A Jamaican-American, Michael Richards was born in New York but grew up in Kingston. After receiving his BA from Queens College in 1985 and his MA from New York University in 1991, Richards completed the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 1993 and went on to the Artists-in-the-Marketplace Program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts the following year. He was an Artist-in-Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem, at Socrates Sculpture Park, and at Franconia Sculpture Park. His work has been exhibited internationally.

Richards, a sculptor who was an artist in residence in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's World Views -- a program which gave artists windowed studio space in Tower One of the World Trade Center -- was killed while working in his studio on the 92nd floor.

In SWING LO', included in his 1996 installation ...TO CARRY ME HOME at The Studio Museum of Harlem, a wheel is affixed to a massive, ominous shape. Blue-tinged light emanates from a narrow space underneath as if, from the vantage point of one whose life is spent in chains, the chariot in the spiritual "Swing low sweet chariot" represents a dim hope of escape from a life crushed in servitude.

In TAR BABY VS. ST. SEBASTIAN, he reacted to the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, the heroic World War II Air Force pilots at whose alma mater black men were used for live experiments on syphilis. The sculpture, which echoes Renaissance depictions of Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows, consists of the artist's cast body in the uniform of the Airmen -- brutally pierced with fighter planes.

In ARE YOU DOWN? an in-situ work at the Franconia Sculpture Park, in Shafer, Minnesota, Michael Richards created three lifesized black figures -- downed aviators sitting slumped with their backs to a large black-centered target which occupies the center of the work.

In the mixed media installation GREAT BLACK AIRMEN (TUSKEGEE), like hunting trophies, the Airmens' helmets are mounted on a thicket of poles.

Michael Richard's work -- laden with flight-imagery and with the vestiges of human oppression -- is remarkably potent in relationship to the flight-induced devastation of The World Trade Center. If this very applicability to the tragedy inhibits its exhibition, then the terrorists have not only altered the beautiful New York City skyline but have also succeeded in extinguishing a universal voice.

As evidenced below, the web hosts quite a few web sites in memory of Michael Richards and his work. However, Arts Wire CURRENT has not yet heard of any exhibitions of his work nor of plans to include his work in the art centers proposed as a part of future plans for Ground Zero.

Sources/resources:

REMEMBERING MICHAEL RICHARDS (1963-2001) -- http://www.studiomuseuminharlem.org/richards.html

IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL RICHARDS (1963 - 2001) -- http://www.lmcc.net/MR.htm

MICHAEL RICHARDS -- http://www.nfaa.org/news_pr/MichaelRichards.htm

MICHAEL RICHARDS - 1963 - 2001 http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Month/month.htm

Christine Y. Kim, Assistant Curator
The Studio Museum in Harlam and
Franklin Sirmans, Independent curator and critic
MICHAEL RICHARDS -- http://www.movinginplace.net/places/9.11/mr.html
September 18, 2001

C. Carr
"An Artist Dead, a Downtown Arts Organization in Ruins
Lost Horizons"
THE VILLAGE VOICE -- http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0138/carr.php
September 19 - 25, 2001

Glenn Gordon
"For the Artist Michael Richards"
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK -- http://www.franconia.org/ggordon.html

The grants enable resumption of artistic work in New York City, and were based on proof of measurable financial loss due to the World Trade Center attacks, including loss of income, physical loss/damage to property or health, relocation costs, or other specific economic harm.

"Because of NYFA's ongoing support and services to artists and arts organizations, we were aware that the needs of artists would be unique after 9/11," said Theodore S. Berger, Executive Director of NYFA. "In many cases, their tools -- canvasses, paints, video cameras, tapes, and other materials -- are not considered replaceable by other agencies. Artists also have live/work spaces issues that confound bureaucratic agencies, no matter how well intentioned."

Grants to nonprofit arts organizations were made up to $50,000 each; grants to artists/small businesses were made up to $10,000 each.

Organizations receiving aid include Creative Time, Cuban Artists Fund, Franklin Furnace, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Irish Arts Center, The Jewish Heritage Project, New York Stage and Film Co., PEN American Center, Russian-American Cultural Center, Troika Ranch, Visual AIDS, and World Music Productions.

Dance Theater Workshop (DTW) is transforming its building into a multifaceted performing arts facility which will serve dance and performance artists locally, nationally, and internationally.

On September 11, 2001, "Dance Theater Workshop was smack in the middle of a $14 million Capital Campaign and had just begun fit-out construction on its new performance facility," said Director of Finance Rachel Pivnik. A two-week construction delay (as construction workers were detailed to lower Manhattan) resulted in an additional month of offsite rent and in legal costs to renegotiate construction contracts. A delay in a large City of New York grant forced them to take on more bridge financing.

"Our impact on less quantifiable terms is much greater," she observed. "Our hopes were dashed for a sizable capital grant from New York State agencies, and several foundation grants were either less than we anticipated or did not transpire. We estimate the potential grant loss at roughly $300,000."

The New York Arts Recovery Fund (ARF) grant helped DTW weather the difficult period in the aftermath of September 11 by covering the additional costs of the two-week construction delay and assisting with the financing costs associated with the delay in City of New York funds.

Co-directed by Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello, the dance theater company Troika Ranch creates live performances which combine dance, music, theater and interactive digital media, exploring "how we can maintain our most human attributes (our emotions, our bodies, our passion) in a time of accelerating change and growing physical disconnection."

