http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog.html On October 4-6, 2007 the Arts & Democracy Project and Alternate Roots co-hosted a three-day conversation on cultural organizing as part of the 4th Annual State of the Nation Festival in Jackson, MS. The State of the Nation Festival is dedicated to strengthening relationships and supporting collaboration between artists from Louisiana and Mississippi who are committed to addressing social, political, and economic justice issues facing the region. The festival is a project of Alternate Roots, a network of artists from the Southeastern U.S. that supports "the creation and presentation of original art which is rooted in a particular community of place, tradition or spirit." Throughout the year, the Arts & Democracy Project has been organizing gatherings across the country that bring together artists and activists to think about what they need to increase the impact of work that connects art, culture and activism. Several of these gatherings have focused on cultural organizing, including a national retreat for rural cultural organizers taking place in Northern California, and sessions at the first ever U.S. Social Forum (USSF) held in Atlanta, GA and at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Highlander Research and Education Center in East Tennessee. We have worked with local and regional organizers on each of these gatherings in an effort to address local concerns while undertaking the challenge of facilitating an on-going national conversation. State of the Nation Festival organizer, Carlton Turner, participated in three of the previous gatherings and was eager to bring this conversation to the Deep South where art and culture have played such a critical role in social justice movements. He invited the Arts & Democracy Project to co-facilitate a cultural organizing session as part of the State of the Nation Festival, which proved to be a productive venue for this conversation. The gathering was hosted at the International Museum of Muslim Cultures, the first museum of its kind in the country. About twenty folks participated in the cultural organizing session at the State of the Nation Festival including Caron Atlas (Arts & Democracy Project), Okolo Rashid (International Museum of Muslim Cultures), Amelia Kirby (Appalshop), Cynthia Ramirez, Bertha O'Neal, John O'Neal (Junebug Productions), William O'Neal (Junebug Productions), Kiyoko McCrae (Junebug Productions), Nayo Watkins (Alternate ROOTS), Jordan Flaherty (Left Turn), Gabe Barry (Homecoming Center), Casey Pritchard (Homecoming Center), Nick Slie (Mondo Bizarro), Tufara Muhammad (Highlander Center), Stephanie McKee (Neighborhood Housing Services), Bruce France (Mondo Bizarro), Owen H. Brooks (Veteran of the Civil Rights Movement), Kathy Randels (ArtSpot Productions), Sabir Abdul-Haqq (ACLU of MS), Carlton Turner (Alternate ROOTS/M.U.G.A.B.E.E.). We met for six hours a day and shared some of what we talked about during an open community dialogue on the third and final day of the festival. The group was made up mostly of community-based artists from Mississippi and New Orleans, many of whom were performing in the festival. There were also activists and organizers, primarily from Jackson, whose work explores the intersection of art, culture and organizing. Many of the people who participated in the session had long standing relationships and this fostered a level of trust and openness within the group that allowed for a frank and rich conversation. With two days ahead of us, we spent the first morning getting to know each other and learning about how each of us came to this work, whether artistic, political or both. That afternoon and the following morning we listened to presentations by Sabir Abdul-Haqq (ACLU Digital Storytelling Project), John O'Neal (Junebug Productions/Free Southern Theater Institute), Tufara Muhammad (United African Caravan to the WSF), Stephanie McKee (Neighborhood Housing Services), Nick Slie and Bruce Frances (I-10 Witness Project). Following their brief presentations the presenters had the opportunity to have the group help them think through particular questions and challenges they were facing in their work. We concluded with a group discussion about the issues raised during the two days of conversation. I went to Mississippi with some ideas and many, many questions about art, activism and cultural organizing that have been raised throughout the year at other gatherings or through individual conversations with artists and activists. Some ideas: That cultural organizing is about placing art and culture at the center of an organizing strategy, it is about organizing from who we are (as a people), where you are located, it is about organizing from a particular identity, from one's worldview. While many of us have never called what we do "cultural organizing," it is something that we have been doing for a very long time, for generations even. Some questions: How do we have an on-going conversation, across time and space that deepens and expands as it moves and keeps people connected and engaged? How do we have an intergenerational conversation that allows us to learn from our different experiences and that sheds light on the concept of a social movement? How does cultural organizing foster and support leadership? Where do we place value in this work? These ideas and questions helped initiate the conversation in Jackson in a setting that allowed us to go deeper into our exploration of the challenges