The equivalent House committee has only recommended $116.5 M for the NEA in FY03. (the level funding with a small administrative increase recommended in President Bush's budget)

However, NASAA reports that the Congressional Arts Caucus, led by Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Steve Horn, (R-CA) is working with arts advocates to develop a floor amendment which would further increase NEA and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) appropriations when the Interior spending bill goes before the full House.

"The value of the NEA lies in its ability to nurture the growth and artistic excellence of thousands of arts organizations and artists in every corner of the country, making the performing, visual, literary, media and folk arts available to millions of Americans," Americans for the Arts states.

In order to commit funds to support the nation's artistic infrastructure, provide cultural programs and services in the arts and continue funding the Challenge America initiative, Americans for the Arts is urging a budget of $155 million for the NEA for FY 2003.

Representative Horn, co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, emphasized in a June statement that recent studies have found that the role of the arts in education and the economy has been vastly underestimated. Citing The NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND education bill as well as two recent reports -- the Arts Education Partnership's CRITICAL LINKS: LEARNING IN THE ARTS AND STUDENT ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT and a study released last month by Americans for the Arts, ARTS & ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR AUDIENCES -- Horn said that "The No Child Left Behind education bill that President Bush signed into law last year, recognizes the arts as one of the core subjects that all schools should teach. As an educator, I could not agree more."

"The Critical Links study further proves this point," he continued. "An educational curriculum that excludes the arts limits a child's capacity to learn." He also noted that according to the Americans for the Arts study the nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in annual economic activity, and he pointed out the importance of this evidence in demonstrating how far the arts reach -- supporting not only the arts community but also the economy as a whole.

The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee also increased the FY03 funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) -- by $3.25 million to $127.75 M, including a $2 million increase for the state humanities councils and a $1.25 M increase for administrative costs. The NEH is funded at $124.5 million in 2002.

The House version only calls for an overall appropriation of $126 M -- including an extra $300,000 for web site development. as well as the increase for administrative costs.

According to NHA-Announce, the NEH appropriation recommended by the House could change before reaching the floor. (following the full Appropriations Committee mark-up which has not yet been scheduled).

Americans for the Arts is urging Congress to support a budget of $155 million for NEH for FY 2003.

"America's creative industries are our nation's leading export with over $60 billion annually in overseas sales, including the output of artists and other creative workers in publishing, audiovisual, music and recording and entertainment businesses," Representative Steve Horn emphasizes. "The National Endowment for the Humanities plays an important role in the American arts enterprise. NEH grants provide critical funding for work in art history, theory and criticism, including: university-based and independent research projects; professional development seminars for K-12 and college teachers; film and radio programs; museum exhibitions and exhibition catalogs; and material culture preservation. A small investment through NEH goes a long way, providing seed money for high quality projects and programs that reach millions of Americans each year," Horn points out. "This money, and NEH's reputation, leverage millions of dollars in private support for humanities projects."

Both the Senate and House versions of the appropriations bill accept the President's Budget recommendation to transfer $1,686,000 from the NEH Regional Humanities Centers initiative to Treasury Funds (a discretionary account for the agency) -- effectively phasing out this program, NHA-Announce notes. The Regional Humanities Centers, an initiative in the planning stages, would have created humanities centers at ten educational institutions across the country.

The appropriation for the Office of Museum Services has been moved from the Interior Subcommittee to the Labor, Health & Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which is not expected to draft its bill until September.

The House bill is scheduled to go to the full Appropriations Committee during the week of July 8, when Congress returns from a week-long July 4 recess. Both House and Senate bills could be brought for floor votes before the August recess, according to NASAA.

Sources/resources:

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

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES -- http://www.neh.gov

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF STATE ARTS AGENCIES (NASAA) -- http://www.nasaa-arts.org

NATIONAL HUMANITIES ALLIANCE NHA-ANNOUNCE -- http://www.nhalliance.org/news/

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS -- http://www.artsusa.org

ARTS & ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR AUDIENCES -- http://www.artsusa.org/EconomicImpact/

LOUISE SLAUGHTER -- http://www.house.gov/slaughter

STEVE HORN -- http://www.house.gov/horn

CRITICAL LINKS: LEARNING IN THE ARTS AND STUDENT ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT is available in PDF form on the The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) Web site -- http://www.aep-arts.org

"Arts Community Urges Congress to Restore Individual Artists Fellowships, Suggests Ways to Improve the Granting Process; Affirming Community Arts Approach, Ways to Broaden Access to Local Funding are Also Suggested"
Arts wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2002/cur050702.html
May 7, 2002

NEW YORK CITY, NY - A broad-based group of organizations -- including the National Coalition Against Censorship; (NCAC) the New York Civil Liberties Union; (NYCLU) PEN America Center; Parents' Coalition Against High Stakes Testing; the NY Performance Standards Consortium; and many others -- have called on Richard Mills, Commissioner of the New York State Education Department, to stop using censored versions of literary passages in the English Language Arts Regents exam which public high school students must take to graduate.

In response to the letter, on June 11, the Board of Regents denied the Coalition's request to meet with the Board; refused to hold public hearings; and stated that it was "satisfied that Commissioner Mills is dealing appropriately with the matter of editing text for questions in State exams"

Many examples of literary works drastically altered in the exam -- including passages from Frank Conroy's, STOP-TIME; Annie Dillard's AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD; B.B. King's BLUES ALL AROUND ME; and Isaac Bashevis Singer's IN MY FATHER'S COURT -- are cited on the NCAC website at http://www.ncac.org

For instance in a passage from Ernesto Galarza's BARRIO, the exam alters

"Almost tiptoeing across the office, I maneuvered myself to keep my mother between me and the gringo lady."
to
"Almost tiptoeing across the office, I maneuvered to keep my mother between me and the American lady."

In another example, the phrase "she's gay" was deleted in the following passage from Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD:

"If you can get their speech mannerisms right, you will know what they're wearing and driving and maybe thinking, and how they were raised, and what they feel. You need to trust yourself to hear what they are saying over what you are saying. At least give each of them a shot at expression: sometimes what they are saying and how they are saying it will finally show you who they are and what is really happening. Whoa-they're not getting married after all! She's gay! And you had no idea!"

The altered literary passages were first detected by Jeanne Heifetz, co-chair of the Parents' Coalition Against High Stakes Testing, in conjunction with the NY Performance Standards Consortium. In subsequent research, Heifetz uncovered widespread censorship in the state English Language Arts exam.