"Troika Ranch had it's 2001 New York City season in Brooklyn on September 6-9 and 13-16. Obviously 9/11 came in between our two weekends," dancer Dawn Stoppiello told Arts Wire CURRENT. "We were all affected on an emotional level and had to consider whether to continue our run."

"We did continue, and the small audiences who attended the second week (the first week was sold out every night) told us that it was just what they needed -- a bit of beauty to briefly take their minds off what had just happened to all of us," she observed.

But she added that "It was the most difficult performing that we have ever done. We took a big risk in deciding to run for two weeks. We had never done that before."

During those weeks, in addition to the fact that the audience was only at about half capacity the second week, two of the three video projectors that they were using in the show were locked in a building next door to where the Trade Center had stood, Dawn Stoppiello said in detailing the problems which September 11 caused the company. "The projectors were on loan from the company that Mark was working for at the time whose offices were at 30 W. Broadway. When building 7 fell later in the day on 9/11, a portion of Mark's former office building was shorn away. We were not able to get in to get the projectors that we needed for the show and had to rent two for the run."

"So the grant from ARF puts those tangible dollars back into our account. But more importantly it is a reminder that all of us, no matter our size, are a vital part of the arts world in NYC," Stoppiello emphasized.

She added that "Even though our dollar loss was relatively low, ($2880) we still count and we faced real loss and we were helped. It really meant a lot to us. We will use the money to help support the creation of our newest work THE FUTURE OF MEMORY, which will premier in February 2003 at The Duke on 42nd Street Theater."

The Arts Recovery Fund began in November 2001 with leadership gifts from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, and grew dramatically with a $2.65 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which made similar grants to the American Music Center and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York.

NYFA Executive Director Ted Berger emphasized that because of NYFA's strong connections with the arts community, they were immediately aware that artists and arts organizations were enduring severe financial crises after 9/11. "Rather than wait until all applications had been received by the April 30 deadline, NYFA reviewed and acted on applications through an ongoing process to disburse funds as quickly as possible. The earliest of these went out in March, and all applications were read immediately upon receipt to assist with financial emergencies," he said.

Margaret Ayers, Chairman of NYFA's Board of Trustees, praised the speed and spirit among contributors that enabled the Arts Recovery Fund to raise nearly $5.3 million. (Of the $5,268,000 raised, seven percent was used per grantor instructions to provide technical assistance to thousands of members of the arts community through workshops and the publication of guides to relief funding, and five percent was allotted for administration of the fund.)

"NYFA moved to ensure that the money raised was granted as quickly as possible to the people who needed it the most," she noted. "We're proud that NYFA was successful in channeling emergency support to the arts community, which contributes so much in shaping our city's unique character.

Founded by a group of writers and educators who believed that writers could make a unique contribution to the teaching of writing, Teachers & Writers Collaborative brings writers and educators together.

"We had an Artists' Meeting at Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) shortly after the tragedy," said Director Nancy Shapiro. "At the meeting the writers wrote and shared their writings. One poet had had a miscarriage on September 11 and the internal and external sadness tumbled out in the poem she shared -- one she had not expected to write."

"Many were surprised at what came out in that short, quiet period of reflection and sharing," she continued. "This experience was repeated over and over for the writers during the year as they went into the schools to work with students. I feel that T&W writers and artists were in the 'rear guard' of the tragedy -- not soldiers or rescue workers on the front lines, but rather coming along behind to pick up the pieces and to try to help people make sense of what happened. This is true, particularly, for the children in NYC who needed time and opportunities to express their ideas and concerns."

"The ARF allowed T&W to continue sending writers into schools to work with students and teachers," Nancy Shapiro observed. "That's the pure, simple elegance of this support that came quickly and was designed to help us keep doing what we do. We say a big 'thank you' for that."

Dieu Donn Papermill is a not-for-profit hand papermaking studio. On September 11, 2001, Dieu Donn Papermill was scheduled to implement a kids education outreach program with PS234, a public elementary school located on Greenwich Street in the shadow of the World Trade Center. After 9/11, PS 234 had to abandon its building due to structural damage.

"Since our project, the Papermakers Garden, was site specific, we had to cancel the program and organize a substitute program for PS 234 in their temporary quarters," they note. "While we were pleased to be able to meet our obligation to provide services we did incur additional administrative expenses of $5,000."

They also lost about $20,000 because their FOR LOVE OR MONEY BENEFIT AUCTION had to be postponed. And their annual appeal letter did not generate as much revenue as they had budgeted for. "There are several reasons for this," Dieu Donn Papermill observes. "One is that we rescheduled our benefit to a date in December, and we assume that this impinged on the fundraising capability of the annual appeal. Second, of course, is that this year many people gave to the disaster relief efforts and were therefore not inclined to support the arts or other types of non-profits."

"We received $27,000 which we used to cover the added expenses for our educational outreach program and to cover the shortfalls in our budget due to the tragic events," said Co-Executive Director Brett Littman.

A few of the other 135 ARF organizational recipients and their missions are listed below:

• ARTSGENESIS creates and conducts arts accelerated learning programs for students, teachers, administrators, parents, and artists, creatively fusing multiple intelligences theory, arts integrated curriculum, and humankind's quest for purpose and meaning.

• ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS CENTRE promotes the preservation and creative vitality of Asian American cultural growth through the arts and its historical and aesthetic linkage to other communities. In performance, exhibition, and public education, Asian American Arts Centre presents and interprets the ongoing synthesis of contemporary American and Asian art forms.

• BOMB MAGAZINE has been publishing in-depth interviews between artists about the creative process since 1981. The interviews -- with artists whose work encompasses art, literature, theatre, film, and music -- focus on ideas rather than personalities.

• COMPANY APPELS is a modern dance company based in New York City. Their work integrates poetry and the visual arts.

• DEEP DISH TV is a national satellite network which links access producers and programmers, independent video makers, activists, and people who support the idea and reality of a progressive television network.

• DRUMSONGS PRODUCTIONS is a cultural arts organization which seeks to provide general audiences with the experiences of Africans and of Africans in the Diaspora -- introducing family and school audiences to multi-disciplinary creative and interpretive artforms and artists, such as The Akyene Baako Ensemble; Talking Drums - the instrument of Africa; and The African Craftsman, traditional drum carving.

• EXIT ART is a non-profit interdisciplinary laboratory for contemporary culture which earlier this year hosted REACTIONS, a global call for responses to the events of September 11th which displayed over 1,000 reactions.

• HARVESTWORKS DIGITAL MEDIA ARTS CENTER is a non-for-profit organization which cultivates artistic talent using electronic technologies -- providing artists with production studios, grant opportunities, education, communal lab practice and distribution.

• RUBI THEATER COMPANY is an ensemble of artists, writers, and educators performing original works from within the company and by other Latinos living in the United States.

• URBANGLASS is a not-for-profit international center for the creation and appreciation of new art, design, craft, and architecture made from glass. Programs include classes, UrbanGlass Abroad, studio rental, The Bead Project, The Bead Expo, GLASS Quarterly, Exhibitions, Awards Dinner, Auction Weekend, Open House Sundays and the UrbanGlass Atelier.

This issue of Arts Wire Current closes with a complete list of New York Arts Recovery Fund recipients. The names of individuals are not being made public.

"Throughout this process, we have had the opportunity to view a cross-section of the personal lives of artists living and working in the five boroughs," NYFA Director of Programs Penelope Dannenberg noted. "We have learned, once again, that many of our applicants live on what has been called or dubbed 'the edge.'"

She pointed out that artists find time to create their work by putting together a part-time employment life of temporary jobs, arts-in-education activities, and catering/wait staff gigs.

"When the catastrophe of September 11th occurred, it clearly affected an already fragile economic situation in New York -- so that, the first thing businesses did, according to our applicants, was to cut all part-time and temporary help," she said. "At the same time, the Board of Education pulled back on the money going to arts-in-education activities and trips. The reality of this pull back has been an extremely harsh employment environment for artists."

"The NYARF recipients have communicated to us that the grants they received have been lifesavers. While the review of these applicants has been extremely difficult, the results have been wonderful," Dannenberg emphasized.

The New York Arts Recovery Fund was created in cooperation with American Music Center, A.R.T./New York, Arts & Business Council, Asian American Arts Alliance, Association of Hispanic Arts, Harlem Arts Alliance, New York City Arts Coalition, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and the Nonprofit Finance Fund.

Although the Fund has now completed its mission, NYFA -- aware of the continued fragility of small and mid-sized arts groups and the tenuous state in which artists live -- is exploring how both grants and professional training can be used to move the arts community from recovery to rebuilding.

Sources/resources:

NEW YORK ARTS RECOVERY FUND -- http://www.nyfa.org/9-11.htm
"New York Arts Recovery Fund Distributes Over $4.6 Million to City-based Artists & Arts Organizations" -- http://www.nyfa.org/press_releases/pr_8_12.htm

THE NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS -- http://www.nyfa.org

Now in its 31st year, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) gives more money and support to arts organizations and artists of all disciplines than any other comparable organization in the country: nearly $11 million in grants and services annually.

Its Fellowships of $7,000 each go to as many as 160 New York State artists every year from a field of 16 disciplines, covering the visual, performing, media, and literary arts. NYFA also gives grants and services to strengthen small arts organizations and provides artists with career development support through workshops, hotlines, and print and electronic publications.

NYFA's annual budget of nearly $12 million comes from individual, corporate, foundation, and public sources, as well as NYFA's fiscal sponsorship services for artists and emerging organizations.

NYFA ARTISTS' FELLOWSHIPS
The next deadline for Artists' Fellowships is October 1, 2002. Application and Guidelines for the 2002-2003 cycle are now available at http://www.nyfa.org/artists_fellowships/
Categories funded in the 2002-2003 cycle are: computer arts, crafts, film, nonfiction literature, performance art/multidisciplinary work, poetry, printmaking/drawing/artists' books, sculpture.

POST 9/11 BRONX, NYC

"In a post-devastation environment first-time director Darrell Wilks, who also produced and wrote the film, sets out to document pragmatic viewpoints of several New York artists while preserving the perspective of New York's hip-hop community."

The Bronx Museum of the Arts presents an evening celebrating the spirit of urban communities that survived the pre- and post-Sept 11 environment. The event will include performances by hip hop and spoken word artists, and a screening of the documentary HIP HOP HOPE. Written, directed and produced by Darrell Wilks. Hip Hop Hope focuses on the urban lives and accounts of artists from New York City, their responses to the Sept. 11 tragedy, and viewpoints on the challenges that confront their communities-racism, corruption, and poverty.

