This is an educational and interactive Community ARTS Resource Exchange. Please feel free to download any information that may benefit a community arts program in your area. We would love your input... Introduction Mission and Goals Guiding Practices Events Peace Event Documents Links Click on images to see a larger version. Pages Created by: Paul Hillman 03175 hits since 03/24/2008		Art Detour Weekend at the Fair Trade Café Welcome to a review of the reception for Cultural Arts Coalition's participant artists on Friday, March 7th, 6-9:30 PM, Art Detour Weekend at the Fair Trade Café, Phoenix by judy butzine Artworks by 16 local, national and international artists are featured. The exhibition "Arts, Culture and the Public Sphere: Local and Global" examines and explores the visual arts as a means to communicate artists' views of universal human concerns and social justice in public settings. Dennis Numkena, Katsinas' Journey, Acrylic on Canvas, 23" X 21", draws the Fair Trade Café visitor into the space to begin one's own journey through the visual and performance symbolism that was experienced this evening. (Dennis is a Hopi, Architect and Visionary who was born on ancestral land in Arizona.) Ayo Sharpe-Mouzon and her loving husband John provided the evening's music, dance and spoken word that uplifted the human spirits of all and brought us together as a community. The Cultural Arts Coalition Hostess of the evening was Melanie Ohm, joined by many CAC participants who support, promote and interface with the CAC on various community and academic arts programs. Melanie is a co founder and co director of the CAC. Both of the ladies in this photo are ASU graduate dance students who work on a local and international level within economically depressed communities utilizing dance as a means of communication to deal with community issues: Janie Ross and C-C Braun. We are also thankful for the photo documentation of Kristin Elise Fukuchi whose photographs are mounted at Fair Trade Cafe. Kristin is an ASU graduate student from the School of Architecture in Urban Design and Planning. She has her own Precision Measurements business. Kristin is shown with Annie Loyd. Annie Loyd is running for U.S. Congress from Arizona as an independent. http://www.annieloydforcongress.com/ She is also the founder of One Planet Magazine. One Planet Magazine http://www.oneplanetmag.com/content/   Anne Coe, Counter Culture, Serigraph, # 65 of edition of 150 prints, 29" X 39", NFS Kristin Elise Fukuchi, Mighty Saguaro, B & W Photography, Diptych, 15" square, $500, photographs hang alongside Anne Coe's artwork. Anne Coe is a fourth generation Arizonan. She grew up on a ranch in the southern part of the state. Anne has traveled extensively and has had many varied and interesting occupations. She lives on the slopes of the Superstition Mountains in the high Sonoran Desert. Ayo made three costume changes and presented her poetry to the audience from her CD, Cowie Shells. Ayo also sold her Instructional West African Dance CD. Ayo is an artist in residence registered with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Please contact her at ayosharpemouzon@yahoo.com or phone (480) 335-0173 Ayo's dance performances are metaphors for thoughtful reflection. Unable to attend the evening's events I was instead able to live it through the images taken. It is my understanding that Ayo's presentations are all about giving honor to oneself, one's ancestors, nature and one's community. With this clearly perceived I translated this dance through the following excerpt from the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" in duBois' book The Souls of Black Folk. On Double Consciousness by W.E.B. duBois After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,--a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. Ayo has been performing in urban neighborhoods of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland since the late 60's. I know that her intent is to convey the values, ideas and beliefs of her ancestors from Africa in helping the inner city youth and adults lift the veil and give all a sense of self importance and respect. Thank you Ayo for these invaluable messages. Many people gave honor to Ayo at this performance. They all recognize that the purposefulness of focus in Ayo's symbolic actions have deep significance and meaning. Christy Puetz, Bead artists and artist in residence, was at the reception. Her artworks are also featured: Christy Puetz, Wait Spider Monkey & Shopping for Produce, Beaded Art on Fabric, 12.5" X 7.5" & 8" Square, NFS Ms. Puetz has been telling stories though the dimensional/textural/colorful beaded art objects she has created since 1990. The world of beads brought her to Arizona from Minnesota where she became the Education Director at The Bead Museum, a position that eventually led her to Beads of Courage ®. The relationship she has with Beads of Courage ® has added a whole new meaning to the use of the arts for healing. As the Director of Program Development, Ms. Puetz is driven to create programming that will encourage, honor and help in the healing process for kids and families coping with cancer. The bracelets for sale at the Fair Trade Café will support this non-profit agency's work. Persons buying the beaded bracelets the night of the reception. This event and site to exhibit these artworks would not have been possible without the social entrepreneurship philosophy of the owners who have established this Sense of Place to focus on issues of Social Justice