"The deletions by definition remove information the author thought important to include or particular forms of expression or emphasis," the Coalition emphasizes in its letter. "As a result, beautiful prose has been converted into pedantic writing with mundane messages and stories are deprived of the words and characterizations that make them authentic, believable, and meaningful. Moreover, the deleted material is often germane to the questions on the exam. The deletions doubly disadvantage students who have read the original works. They would rightly be confused by the passage from Isaac Bashevis Singer which has been purged of references to Judaism, or by the absence of racial references in a passage from a book by Annie Dillard recounting her childhood visits to a local library frequented almost exclusively by African-Americans, and describing how these experiences awakened her sense of social justice."

"This censorship is incompatible with First Amendment principles," said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "It imposes a bizarre form of orthodoxy that leaves no room for diverse cultures and ideas. The New York State Board of Regents has managed to violate the voice and intentions of writers ranging from Chekhov to B.B. King. Students engaging in this kind of alteration would be expelled."

Sources/resources:

NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP (NCAC) -- http://www.ncac.org

NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION -- http://www.nyclu.org

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- MOVING PERIMETER, a proposal by Mary Miss would transform the perimeter of Ground Zero into a continuous band of sky-blue fencing, seating and trees and flowers.

"Moving through the multiple paths formed by these layers, people create a living wreath around the site until reconstruction," the project states.

However, although it received endorsements from the Community Board, the Municipal Art Society, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Design Trust for Public Space, and Creative Time, among others, the proposal is currently in limbo.

"I wish I had different news but at this stage the Moving Perimeter project is not happening," Elliott Maltby, a designer who works in the Mary Miss studio, told Arts Wire Current. "Although we received many important endorsements, we never got the final approval from those who were making the decisions, namely the LMDC." [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation]

She added that "We feel like we were able to have an impact with the proposal just in terms of stretching people's idea of what can constitute an appropriate memorial. So the more people who see it and have a sense of the different directions a memorial might take, the better."

Mary Miss has developed architecturally-based, environmentally integrated public art since the 1970's. Her work includes THE SOUTH COVE (with Stanton Eckstut, Susan Child, 1988) which integrated rocks, natural plantings, and blue lights in a jetty along the Battery Park Esplanade on the Hudson River.

The Moving Perimeter project was sparked when Mary Miss and Victoria Marshall and Elliott Maltby, two designers who have worked in Miss' studio, observed thousands of people from around the world visiting the site of the disaster in lower Manhattan. Struck by the large inaccessible areas and the shifting borders around the areas impacted by the attack, the artists began to consider the edge around Ground Zero.

"Seeing people attempt to navigate the confusing array of concrete barriers, chain link fencing, and wooden police barriers we realized that what is clearly needed is something to make the edge of the site an essential and memorable part of people's experience," the project states on its web site at http://www.marymiss.com "Currently the site looks like a crime scene. However, we know the site is far more than this for the many who are compelled to see it with their own eyes. Rather than deter people from visiting the site, we believe it is imperative that people be able to witness its transformation, and watch the rebuilding that will take place over the next several years."

Rather than erecting a structure which pervades the landscape (as large scale projects such as Christo's eloquent RUNNING FENCE have done) Moving Perimeter would, in the main, subtly utilize, transform, and augment existing structures -- as much of Miss' work has done, in her words: "shifting the focus of public art beyond the monument, finding inspiration instead in the specifics of place and time."

All existing barriers and fences would be painted blue. Curved blue fence sections would replace chain link fences and plywood walls. Flexible partitions with openings at the top into which visitors would be invited to put flowers would replace police crowd control barriers. In place of concrete barriers, bands of planters with flowering trees would surround the site.

At intervals throughout the Moving Perimeter, circular seating would create stopping places, and a subtle audio presence evoking the victims of September 11 would emanate from speakers. Cobalt blue lights at the top of the fences would surround the site making it visible from the air as well as ground level.

"Once reconstruction is complete the flexible partitions are reconfigured to form a temporary figure eight, its endless line connecting our past and our future," the project states.

Throughout the stages of this project, they hope to create an environment "where people can gather to honor what has been lost, and to imagine a future of great richness and complexity. Downtown Manhattan will be transformed into a place of home. We feel that the project, activated by the layers of people, partitions of flowers, transparent fencing, and flowering trees will take an important step toward this. "

"Clearly we had a lot of momentum at one point, " Elliott notes. "New York Cares was willing to put together a volunteer group to do the painting, but it sort of dissipated as the notion of the memorial became more contested. Many people felt that it was simply too early to do anything -- even though what we were proposing was to be temporary and to help in the transition, both physically of the city and mentally of those who visited the site."

In response to the question "What would it take at this point to implement the work?" she responded that she thinks the Mayor probably needs to make a decision about how Ground Zero site should look for the next couple of years, until the reconstruction is complete. "Clearly, something needs to be done. The question also remains, who would pay for this? But as has been demonstrated, many people are interested in giving their time, energy and money to help the city. So we will see.... perhaps there may be a renewed sense of possibility."

Sources/resources:

MOVING PERIMETERS -- http://www.marymiss.com

IMAGINE NEW YORK -- http://www.imagineny.org/index.html
The Municipal Art Society and a large network of partners have sponsored Imagine New York, "a project to bring together members of the public to share their ideas and visions for rebuilding downtown, memorializing the World Trade Center tragedy and responding to the impact of September 11 on the metropolitan region." The report from this coalition, now available on the website above, will be covered in an upcoming issue of Arts Wire CURRENT.

HOT QUEER FESTIVAL - DIXON PLACE IN NEW YORK CITY

In New York City on July 23-24, Holly Hughes will host a benefit for Dixon Place and its emerging artists in "two evenings of up-and-coming work from various artists dealing with gender, sex and at least two of the four basic food groups."

July at Dixon Place concludes with THE HOT QUEER FEST, including ANDY HOROWITZ's new work POTTY MOUTH, described by Dixon Place as "'Sex and the City' meets 'Tales of the City', a hilarious hit show about queer misadventures in dating".

Plus:

DAVID PRATT "breaks the silence about Uncle Jesus" and BOGIE THE FAGGOT AND HIS FABULOUS ENTOURAGE present HARDBOILED HAPPY HOUR: "Come drown your pathetic tears in a hot new cabaret featuring killer transvestites, deadly divas, and sin-sational songs of forbidden love."