Spoken word performances by the film's principals: Caridad "La Bruja" De La Luz; Tanya "Flow" Fields; Baruch "Baba" Israel; Jacquelyn "Dutchess" McClain; Alexander "Zander" Scott; Vernon "Dyverse" Wooten; and DJ DP One spinning will follow the screening. The evening will close with a community open-mic slam.

Post 9/11 Bronx, NYC is part of a national commemoration, CELEBRATE AMERICA'S FREEDOMS: A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE -- http://www.aam-us.org -- developed by the American Association of Museums and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

THE BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS -- http://www.bxma.org

A year later, he urges that as we look at rebuilding Ground Zero, we consider another kind of rebuilding: "....building bridges between communities (specifically the Arts and Healthcare communities) and shoring up the architecture of our hearts."

One year ago this week, my heart launched ArtistCares. My words, the love and encouragement of colleagues, and this website were the vehicle which began an amazing journey which continues to expand today.

Along the way, there have been waves of emotion, struggles with clarity and finances, and brilliant moments of inspiration. ArtistCares has touched thousands of people, through direct contact in workshops, conference presentations and correspondence. The thought that the Arts and Healthcare professions could (and must) be reunited has struck a chord with many people.

While ArtistCares was born out of the helplessness we felt after 9/11, it has grown to encompass a whole lot more. The project has a forward thrust with the specific intention of inspiring compassionate action. Literally hundreds of artists, therapists, art therapists and others have contributed to the progress of this project.

Organizations of all sizes and in locations throughout the United States have lent their support,time and encouragement. I would like to especially thank Ted Berger and the New York Foundation for the Arts. NYFA has been instrumental in bringing attention and support to ArtistCares, including providing support for a very important Forum between the Arts and Healthcare communities. Foundations as disparate as the William T. Grant Foundation and the Unbroken Chain Foundation (philanthropic arm of the Grateful Dead) have lent their support in the crucial early stages of the development of ArtistCares. I need to especially thank the core team of people who have guided, nurtured and stroked this idea from a small seed to a burgeoning sapling. Karen Fitzgerald, Project Director, has worked tirelessly to set up a protocol of excellence for the project. Her brilliant work in constructing the workshop structure has paved the way for future collaborations between the Arts, Education, Business and Healthcare communities. Yvette Hyater-Adams, of Prime Directive Consultants, has given us priceless organizational advice and heartfelt commitment. Thanks also to Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning for providing fiscal sponsorship, to Ellen Freed, Geo Geller, Yossi Rosenboim, Ken Polotan and Seventhstorm, Susan Schear of ArtisIn, Margaret Bodell of the Viewing Room, DiReggio Advertising, Bob Bangiola of Materials for the Arts, Margie Salvante of the Roundabout Theatre, Partnership for Afterschool Education, Nate Moore of Newsday, the Society for the Preservation of Modernism, Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer of Queens Council on the Arts and numerous other friends who have contributed time, energy and money.

There has been so much discussion about what should be built on the former World Trade Center site. Focus groups have struggled with imagery, monuments, buildings and open space, attempting to come to common ground on this former mecca for commerce which is now sacred ground. Throughout the past year, the ArtistCares team has grappled with another e, however, that the professionals who become involved in this crucial work must be paid and paid well. Until we get over that hurdle, we, as a society, will not have made the true commitment to this work. We truly must find a way to value the work of the heart. This is the struggle ArtistCares faces now as we try to find the funding to continue.

During this week when we will all be bombarded with "anniversary" programming, I hope we can find the time to reflect on just what is important to us - to do good work, to give of our hearts and to continue to build bridges from helplessness to action. These are the bridges that make up the solid infrastructure of the human heart. This is the rebuilding we can be a part of.

Through our action, our compassion, we assure ourselves as well as those who follow us, that events as horrific as those of September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten. We give of the power we have as artists, healers and humans in order to construct a solid future of hope and possibility.

(c) 2002 Alan Lynes - For permission to redistribute this contribution, please contact him at alynes99@yahoo.com

ARTISTCARES WEB SITE -- http://www.artistcares.org

EXPRESS DIVERSITY! -- a series of learning modules which infuse the topic of disability into the arts in such a way as to promote discussion and new insights -- "recognizes and addresses the fact that all school-aged children with and without disabilities are faced with some of the same challenges," VSA Arts Explains. "The program deals with a variety of subjects that all children are faced with, including issues of self-esteem, diversity awareness and sensitivity, and an understanding of the relationship of the individual to the community and society as a whole."

VSA Arts created Express Diversity! in response to a need for inclusive, comprehensive, and engaging lesson plans which speak to the growing numbers of students with disabilities in the classrooms. Into a series of easy-to-use art activities, the curriculum weaves the guiding themes of

• Every individual is unique.

• Every individual has the right to basic fairness and basic respect.

• Every individual has problems to solve.

The modules are written at the fifth-grade level, but are also adaptable for kindergarten through twelfth-graders.

VSA arts is an International organization which creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities. The organization offers arts-based programs in creative writing, dance, drama, music, and the visual arts -- implemented primarily through an affiliate network in 39 states and the District of Columbia, as well as collaborators in 10 states, and 70 international affiliates in 67 countries.

