APInews #127
A project of Art in the Public Interest
March 2010
Catching Up with "CAN 2.0"
Since you are an avid APInews reader, we thought you'd like to hear the latest news about the evolution of what we've come to call "CAN 2.0," a forthcoming expansion of the support, content, frame, and audience for CAN.
"CAN 2.0" is emerging as a multiplatform tool that can support place-based work that artists are doing in community, as well as strengthen the ability of the larger field to document and share lessons about that work, build participatory networks and leverage resources. We expect that it will be a broadly based collaboration between the Community Arts Network and a grassroots coalition comprising institutions of higher education and community cultural organizations.
As these diverse institutional partners develop and implement their ideas for broadening CAN's support structure and updating its communication technologies, API is conducting an urgent campaign to raise funds to support CAN throughout this bridge period. Here at the outset of that campaign, the generosity of readers like you already has raised $11,000, but we still need another $49,000 to keep the lights on.
Artists and arts organizations are pitching in big time. One of our coalition members, Appalshop/Roadside Theater, issued a funding challenge to the ten community-based theaters most reported on by CAN. In response, we have received new donations and pledges from the artists directing these theaters, including Roadside, Urban Bush Women, Los Angeles Poverty Department, Cornerstone, Sojourn, Community Performance Inc. and Dell'Arte. This is in addition to thousands given by CAN writers.
It is important to note that the coalition partners are already contributing to the CAN 2.0 effort. Virginia Tech, an early CAN partner, has provided the services of faculty member Bob Leonard (through limited release time from his teaching duties) so that he can convene and facilitate the coalition's ongoing deliberations. And a new partnership with Imagining America has provided APInews with an assistant editor, Jamie Haft, who is posting news items here and cycling them through IA's Web site as well.
One of our major publishing partners, The Maryland Institute College of Arts (with whom we publish Community Arts Perspectives) is talking with us about the next iteration of this national project. Sarah Ingersoll and Anasa Troutman of Art Is Change recently invited CAN to a national infrastructure summit in New York City, and they are also working with us to help expand both the audience and new media capability of the CAN 2.0 Web site.
Other active participants in CAN 2.0's development include Alternate ROOTS, University of Oregon, Arizona State University, Drexel University and Columbia College Chicago.
As founders and, for the past ten years, the management and staff of CAN, we are deeply moved by all the generous support being offered to encourage CAN's unfolding journey and impending metamorphosis. Even so, to sustain CAN throughout this transition period — while our new partners are deliberating among themselves and building support within their own leadership structures for CAN 2.0 — we need your immediate help to pay the bills.
You'll be receiving an e-mail pitch from all of us next week, but you don't have to wait. If you are ready to pledge your support, please go ahead and donate right now! Simply…
– Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland
Co-directors, API and CAN
NEW WRITING ON CAN
Here's what was new on CAN last month:
REVOLUTIONIZING THE MAKING OF A MUSEUM: PUTTING TEENS IN CHARGE
By Carol Ng-He and Erin Dragotto
Teenagers are creating the Chicago Teen Museum, the first museum in the U.S. dedicated entirely to the preservation of teen culture
go to article
THE NEED FOR A COMMUNITY ARTS UNIVERSITY WITHOUT WALLS
By Marta Moreno Vega
Community arts training must engage community scholars in the field, community institutions, artists, students and professors as equals.
go to article
THE LATINO DIALOGUE: A SHARED NARRATIVE OF HOPE AND POWER
By Amalia Mesa-Bains
The Latinos of Monterey County, Calif., come together to talk about their culture.
go to article
MY IRON TRI-ANGEL: AN URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD SEEKS TO TELL ITS OWN STORY
By Jordan Simmons
Residents of the Iron Triangle take control of their own narrative.
go to article
CULTURAL EXCHANGE VS. CULTURAL TOURISM
By Bau Graves
There are significant questions about the ethics of cultural tourism, and they extend to the ethics of cultural exchange.
go to article
TAKING OVER AND TALKING BACK: THEATER AS A FORUM ON GENTRIFICATION
By Caron Atlas
New York's citizens talk about what happens when communities change.
