In a statement to the press, President Bush praised Hammond as a conductor, as a composer, and as an advocate of the arts, saying that "his commitment to excellence and his extraordinary talents will be greatly missed."

Hammond hadn't had time to immerse himself in what he wanted to do, NEA Director of Communications Mark Weinberg told Arts Wire. "But he had hoped to emphasize the importance of early arts education, to make the arts a lively force in American art, to build a wide audience for the arts so that arts organizations could flourish in a climate of arts appreciation, and to make the arts a source of strength, healing, and joy in people's lives."

Hammond wasn't feeling well the day before he was found dead. He stayed home from work on Monday, and on Monday night he went home early from a performance of Jacobean playwright John Webster's death-laden tragedy, THE DUCHESS OF MALFI -- at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington. On Tuesday, when he didn't show up for work, his body was found in the house where he had been temporarily residing.

"Only 11 days ago, we honored Michael for his service as dean of the Shepherd School of Music and wished him well in his new position as the presidentially appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts," said Malcolm Gillis, President of Rice University in Houston, TX. "Michael Hammond leaves a family and a university permanently enriched by his vision, strength of character, integrity and indomitable spirit."

On the weekend, the Houston Symphony dedicated its concerts to Hammond, opening the program with American composer Samuel Barber's lyrical, elegiac ADAGIO FOR STRINGS, a work which was played after the deaths of President's Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, as well as used in the score of PLATOON.

Before he left for Washington to take up his new duties, Hammond said, according to RICE NEWS, that his wife and the Shepherd School of Music had been the two great love affairs of his life.

Throughout my 16 year-tenure, my interest and my devotion to the school grew, sustained by the school's faculty, by a shared love of music, Rice News quotes him as saying at a farewell gathering. "This has not been work for me. I just felt each year, 'How can this keep getting better?' It remains to this day a love affair for me and one that I will not forget if I live to be 100."

He is survived by his wife Anne Lilley Hammond and their son Thomas M. Hammond, an actor who several years ago in a production at the Shepherd School, co-directed Igor Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS with his father. Hammond's son Benjamin Michael Hammond, a musician, acoustic engineer and MIT doctoral student, died in 1996 at age 29.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251

Eileen B. Mason will serve as Acting Chairman of the agency until a new presidential appointee is in place. Mason, 58, began her tenure at the Arts Endowment as Senior Deputy Chairman in November, 2001. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council in Maryland and as a manager and policy maker at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Mason -- a violinist, who has played with the Cornell Symphony, the M.I.T. Symphony, and most recently with the American University Symphony has also been an editor at Little, Brown in Boston and Acropolis Books in Washington, DC.

Sources/resources:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS -- http://www.arts.gov

RICE UNIVERSITY -- http://www.rice.edu/

THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC -- http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~musi/

Ellen Chang
"Rice bids Hammond fond farewell"
RICE NEWS -- http: //riceinfo.rice.edu/projects/reno/rn/20020124/Templates/hammond.html

In the fall of 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a report LIBERTIES AT RISK which detailed how the government had become a primary challenger of First Amendment and other Bill of Rights liberties.

"In recent years, the ACLU's work has -- of necessity -- focused on threats to the Bill of Rights posed by the highly organized and lavishly funded religious right," said ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser in launching the campaign. "But, now a new and disturbing pattern has begun to emerge -- one that has happened so stealthily most haven't even noticed it: the government has again become a driving force for the majority of the anti-liberty proposals in our country today." As examples, the ACLU included Congress' second attempt to censor the Internet, the so-called "Child Online Protection Act" and continuing Congressional attempts to ban the use of the flag to express political dissent.

In 2001, stating that "The rap song 'Your Revolution' contains unmistakable patently offensive sexual references," the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a $7,000 fine to the Portland, Oregon radio station KBOO. The FCC charged that KBOO's airing of Sarah Jones' YOUR REVOLUTION violated the Commission's decency standards.

"Artistic censorship is never good government policy, but this act of censorship by the FCC is especially ludicrous. Sarah Jones has an educational message, and the listening public should be able to hear it and form their own opinions. By declaring this song `indecent' a whole range of valuable expression will be jeopardized," said People For the American Way Foundation President Ralph G. Neas.

In 2001, in New York City, then Mayor Rudy Guiliani continued to attack art which depicted religion in culturally diverse ways. Calling YO MAMA'S LAST SUPPER, a photograph by Renee Cox in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, "disgusting," "outrageous," and "anti-Catholic" Guiliani initiated a commission to set "decency standards" to keep such work out of art institutions which receive public money.

Jamerican artist Renee Cox -- like Chris Ofili, the artist who created the black HOLY VIRGIN MARY to which Giuliani objected in 1999 -- is a black artist whose work depicts Christian icons in a cultural context, as did many Renaissance era artists.