For more complete details about Express Diversity! visit http://www.vsarts.org

The site is currently hosting EXPRESSING FREEDOM, an online exhibition in which young artists with disabilities contemplate freedom in their lives.

"We rejoice that the decision comes just as we are making plans for our Joyce Theater season and tour," the NEW YORK TIMES quotes Francis Mason, chairman of the Graham board, as saying. "We're all wound up and ready. And this permits us to go ahead as we hoped we would."

Between 1956 and her death in 1991, Martha Graham was employed by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, two not-for-profit corporations that operated as a combined entity. During that 35-year period, Graham created many dances with the members of the Martha Graham Dance Company and the students and teachers at the School.

Protas had sought to enjoin the Center from performing dances choreographed by Graham which he, as her heir, claimed to own.

The Center argued that Graham did not own the dances because in some cases the rights had been assigned to the Center and in others Graham had choreographed them as "work for hire" while she was an employee of the Center.

The 45 dances which the Martha Graham Dance Company can now perform are: "Tanagra", "Three Gopi Maidens", "Harlequinade", "Primitive Mysteries", "Serenade", "Satyric Festival Song", "Dream", "Saraband", "Imperial Gesture", "Deep Song", "Every Soul is a Circus", "El Penitente", "Letter to the World", "Punch and the Judy", "Salem Shore", "Deaths and Entrances", "Eye of Anguish", "Ardent Song", "Embattled Garden", "Episodes: Part I", "Acrobats of God", "Phaedra", "Secular Games", "Legend of Judith", "The Witch of Endor", "Part Real-Part Dream", "Cortege of Eagles", "Plain of Prayer", "Mendicants of Evening", "Jacob's Ladder", "Lucifer", "The Scarlet Letter", "O Thou Desire Who Art About to Sing", "Shadows", "The Owl and the Pussycat", "Ecuatorial", "Frescoes", "Judith", "Andromache's Lament", "Phaedra's Dream", "Song", "Tangled Night", "Persephone", "Maple Leaf Rag", and "The Eyes of the Goddess."

In another component of the case, in January of 2001, Protas filed suit against the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance to enjoin the Graham Center from using the names "Martha Graham" or "Martha Graham Technique", but last August, Judge Cedarbaum affirmed the right of the Center and School to continue using Graham's name and teaching Graham's technique as they have for approximately 50 years.

Sources/resources:

FINDLAW -- http://news.findlaw.com
THE MARTHA GRAHAM SCHOOL AND DANCE FOUNDATION, INC. and RONALD A. PROTAS, individually and as Trustee of the Martha Graham Trust Plaintiffs, OPINION vs MARTHA GRAHAM CENTER OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE, INC. and MARTHA GRAHAM SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE, INC. Defendants
FINDLAW -- http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/copyright/protasgraham82302opn.pdf

Jennifer Dunning
"Martha Graham Center Wins Rights to the Dances"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
August 24, 2002

"Martha Graham Center and School Win Decision to Retain Use of Martha Graham's Name"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur082801.html
August 28, 2001

Louis Owens -- the author of the novels WOLFSONG, NIGHTLAND, THE SHARPEST SIGHT, and BONE GAME and of the books MIXEDBLOOD MESSAGES: LITERATURE, FILM, FAMILY, PLACE and OTHER DESTINIES: UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN INDIAN NOVEL -- died last month in Albuquerque, NM. of apparent self inflicted gunshot wounds.

He was a professor of English and Native American studies at the University of California, Davis and headed the campus Creative Writing Program.

"His writing is really important in American literature, overall," the University quoted Native American poet Luci Tapahonso, who is a professor of American Indian studies and English at the University of Arizona, Tucson, as saying. "He challenged people to rethink their approaches and touched on topics that hadn't been considered before."

In an obituary for Louis Owens, the University wrote:

"In his novels, Owens said he wrote to two audiences: mainstream readers and his Choctaw and Cherokee relatives. He wove in layers of Native American metaphor and myth through his complex mystery plots, so that two stories were being told at the same time."

The University also observed that "Extraordinarily generous with his time and attention to students, Owens was a dedicated teacher who mentored and encouraged his students and other writers."

Sources/resources:

WEBER STUDIES -- http://weberstudies.weber.edu
Louis Owens, "Finding Gene" http://weberstudies.weber.edu/archive/Vol.%2016.2/louisowens.html

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS -- http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/
"Native American Critic and Novelist Louis Owens Dies"
http://wwwenglish.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Owens/Owens_news.htm
LOUIS OWENS -- http://wwwenglish.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Owens/

CORNELL WORKSHOP ON DIGITAL TERROR

Cornell University will host an international art and theory workshop on "Digital Terror," sponsored by The Ruth Goldsen Lecture Series in conjunction with CTHEORY Multimedia, the Visual Studies Program, and the Cornell Library.

"The Workshop will discuss the broad spectrum of artistic responses to digital terror, including work on surveillance, digital artwork addressing the broad erosion of human rights via digital means and machineries, as well as the counterpart of ethnic anxieties in the wake of the expansion of the digital divide. It will provide a forum for artists and theorists who struggle to enhance the enigmatic value of language and representational machineries that have been so sorely depleted and threatened by governmental, institutional, and cultural agents," they state.

