The Current

Upstream Arts News
October 2014  

Welcome, New Subscribers! 
We hope you'll enjoy this monthly update on our work, events, ways to get involved, and more. We only include highlights here, so be sure to visit our website to learn more about our multidisciplinary arts programs for people with disabilities at every stage of life.

Call for Artists with Disabilities 
The Arts on Chicago initiative is back! This year, through the support of VSA Minnesota, AoC will select two projects by artists based in the target neighborhoods who have disabilities or are working with and/or alongside individuals with disabilities to create the  project. Deadline: November 3. Click here to learn more on the Upstream Arts blog.

Join the Conversation 
Last spring, we launched our disability is not a four-letter word campaign to generate artistic reflection and public conversation about stigma associated with disability.
Each month, we're sharing a related video or article. We invite you to respond by sharing thoughts via email, our blog, Facebook, Twitter, or in any creative form you like!
Right now, we're loving U.K.-based Scope's End the Awkward, clever PSAs for people who are "worried about doing or saying the wrong thing and feeling awkward" around people with disabilities. 
Consider taking a few minutes to watch a few - then let us know what you think! 

Coming Up: The Art of Me 
Mark your calendar for Fridays Nov.  21 and Dec. 19! We’re excited to present new iterations of The Art of Me in partnership with Midwest Special Services in Eagan and Brooklyn Park. Both shows are FREE and open to the public. Click here for details.
Painting by Upstream Arts participants at Opportunity Partners
Dear Friend, 

Happy October! We have so much to share with you this month - rich new reads on our blog, a video message from our Teaching Artist Lindsey (who found her way out of the Grand Canyon), a call for artists with disabilities... Keep reading for the full scoop.
As ever, we're so grateful for the enthusiasm, energy, and generosity of our community. Thanks for all that you do!

Julie, Matt, Bree, and everyone at Upstream Arts
Artistic Director Matt Guidry with son Caleb
Inclusive Connections, Part II
Have you seen the new series on our blog by Upstream Arts Artistic Director Matt Guidry? In his latest post, he writes: "There was a theory that originated in the 70s called the 100th Monkey Effect, which leads to the idea that evolutions in thought and behavior can be exhibited at the same time by groups of people who have had no contact with each other, without any prior communication or point of contact for a transfer of knowledge to occur. It has been called collective unconscious, source fields, and morphogenetic fields. If a critical mass of people thinks and behaves in a certain way, others nearby will begin to exhibit the same behaviors and thought…and, it eventually becomes the intuitive behavior for the society at large." Click here to read more on our blog.
Sue Carneol, our Milwaukee Client Liaison
Sue Carneol
Meet Sue Carneol
Over the past year, Upstream Arts has started offering some quarterly programs in partnership with the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Milwaukee; and due to the community’s overwhelmingly positive response, we’re now building relationships with additional partners, toward increasing our presence there in the future. Sue Carneol, a friend of Upstream Arts who is based in Milwaukee, has played a big role in connecting us with the local community–and recently, she became our official Client Liaison! We asked Sue to share a bit about herself and why she’s inspired to help bring this work to her city. Click here to read more on the Upstream Arts blog.
Lindsey Samples: Rim-to-Rim Thank You Video
Click to watch Lindsey's video message for you
Gratitude + The Work Ahead
Enormous thanks to everyone who so generously supported Upstream Arts on behalf of Lindsey Samples and her Grand Canyon adventure. Thanks to you, Lindsey met her $3,000 goal! Click the video above for a short message of thanks from Lindsey, sent straight from the Grand Canyon.
We also want to thank Sue Haas and Michael Sommers, Joan MorrisMarilyn Mounger, and our anonymous monthly donor for recent gifts to Upstream Arts! 
As you know, Give to the Max Day is November 13, and Upstream Arts' fall fundraising season begins that same week. Currently, our funding gap is $79,835; that's how much it will take to sustain our work through the end of our fiscal year on June 30, 2015. We have a goal of raising $15,000 by December 31 in order to carry out more high-quality arts residencies for youth and adults with disabilities in the Twin Cities and Milwaukee, provide more professional development opportunities for Teaching Artists like Lindsey, present more public performances like The Art of Me at MSS, and advance more meaningful conversation about disability through our programs and campaigns. 
We know this time of year can be saturating, so here's what you can expect from us in the coming month: 
1) We will only send one email on Give to the Max Day. It'll be a good one though, so watch for it! 
2) That same week, many of you will receive a letter from us in the mail with a remit envelope, providing another avenue for giving. 
3) Between now and then, we'll also send out a beautiful work of art created by one of our Teaching Artists and featuring one of our participants. If we don't have your mailing address, be sure to send it our way (just hit "reply" to this email). You won't want to miss this piece!
Thank you for your partnership. Have a happy rest of October!
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