"....your revolution will not be me tossing my weave
making believe I'm some caviar-eating, ghetto mafia clown
or me givin' up my behind just so I can get signed
have someone else write my rhymes?
I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
your revolution makes me wonder, where could we go
if we could drop the empty pursuit of props and the ego
revolt back to our Roots, use a little Common sense on a Quest
to make love De La Soul, no pretense...but

your revolution will not be you flexing your sex and status
to express what you feel;
your revolution will not happen between these thighs
will not happen between these thighs
will not be you shaking and me faking between these thighs
because the revolution, when it finally comes, is gon' be real" -
Sarah Jones, YOUR REVOLUTION

Last week, in what may be the first case of an artist suing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an "indecency" ruling, Sarah Jones filled suit against the FCC for ruling that her song YOUR REVOLUTION is "indecent." The lawsuit was filed by the New York-based media law firm Frankfurt Garbus Kurnit Klein & Selz, P.C. and attorneys with People For the American Way Foundation. (PFAW)

"The Commission Ruling failed to properly apply the analysis of 'community standards' and the 'full context' of Your Revolution as established by Pacifica and its progeny, and its own Policy Statement," the lawsuit states. "As such, the FCC has censored speech that is not indecent and that is entitled to the highest First Amendment protection."

"Your Revolution," a woman artist's take on Gil Scott-Heron's THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED, was recorded with music in 1998 in collaboration with the musician DJ Vadim and released on a Vadim anthology album in 1999.

Stating that "The rap song 'Your Revolution' contains unmistakable patently offensive sexual references," on May 17, 2001, the FCC issued a $7,000 fine to Portland, Oregon's KBOO, a listener-sponsored station. The FCC charged that KBOO's airing of the song violated the Commission's decency standards.

"I wrote 'Your Revolution' as a response to the music on mainstream radio which often treats women as sex objects and play things. It makes no sense that the government is trying to ban a song that offers an empowering alternative to the degrading messages that play freely on the radio every day," People for the American Way Foundation quotes Sarah Jones as saying.

"This is my only recourse as an artist, the way the FCC structures the process against us," Jones, a New York City-based poet, playwright, performance artist, emphasized to Arts Wire. "The artist whose work is labeled in a problematic way, can do nothing but sit and wait. I am working to scrape away the residue of this ridiculous indecency label."

Calling the FCC's actions "bad judgement" and "an abuse of power," she emphasized that: "I am in this for everyone else whose work I respect, for every artist who could be silenced in this arbitrary way."

The lawsuit states that the FCC ruling "imposes an unprecedented form of censorship, which is barred by the FCC's own recent Policy Statement: which states among other things that in determining whether material is 'patently offensive', the Policy Statement provides: '[T]he full context in which the material appeared is critically important. It is not sufficient, for example, to know that explicit sexual terms or descriptions were used. . . . . The apparent purpose for which material is presented can substantially affect whether it is deemed to be patently offensive as aired. Material presented in a pandering or titillating manner is often basis of an indecency finding.'"

The suit emphasizes that "contrary to the Policy Statement, the Commission Ruling did not consider the 'full context' in which Your Revolution was aired and focused narrowly on the sexual references in the song. The Commission Ruling failed to view the song within music culture, which is particularly important in this case because Your Revolution is a dialogue with and parody of popular music. For example, the FCC simply ignored the fact that much of the lyrics in Your Revolution are direct quotes from songs that are widely and nationally played on the radio."

It also points out that "By ignoring the full context of Your Revolution, and particularly its relationship to other popular musical works, the FCC ignored the sensibilities of the 'average listener' (the determinant of community standards of decency). It was the 'average listener' that popularized many of the lyrics excerpted in Your Revolution and the 'average listener' would certainly understand that Your Revolution was denouncing ideas expressed in those popular lyrics and not using sexual references to pander and titillate the listener."

Sarah Jones' work includes the solo show, SURFACE TRANSIT, in which she plays eight unique characters ranging from a homophobic Italian police officer, to a Jewish Grandmother, to an African American rapper in a 12-step program for rhyme addiction. Surface Transit has been presented at the HBO Workspace, the American Place Theatre, and at HBO's Aspen Comedy Arts Festival where it won the Best One Person Show award. Jones will be performing SURFACE TRANSIT which features the poem Your Revolution, at the Kennedy Center from March 28 through April 21.

A teaching artist, Jones has presented approximately 60 school workshops in recent years, and the suit also details how -- because her work is deeply involved in education and women's rights - the FCC ruling continues to harm her.

"She is dedicated to reaching out to young women to share the important ideas expressed in Your Revolution. As an educator and someone who works with children, it is extremely damaging to her reputation to have 'sexually indecent' attached to her name. The Commission Ruling is particularly unjustified because Your Revolution is a strong statement against indecency," the lawsuit points out.

