3 February 2020 at noon.

www.theatrestrust.org.uk/uk-theatres-small-grants-scheme

The post Opportunity: UK theatres grants scheme open for applications appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Opportunity: Stalled Spaces – Call for Projects

Creative Carbon Scotland

Stalled Spaces – a community fit for a wee bit.

Local groups and organisations across Glasgow are invited to submit proposals for temporary activation of any stalled or underused open spaces in the city. We are looking for projects that are innovative and socially engaged that can breathe life into stalled spaces and create a positive impact on the area.

Funding is available from a minimum of £1000 to a maximum of £4500.

The closing date for applications is Friday 17th January at 5pm.

For more information, please visit the Stalled Spaces website.

The post Opportunity: Stalled Spaces – Call for Projects appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Climate Strikes Continue – Get Creative on Dec. 6!

news

Youth across the country and the world are once again striking for Climate Justice. Some folks already went on strike last Friday; many more are preparing to strike this Friday, December 6th. No matter how old or young you are, we invite you to join!  

Find a local strike to join, or host your own!

After the global record-breaking September 20th strikes, we know that the upcoming strikes will be smaller. As communities build and shore up for the long haul, the strikes are deepening too. Town by town, coalitions are organizing, deepening youth leadership, crafting bigger visions and clearer demands of politicians, and taking bolder risks. If you haven’t joined the climate strikes yet, now’s the perfect time to show up with your loudest cheer and friendliest smile, to make your own sign or to just show up and be present with the youth.

Why does the USDAC go on strike? Because the climate crisis is a crisis for our culture—it’s a crisis for our values, for our communities and the people we love. It’s also an opportunity to bring our creative gifts into the streets. As artists and cultural leaders, we invite you to join us in taking a stand: send information to your friends and neighbors, bring creative action to the fight for climate justice in to your work and your life. Walk out of your offices, buy nothing, create something, stay home from school, attend a rally, start a conversation.

And if this week doesn’t work, set your eyes towards the spring, as the next global climate strike will be on Earth Day: April 22, 2020! With the months ahead to plan, we ask: who could you be standing with at the April Earth Day strike if you start preparing now? If you are a teacher or a convener of any sort, can you integrate preparations for the strike in to your curriculum or organizing plan? What visions of creative participation might we spend our winter hatching together?

Here are some other concrete ways you can show up for the climate strikes:

And don’t forget to register to strike on Dec 6th!

Yours in Creativity and Justice,

Rachel Schragis, Minister of the Bureau of EPA (Energy, Power and Art)

PS: Have you checked out our job description for a new Co-Director yet? Help us find an awesome new team member!!