of work that exists at the intersection of art, culture and activism. It has been over a month since I returned home, and the stories, insights, challenges, and visions shared continue to reverberate in my mind, providing fertile ground for reflection. Below are some quotes from what people said in Mississippi that have stuck with me, followed by my reflections. " (This work) is not a job, it is not a box, it is the many experiences that make up our lives, it is a journey." Cultural organizing is not a fixed, rigid or static practice. It is transformational in nature and as we grow, change and evolve, the practice grows, changes and evolves. It is different for each and every one of us. "Who could have marched from Alabama to DC without a song?" While a song alone cannot create social change, political struggle alone is not sustainable. Art and culture are vital ingredients for sustaining us through struggle and for creating the world we want to live in. Marching thousands of miles is a powerful political act, in part, because it is an act that requires tremendous sacrifice and commitment. But we would cave in under the weight of such sacrifice alone. Song, dance, story, image can all function like buoys in the water, lifting us up, giving us the energy we need to go on. "Art for life's sake" Where do we place the value of art? Some have declared that art is valuable for its own sake; others believe that art is only valuable when it is used in the service of a particular moral, political or social agenda. The struggle between the independent value of art versus the value of art for the greater good can feel like a set up for those of who live at the crossroads between art and politics. Why should we have to choose? Art for life's sake places art at the center of life itself and offers us an expansive way to think about the value of art that includes a broad spectrum of artistic expressions including the explicitly political, the community-based and the experimental. "Stories are more valuable than arguments. We need to spend more time talking to each other." Cultural organizers privilege storytelling over debate. We value taking time with each other, listening to each other's stories and learning from one another's experiences. This allows us to find common ground and opens up new possibilities for connection and relationship building based on our shared humanity. "The people are the leaders; organizers (role is to) help to develop leadership." This work whether we call it "cultural organizing" or something else places value in cultivating leadership by the those most affected by the political and social conditions we are committing to changing. It is a grassroots, bottom-up approach to organizing in which the artists and organizers role is to listen, provide support, offer resources rather than set the agenda. "(It often feels like we are) throwing small pebbles into big ponds." It is easy to feel discouraged when we are aware of the gravity and immensity of the injustice and cruelty we are up against. At times our work feels small, disconnected and insignificant. We want to do more, we want to have a greater impact, we want to throw boulders not pebbles! Still, we need to pay attention to the ripples we make with our pebbles when assessing the impact of our work. --Javiera Benavente, Cultural Organizer, Arts & Democracy Project http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/october4-62007stateofthenationartandperformancefestivaljacksonmissississippi.html Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:45:25 GMT Cosponsored with the Highlander Center and Alternate Roots. This session built on previous discussions and followed a one-day institute on cultural organizing as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the Highlander Center in New Market Tennessee. The Highlander Center was founded in 1932 to serve as an adult education center for community workers involved in social and economic justice movements. The goal of Highlander was and is to provide education and support to poor and working people fighting economic injustice, poverty, prejudice, and environmental destruction. The Center helps grassroots leaders create the tools necessary for building broad-based movements for change. Presenters included: Co-facilitators Anasa Trautman, Highlander Center, Caron Atlas and Javiera Benavente, Arts & Democracy Project; Amelia Kirby, Appalshop; Carlton Turner, Alternate Roots; Michelle Miller, SEIU; Mathew Jones, SNCC Freedom Singers, and Baldemar Velazquez, Farm Labor Organizer Committee. Judi Jennings, Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and a participant in the gathering, wrote about the celebration in The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judi-jennings/a-human-rights-revival-in_b_66656.html Photos top to bottom: Highlander 75th Anniversary logo, Hot 8 Brass Band, and Maurice Turner, Highlander Board Chair and Carlton Turner, co-founder of M.U.G.A.B.E.E http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/highlander75thanniversaryaugust2007.html Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:50:03 GMT The Rural Cultural Organizer Gathering (April, 2007) was cosponsored with the Main Street Project /Raices, Center for Rural Strategies, and the Humboldt Area Foundation. This was a small 1.5 day-long strategic national gathering of rural cultural organizers who included, in addition to the cosponsors: Alternate Roots, Appalshop, Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship, Llano