at the Fair Trade Cafe. http://www.fair-trade-cafe.com/ Social Enterprise (Social Entrepreneurship) Assembled by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD "Nonprofits have to recognize that they're businesses, not just causes. There's a way to combine the very best of the not-for-profit, philanthropic world with the very best of the for-profit, enterprising world. This hybrid is the wave of the future for both profit and nonprofit companies." -- From "Genius At Work" - an interview with Bill Strickland, CEO of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, Inc. The nonprofit environment has changed. Community needs are growing in size and diversity. More nonprofits are competing for government and philanthropic funds. Traditional forms of funding are becoming smaller and less reliable. New for-profit businesses are competing with nonprofits to serve community needs. Funders and donors are demanding more accountability. "In the face of this new reality, an increasing number of forward-looking nonprofits are beginning to appreciate the increased revenue, focus and effectiveness that can come from adopting "for profit" business approaches. Increasingly, they are reinventing themselves as social entrepreneurs, combining "the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination." -- From "The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship" by J. Gregory Dees. Michele White is the individual that Malissa Geer, ASU Downtown graduate student, first introduced the CAC directors to and these owners' philosophy of doing business in the community. Malissa Geer and judy butzine, Co-Founder and Co Director of the Cultural Arts Coalition. The Mission of the Cultural Arts Coalition, Arizona: 501 (c) 3 Identifying, supporting, promoting, celebrating, and documenting those community arts practices that stimulate social awareness and honor diverse cultural values, and develop the critical thinking skills necessary to be creative and solve problems. As a networking group, the coalition strives to provide a safe place for persons of all ages and backgrounds to gather and achieve a sense of belonging and respect within a larger community and to explore arts-related skills in a facilitated environment. The night would not have been complete without those persons who just came into the café to do their work, have something to eat and drink. Artworks from left to right: Robert Miley in workshop with members of a Boys & Girls Club, Brother, Brother Stop, Acrylic on Canvas, 36" X 46", $2,000 Francisco Garcia, The Sacrifice, Acrylic on Canvas, 24" X 48", $500 Eugene Grigsby, Jr., The Family, Serigraph, taken from the original oil painting, #22 of edition of 45 prints, 22" X 30", NFS Tlisza Jaurique, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Mixed Media, 11.5 " X 16.5", $3000 Sergio Armendariz, Modern Mary, former Metro Arts Student, Acrylic on Canvas, 12" X 16", $300 Mitra Kamali, Persian Literature, Enamel Powder Fired on Paper, 20" X 29", NFS Other artworks that have not been cited yet left to right: Thangka from Tibet, White Tara, Painted Cloth and Silk Cloth, 30"X 40", NFS Tse Phuntsok, Myths and Rituals in Tibetan Life, Tibetan refugee youth living in India, Water Color on Paper, 13.5" X 18", $400 Abby Tracy, Rwanda Village Leader and Sudanese Child, Colored Photographs, 10" X 13", $100 each. Thuong Nygen, Dreaming, Serigraph, 22" X 30", NFS Tom Stephensen, Subduing the Great Pacifier, Acrylic on Wood, 21" square, $2,500 Marcus Zilliox, Through the Cockpit, Acrylic on Wood, 24" X 48", $3,500, artwork at café west door entrance. This was a Community Happening that embraces universal issues of daily living. Vision & Direction of the Cultural Arts Coalition "Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another's view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon." Marcel Proust Internationally recognized World Historian, James Burke, made a statement on the PBS special "Connections": "Artists are the shamans of our communities." Playwright and Professor Anna Deavere Smith, Keynote speaker at an "Ethics and Arts Conference" at ASU on October 30, 2001, stated, "Art is a metaphor to communicate universal ideas and beliefs. It is a primary role of the artist to be a provocateur for social change." Then in April of 2002, at a Wade Smith Memorial lecture, ASU Gammage auditorium, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Chairperson of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights spoke this sentiment, "The world and everyone in it are connected. This is not limited to human connection, but the connections of our thought processes. We must create critical connections through reflective thought to prevent racial isolation and racial profiling." Abby Tracy, Rwanda Village Leader "Visual art, rather than merely playing a pleasurable, but peripheral role in human societies, has long been of fundamental importance." "The product-the work of art- serves as an identifier of the group of individuals who identify with and understand the arts' symbols in conveying values, ideas and beliefs of that community. In so doing, art helps create cooperation within any group." Dr. Kathryn Coe, discussing her book, The Ancestress Hypothesis: Visual Art as Adaptation, Rutgers University Press, January 2003, at a salon in the home of judy butzine, Sept. 21, 2003. Thank you Everyone for Supporting the Cultural Arts Coalition! Music used with permission by Ayo Sharpe - Mouzon Cowrie Shells CD Song: Bambo AZ Roster Artist ayosharpemouzon@yahoo.com