Dixon Place is a non-profit performance space which features original performance art; theatre and dance works-in-progress; literary readings by emerging and established playwrights and writers of fiction; poetry and science fiction, and interesting and unusual musical acts. For more information, visit http://www.dixonplace.org

For information about how to submit work for consideration, visit http://www.dixonplace.org/about.html#393802

Beginning on July 20 with THE MIDSUMMER PARADE of giant puppets and collaborations between local artists and community members and running thru August 11 with Split Britches/The Clod Ensemble's IT'S A SMALL HOUSE AND WE'VE LIVED IN IT. ALWAYS, Ko Theater Works presents the 11TH ANNUAL KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE AT AMHERST.

Among performances at this year's Festival are:

Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Company
THE MONKEY KING
Outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn
With an array of puppets and live music, Ralph Lee's production portrays the adventures of the Monkey King of Chinese literature and folklore.

Kathy Randels
RAGE WITHIN/WITHOUT
Through the Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women, Randels interviewed two women incarcerated for killing their abusive partners. The performance weaves her conversations with these women with the testimony of a female gang member, text from Ann Jones' WOMEN WHO KILL, and original poetry and prose.

Split Britches/The Clod Ensemble
IT'S A SMALL HOUSE AND WE'VE LIVED IN IT. ALWAYS
"Fresh from their run at La MaMa in New York, the acclaimed lesbian theatre company, Split Britches in their new duet. Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw return to the Valley with their production about long-term relationships....Directed by Suzy Wilson, it features original music by Paul Clark of Britain's Clod Ensemble. Peggy Shaw explains: 'Two explorers lay claim to the some territory. These people have known each other for a long time. They occupy a house the size of a small stage. A house that has been divided and subdivided by time and bad habits. They sit on a porch, watch the horizon, and wait for the weather to change. Their only hope is an audience.'"

Throughout the summer, the Festival hosts workshops including "THEATRE AND SOCIAL CHANGE: Theatre in Community with New Orleans Performer and Educator Kathy Randels; THE ACTOR & THE MASK with Dell'Arte Company Co-Artistic Director Joan Schirle; MULTIMEDIA & SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE with Cypher Collective Artistic Directors Amy Baxt & Alex Heilner.

Ko is supported by the generous donation of facilities by the Department of Theater and Dance at Amherst College; through funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Amherst Arts Council; through the in-kind services of various students, professional artists, and local business people; and by private contributions.

Most performances take place in the Experimental Theatre, Amherst College. For more information, visit http://www.kofest.com/

In Baltimore, visual performance/sound/installation artist Jason Sloan is putting together an evening of performance, video and sound at Baltimore's Chela Gallery on the evening of Saturday July 27, 2002.

The evening will include the work of Baltimore-based performance./textile artist performance/textile artist Meena Satnarain, who as FiberTiger constructs hats (such as FUZZY COMBAT, 2000; mohair & acrylic: "The unexpected result when benign mohair gets confronted with camoflauge yarn") for members of her local community " with the starting point a response to their own work and energies" she writes on her web site.

The event will also features new work by ambient sound artist Matt Borghi; (Detroit, MI) video/film artist Michael O'Reilly; (Philadelphia, PA) as well as Sloan's own work which he describes as exploring "the various aspects of spirituality and it's connection to life, death, memory, religion and our transitory passing here on earth".

Sloan's performance, video and installation works have been shown in various galleries throughout the U.S and Europe, and in response to the question: "How do you think performance venues compare in the US and Europe? Are there more opportunities for performance artists in places other than this country? (or not)" he emailed Arts Wire CURRENT:

"it's interesting you asked that. i just finished up discussing this very subject with someone else very recently. it's hard to say. from my own experience i think europe is much more open to more experimental forms of art and expression. artists like paul mccarthy, carolee schneemann, genesis p-orridge etc... have been working for the last three to four decades and are now just beginning to be openly acknowledged by the 'main stream' art media. that's not to say performance work was not given any notice or value before, it's just interesting that work which is three decades old is just cropping up in books and articles left and right."

my own work seems to have had a much better response from europe than here in the states. that's not to say i have galleries knocking down my door because that's not true. but the invitations & opportunities to exhibit work do usually come from abroad."

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

NOT YOUR MAMA'S BUS TOUR, a bus tour/performance hosted by STREETWISE "vendors" began its third season this year. The tour traverses downtown -- introducing tourists to sites and scenes of homeless life on the streets of Chicago. Each of the stops is narrated by recovering homeless people who share personal stories they wrote themselves and provide background on the city.

The locations where the STREETWISE vendors illustrate and articulate their perspective of urban street history in Chicago are of historical meaning to the city and of significance to the community. They have included Grant Park, Malcolm X College, and Maxwell Street, the birthplace of Chicago Blues, currently under extensive development by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) which may destroy much of its history and historic buildings.

Maxwell Street is a favorite of participants in the bus tour, Project Manager Sharon Allen told Arts Wire Current. "It used to be a street filled with shops where people would go and barter. Maxwell Street Polish is still there. The rest of it is being rebuilt by UIC in a chic redevelopment project with student housing and offices. In the old blocks and old buildings, Michael [the performer Michael Ibrahem] does his scene on the meaning of Maxwell street to him."

The tour was sparked after the Theater Mandarin visited Chicago from Utrecht, Holland while touring WHY IS JOHANN HOMELESS?" StreetWise Work Empowerment Center's The Writers' Group hosted Theater Mandarin, and Writers' Group member Charles Lee arranged perng so, as they work toward gainful employment. We strive to help the homeless of Chicago help themselves through opportunities to earn a living and gain valuable job skills," the StreetWise project explains in its mission statement.

"This ain't your mama's bus tour so don't expect any nurturing but you can certainly expect a good time, which is just what mama expects," says Mark D. Hayes, Director of Not Your Mama's Bus Tour. Hayes is a Chicago area actor and director from the Black Ensemble Theatre.

The Cast and Crew also include Executive Producer, Anthony Oliver; Producer, Dianne Kenner; Project Manager, Sharon C. Allen; Tour Guide, Greg Pritchett; and vendors from the WEC Writer's Group and friends of StreetWise.

Summer Tours are currently scheduled as follows:
July 12, 19, 26 Friday 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Friday - 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
September 6, 13, 20, 27 Friday 6:00 PM - 730 PM
The Tour begins in front of StreetWise at 1331 S. Michigan Avenue. Call Project Manager Sharon Allen at 312-554-0060 for more information and to reserve your tickets.

The current tour begins with Scene A : BLIND MAN DRIVING, written and performed by William Chapman. "Climb aboard and allow the blind man to illustrate his talent of driving the bus to the first tour stop," StreetWise urges.