It also notes that Sarah Jones "used the hip hop vehicle in Your Revolution because she believes it is a beautiful and creative art form. She believes that the appropriate response to the objectionable and disturbing elements in hip hop is not to walk away from the art form, but to answer back with something more sophisticated and meaningful. This 'answering back' incorporates the tradition in hip hop where opposing artists engage in dialogue with each other through music."

Your Revolution, Jones' suit points out, "does not 'pander' or 'titillate' in its use of sexual references. To the contrary, Your Revolution is a political and cultural critique that challenges young women and men to reject a social order that is foisted upon them by much of popular radio, television, and magazines and seek a true revolution, which promotes relationships based on equality rather than power. Gloria Steinem commented that: Your Revolution 'is a younger version of Robin Morgan's brilliant 'Goodbye to All That.'' Both take aim at a so-called revolution in which (leftwing) sons replace (rightwing) fathers, with the same dominance over women. Both are witty, specific, personal, and life saving to women who learn that they're not crazy in rejecting allies who don't behave like allies."

WASHINGTON, DC -- the Justice Department recently spent over $8,000 for drapes to conceal two Art Deco statues in the Great Hall in the Justice building.

Located on the stage in the Great Hall, the works which the Justice Department has concealed are a woman, THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE, who wears a toga with one breast exposed, and a man, MAJESTY OF JUSTICE, whose waist and loins are draped.

All of the Justice Department's [1936] interior sculpture and metalwork was designed by sculptor Carl Paul Jennewein, [1890-1978] according to Linda Lyons, Education Chair, Art Deco Society of Washington.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Jennewein studied at the Art Students League in New York from 1908 to 1911. His sculptures and bas-reliefs are included in the west wing of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in New York in The Federal Office Building, the A. T. & T. Building, and the RCA Building.

Reports vary as to whether Ashcroft himself or Justice Department aids made the decision to drape the works of art.

Reuters reports that Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said the department was concerned that Ashcroft was photographed with the Spirit of Justice in the background when he announced plans to restructure the Justice Department to focus on terrorism after Sept 11. On November 30, when President Bush went to the Justice Department to name the building after former attorney General Robert Kennedy, assassinated in on June 5, 1968, the Spirit of Justice and the Majesty of Justice were no longer visible.

"He did not know this was being done," the Reuters quotes Comstock as saying. "The attorney general has more important things to do than worry about what appears in pictures."

"If Ashcroft, indeed, has bigger things to worry about than the backdrop during a press conference, there was no need to charge taxpayers $8,000 to hide a couple of sculptures," the CAPITAL TIMES editorialized. "But if it was Ashcroft who ordered the cover-up, then we need to worry about an attorney general who gets nervous with Justice looking over his shoulder."

"The Catholic League is not there to protect ordinary Catholics from outside attack," THE VILLAGE VOICE quotes Irish novelist Emer Martin, (BREAKFAST IN BABYLON; MORE BREAD OR I'LL APPEAR) as saying. "It's a thinly disguised effort to censor its own artistic community. We who were raised as Catholics, the Catholic imagery embedded deep in our psyches, have an absolute right to explore these images."

In 2001 the Catholic League attacked a production of Terrence McNally's CORPUS CHRISTI at Indiana University-Purdue University. Last year, the Catholic League also attacked Alma Lopez' OUR LADY, exhibited at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa De, New Mexico, and most recently, the League attacked the work of Catalonian artist Antoni Miralda in the exhibition ACTIVE INGREDIENTS at COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts which recently opened in Napa, CA.

The National Coalition Against Censorship. (NCAC) describes Antoni Miralda's work at COPIA in this way: He "filled 11 refrigerated soda cases with found objects as part of his continuing project 'Food Culture Museum.' Among the objects are 35 figurines, each about the size of a chess piece, of different characters sitting on potties (among them several nuns, the pope, Fidel Castro, and Santa Claus). These figures are called 'caganers' and are part of a Catalonian peasant tradition."

In a statement with potentially racist implications, Catholic League president William Donohue said: "Artists. California. Alcohol. That's a bad mix. What you see is what you get-the pope and nuns defecating. It gets better. Want to learn their take on this? When we asked COPIA's executive director, Peggy Loar, to explain what Miralda is up to, she dutifully e-mailed us her response: `These figurines symbolize the cycle of eating and fertilization of the earth, which is a requisite for future existence.' Now I get it: to show his appreciation of Mother Earth, Miralda had to show the pope and nuns defecating. But why couldn't he have chosen the Lone Ranger and Tonto instead? Or better yet, just Tonto and a few of his Indian buddies? Wouldn't that be a more earthy statement of the kind we're supposed to believe Miralda wants to convey?"