go to article 
RECENT NEWS FROM THE FIELD
NOTE: APInews is updated on a regular basis. Visit APInews to read the latest posts:
LATEST FROM A&D: U.S. SOCIAL FORUM & U.S. CENSUS
The Arts & Democracy Project has two arts-and-social-change projects right now, around the next U.S. Social Forum (USSF, Detroit, June 22-26, 2010) and the 2010 U.S. Census. (posted February 26, 2010)
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OUT NOW: RIDE: RESEARCH IN DRAMA EDUCATION, 2010
Vol. 15, Issue #1 of RIDE — Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance is available now and readable online by subscription. (posted February 26, 2010)
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OUT NOW: JOURNAL OF ARTS & COMMUNITIES #2
Issue #2 of the Journal of Arts & Communities is out from Intellect in Bristol, England, examining "the arts as a socially relevant practice." (posted February 26, 2010)
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NEW BOOK ON SUZANNE LACY BY SHARON IRISH
"SUZANNE LACY: Spaces Between" is a new book by Sharon Irish, out now from University of Minnesota Press. (posted February 24, 2010)
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GOLDBARD HITS THE ROAD FOR ARTS SUPPORT
Cultural critic Arlene Goldbard is on the road in March, talking about support for artists in New York and St. Louis. (posted February 23, 2010)
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ARTISTS, THEORISTS TO MEET BEFORE GLOBAL STRIKE
Artists and cultural theorists will meet in Los Angeles for a seminar on the current economic disaster in advance of a March 4 global Day of Action and Strike against the crisis in public education. (posted February 23, 2010)
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SOJOURN PUTS SUMMER INSTITUTE ON THE TABLE
Portland's Sojourn Theatre will offer a summer institute as part of its research for its summer site-specific production, "On the Table." (posted February 23, 2010)
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AFTA STARTS CONVERSATIONS WITH GREEN PAPERS
Americans for the Arts is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of Green Papers from a variety of national arts service organizations and peer groups representing different perspectives and disciplines. (posted February 23, 2010)
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ARTS FOUNDATION LOOKS AT ST. LOUIS CITY ISSUES
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis, Mo., has an interesting series of panels underway that brings together local and national experts to examine community action within that city. (posted February 18, 2010)
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5TH ANNUAL ARTS IN THE ONE WORLD CONFERENCE
"Home: Composing the Rooted Local in
the Rapid Global Environment" is the title of the fifth annual Arts in the One World Conference at Brown University, March 17-21, 2010. (posted February 18, 2010)
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LAUNCH: ART-IN-MOTION IN SYRACUSE, N.Y.
Art-in-Motion, a project of Imagining America, Open Hand Theater and Syracuse Stage, will feature conversations and performances centered on activating the arts and stimulating urban redevelopment in Syracuse, N.Y. (posted February 17, 2010)
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STRUCTURES FOR INCLUSION ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE
This March, Design Corps will convene its tenth Structures for Inclusion conference on design activism in Washington, D.C., hosted by Howard University. (posted February 17, 2010)
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NEW IN PLACES TO STUDY: ART AND HEALTH, UCLA
CAN has added to its Places to Study database Arts Activism and AIDS Awareness courses and programs at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). (posted February 16, 2010)
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NEW COMMUNITY ARTS PROGRAM AT NEA?
Rocco Landesman, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, has proposed an "Our Town" program that will use small, targeted grants to help arts organizations revitalize their communities. (posted February 15, 2010)
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MUSLIM PHOTO EXHIBIT TOURS NORTH CAROLINA
An exhibition of photographs of 25 North Carolina Muslims will travel the state this month, a project that took artist Todd Drake two years to accomplish. (posted February 12, 2010)
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LAUNCH: MIGRATIONS OF THE SACRED, S.F. MOAD
San Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora will explore the cultural context of spirituality across the Black Atlantic with "Migrations of the Sacred: Spiritual Practices Across the Diaspora." (posted February 12, 2010)
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LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE'S SUMMER INSTITUTE, JULY
This year's Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Summer Institute will culminate in site-specific performances in the parking garage of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. (posted February 12, 2010)
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NEW IN PLACES TO STUDY: CERTIFICATE AND INSTITUTE
CAN has added to its Places to Study database the Institute and Certificate for Arts in Transformation, offered by BuildaBridge International. (posted February 11, 2010)
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EWALD, COOK SLATED FOR CAA CONFERENCE PANEL
Among events of interest at the upcoming College Art Association conference in Chicago is a panel called "The Power of the Image: The Studio Artist and Civil Society," February 10, 2010. (posted February 09, 2010)
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DEEP DISH TV LAUNCHES DIY MEDIA SERIES
Deep Dish TV has released a four-part DVD series, "DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments," dedicated to the late historian Howard Z
inn. (posted February 09, 2010)
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NEW IN PLACES TO STUDY: DUKEENGAGE, DURHAM
CAN has added to its Places To Study database DukeEngage, the local, national and international civic engagement program for undergraduate students at Duke University. (posted February 09, 2010)
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HEALTH POLICY JOURNAL CREDITS ARTS TECHNIQUES