Grande Center, Feral Arts, United Indian Health Services, and Northland Poster Collective. The gathering offered participants an opportunity to share their place and culturally based strategies and methodologies with one another in the areas of community development, community organizing, education, communications, health, philanthropy, media, and the arts. Topics included: capacity building, generational transitions, policy change, strategic communications, cultural organizing, rural voting, organizing in the Gulf post-Katrina, civic dialogue, youth organizing, rooting your work in place and cultural identity, digital storytelling, and community and cultural mapping. The gathering sparked various collaborations and will be documented through a series of dialogues between participants and a commissioned essay. The gathering took place in Klamath, California and included an exchange with Native cultural leaders from the area. Resources from the gathering are included on the Resource List. (Photos top to bottom: Searching for whales, the Mouth of Klamath, and some of the gathering participants) http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/theruralculturalorganizergatheringapril2007-1.html Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:38:25 GMT "Diverse approaches" - but were there any common themes coming forward from the session? Here in the UK, the role of the arts in creating an effective participatory democracy are being (re)discovered; for the last 15 years - participation has simply meant audience development. Very interested to see how we can link up internationally because then we get a chance to recognise what is universal and what is culturally specific. Adrian Sinclair Heads Together Productions www.headstogether.org http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/culturalorganizingattheussocialforumussfjune2007/responsefromadriansinclair.html Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:57:35 GMT On Thursday, June 29, 2007 the Arts & Democracy Project hosted a session on cultural organizing at the first-ever USSF held in Atlanta, GA. Over 60 people came out to participate in this conversation. The session explored the power of cultural organizing to expand who is included in organizing and how they are included to creatively frame and communicate visions of change to encourage critical thinking, break down fear, and humanize polarized issues. Presenters shared a range of experiences, demonstrating the diverse approaches and models being developed in this field in both rural and urban contexts, involving both youth and adults, and engaging various artistic media including performance, video, and visual art. The presenters included Amalia Anderson, Co-Director of the Raices Project, a program dedicated to building and strengthening a broad-based movement for political participation within Latino communities; Michelle Miller, a Senior Producer in the Community Strength Department at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Thenmozhi Soundaraajan, a filmmaker, singer, grassroots media organizer and the director of Third World Majority, a women of color, Media/Tech Justice training and organizing institution based in Oakland, CA; Anasa Troutman, an artist, producer, political strategist and activist-organizer who is currently coordinating the 75th Anniversary of the Highlander Center, a popular education and research center located in New Market, TN; and Carlton Turner, the Regional Director of Alternate Roots, an organization dedicated to supporting community based arts, and M.U.G.A.B.E.E., a multi disciplinary arts group based in rural Mississippi. http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/culturalorganizingattheussocialforumussfjune2007.html Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:40:33 GMT "Imaging the Frame, Framing the Image?" On Thursday, March 29th over twenty Bay Area artists, activists, and cultural organizers came together at La Pena Cultural Center for "Imaging the Frame, Framing the Image?" a discussion about the relationship between framing and cultural organizing. The gathering was organized by Ludovic Blain formerly of the New Progressive Coalition and Caron Atlas and Javiera Benavente of the Arts & Democracy Project at the Center for Civic Participation. While many activists and organizers are working with artists, and others with framers, few are working with both, and rarely do framers and artists work together. Given the numbers of politically engaged framers and artists in the Bay Area, we decided to bring folks together to share best practices, innovations and resources, with a focus on the emerging field of framing as well as the more established artist/activist community. The gathering began with presentations by Jenn Soriano, Youth Media Council, Erik Sahlin of Real Reason and Arlene Goldbard, independent consultant and writer. Each responded to the question-- how does the emergence of "framing" change the way you think about what political and cultural activists do, and how they can and should work together?--from the perspective of political activist, framer, and cultural activist respectively. Their presentations were followed by a lively conversation where participants elaborated on their experiences with framing and arts-based activism and discussed the similarities and differences between this work. http://ccp.org/organizing/groups/artsdem/blog/sanfranciscoartist-activistgathering.html Mon, 28 May 2007 16:42:57 GMT