Noting that "Placing statuettes of defecating people in Christmas Nativity scenes is a tradition so old, so strong and so widely enjoyed in the Catalonian region of Spain that even the Roman Catholic Church doesn't dare try to ban it," Sarah Andrews writes in an Associated Press (AP) report available on the NCAC website, that an official of the Cultural Heritage department of the Barcelona Roman Catholic diocese "described the caganer tradition as a harmless game for children and said the church wasn't about to start a 'second Inquisition' because of it."

The AP story also points out that the tradition has a deeper meaning for some Catalaners. The act of defecating symbolizes "the fertilization of the earth and pride in the land of Catalonia, whose inhabitants won the right to speak their own language and govern themselves after the 1939-75 Spanish dictatorship," the AP quotes Marti Torrent, founder of the Association of Friends of the Caganer, as saying.

Last weekend, Sarah Jones performed her play WAKING THE AMERICAN DREAM at a benefit for The National Immigration Forum in Washington, DC. The National Immigration Forum is an organization which fights for the rights of new Americans -- "a particularly daunting task in this particular climate," Jones commented. Waking the American Dream was commissioned by the Forum and the Ford Foundation, and is poised to make a United States tour later this year.

Sarah Jones describes Waking the American Dream as a multi-character work which finds a creative way to bring more attention to the struggles and the triumphs of everyday lives. The work introduces 12 characters based on various experiences she heard in interviews with the community -- with friends, family, and people whom the forum put her in touch with.

"In our culture, we are all touched in our personal daily lives or in our work lives by the influence of being multi-cultural," Jones emphasized to Arts Wire. "In the wake of September 11, it is so difficult for all of us, but particularly for immigrants who came to this country for stability and security."

One of the characters in the work is a young girl who lost a parent on September 11.

"Tragedy needs to have a human face so that we know that we are resilient and can survive, so that we connect with our community, live our lives in that context, so that we all can live in peace so that Justice can truly reign everywhere," said Sarah Jones.

Sources/resources:

"Government is Primary Challenger of First Amendment Rights, ACLU Warns"
"Constitutional Amendment to Ban Flag Desecration Defeated" Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2000/cur040400.html
April 3, 2000

"Giuliani Calls Renee Cox Photo 'Disgusting','Anti-Catholic'; Announces Plans for a NYC 'Decency' Commission"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur022001.html
February 20, 2001

"Giuliani Announces 'Decency' Commission Appointments; "Even acting as an advisory group, the committee could potentially have a chilling effect on the arts in New York City," Coalition Responds
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur041701.html
April 17, 2001

"FCC Fines Portland's Listener-sponsored KBOO for Sarah Jones' "Your Revolution"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur070301.html
July 3, 2001

SARAH JONES - YOUR REVOLUTION -- http://www.survival- soundz.com/revolution/

PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION -- http://www.pfaw.org
The complete text of Sarah Jones' lawsuit is available on the site

Reuters
"$8,000 Curtains Cover Semi-Nude Statues
A cover-up at the U.S. Justice Department"
YAHOO NEWS -- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020129/od/statues_dc_1.html
January 29, 2002

"Editorial: Justice is blind again"
THE CAPITAL TIMES -- http://captimes.com/opinion/editorial/10658.php
January 31, 2002

Maureen Dowd
"A Blue Burka for Justice"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/opinion/30DOWD.html
January 30, 2002

Frank Owen
"Aestheticism in the Wake of Catechism is No Heresy The Myth of Catholic Bashing"
THE VILLAGE VOICE -- http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/9942/owen.php
October 20-16, 1999

"OUR LADY by Alma Lopez Triggers Controversy in Santa Fe"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur041701.html April 17, 2001

"Group Attempts to Stop Performance of Terrence McNally's CORPUS CHRISTI at Indiana University-Purdue University"
"New Mexico Museum Committee Recommends That Alma Lopez's OUR LADY Remain on Display"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur061201.html
June 12, 2001

"Catholic League Objects to Traditional Figurines in Art Installation"
NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP -- http://www.ncac.org

SARAH ANDREWS, Associated Press Writer
"Catholic League Challenges Catalan Work at Copia"
NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP -- http://www.ncac.org/issues/antonimiralda.html
January 7, 2002

ANTONI MIRALDA -- http://www.connect-arte.com/miralda/

Bill Donohue
"Figurines Show POPE + Nuns DEFECATING at Napa Museum"
CATHOLIC LEAGUE -- http://www.catholicleague.org
text available on FREEREPUBLIC.COM -- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/601779/posts?page=236

"COPIA: American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts Opens in Napa, CA; Architect is Polshek Partnership"
Arts Wire CURRENT-- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur112001.html
November 20, 2001

The Committee on Intellectual Property of the College Art Association presents: BEYOND COPYRIGHT DO ARTISTS HAVE RIGHTS? A PANEL DISCUSSION OF THE VISUAL ARTISTS RIGHTS ACT. (VARA)