Website: http://www.streetwise.org

Working together as D3MS Collaborative, five Northern Nevada based artists are producing shared transitory actions, spaces, and experiences. D3MS is composed of J. Damron, Joseph DeLappe, Russell Dudley, Laurie Macfee, and Tamara Scronce. (three "D'" an "M" and an "S")

The group is interested in "displays that function as live events, in the best sense of the carnival" and in keeping with that philosophy, D3MS is currently participating in the city of Reno's ARTOWN COUNTING SHEEP project in which 25 life size bighorn sheep models were turned over to artists to be transformed into art as a fundraising event to support local arts programs.

For THE RUBBER BAND POWERED SHEEP BASED LAND SPEED RECORD ATTEMPT, D3MS sculpturally re-configured a life sized, fiberglass reproduction of a Nevada Bighorn sheep into a functional land speed vehicle/giant rubber band powered toy.

The group describes a recent Speed Sheep performance in this way:

"On May 28, 2002 in Nevada's Black Rock Desert (home of official land speed tests - in 1997 Andy Green drove the Thrust SSC to a new world land speed record of 763 mph) D3MS set the first ever rubber band powered sheep sculpture based land speed record! At 1137 am the race car yellow sheep was reversed into position at the starting line. The rear mounted rocket flares (for dramatic effect) were ignited, the sheep was pushed backwards to wind up the rubber band, then released. In a quick, but exciting 47 seconds the record was set at a vast 167.25 feet! That is an average speed of 2.427 mph! This is most certainly the slowest land speed record ever. The sheep vehicle was used for a total of five record attempts until mechanical failure prevented further testing activity."

Documentation of the "sheep speed" record is featured on the recently introduced D3MS web site at http://www.d3ms.net The actual vehicle, now owned by Specialty Financial, Inc., will be on display starting in the month of July as part of Artown, Reno's SEVENTH ANNUAL SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL. "The D3MS sheep will be on display at the Harrah's National Automobile Museum at 10 South Lake Street in downtown Reno; a most fitting location," they note.

A diverse group of sponsors helped make possible the production of Sheep Speed. They are Artown, SBC Nevada Bell, Specialty Financial, Maaco Auto Painting, College Cyclery, Aero Rubber Band Co., Fastsigns, Northwest Truck and Auto, and the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Art.

In Seattle, the MAE WEST FEST features "Original Theater by Original Women" from July 18-21, 2002

Performances will include: THE SWASHBUCKLING TALE OF ANNE BONNEY & MARY READ, written and performed by Christina Sutherland & Desiree Prewitt; BUT HOW WOULD YOU PLAY BASEBALL? by Elise Forier, Directed by Alexis Apostolidas. LIKE THIS by Lindsey Hunter, Directed by Susanna Burney; PARROT FEVER (OR LIES I'VE TOLD IN CHATROOMS) written and directed by Keri Healey; and 36 HOURS IN PITTSBURGH by Louise Clark, Directed by Caitlin Moon.

The Mae West Fest began with the need to have more women's work onstage in Seattle. In 1996 founders Elena Hartwell and Heidi Heimarck were discussing Theatre Babylon's season and realized that they had about 10 seasons worth of scripts from women. That summer, in response, they introduced The Mae West.

"The 6th annual Mae West Fest is a festival and celebration of women as playwrights, producers, directors and performers. We operate on a shoe-string budget (what small theatre doesn't?) but have big dreams. We began over six years ago out of the need for theatre that helped nurture and challenge local women artists and playwrights. Our work is as diverse as our audience," the Festival states.

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

In Canada FADO, a performance art center based in Toronto, is calling for work for FIVE HOLES reminiSCENT for the summer of 2003. Curated by Jim Drobnick (of Display Cult) and Paul Couillard (FADO) FIVE HOLES is an ongoing series examining the significance of the body and the senses. With a focus on Canadian artists, FADO invites artists to submit proposals for REMINISCENT,the third installment in the series. We seek performance art works, which deal with smell and memory, including those with installational components, Approximately seven proposals will be chosen to create a simultaneous ensemble of events to be held in the summer of 2003 in Toronto.

They describe the series in this way:

"The title of this project, reminiSCENT, notes the powerful relationship between smell and memory. Extensive documentation in literature and science indicates that no other sense evokes memory as intensely as smell. For Marcel Proust, the aroma of madeleine conjured up the world of childhood; for Helen Keller, smell was a 'potent wizard' that transported one across thousands of miles. Fragrances also bear social and cultural meanings, influencing how history is experienced, remembered and passed on from generation to generation. reminiSCENT will focus on the diverse relationships between smell and memory -- whether personal, cultural, social or historical. How do odours influence the creation of the self and the narrative of one's life? How can scents symbolize or mark political moments and historical eras? In what ways are aromas significant to the transmission of cultural memories and identity? How does the commodification of smell -- perfumes, artificial scents, etc. -- generate nostalgia and affect recollection?"

For more information, visit http://www.performanceart.ca

In San Diego, California, Sushi Performance and Visual Art and Lower Left are involved in PROCESS WORKS, an ongoing collaborative program "in which forward thinking, innovative dance, and performance artists showcase their newest artistic endeavors" in a performance environment which is designed as a creative learning experience for both artists and audience members. Lower Left, whose work integrates postmodern dance and performance, will also be staging its ANNUAL SUMMER INTENSIVE AND PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL from June 30-July 13, 2002 at California State University, Fresno. The performance and teaching collective Lower Left was founded in 1994 by Nina Martin, Karen Schaffman, Mary Reich, and Jane Blount, and now includes Rebecca Bryant, Margaret Paek, Colleen Phillips, and Andrew Wass.

In Cambridge, MA at the MIT List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) -- organized by New York City-based video artist Joan Jonas, who teaches at both the Rijksakademie and MIT's Visual Arts Program and LVAC Director Jane Farver -- TELE-JOURNEYS (through July 7) focuses on young artists from around the world who are living and working in Western Europe who are expanding the vocabulary of performance- and installation-based conceptual art. The artists are Carlos Amorales, Mark Bain, Yael Bartana, Michael Blum, Nabila Irshaid, Runa Islam, Sebastian Diaz Morales, Tomoko Take and Fiona Tan.

The List Gallery notes that Joan Jonas is interested in these artists who are from different parts of the world, because, she says, their work, "although made in a western European context, addresses issues of identity and gender in an art world that is now global at the same time that it is local. So I find it very interesting that young artists working with different languages simultaneously are using information that has sifted down through past 35 years involving performance art, conceptual art, and all forms of media."