Organized by Cornell Professor Timothy Murray, Departments of Comparative Literature and English and Co-Curator of CTHEORY Multimedia, the Workshop will double as a launch of the new issue of CTHEORY Multimedia, "Wired Ruins Digital Terror and Ethnic Paranoia" -- http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu -- as well as an inauguration of the Rose Goldsen Archive of Digital Multimedia Art to be curated by Murray and housed in the Cornell Library's Division of Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Participants will include:

Keith Piper, Carnegie Mellon University

Maurice Benayoun (Univ. of Paris)

Jordan Crandall, University of California, San Diego

Shadi Nazarian, University of Buffalo

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Brown University

Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, CTHEORY

Patricia Zimmermann, Ithaca College

Chris Csikszentmihalyi, MIT Media Lab

For further information, contact Timothy Murray, Director of the Rose Goldsen Lecture Series, Cornell University tcm1@cornell.edu, 607-255-4012

Washington, DC -- The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced $850,000 in awards to 13 grantees in its third annual New Public Works initiative.

The Arts Endowment will provide up to $75,000 each to 13 organizations to help fund national design competitions for a range of public projects. This year, particular emphasis was given to the design of innovative schools with eight of the projects involving elementary, secondary and university buildings.

"We focused on school design this year because of the crucial role educational facilities play in a community as a component of neighborhood revitalization," said Mark Robbins, NEA Director of Design. "Also, school buildings create a physical and symbolic center for communities by encouraging public use of their facilities such as auditoriums, gymnasiums, and health centers."

"But perhaps as important, we hope this initiative will introduce students and their communities to the highest quality of design in their daily environments," he added.

In addition to school buildings, the Van Alen Institute (New York, NY) was awarded $50,000 to support an open competition for the perimeter and adjacent areas of the former site of the World Trade Center. Competitors will be asked to design an Information Center, as well as a way of orienting visitors to the site.

The winning competitions for school design include:

• THE FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (New York City) - $75,000 to support a limited competition for the design of a new building;

• UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT (Storrs, CT) - $75,000 to support a limited competition for the design of an interdisciplinary educational facility on the Storrs campus. The building will unify the various divisions and areas of the School of Fine Arts.

• FOUR SEASONS ARTS COUNCIL (on behalf of the Old Mill Steering Committee, Hendersonville, NC) - $50,000 to support a limited design competition for the conversion of an historic hosiery mill into a performing arts space. The project will integrate contemporary and historic architecture.

• KENT STATE UNIVERSITY URBAN DESIGN CENTER OF NORTHEAST OHIO (Kent, OH) - $75,000 for the reconstruction of an elementary school in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland

• EL PASO COUNTY DISTRICT #20 ACADEMY (Colorado Springs, CO) - $75,000 to support a limited competition for the design of a K-12 educational facility. The designers will be asked to create a fully accessible school that is part of a larger campus environment.

• SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (San Jose, CA) - $50,000 to support an open, two-stage design competition for a museum of contemporary art and design on the urban campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California.

• NATURE CONSERVANCY (Waipahu, HI) $75,000 to support an open, two-stage design competition in the city of Kapolei on the Leeward Coast of Oahu, Hawaii for the design of a sustainable building to house a learning center for children. The facility will serve as a learning and training tool connecting ecology with arts and culture.

The roster of designers involved in the limited or hybrid competitions include the offices of ShoP; Huff Gooden; Diller + Scofidio; Smith-Miller + Hawkinson; Renzo Piano Building Workshop; Zaha Hadid\Studio 9; Weiss\Manfredi; and Stamberg Aferiate. Proposed jurors for the projects include Merril Elam; Sarah Graham; Coleman Coker; Nasrine Seraji; Rodolfo Machado; Michael Sorkin; and Shigeru Ban, among others.

"The New Public Works program was intended to develop the highest quality of design in the public realm through the sponsorship of national design competitions. It was targeted to the disciplines of landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, and industrial design," the NEA notes.

They also advise that this is the final year of the initiative, although applications for future design competitions may be submitted in the NEA's Creativity category.

Sources/resources:

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

"National Endowment For The Arts Announces Funding For 13 National Design Competitions" http://www.arts.gov/endownews/news02/NPW.html

Opportunities for Artists

Visual AIDS is inviting artists to participate in their fifth annual POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE benefit. The exhibition -- a one-day event on Monday, October 28, 2002 -- will be held at Sperone Westwater Gallery. They are looking for artists to create and donate a 4" x 6" work on paper for the exhibition and sale. Painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and mixed media are welcomed.

Postcards from the Edge is a show and sale of original, postcard-sized works on paper by established and emerging artists. All artworks will be priced at $50 and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works are signed on the back and exhibited so that the artists' signatures cannot be seen. While the buyers have a list of participating artists, they don't know who created which piece.

"A collector might end up with a work by a famous artist or someone they don't know yet. Either way, they walk away with a great piece of art while supporting Visual AIDS' important work. All the proceeds support the programs of Visual AIDS," Visual AIDS notes.