"The Visual Artists Rights Act ("VARA"), for the first time in federal law, recognized an artist's moral rights in his works of art. The Act was a compromise between many conflicting interests, and the result was immediately criticized from several quarters. The passage of VARA, however, marked a significant departure from prior property law. VARA grants artists two new rights, the right of attribution and the right of integrity. The right of attribution concerns the artist's right to claim authorship of a work created by him and to deny authorship of a work not his own. The right of integrity concerns the artist's right to prevent or to recover damages for the intentional distortion, mutilation, modification, or destruction of his work. The revolutionary aspect of VARA is that the artist retains these rights throughout his lifetime, even when the original work to be protected is no longer in his possession." -- Panel website prepared by Robert Baron

Questions -- including "What are artists' 'moral rights'? What is the difference between "moral rights" and copyright?; "What kind of works are protected? Do rights under VARA expire?"; "Can commission contracts limit protection under VARA?"; "How can artists avoid waiving their rights when entering into contracts?" -- will be addressed in a panel about VARA, a statute which "provides limited protection to artists for works of visual art in addition to the protection of copyright."

The panelists are:

• Robert A. Baron, Independent Scholar, Acting Chair, CAA Committee on Intellectual Property

• Jeffrey P. Cunard, Attornere commissioning institutions and private clients force artists to waive their rights under VARA (or comparable State laws) when signing a contract. In 1991, when I signed my contract for my park, Connections, in downtown Philadelphia, I was forced to relinquish most of my rights under the Pennsylvania Fine Arts Preservation Act," she notes, and she asks: "Can artists with insufficient funds for legal resources fight this situation? Can artists' organizations offer support or advise?"

Admission to this session is free to the public. Consult the CAA program for precise location.

Sources/resources:

BEYOND COPYRIGHT DO ARTISTS HAVE RIGHTS? http://www.studiolo.org/CIP/VARA/CIP-VARA.htm
The site includes extensive information about VARA, including a bibliography

COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION -- http://www.collegeart.org

Catholic Studies in Global Perspective:
MAPPING THE CATHOLIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Co-sponsored by Catholic Studies and Modern and Classical Languages, MAPPING THE CATHOLIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPE at the University of St. Thomas (UST) will focus on "The Catholic Impact on Cultures and The Impact of Cultures on Catholicism."

Plenary Session:
THE TWO-WAY BRIDGE BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND HISPANIC CULTURES
Most Reverend Ricardo Ramirez, CSB
Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico

Among other things, the conference will also address "The Many Languages of Liturgy". (vernacular, music, dance, postures, customs, symbols)

The program will include a CONCERT OF CATHOLIC ARTISTS AND EVENING PRAYER -- Tom Crow, Director, UST Department of Music, St. Basil Chapel; a showing of DARKNESS INTO LIGHT: GUADALUPE, MOTHER OF ALL MEXICO, a documentary produced by Patricia Lacy Collins and Robert S. Cozens; and an exhibition THE CATHOLIC FAITH IN THE HEARTLAND OF MEXICO -- Watercolor and Photography by Sylvia Cameron. Catholic Studies in Global Perspective -- an interdisciplinary academic program open to all students in the University of St. Thomas who desire a deeper understanding of the impact of Catholic thought and life upon cultures, the arts and sciences, education and business -- "provides the tools to discover a particular vision of human life in relationship with God through Christ" and "fosters faculty and student cooperation in learning projects that explore, enhance and transmit the Catholic tradition within the global community."

For more information., visit http://www.stthom.edu/csp/Con2002.html

UPCOMING PROGRAMS AT THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC

• February 11
  7:00 PM - Duncan Recital Hall
  Senior Recital
  J.P. ANDERSON, COMPOSER
  Works for baritone and piano, for string quartet, and for brass quintet

• February 12
  5:30 PM - Duncan Recital Hall
  Master's Recital
  MARY VIRGINIA NEFF, VIOLIN
  Music of Dvorjak, Schubert, Bach, and Benjamin

  8:00 PM Duncan Recital Hall
  Pre-concert lecture with the composers: 7:00 PM, Room 1133
  SYZYGY, NEW MUSIC AT RICE
  Chiara String Quartet
  PROGRAM: Jefferson Friedman - String Quartet No. 2 (1999); Chen Yi - Sound of the Five; (1998) and Gabriela Lena Frank - Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (2001)

• February 13
  8:00 PM - Duncan Recital Hall
  Faculty Recital
  ARTHUR GOTTSCHALK, COMPOSER
  PROGRAM: Contrary Variants (Kirstin Eade, flute); The Fountain (Reynaldo Ochoa, trumpet); Shall We Gather; (In Memoriam Arnett Cobb)(Scott Plugge, alto saxophone) Cello: Fishing at Antibes; (Max Dyer, cello) Stations; (Matthew McClung, percussion); and Heavy Metal. (for brass quintet)

The Shepherd School offers the two-year Master of Music degree in performance, composition, conducting, music history, and music theory, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition and selected areas of performance. The school also offers the Bachelor of Music degree in performance, composition, music history, music theory, and the Bachelor of Arts degree.