In Austin, Texas, artists are working with youth to performance art techniques in Grrl Action, an month-long summer program for girls in autobiographical writing and performance. Grrl Action is a program of Rude Mechanicals, an Austin, Texas-based theatre company.

At PS 122 where the HIP-HOP THEATER FESTIVAL just closed, Executive Director, Mark Russell, author of OUT OF CHARACTER: RANTS, RAVES, AND MONOLOGUES FROM TODAY'S TOP PERFORMANCE ARTISTS -- which includes interviews with Ron Athey, Eric Bogosian, Kate Bornstein, David Cale, John Fleck, Marga Gomez, Spalding Gray, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, and Davi, among others -- said in response to a question about what artists he would include if he updated the book:

"hmmmm.. I would really like to update Out of Character but ...no time. I would include all the crazy hip hop theatre kids making the form their own."

Sources/resources:

DIXON PLACE -- http://www.dixonplace.org/

KO FEST -- http://www.kofest.com/

JASON SLOAN -- http://www.jasonsloan.org

CHELA GALLERY -- http://www.chelagallery.org

MATT BORGHI -- http://www.mattborghi.com

MEENA SATNARAIN -- http://www.fibertiger.org

MICHAEL O'REILLY -- http://michaeloreilly.com

STREETWISE -- http://www.streetwise.org

Hanna Aronovich
"Saved by the Arts"
COLUMBIA CHRONICLE -- http://www.ccchronicle.com/back/2000-10-02/arts5.html
An account of NOT YOUR MAMA'S BUS TOUR

D3MS COLLABORATIVE -- http://www.d3ms.net

MAE WEST FEST -- http://www.maewestfest.org

FADO -- http://www.performanceart.ca

SUSHI -- http://www.sushiart.org

LOWER LEFT -- http://lowerleft.itgo.com/intensive.htm

MIT LIST VISUAL ARTS CENTER -- http://web.mit.edu/lvac/www/menu/menu.html

RUDE MECHANICALS -- http://www.rudemechs.com/

PS122 - http://www.ps122.org

Mark Russell, OUT OF CHARACTER: RANTS, RAVES, AND MONOLOGUES FROM TODAY'S TOP PERFORMANCE ARTISTS (NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1997)

WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Endowment for the Arts, (NEA) has announced $2,265,000 awarded in 249 grants through the Challenge America: Positive Alternatives for Youth program. Organizations in 48 states and the District of Columbia will receive grants for projects involving artist residencies in schools and civic or community organizations which offer young people the opportunity to explore their creative capacities.

"Funded projects serve young people in communities ranging from rural, isolated towns which lack art and social service resources to low-income urban neighborhoods where crime and violence are everyday threats," the NEA notes. "Many of the young people served are facing academic, emotional, social, and/or physical challenges; are involved with the juvenile justice system; live in public housing; and/or have limited English language proficiency."

This round of grants includes, among many others,

• CITYARTS (New York, NY)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Stuyvesant High School Art Club, Parks Department of New York City, and Washington Market Community Park that will conduct the public mural project, Alice in Wall Street Land -- emphasizing students' belief in peace despite the events of September 11, 2001. The mural, which will be located at 35 Cooper Square in lower Manhattan, will contribute to the rebuilding of New York's spirit.

• MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORPORATION (New York, NY)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with Sarah Powell Huntington House, a transitional residence to reunify mothers leaving prison with their children, to provide workshops in digital video production. Participants, who are primarily African American and Latina mothers ages 13 to 17, will use their life stories as the theme for films produced in the workshops.

• FRIENDS OF THE ARTS (Locust Valley, NY)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the National Center for Disability Services, Chechov Theatre Ensemble, Henry Viscardi School for Children with Disabilities, and the Herricks Middle School that will provide a residency to develop theatre and performance skills in a diverse group, coupling disabled students with children without disabilities. During the ten-session residency, students will develop performance techniques, rehearse a script composed of choral teams, and prepare a public performance for the community.

• IN SIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT (Dummerston, VT)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with the 17th Flat Street Boys & Girls Club and Marlboro College that will conduct Incentive Class, a workshop for advanced students in photography, ages 11 to 18. Professional artists and students from Marlboro College will instruct approximately 16 youth from a primarily rural community who suffer from substance abuse or learning difficulties.

• COMMUNITY ART CENTER, (Cambridge, MA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Boston University College of Communication Alumni Office, Cambridge Community Television, Cambridge Housing Authority's Work Force and Office of Workforce Development to provide for a three-phase project of media arts instruction. Student participants who come from low-income families will work in teams with visiting media artists in curating a film festival, producing original videos, photographs, and computer designs, and participating in an intensive summer creative workshop.

• NEW HAVEN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS (New Haven, CT)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Dixwell, Dwight, Fair Haven, Hill, Newhallville and West Rock neighborhoods to enable the Visions 7 Voices Artist Residencies program to provide up to 300 students the opportunity to work with professional artists as they create public art pieces for display in each neighborhood. The pieces will become a permanent part of each community's landscape and contribute to their economic and social vitality.

• NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY (Fort Lee, NJ)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Harlem School of the Arts Dance Department for weekend workshops in Asian American heritage and arts.

• D.C. CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP (Washington, D.C.)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Charles Hart Middle School that will assist three writers-in-residence to offer workshops and training for every English teacher and weekly creative writing instruction for every English class in southeast D.C. neighborhoods. The project will reach 600 students and culminate in the publication of three issues of a literary magazine.

• DANCE INSTITUTE OF WASHINGTON (Washington, D.C.)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the National Park Service, Perry School Community Services Center, KanKouran West African Dancers/Drummers, Planned Parenthood, Women Investing in a Secure Retirement, American Lung Association, George Washington University Medical Center, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and College Bound to provide job training for teenage students in the performing arts, arts management and stage production.

• ARLINGTON ARTS CENTER (Arlington, VA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Humanities Project and English for Students of Other Languages, both in the Arlington Public Schools, that will integrate visual arts into the curriculum for elementary and middle school classrooms, particularly those with high percentages of second language learners. The project will provide professional development for classroom teachers and instruction in the special needs of second language learners for the artists in a county where students speak 60 different languages.