Artists who have participated in the past include: Vito Acconci, Ricci Albenda, Carl Andre, Polly Apfelbaum, Ida Applebroog, Aziz + Cucher, Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, Ross Bleckner, Chakaia Booker, A.A. Bronson, Aaron Cobbett, Renee Cox, John Dugdale, Jeanne Dunning, Marcel Dzama, Nicole Eisenman, Joy Episalla, Neil Farber, Tony Feher, Robert Flynt, Tom Friedman, Joy Garnett, Milton Glaser, Robert Gober, Leon Golub, Gregory Green, Harmony Hammond, Geoffrey Hendricks, Arturo Herrera, Jim Hodges, Frank Holliday, Alfredo Jaar, Bill Jacobson, Joan Jonas, Roberto Juarez, Nina Katchadourian, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Charles LeDray, Zoe Leonard, Les Levine, Ann Messner, Marilyn Minter, Carrie Moyer, Elizabeth Murray, Stefanie Nagorka, Chuck Nanny, David Nelson, Yoko Ono, Tom Otterness, Shelia Pepe, Jack Pierson, Carl Pope, William Pope L., Richard Prince, Ernesto Pujol, Tim Rollins, Ruth Root, Betye Saar, Mark Sheinkman, Amy Sillman, Tom Slaughter, Kiki Smith, Nancy Spero, Chryssanne Stathacos, Philip Taaffe, Austin Thomas, John Waters, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, Tom Wesselmann, Thomas Woodruff, Carrie Yamaoka and many more!

Artists interested in participating are asked to send a SASE to Visual AIDS for a Postcards from the Edge package -- including submission forms and a blank postcard from Canson-Talens.

The address is: Visual AIDS,
526 West 26th Street #510,
New York, NY 10001

The deadline is Friday, October 4, 2002.

Each artists is allowed one entry. Visual AIDS will send each participating artist an invitation to the event and will follow-up with the artist after the event. Any work that is not sold will be returned upon request.

Visual AIDS effects change in the fight against HIV/AIDS through exhibitions, events, and publications. The Visual AIDS' Archive Project supports artists with HIV/AIDS with services including free photo-documentation of artwork, a slide registry, material grants, exhibition opportunities, career training, advice and advocacy.

More information is available on their web site at http://www.visualAIDS.org

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: October 2, 2002, Artist books, zines & pamphlets, "BOOK,um?! Le Petit Versailles Garden, New York City, NY

Deadline: October 6, 2002, Visual artists - installation artwork, performance pieces and works in new and experimental media, John La Farge sanctuary at the historic Newport Congregational Church, Rhode Island

November 1, 2002, Visual artists - painting, sculpture or glass, The Anthrogallery, Tucson, AZ

November 4, 2002, Visual artists - Wood, fiber, metal, ceramic, stone, installation, oil, acrylic, watercolor, pencil, photography, illustration, The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, in Blue Mountain Lake, NY

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.

INTEGRATIVE ARTS POSITION - tenure track, Penn State Altoona, (Altoona, PA)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, University of Oregon Arts & Administration, (Eugene, OR)

COMPANY MANAGER, Roxey Ballet, (Lambertville, NJ)

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, Imaging Research Center, (Baltimore, MD)

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, Learning By DesignNY, (New York City, NY)

LEADERS/SOLOISTS (SATB), Westwood Presbyterian Church, (Los Angeles, CA)

MALE PRINCIPAL DANCERS, Oakland Ballet, (Oakland, CA)

VISITING ARTISTS/ ART WORKSHOP FACILITATORS, Oyster Arts, (New York City, NY)

TEACHING ARTIST, Algonquin Arts, (Manasqan, NJ)

COORDINATOR, SCHOOL AND EDUCATOR PROGRAMS, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York City, NY)

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, Young Audiences of New Jersey, (Princeton, NJ)

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ARTS LEARNING MODEL GRANT, MHz Networks, (Calls Church, VA)

ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE CURATOR - DECORATIVE ARTS, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Kansas City, MO)

GALLERY INTERPRETATION SPECIALIST, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Kansas City, MO)

TEMPORARY ASSISTANT CONSERVATOR / FELLOW, OBJECTS, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Kansas City, MO)

ART CONSULTANT, (Art Gallery), (Rochester, NY)

REGISTRAR, Contemporary Art Gallery, (New York City, NY)

OPERATIONS MANAGER, Irish Repertory of Chicago, (Chicago, IL)

BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS MANAGER, The Midland Center for the Arts, (Midland, MI)

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR, The Studio Museum in Harlem, (New York, NY)

MEMBERSHIP MANAGER, The Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, (Greenwich, CT)

DATABASE/TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATOR, Arbor Development Company, (New Orleans, LA)

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT, Artforum International Magazine, (New York, NY)

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

ASSOCIATE, CAPITAL CAMPAIGN AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, Fundraiser for Foundation and Government Relations, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (New York City, NY)

FUNDRAISER - (part-time), Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT, The Joyce Theater, (New York City, NY)

ASSOCIATE, DEVELOPMENT, Research and Foundation/Government Funding, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT, Planning & Development Department, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

ASSISTANT, Capital Campaign, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, Resnicow Schroeder Associates, (New York, NY)

OFFICE MANAGER/BOOKKEEPER, Learning By DesignNY, (New York City, NY)

PORTER, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York City, New York)

SENIOR SALES ASSOCIATE, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York, NY)

CITY CENTER CITYTIX* ASSISTANT MANAGER (Full-Time), City Center, (New York, NY)