"The growing prestige of the school and its gifted faculty attract talented and dedicated students who seek professional training of the highest caliber and the opportunity to perform in ensembles with other outstanding musicians," the Shepherd school states.

For more information, visit http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~musi/

Magnfico presents:
LIVING IN THE HEART, PRACTICING TOLERANCE
Four Suites From the Albuquerque Museum

"In large and small ways, our world is often shaken by the effects of intolerant behavior, humans to others different from themselves, humans to animals, humans to the earth. One of the functions of art, particularly in the last two centuries, has been to reflect on this problem and seek images that are healing, images and words that come from the heart, that respect life, and that nurture and protect the places that we love. Some of this work is painful, some is contemplative, but all of it seeks to find value, and to reevaluate those things of importance in our lives. This exhibition, which crosses and blurs boundaries between countries, neighborhoods, and species, is a small reminder that connection and understanding is more important than separation and fear." -- Albuquerque Museum Director James Moore

The Albuquerque Museum presents four series of works from their collection at 516 Magnfico Artspace. They are: INTOLERANCE SUITE, six prints by Mexican artist Jose Luis Cuevas; REFLEXIONES DEL CORAZON BARELAS/ESPANOLA/MORA, text by A. Gabriel Melendez, lithographs by Miguel Gandert and Mara Baca; QUARTET, drawings by Garo Antreasian; and SNAKE, etchings by Kent Rush and text by D.H. Lawrence.

Magnifico's programs are made possible in part by The City of Albuquerque and The Fund at Albuquerque Community Foundation.

For more information, visit http://www.magnifico.org

In 1988, the Rockefeller Foundation developed the Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund to encourage proposals in the performing arts which reflect bold creative approaches to new work in contemporary art. To date, the MAP Fund has supported 489 projects with a total of $11.3 million.

Recent grants have included, among many others:

• Aaron Davis Hall - $30,000 to support the development and production of BROWN BUTTERFLY, a multimedia interdisciplinary performance piece about Muhammed Ali with live video installations by choreographer Marlies Yearby, composer Craig Harris, and artist Jonas Goldstein.

• Arena Stage - $20,000 to support the creation and development of ALLEYS AND PATHWAYS: THE SOUTHWEST DC PROJECT, an oral history-based performance work by playwright Rebecca Rice

• Asian Improv aRts - $17,500 to support the development and premier performance of UP FROM THE ROOT!, a new musical work that explores the theme of cultural transmigration, focusing on the intersection of Chinese, Chinese American and African American cultures.

• Borderlands Theater - $25,000 to support the creation and production of ELECTRIDAD, a Chicano adaptation of Electra set in the Arizona desert by playwright Luis Alfaro and director Barclay Goldsmith

• Boys & Girls Club $25,000 - toward the costs of GIRLS &, an interdisciplinary project by Mary Ellen Strom and 10 young women

• Dancing in the Streets - $25,000 toward the costs of NIGHT LIGHT, a site-specific living installation by choreographer/performer Ann Carlson

• Fund for Women Artists - $20,000 for the development and premier production of THE DOLL PLAYS, a new theatre work by Alva Rogers to be directed by Peter Dubois and presented in collaboration with the Actors' Express Company of Atlanta.

• Joe Goode Performance Group - $20,000 toward the costs of UNDERTAKING HARRY, a dance-theater work by choreographer Joe Goode

• The House Foundation For Arts/ Meredith Monk - $20,000 to support the creation and development of a collaborative music-theatre work between Meredith Monk and Ong Keng Sen of Theatreworks, Singapore.

• Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra - $15,000 to support the commissioning and premiere of a new work by composer Kenneth Frazelle.

• Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, ThunderGulch - $15,000 to support the continued development of MIRACLES IN REVERSE, an autobiographical performance work by Julia Heyward.
  - $25,000 for the completion of SPECTROPIA, an evening-length interactive media performance by artist Toni Dove.

• Mass MoCA - $25,000 to support the development and premiere of The DREAM LIFE OF BRICKS, a site-specific multimedia performance piece by choreographer Martha Bowers and composer Philip Hamilton.

• Monclair State University - $25,000 to support the creation and production of MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, a multi-media theater work told from an African-American female's perspective by director Demetria Royals, choreographer Anita Gonzalez, and playwright Robbie McCauley

• MUSE, Cincinnati Women's Choir - $11,500 toward the costs of the NEW SPIRITUALS PROJECT, new music works by composers Ysaye Barnwell and Jackeline Rago

• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago - $22,000 to support the development and production of ZENO AT 4 AM, a new music theatre work with film directed by William Kentridge, with music by Kevin Volans, libretto by Jane Taylor and the Handspring Puppet Company.