• CONGRESO DE LATINOS UNIDOS (Philadelphia, PA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Taller Puertorriqueno that will provide adjudicated youths with six weeks of daily instruction about Latino artists and culture during the summer. About 30 youths who live in one of Philadelphia's most impoverished communities will attend these visual arts classes. During the school year, the same youth will participate weekly in Expressive Art Therapy sessions, led by a treatment program coordinator and visiting community artists.

• ALEXANDER CHAMBER FOUNDATION (Taylorsville, NC)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Hiddenite Center, Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Taylorsville Police Department, and the Alexander County Schools to provide summer classes in furniture making, pottery, cabin design and construction and other art forms representing the heritage of the Appalachian area for middle school youths. Teachers, counselors, and youth authorities in the mountainous rural county in central North Carolina will identify participating youths.

• FOUNDATION FOR THE REVITALIZATION OF ARTESIA, Mississippi, (Artesia, MS)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Columbus-Lowndes Parks and Recreation Department, Columbus Arts Council and the Town of Artsia that will implement residencies by Blues musician Johnnie Billington and drummer and storyteller Charles "Wsir"" Johnson. The residency program takes place after school and children and youths from isolated areas will be provided transportation to and from the classes.

• HIPPODROME STATE THEATRE (Gainesville, FL)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Alachua Halfway House and Hipprodrome's Improvisational Teen Theatre Program to provide after-school theater workshops for girls in a residential commitment facility for female juvenile offenders. For seven weeks, artists will work with participants to teach the principles of group ensemble work and improvisation as they explore critical life issues. Students will also develop greater communication skills, cultural awareness, team cooperation and dramatic skills.

• YOUNG ASPIRATIONS/YOUNG ARTISTS (New Orleans, LA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Why Five Studios, Delgado Community College, Louisiana Children's Museum, and Historic New Orleans Collection that will implement Art-pentry, an interior design and production program during summer and after-school hours for high school students. Ten students will be selected to train in furniture, fabric, accessory and other design disciplines to create a prototype child's bedroom that will be installed in the Louisiana Children's Museum.

• MICHIGAN OPERA THEATRE (Detroit, MI)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Marygrove College and InsideOut to provide instruction for children and youth from low-income, inner-city neighborhoods through Learning at the Opera House, a nine-week summer program of classes and workshops.

• WEXNER CENTER FOUNDATION (Columbus, OH)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Department of Art, Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, and Chadwick Aboretum at Ohio State University, the Davis Performing Arts Center, and Center of Science and Industry to conduct summer multidisciplinary arts workshops for children and youth at the Wexner Center.

• GUILD COMPLEX (Chicago, IL)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Young Chicago Authors, Bromley Project and Interfaith Youth Corps that will implement the Writing Through the Prism of Self and Community summer literary program for youth. Forty students from inner-city neighborhoods will participate in the six-week session that will include two evening classes per week led by two instructors and four youth apprentices who are alumni of the program.

• ALAADEEN ENTERPRISES (Overland Park, KS)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with the Oregon Trail Junior High, Olathe North High School, and Santa Fe Trail Junior High that will provide a two-week residency and associated performances, by Ahmad Alaadeen, a jazz master of the Kansas City style. Alaadeen will hold workshops with the schools' jazz bands and individual musicians and discuss his experiences and jazz history with larger student groups. In addition, the Oregon Trail band will perform with Alaadeen at nine elementary schools and all three school bands will join for a final public performance in the historic jazz district in Kansas City.

• INTERACTION THEATER (Indianapolis, IN)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with The Rise Extended Living Shelter that will provide theater training, especially improvisational acting, for children living in this shelter for battered families. Instruction will be offered on a weekly basis during after-school hours to youths living in the shelter, and counselors will be available to provide support to program participants.

• UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES (on behalf of City Songs) (Minneapolis, MN)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Community Celebration of Place, Music Tech, Rondo Community Education Center, and Talmud Torah Hebrew Day School that will provide music and dance instruction and performance opportunities for children from Twin Cities low-income neighborhoods. Participants attend twice weekly after-school rehearsals, participate in approximately 20 public performances for local organizations, and attend field trips to cultural institutions and events.

• PENINSULA ART SCHOOL OF DOOR COUNTY (Fish Creek, WI)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with Sturgeon Bay High School, Door Peninsula Astronomical Society, and Crossroads at Big Creek to create the StarGarden Sculpture Park. High school students will collaborate with visual artist Jean Humke to design, site and construct the first public art space in a largely rural area. About 50 students will take an astronomy course and then devote five weeks to creating seating and lounging sculptures that will permit stargazers to observe the night sky.

• COLORADO CHILDREN'S CHORALE (Denver, CO)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Denver Public Schools to assist the ninth year of the Chorale Conservatory partnership that brings chorale conductors into eight economically disadvantaged areas of Denver. Musicians will also collaborate with teachers to strengthen teaching skills and lesson plans to meet curriculum goals.

• GRAND CANYON MUSIC FESTIVAL (Grand Canyon, AZ)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with the Grand Canyon Music Festival and the Heard Museum to provide a Native American composer-residency for Native American students, ages 15 to 18, in the Phoenix area. Composer and member of the Mohican Nation, Brent Michael Davids, will work with 15 to 20 students to compose music for string quartet, with selected works performed in public at the Heard Museum.

• PROJECT ROW HOUSES (Houston, TX)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with University of Houston Continuing Education, Multicultural Education throughout the Arts, America Reads and Counts, and Community Builders Cadre to conduct two after-school and summer programs in an effort to discourage gang violence between African American and Latino youth. Local artists, high school and college students, and parents will teach art classes for approximately 50 elementary through junior high school African American students. The Art/Life program will involve 15 African American and Latino youth in the revitalization of six row houses and adjacent lots through design, building crafts, art and landscape.

• YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BILLINGS (Billings, MT)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with 45 rural schools in Montana and northern Wyoming to provide day-long intensive workshops in various art forms and Poets on the Prairie intensive writing workshops at four high schools in or near Billings.

• YOUTH ARTWORKS (Reno, NV)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with the Sierra Arts Foundation, Reno Police Department, Nevada Museum of Art, Northwest Reno Library and the Nevada Festival Ballet to implement cultural job training program for teens. Participants will receive training in mural painting, dance, writing and printmaking.

