Digital Arts & Technology Symposium 2010

There is a bit of information available on the Center for Design and Innovation's website regarding the food-focused Digital Arts & Technology Symposium (DATS) scheduled for this fall, and Greensboro artist and blogger, Andrew Young, has plenty of brainstorming available. Check out his blog to get psyched for DATS 2010.

Review of The Yesman

Check out Jana Tasich's review of The Yes Man, an original play that is the result of a collaboration between The Enrichment Center, students at UNCSA, and Art Tasting.

Teaching Literacy While Instilling Empathy in Students

Troubles, Worries, Work

Moving day. It always scared me to death.
Troubles, worries, work.
It includes everything to make me crazy. Some people
like it, but not me. There is always some
hope but what are hopes? Hopes bring
troubles, worries, work,
and they include everything to make me crazy. Some people
like it, but not me. I would like not to move.
I would like to stay, because actually days
are not moving. There are no moving days.
Time stays. We move. I would like to stay
not to move.

-- Madmax

Stumbled upon a great resource called Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. One particular project drew me in-- teachers use poetry by homeless people to teach literacy. Students read and understand a poem, write a poem based on their feelings about home, learn to understand why some people are homeless, and empathize with other homeless children. This method of teaching has such multiplying benefits. While attempting to reach a singular of teaching literacy, teachers can affect students' emotional maturity, give a social studies lesson, and encourage students to express themselves in artistic ways.

The poem above is from a writing workshop at the Clergy Coalition Shelter for the Homeless in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Pixels for Food: Artist Bill Brown Uses Design Skills as Fundraising Tool

A friend of mine named Bill Brown, who is a graduate of Wake Forest, spoke yesterday at a conference in New Orleans called Launch Fest, self-labeled a "fun conference for serious entrepreneurs." The project Bill discussed is called Pixels for Food. Bill has been working at a community center and food pantry for the last year called the Community Center of St. Bernard. Pixels for Food is an online donation site inspired by his experience there. Check out a screen shot of the site below. The site is interactive, so be sure to visit yourself.

The Enrichment Center and UNCSA Collaborate on Play as Part of Kenan Institute for the Arts' ACCORD Initiative

As part of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts’ ACCORD Initiative, The Enrichment Center and students from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), who are also part of Art Tasting, an emerging performing arts organization in Winston-Salem, are presenting an original short play by Ian Antal and Suzy McCalley. The play, entitled “The Yesman,” will be performed Thursday, April 29 at 7:00 p.m. at The Enrichment Center at 1006 S. Marshall Street in Winston-Salem.
Visit the Kenan Institute's website for more information.

Arts for Life Benefit via Life in Forsyth

Eat at selected restaurants next Thursday and benefit Arts for Life! Get more information at Life in Forsyth.

Dance of Triumph

On March 11 at 7 PM, East Forsyth's dance group East Company Dance will perform a series of dances based on stories from people suffering with cancer. To prepare the pieces, dance teachers at East Forsyth invited staff members who had cancer to share their experience with students. The full story on the project collaboration between teachers, students, and survivors can be read in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Winston-Salem Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll.

Social Innovation Fund: Matching Grants

The Social Innovation Fund, a new public-private collaboration created by the 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, is designed to create new knowledge about how to solve social challenges in the areas of economic opportunity, youth development and school support, and healthy futures, and to improve our nation’s problem-solving infrastructure in low-income communities.

Community organizations will receive financial support from intermediaries on the order of no less than $100,000 per year for three to five years, as well as strategic support in areas such as management, and evaluation. Community organizations must also provide a 1:1 cash match for the total amount—Federal and private dollars—they receive from the intermediaries.

The Notice of Funds Available is scheduled to release in February 2010.

What an excellent opportunity to venture into a well-funded project that solves community issues through the arts. Not too many details are available right now on the Corporation for National & Community Service website, but be sure to check back in February.

ACCORD Grant Concept Proposals Due in Mid-November

What is the ACCORD Initiative?

ACCORD is an acronym for Artists Contributing to Civic-Oriented and Responsive Democracy. It is a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, which, according to Kenan Institute materials, "sparks dialogue about the essential role of the arts and civic-minded artists within a thriving democracy.

It is an effort to encourage collaboration between nonprofits, community organizations, charitable groups, and governmental agencies with local college students to create arts-based projects that address community needs and/or social issues.

Organizations can apply for grants for up to $2,5oo to complete this type of local, collaborative project. Concept proposals are due November 19, 2009. The most important thing is for organizations to identify the social issue they would like to address.

Please e-mail Amanda Balwah at amandab@kenanarts.org for more information on guidelines. Training workshops are available for organizations who would like assistance in writing their grant proposals.

Intersections with Photographs from Gaze by Michael Meyersfeld

A series of photographs from a book titled Gaze by Michael Meyersfeld accompanied the unveiling of a new local organization, Intersections of the Triad. Intersections is an organization devoted to social support for the local HIV/AIDS population. The organization plans to promote HIV awareness, encourage testing, and open a center where homeless men and women can use computers and consult with case managers. Read the September 24th article in The Chronicle by browsing through the archive for the September 24th edition and reading page A2.

Michael Meyersfeld's book Gaze is a collection of portraits of a spectrum of South Africans who identify with many different sexual identities.

The exhibition of these photographs was the first in the United States. Although the event was private, the public will have more opportunities to view Meyersfeld's work in the future. The exhibit is abroad for several months but will eventually visit the U.S. again.