• New York Foundation for the Arts - $25,000 to support the creation and production of HARRIET TUBMAN: A JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH, an evening-length suite of music by composer/performers Brandon Ross, J.T. Lewis, and Melvin Gibbs

• Other Minds - $30,000 toward the costs of two works of music by composers Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) and Henry Brant

• Painted Bride Art Center - $20,000 to support the creation and production of DOGON PM, a multi-media performance work by writer/director Homer Jackson, composer Douglas Ewart, composer Mogauwane Mahloele, media artist Lloyd Lawrence, and choreographer Sabela Grimes

• Performance Space 122 - $20,000 to support the creation and production of BIRD BRAIN, a dance project by choreographer Jennifer Monson and composer James Lo

• Wexner Center for the Arts - $20,000 to support the development and premiere production of SCORE, a play based on the life of conductor Leonard Bernstein directed by Anne Bogart.

With the goals of fostering the creation and production of new work in the performing arts which explores the dynamics of contemporary culture and of supporting a diversity of artists and arts organizations, the MAP Fund invites applications from professional artists and arts organizations which have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in the creation of new work. In 2002, $1 million will be granted to nonprofit performing and presenting organizations which are undertaking the commissioning, development and/or production of new work in the performing arts.

The deadline is March 29, 2002. For complete information, visit http://www.rockfound.org

The Rockefeller Foundation, endowed by John D. Rockefeller and chartered in 1913, is a knowledge based, global foundation with a commitment to "enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of poor and excluded peoples throughout the world." The Creativity & Culture Division Creativity & Culture makes grants to organizations and projects that "enhance the creativity of individuals and communities through the preservation and renewal of the cultural heritage of the poor and excluded, the engagement of artists and humanists in the creation of democratic and inclusive societies, and the support of diverse creative expression and experiments with new digital technologies."

CURRENT CALLS Details about these and other opportunities are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html To submit "calls" for either artists or organizations, send email to artswire@artswire.org

Deadline February 15, 2002, innovative, experimental public projects by emerging artists living and/or working in New York State, Public Art Fund: IN THE PUBLIC REALM

Deadline February 19, 2002, Artists-painters, sculptors, and photographers, SELF, ART, AND SPACE -- exhibition at LexPark Studios, New York City

February 22, 2002, Curators, Exhibition proposals, THE BRONX RIVER ART CENTER AND GALLERY

Deadline: March 1, 2002, Visual artists, musicians, and performing artists, RESIDENCIES, SOARING GARDENS, LACEYVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA

Deadline: March 1, 2002, site-specific permanent artwork in selected stations within the MTA subway and commuter rail network, METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY ARTS FOR TRANSIT COMMISSIONS

Deadline: March 18, 2002, Artists creating work in the literary, media, performing, and visual arts, Bronx Recognizes Its Own Awards, BRONX COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

Deadline: March 22, 2002, Artists, exhibition 2003-2005, MARYLAND HALL FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS

Deadline: March 25, 2002, Manhattan-based Artists and Arts Organizations, THE LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL, MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ARTS FUND

Deadline: March 29, 2002, Poetry on video, up to 10 minutes in length, with a slant toward experiences of personal healing through writing, POETRY THERAPY ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Boulder, CO

Deadline: March 31, 2002, Digital Musics; Computer Animation / Visual Effects; Interactive Art; Net Vision / Net Excellence, Prix ARS ELECTRONICA 2002

Deadline: for show in April, Dance groups/choreographers, Rachel Brooker and Company, DANCE SHOWCASE, CARRBORO ARTSCENTER, NC

Deadline: for event in April, Poets, writers, and local small presses fair to promote chapbooks, small press publications, and spoken word audio recordings in April to celebrate National Poetry Month, SPIRAL THOUGHT BOOK FAIR, NYC

Deadline: April 1, 2002, Artists and writers, residencies, EASTERN FRONTIER, MAINE

Deadline: April 9, 2002, Photographers of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander and Aleutian heritage, to create or complete in depth, photographic work which explores themes emanating from their personal experiences, EN FOCO NEW WORKS PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2002

Deadline: August 5, 2002, Letters (essays, prose poem, a series of fragments) that discuss the writing life, especially though not limited to the issues that Rilke addressed in his letters, LETTERS TO A YOUNG WRITER

Deadline: ongoing, Artists and Writers, ELEVEN BULLS

Calls for Papers

"Generative computation has been an important component of the digital arts since their inception." Full articles and shorter notes are sought for a special issue of DIGITAL CREATIVITY addressing the theme of "Generative Computation and the Arts". Work includes art that involves artificial life; artificial intelligence; formal languages; shape grammars; cellular automata; genetic algorithms; fractals; graftals; Lindenmayer systems; and other procedural, generative, knowledge-based, learning-based or evolutionary systems and methodologies.