• CALDERA (Portland, OR)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with three youth service organizations and two schools that will provide two eight-day summer residencies for approximately 40 children each at a 90-acre rural site in the Cascade Mountains. Professional artists will conduct two classes daily in creative writing, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and African dance and drumming, with additional sessions in conflict resolution and environmental studies. The project purposely combines low-income and minority students from Friends of the Children, Open Meadow Alternative School, and Self Enhancement, Inc., in Portland, with isolated rural youth from the Cascade Youth and Family Center and the Sisters School District in central Oregon. Central Oregon Community Action Agency Network

• 911 MEDIA ARTS CENTER (Seattle, WA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with KCTS and the Metro YMCA that will implement Reel Girls, a media awareness and production class, after school and on weekends. Approximately 50 teenage girls of diverse ethnic backgrounds will participate in the training and also work with media artist Kathleen Sweeney to create a work of video self portraits, which will be screened for the public.

• ALAMEDA COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION (Hayward, CA)
  $10,000 to support a partnership project with ASCEND School, Museum of Children's Art, Oakland Youth Chorus, and the Bay Area Coalition of Equitable Schools to provide artist-teacher collaborations to develop a standards-based curriculum integrating music and visual arts with other core subjects. The selected artists will lead arts instruction for approximately 320 children, grades K through seven, for two hours per week during the academic year.

• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA BARBARA (on behalf of Isla Vista) (Santa Barbara, CA)
  $5,000 to support a partnership project with the University of California at Santa Barbara's Office of the Isla Vista, Art Studio, and Art Museum; and Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum to provide an after-school visual art and art history program, known as Viva el Arte, for 20 fifth and sixth grade students. Students will discuss 20th century art history, visit art museums and create works of their own one afternoon per week throughout the entire school year.

Consistent with the Arts Endowment's longstanding commitment to arts education, in Fiscal Year 2003 the Positive Alternatives for Youth program will become part of the agency's newly expanded and restructured Arts Learning grant category.

Applications are due on August 12, 2002. For complete details, visit http://www.arts.gov/guide/ArtsLearning03/ALindex.html
A complete list of recipients is linked to
http://www.arts.gov/endownews/news02/PAYannounce.html

WORKSHOPS FOR THE RECOVERY AND REBUILDING THE ARTS AT GROUND ZERO CONFERENCE

In partnership with the Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations, The Society for Arts in Healthcare and ArtistCares request proposals for workshops for the RECOVERY AND REBUILDING THE ARTS AT GROUND ZERO conference October 17 - 19th, 2002 at the New York Marriott Financial Center Hotel, 85 West Street, NYC.

This RFP is for workshops on Friday and Saturday, October 18 & 19, 2002. Workshops should be 90 minutes in length, fully participatory, can be co-presented, and focussed on issues, strategies, processes and content around the art and healing paradigm. The selection committee will choose approximately 16 sessions presentation slots will be from 1030 a.m. 1200 OR 140 310 p.m. Workshop presenters will receive an honorarium of $150 per person or $300 for a panel of two or more presenters. (Daily conference fee will be waived for presenters.)

Workshops should consider the areas listed below and have a specific focus within each area

• Specific audiences and populations (e.g., children, adolescents, teens, adults, older adults; special needs audiences, audiences from specific communities such as the education, corporate or healthcare communities)

• Utilizing the arts in a proactive manner to promote healing, create community, share our stories and perspectives (e.g., all artistic disciplines will be represented across the spectrum of chosen workshops including storytelling and the folk-arts)

• Specific aspect of healing (e.g., grieving, trusting, trauma recovery, etc.) or community building or sharing perspectives

For details, visit the Arts Wire Current "Calls" page at http://www.proartsjerseycity.org

There are no design limitations on the use of the World Trade Center materials, and there are no residency requirements for design applicants.

Designs must be submitted on a single piece of paper no larger than 20" X 24". No models or 3-dimensional design proposals will be accepted at this stage of the design process. Submitted designs will be available for public viewing at a September 11 design exhibition. For more information call 201-432-3272, or check the Jersey City WTC Memorial message board at http://www.newportcity.com

Complete details are available at the website above or visit the Arts Wire Current Calls page at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html

Artists, designers, landscape architects, and architects, are invited to propose temporary memorials throughout the city.

"Locations as intimate as a place to stop on the street, or as visible as a courtyard, traffic island or other public space are equally viable options. Whether subtly altering a familiar corner, or staging a larger collaborative effort with performing artists, the memorials will give neighborhood residents a place to stop and reflect, and a time to grieve as well as imagine the future. You may choose to involve the community, or allow your piece to be discovered in the course of everyday activities," the MULTIPLE MEMORIALS project states.

The proposed piece should relate to the site chosen, clearly engaging the specifics of that space or neighborhood. Materials, scale, and content are open to the artists - provided that the piece address September 11th and the notion of memorial in some way. Currently they are in the process of organizing an exhibition of the proposals, and ultimately hope to secure funding for the project as a whole.

Please provide at least one 8 - x 11 illustration (either digital or print), and a short text describing the idea, received by August 15th. Please send all material to: Mary Miss 349 Greenwich St #5 NYC 10013 or marymiss@earthlink.net Please contact Elliott Maltby at the above email address or fax 212-941-5847 for further information.

For more information, visit http://www.marymiss.com/proposal/multiple_memorials.html

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 jmalloy@nyfa.org

Deadline: August, 2002, Visual Artists, Group show, DABORA, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, October 2002 Deadline: August 15, 2002, Artists, designers, landscape architects, and architects, Temporary memorials Throughout NYC - MARY MISS

Deadline: August 25 2002, Net art, ISTANBUL CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

Deadline: December 6, 2002, Artists, focusing on the artistic representation of the effects of sexual and domestic violence, DISCLOSING OCTOBER, MSU-BOZEMAN, Bozeman, Montana

Deadline: Ongoing, Artist to illustrate CD cover, POLITICAL PUNK BAND, Philadelphia, PA

Deadline: ongoing, Artists - all media, CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY, Ridgewood, NJ

Deadline: ongoing, Public Artists, Slide registry, project that will include carved wooden doors, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

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, email them to joblist@artswire.org Please send a text file in the body of the message. (ie no attachments and no HTML) There is no fee for posting job listings. The deadline is Friday for the next week's listings. (which usually are posted on Monday) For the most part, job listings are not edited. The contents of the postings are the responsibility of the originating agency.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, (Norwalk, Connecticut)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities, (Grand Rapids, MI)

DIRECTOR - Search Extended, The University of Oregon Historic Preservation Program, (Eugene, OR)

PROGRAM DIRECTOR, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, (Chicago, IL)

MANAGING DIRECTOR, (modern dance company) (Cleveland, OH)

TEACHING ARTISTS, Education Department, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, (Chicago, IL)