CAN writer John Sullivan has an article in a professional health policy journal about community artists, neighborhood residents and researchers working on public health collaborations. (posted February 08, 2010)
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LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE'S RABBI IN RESIDENCE
Rabbi David Bauer has joined Liz Lerman Dance Exchange as the first-ever Rabbinic Fellow in Residence. (posted February 05, 2010)
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MOMA'S AGNES GUND ON JOBS FOR ARTISTS
Times are hard, says MOMA's Agnes Gund in the Huffington Post (2/4/10), but two recent studies reveal that a bad situation is even worse for performing and visual artists. (posted February 05, 2010)
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AN L.A. ANGEL SPEAKS UP FOR THE ARTS
A coda to our item yesterday about the L.A. City Council's decision not to end guaranteed funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs: An angel appeared at the hearing. (posted February 05, 2010)
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NEW IN PLACES TO STUDY: PUBLIC PRACTICE DEGREES
CAN has added to its Places To Study database the M.A., M.F.A. & Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice (PPP) from the University of Texas at Austin. (posted February 04, 2010)
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CALL: CHAPTERS FOR CIVIC EDUCATION TEXTBOOK
The editor of a new textbook on the university and democratic societies is looking for chapter proposals on how the arts and arts communities work with colleges and universities to pursue citizenship education. (posted February 04, 2010)
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OBAMA'S 2011 BUDGET CUTS ARTS, ARTS ED
On February 2, 2010, the Obama Administration released its FY 2011 budget request to Congress, which includes cuts to the NEA, NEH, IMLS and the Department of Education's Arts in Education program. (posted February 04, 2010)
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WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM VOWS TO END POVERTY?
Last week, the filmmaking team behind The End of Poverty? partnered with the Yes Men to create a parallel, imaginary World Economic Forum in which world leaders came up with real solutions to poverty. (posted February 04, 2010)
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LAUNCH: ALWAYS EXPECT MIRACLES, ASHEVILLE
"Always Expect Miracles," a new community play written by CAN blogger Jules Corriere, debuts in Asheville, N.C., February 11, 2010, and runs thro
ugh March 6. (posted February 04, 2010)
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IMAGINING AMERICA SYNDICATES CAN NEWS
As part of CAN's current partnership with Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, pertinent items from APInews are appearing automatically on IA's newly launched online News Page. (posted February 04, 2010)
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LAUNCH: SUZANNE LACY'S "TATTOOED SKELETON"
California artist Suzanne Lacy will launch "The Tattooed Skeleton/El Esqueleto Tatuado," a new performance project focusing on violence against women, at the ARCO Art Fair in Madrid, Spain. (posted February 04, 2010)
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L.A. CITY COUNCIL SPARES CITY ARTS FUNDING
After listening to often impassioned pleas during a public hearing, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously shot down a proposal that would have eliminated guaranteed city funding for the arts. (posted February 04, 2010)
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CALL: IMAGINING AMERICA 11TH CONFERENCE, SEPT.
Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life calls for presentation proposals for its 11th annual conference, "Convergence Zones: Public Cultures and Translocal Practices." (posted February 02, 2010)
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FROM MAZI: AN INVITATION TO SOCIAL CHANGE
The January issue of MAZI, the Communication for Social Change Report, Karen Greiner and Arvind Singhal explore the concept of "invitational social change." (posted February 02, 2010)
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NEW PUBLIC ART SPACE IN DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN
A new public art space opens soon in downtown Brooklyn, a partnership of Triple Canopy, Light Industry and The Public School New York. (posted February 02, 2010)
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COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO'S INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
This spring, "Claiming Creativity: Art Education in Cultural Transition" will bring together artists, designers, architects, educators and leaders in business, science, commerce, industry, public policy and the environment. (posted February 01, 2010)
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TRIBECA FILM FEST TO FEATURE THE GOOD PITCH
The Good Pitch, a traveling one-day live event supporting filmmakers with social-justice film projects, is part of the Tribeca Film Festival this year and deadline for entries is February 8, 2010. (posted February 01, 2010)
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NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM IN GREENSBORO, N.C.
The new International Civil Rights Center and Museum is opening in Greensboro, N.C., where four black, 17-year-old college freshman, on February 1, 1960, sat down and ordered some food. (posted February 01, 2010)
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APInews reports current directions in public art, art in communities and art in the public arena, with links to additional information elsewhere on the World Wide Web.
Copyright 2010 Art in the Public Interest, All Rights Reserved.
Edited by Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland of API. Your comments and contributions are welcome, however, do not reply directly to this newsletter. Contact us at apinews@communityarts.net .
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APInews is published as part of the Community Arts Network. CAN promotes information exchange, research and critical dialogue within the field of community-based arts.
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In This Issue
Catching Up with "CAN 2.0"
New Writing on CAN
Recent News from the Field
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