Want to be someone that makes a difference in your Neighborhood? And gets paid to do it?
We are looking for one Neighborhood Host. This per... more
FEATURED MERCHANT
Dreams Come True Parties
Children Theme Birthday Parties... more
News Details (Posted: August 16, 2007):
Refugee Tent Provides a Site for Dialog
Full Description:
Originally designed to provide temporary shelter at emergency sites in Afghanistan and other parts of the world, a refugee tent will be placed on a hill in an undeveloped plot of land in Valencia, California. This area, known as Fire Valley, is adjacent to the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). For five days, the tent and its surroundings will serve as the site for The Other Project, a series of conversations, forums, performances, workshops and readings focusing on issues of “otherness.”
Organizer Evelyn Serrano, will live in the tent for the duration of the project, furnishing it with such items from her home as Ikea chairs, Kmart lamps, and her grandmother’s crystal vase. Ms. Serrano recently described the ideas behind her project. “In these times, when our country and its institutions are committed to a re-evaluation of \"the other\" through military campaigns, the building of walls along the Mexican border, landmark Supreme Court rulings and the re-imagining of immigration policy, The Other Project looks at these same issues from the perspective of a refugee tent on a suburban hill.”
The contrast between the tent and its furnishings will highlight the event’s themes which will range from a town meeting bringing together members of the Santa Clarita Arts Advisory Board, city officials and the CalArts community to a performance of iconic songs from Argentina and Brazil. Throughout the five-day event, visual artists, writers, anthropologists, musicians, performers, community leaders, activists, curators and educators from Mexico and the United States will use the site to present work and stimulate dialog on the many ways of addressing “otherness.”
Highlights:
Pirayeh Pourafar and Houman Pourmedhi, two master musicians, composers, teachers and recording artists will engage in a conversation about their lives as artists in their homeland of Iran and their experiences after they emigrated to the United States. LA Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano will discuss his experience with the nationally syndicated column, “Ask A Mexican”, in which he answers questions about America\'s largest minority. Participants in the workshop, How to Jumpstart Empathy, will learn different methods and strategies drawn from Eastern spiritual practice, Constructive Living and nonviolent communication from therapist Linda Hoag. A forum led by artists Karen Atkinson, Sam Durant, Erik Ehn among others, will have a discussion about the artist’s social responsibility and will talk about strategies for community engagement through the arts. For Entre lo Real y lo Imaginario/Between the Real and the Imaginary, writers from Tijuana, Mexico will present a reading of their !
poetry and prose in Spanish.
(For the most up-to-date list of presenters please check the project’s website) Saul Alvarez, Architecture for Humanity, Gustavo Arellano, Diana Arellano, Art-in-the-Park / Berta and Stan Sosa, Karen Atkinson, Matthew Barraza, Damian Berdakin, Andrea Bowers, Nancy Buchanan, CalArts Black Student Union (BSU), CalArts Latino Student Union (LSU), CalArts Queer Art Collective (QUACK), Center for the Study of Political Graphics, City of Santa Clarita officials, Teresa Chavez, Colectivo Bulbo, Colectivo La Linea, Culture Clash, Chris Diaz, Ricardo Dominguez, Sam Durant, Carribean Fragoza, Malik Gaines, Shadi Harouni, Loren Hartman–CrazySpace, Ingrid Hernandez, Linda Hoag, nternational Rescue Committee, Drew Jorgensen, Gita Khashabi, Douglas Kearney, Nick Kello, Suzanne Lacy, Shanna Lorenz, Linda Malerva, John Malpede – Los Angeles Poverty Department, Lorena Mancilla, Elana Mann, Theresa Masangkay, James Melinat, Juanita Meneses, Omar Pimienta, Plaza de la Raza / Maria Jimenez-Torres, Martin Plot, Luis Rodriguez, Niki Rousso-Schindler, Cindy Santos Bravo, Sa!
nta Clarita Arts Advisory Board, Alina Skrzeszewska, Shinpei Takeda-Aja Project International, Ingrid Von Sydow, Haruko Tanaka, Kara Tanaka, Gabriel Tenorio – Self-Help Graphics and Art, Jan Smail and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center among others.