PROJECT MANAGER, Middle School curriculum project using American Musicals as a teaching tool, (New York City,NY)

WEBMASTER, City Lights Youth Theatre, (New York City, NY)

EDITOR AND WRITER, (part-time) LatinArt.com, (Los Angeles, CA)

REGISTRAR, YOUNG PEOPLE'S DIVISION, Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance, Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, (New York City, NY)

FREELANCE MUSEUM EDUCATOR, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York CIty, NY)

ASSOCIATE REGISTRAR, (history museum) (New York City, NY)

EXHIBITIONS ASSISTANT, Independent Curators International, (New York City, NY)

CURATORIAL PROJECT ASSISTANT, Japanese Art Department, The Asian Art Museum, (San Francisco, CA)

GALLERY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, The Donald Young Gallery, (Chicago, IL)

GALLERY ART HANDLER, (Chelsea contemporary art gallery) (New York, NY)

GALLERY ARCHIVIST, Matthew Marks Gallery, (New York, NY)

PUBLIC PROGRAMS COORDINATOR, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, (New York City, NY)

TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR, Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, (New York City, NY)

SPECIAL EVENTS MANAGER, PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) (Brooklyn, NY)

MEDIA CENTER COORDINATOR, (Interim) Visual Studies Workshop
(Rochester, NY)

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

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, (Ann Arbor, MI)

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education, (Chicago, IL)

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING, (non-profit media productions) (New York City, NY)

MARKETING AND SPONSORSHIP DIRECTOR, Dad's Garage Theatre Company, (Atlanta, GA)

FISCAL COORDINATOR, Planning & Development Department, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

ANNUAL FUND MANAGER, The Goodman Theatre, (Chicago, IL)

WRITER, DEVELOPMENT OFFICE, (cultural institution) (New York City, NY)

GRANTS MANAGER, The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, (Jamaica, NY)

PRODUCTION MANAGER, American Repertory Ballet, (New Brunswick, NJ)

DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS ASSISTANT, (PT) Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York CIty, NY)

ADMINISTRATOR, Bard College, (New York City, NY)

CUTTER/DRAPER, Ballet San Jose, (San Jose, CA)

STITCHER, Ballet San Jose, (San Jose, CA)

COSTUME SHOP STAFF OVERHIRE, Ballet San Jose, (San Jose, CA)

ASSISTANT TO THE DEAN FOR ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS, SPECIAL PROJECTS ASSISTANT, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Cooper Union, (New York City, NY)

SENIOR BOOKKEEPER, (non-profit media productions) (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, (non-profit media productions) (New York City, NY)

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, The Westchester Philharmonic, (Hartsdale, NY)

VISITOR SERVICES MANAGER, The Asian Art Museum, (San Francisco, CA)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR STUDENT ACTIVITIES, Vanderbilt University, (Nashville, TN)

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR/ASSISTANT TO DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, French Institute Alliance Francaise, (New York City, NY)

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT, Chamber Music America, (New York, NY)

BOX OFFICE MANAGER, Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, (Cedar Falls, Iowa)

OUTREACH/ASST EVENTS and BOX OFFICE/MARKETING INTERNSHIPS, Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, (New York City, NY)

A growing list of links to job resources for artists and arts administrators is available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobres.html

The title of the performance is borrowed from the observations of a child who had unknowingly watched people jumping out of the burning World Trade Center.

Co-produced by the Booklyn Artists Alliance and Revolocien Rekids, ".even the birds were on fire." is accompanied by an installation of 45 feet long and 8 feet scroll and quintophonic audio composed of texts, images and other ephemera collected from the people and the streets of New York during the hours, and subsequently days and weeks, immediately following the 11th of September -- including texts by poets and political commentators such as Amiri Baraka, Noam Chomsky and members of RAWA. (Revolutionary Association of Afghani Women)

The artists describe the piece -- which with actions, visual documentation, and contrapointal voices, situates the audience in the emotional atmosphere of the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center and its aftermath -- as going "beyond the fatalities and physical damage of the bombing to evoke the specters and passions of militarism, racism and xenophobia raised by those incursions on the territories and psyches of both the United States of America and Afghanistan."

At the start of the performance, dustmasks are handed to the audience to physically prepare them for all the dust dumped into the air during the performance. "At the end I burn all the hair off my body as a mourning ritual and evocation of 'the smell'," Weber said.

In a reaction to the performance, Steve Seid, Director of the Pacific Film Archives, stated: "I was constantly unnerved by the possibility that you would hurt yourself and it would be a consequence of an act done for us and therefore in our name. I suppose I was alarmist -- you're no Buddhist priest in Vietnam, but these are equally strange times...and so I felt that emotion nonetheless. I was relieved when the performance ended and you were intact and I was also grateful that you had the courage to dismantle the symbols of this national mood of hysteria. More people should care unto tears."

"Performance art offers, at times, the chance to work in a mythical, ethereal, and intimate medium -- it offers an antidotal form to spectacle, virtuality and mediation -- as such, it has an important oppositional and alternative role to play in our consumer culture," Marshall Weber, who was a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship for 2001, observes. He doesn't believe the medium has a unique ability to evoke emotional reactions but rather believes that it can serve different needs. "I don't think performance is more 'effective' in that ability than let's say painting or music, its just different, it has a different context, a different aesthetic structure and can serve different aesthetic and therapeutic needs of the culture," he said.

"....even the birds were on fire...." was performed on November 13th at The LAB in San Francisco's Mission District and on December 4th at Track 16 Gallery in Los Angeles' Bergamot Station. In February 2002, it was performed at Columbia College's Hokin Center, in Chicago IL. And it continues to seek venues.

When he began working in the medium, there were far more spaces that produced non-theatrical performance work, and it was easier to get funding for non-theatrical productions, Weber told Arts Wire Current.

"Now many of the non-profits that produced performance art have become more focused on theatrical productions they can sell tickets too, visual art shows that they can tie in to commercial gallery/collector patronage or digita/techno stuff that they can tie in to corporate funding -- its all about the money (and the war on terrorism) -- a less experimental more materialistic time for the art culture in general."

Sources/resources:

"...EVEN THE BIRDS WERE ON FIRE..."
performance at The Lab -- http://www.thelab.org/archive.htm
performance at Track 16 -- http://www.track16.com/t16nights.html

MARSHALL WEBER -- http://www.booklyn.org/Artists/Weber.htm

M.T. KARTHIK -- http://www.booklyn.org/Artists/Karthik.htm