Conference Call

Arts & Democracy audio transcript on the role of Culture in Revolutionary Times

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Reposted from freeDimensional

Arts & Democracy Project’s most recent nation-wide conference call was focused on recent events in Egypt and the extraordinary pro-democracy movements sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East.  The call highlighted how artists, art spaces and cultural organizers in the region and in the U.S. are participating or responding, and how more cultural workers can engage in positive ways. With Dalia Basiouny, writer & theatre artist (Egypt); Ahmed Issawi, Alwan for the Arts (Egypt/NYC); and Khaled Mattawa, poet & professor (Libya/Michigan), among others.

A recorded transcript is available.



Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)

– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)

– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)

– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

2010 Power of Words Conference: Call For Proposals

The 8th Annual Power of Words conference will be held Sept. 23-26, 2010 at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT and we’re looking for workshop proposals!

One way or another you’ve been connected and in touch with the Transformative Language Arts Network and we thought you and yours might be interested in the event again this year. Please consider the Call for Proposals yourself and give thought to forwarding this along to those for whom this might spark some interest. If, instead, you’d like to discontinue your communications with the Network you will find means to do that at the bottom of this message.
The 8th Annual Power of Words conference brings together writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, educators, activists, healers, health professionals, community leaders, and more. All participants are united in the common exploration of how the written, spoken, and sung word can catalyze individual and communal liberation, celebration, and transformation.

We invite your proposals for experiential, didactic, and/or performance-based workshops that focus on writing, storytelling, drama, film, narrative medicine, songwriting, and other forms of Transformative Language Arts (TLA). We support proposals that focus on social change, the spoken or sung word, and how to make a living using transformative language arts in service to our communities. Because we are strongly committed to including individuals from diverse backgrounds, we encourage proposals from people of color and from presenters of many ages.

To submit a workshop proposal, visit the TLAN 2010 Call for Proposals Page.

The 2010 conference will feature four thematic tracks. Particular consideration will be given to workshop proposals that forward one or more themes:

  • Right Livelihood, finding a work life that is an expression of your gifts and makes a contribution to the world.
  • Social Transformation, using the power of word to deepen engagement with social issues and transform self and society.
  • Engaged Spirituality, writing / employing spiritual pathways challenging deeply-embedded structures of injustice to cultivate a sustainable, just, and peaceful world.
  • Narrative Medicine, using the power of narrative to help patients discover their own stories of illness and create ones of healing that pull toward recovery.

The conference will feature the following keynote speakers:

  • Greg Greenway – Singer and poet who works with the social awareness of Woody Guthrie
  • S. Pearl Sharp – Writer/actress/filmmaker/broadcast journalist focusing on cultural arts, health and healing, and Black history
  • Kayhan Irani – An artivist using the the arts to deepen engagement with social issues and societal transformation. A writer, director, performer, and facilitator of Playback Theater
  • Katherine Towler – Poet, author, teacher – writes lyrical novels of family and place

To submit a workshop proposal, visit the TLAN 2010 Call for Proposals Page.

For further information, please contact the TLAN Coordinators.

Callid & Kristina Keefe-Perry
TLA Network Coordinators
coordinator@tlanetwork.org
877-303-TLAN (8526)

[Please note that (a) presenters are not paid for their presentations and must register for, pay for, and attend the conference, (b) conference fees begin at $200 with reasonable room and board available, (c) a limited number of partial scholarships are also available, and (d) no individual should submit more than three proposals.]