Full articles should be about 4-5,000 words in length, should contain substantial new material and should not have been published elsewhere. Shorter articles and notes will be considered where appropriate. Essays and notes should be illustrated wherever possible. Two international referees will referee full articles. The editor will select shorter notes with the possible assistance of referees.

Submitted articles may address current practice (individual works or group exhibitions) or document historical developments. They may be theoretical, practical or pedagogical. In particular essays that discuss work in areas other than the visual arts (e.g. sound/music, performance, writing/literature, etc) as well as multi- and inter-disciplinary collaborations (including art, science and technology) are encouraged.

Deadlines:

May 1, 2002 - Intending authors should submit a short (100 words) abstract
August 1, 2002 - Full papers required
Notes and shorter articles may be submitted at any time up to August 1, 2002

All material should be sent to Paul Brown -- Email: paul@paul-brown.com -- who will be happy to discuss proposals prior to submission. Street address: PO Box 413, Cotton Tree QLD 4558, Australia web site: http://www.paul-brown.com

Notes for Contributors can be found on the journals website -- http://www.szp.swets.nl/szp/journals/dc.htm

Details about these and other jobs are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobs.html To submit jobs to ARTS WIRE CURRENT JOBS, send email to joblist@artswire.org

PRESIDENT/CEO, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, (Rockport, ME)

PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CAPA/Columbus Association of Performing Arts, (Columbus, Chicago, New Haven) (Columbus, OH)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, The Art Museum of Greater Lafayette (Lafayette, IN)

DIRECTOR OF THE CONCERT DIVISION AND MERKIN CONCERT HALL, The Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, (New York City, NY)

OPERA PRODUCER, The Long Island Opera, (New York City, NY)

PROGRAM MANAGER, Young Audiences/New York, (New York City, NY)

CURATOR OF EDUCATION, The Gallery of Art & Design at NCSU, (Raleigh, NC)

CURATOR OF COLLECTIONS, The Gallery of Art & Design at NCSU, (Raleigh, NC)

EDUCATION & PROGRAM COORDINATOR, Museum of Chinese in the Americas, (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, The Starr Gallery, (Newton, MA)

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, American Federation of Arts, (New York, NY)

COSTUME/PUPPET INSTRUCTOR, Earth Celebrations, (New York City, NY)

TECHNICAL OFFICER--EAST AFRICA PROGRAM, FilmAid International, (Kakuma, Kenya/ Kibondo, Tanzania)

INDIVIDUAL GIFTS MANAGER, Minnesota Opera, (Minneapolis, MN)

BUDGET COORDINATOR, The Museum of Modern Art, PS1, (New York City, NY)

FISCAL MANAGER (part-time) The Museum of Chinese in the Americas, (New York City, NY)

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND MEMBERSHIP, Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT, PUBLIC PROGRAMS & EDUCATION OFFICE, (Part-time, temporary) The Morgan Library, (New York NY)

FUNDRAISER, Yeuming Gallery, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE, New York City Opera, (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND DEVELOPMENT DEPT, Independent Feature Project (New York, NY)

ASSISTANT ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATOR, Seattle Symphony, (Seattle, WA)

ASSISTANT, (part-time) Stacy Bolton Communications, (New York City, NY)

INTERN, (gallery) (New York City, NY)

MARKETING AND MEMBERSHIP INTERN, The Drama League, (New York, NY)

INTERN, (performing arts PR relations agency) (New York, NY)

INTERNSHIP, FilmAid International, (New York, NY)

EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP INTERNSHIP, Massachusetts Cultural Council, (Boston, MA)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Last year To save the works from destruction by the Taliban, (which bans all images of living things) painter and physician Mohammad Yousof Asefi used watercolors to paint over images of living things in more than 80 oil paintings, according to an article by Kevin Sullivan in the WASHINGTON POST. Asefi, who could have been tortured, imprisoned or even executed for what he did, and throughout Afghanistan, other artists have also worked to save art from destruction.

Now, Asefi has restored the works. Sullivan writes: "It was a moody impressionist painting of a cobblestone street winding down a hill -- deserted, until Mohammad Yousof Asefi came along with his wet sponge. Asefi wiped the canvas and women, resplendent in red and blue cloaks, appeared. Then two more, then six and 10, until the painting's street suddenly came alive with strolling people."

Source:

Kevin Sullivan
"Taliban Had Wrong Impression
Artists Tricked Police to Save Work With Banned Images"
THE WASHINGTON POST -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49523-2002Jan1.html
January 2, 2002

Arts Wire CURRENT apologizes for referring to the "Statue of Liberty" as the "Statute of Liberty" in the ListServ version of last week's Current