CITY CENTER CITYTIX* OPERATORS/CUSTOMER SERVICE (Part-Time), City Center, (New York, NY)

INTERNSHIPS, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York City, NY)

INTERN, (PBS series on African-American Spiritual Traditions), (New York City, NY)

EDUCATIONAL INTERN, Learning By DesignNY, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT INTERN, Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York City, NY)

INTERNSHIP, Le Brun Library, Montclair Art Museum, (Montclair NJ)

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

He describes the work, WHITE LETTER 2002, in this way:

"It was a statement of the current conflicting world that we live in, where millions of people are killed by the actions of a few and some of them are going to kill more and more.... We want peace not war and no killing of any human....We the peace loving people do not like to see any inhuman UN embargo on any country. War and Embargo both are crimes against humanity. This work is for peace and friendship... It is white, green, black and silver with 50 meters silent open space under the sky to take the message around by the summer breeze to the people ... Peace! Peace!! Peace !!!"

• African Film Festival
• African Voices
• Afro Brazil Arts
• Anabella Gonzalez Dance Theatre, Inc.
• Andrew Janetti & Dancers
• Anthology Film Archives
• Art 21
• Art in General
• Art Resouces Transfer, Inc.
• Artemis & The Wild Things
• Artists Space
• Arts Resources in Collaboration, Inc.
• ArtsConnection
• Artsgenesis
• Asian American Arts Centre
• Avignon/New York Film Festival
• Ballet Hispanico
• Battery Dance Corporation
• The Blanco Performing Arts
• Foundation, Inc.
• BluePrint Productions
• Bomb Magazine
• Bronx Dance Theatre
• Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Trisha Brown Dance Company
• Camera News, Inc
• Career Transition for Dancers, Inc.
• The Caribbean Cultural Institute
• Center for Traditional Music and Dance
• H.T. Chen Dance Company, Inc.
• Children's Arts Carnival
• Circuit Productions, Inc.
• Clememte Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center, Inc.
• College of Staten Island - CUNY, Center for the Arts
• Coloquium Contemporary Dance Exchange
• Community Works New York City
• Company Appels
• Creative Time, Inc.
• Cuban Artists Fund
• Dance As Ever, Inc.
• Dance Collective
• Dance Forum Inc.
• Dance Rink
• Dance Space Center, Inc.
• Dance Theater of Nepal
• Dance Theatre Workshop
• Dances by Isadora
• Dancing with Horses
• Deep Dish TV
• Dieu Donne Papermill
• Dixon Place
• Downtown Arts Project
• Drumsongs Productions, Inc
• d.u.m.b.o. Arts Center
• The Early Stages Program, Inc.
• Earth Celebrations
• Elizabeth Streb/Ringside
• ENACT, Inc.
• Enrichment Through the Arts, Inc.
• Exit Art
• The Field
• Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, Inc.
• Fly-By-Night Dance Theater, Inc.
• A Gathering of Tribes
• Foundation for Independent Video & Film, Inc.
• Fractured Atlas
• Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
• French Institute Alliance Francaise
• Gale Gates
• Global Action Project
• Harvestworks
• Hundred Grand Dance Foundation dba/ Bill Young
• and Dancers
• The Infinite Mind/Lichtenstein Creative Media
• Instituto de Arte Teatral Internacional, Inc.
• International Agency for Minority Artist
• Affairs, Inc.
• Irish Arts Center
• Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning
• John Jasperse Company
• JenniferMuller/The Works
• The Jewish Heritage Project, Inc.
• Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co.
• Kathak Ensemble & Friends
• The Kitchen
• Jose Limon Dance Foundation
• Lar Lubovitch Dance Co.
• Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
• The Macedonian Arts Council, Inc.
• Mad Alex
• Michael Mao Dance
• Manhattan Art Program
• Millenium Film Workshop
• Momenta Arts
• Monte/Brown Dance
• Muae Publishing, Inc.
• Multicultural Music Group, Inc.
• Museum of Chinese in the Americas
• Museum of Contemporary African Diasporin Arts
• The New American Cinema Group, Inc.
• The New York Baroque Dance Company, Inc.
• New Dance Alliance, Inc.
• New Dance Group
• The New Press
• New York Chinese Cultural Center, Inc.
• New York Fu Kai Cantonese Opera Training Center
• New York International Children's Film Festival
• New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film
• Festival, Inc. dba/ MIX
• New York Stage and Film Co.
• On Television, Ltd.
• Organization of Independent Artists, Inc.
• Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc.
• Parsons Dance
• PEN American Center
• Pentacle, Danceworks, Inc.
• Pink, Inc
• Poetry Society of America
• Portals of Wonder, Inc.
• Printed Matter, Inc
• Promote Arts Works, Inc.
• Rockaway Music & Arts Council, Inc.
• Rod Rogers Dance Co. & Studios
• Rubi Theater Company, Inc.
• Russian-American Cultural Center
• Shine, Inc.
• Snug Harbor Cultural Center
• Society of the Educational Arts, Inc.
• Soundance
• St. Ann's Center
• Teachers & Writers Collaborative
• Tribeca Performing Arts Center
• Triple Candie
• Troika Ranch
• Donna Uchizono Company
• Urban Glass
• Visual AIDS for the Arts
• Working Playground, Inc.
• World Music Productions
• Young Dancers in Repertory