|
Welcome
February 2023
To Friends of Peacebuilding and the Arts,
We’ve long been eager to produce an issue of PBA Now with a primary focus on recent publications and other resources relevant to the field of peacebuilding and the arts. That issue is finally here. Thanks to suggestions from friends and colleagues the world over – and their networks – we’ve curated a (still too-short) list of books, films, and reports to share with you. We recognize that this list is but the tip of the iceberg: We hope and trust that you, our readers, will share with us and each other additional resources that you have found to be particularly insightful or inspiring. Our list is limited to what we discovered at this moment, and to English-language materials or translations for the most part.
The recent publications, videos, and reports engaging with creativity in the face of violence, human rights abuses, and the climate crisis that you’ll find below range from intimate family portraits during tumultuous times to scholarly considerations of the politics of applied performance. Recent Indigenous art initiatives that move art historical conversations in new directions, especially in relationship to a history of genocide, and novels and poetry collections are listed, too. We’re glad to include an expanded response by Dr. Cindy Cohen to the book, Care Aesthetics, by Dr. James Thompson, originally offered during the online book launch. And, although produced in 2011, the Acting Together on the World Stage books and documentary are experiencing a resurgence of interest through recent translations of the movie into Ukrainian and Russian.
The reports we share bring us into contact with artists in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as at a festival in Cyprus, as they defend human rights and often “create dangerously,” to employ the words of Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat.
In addition to featuring upcoming events, opportunities, and additional resources, we shine a spotlight on Native Hawaiian artist Peter Rockford Espiritu, whose 2022 was filled with honors and exploration.
We recognize that many in our extended Peacebuilding and the Arts family are living within contexts of violence on many levels, experiencing deep uncertainties about the future. We wish you the embrace of community as you engage creatively, and with strength and care, with the challenges of the moment. As always, we’d love to hear from you.
Toni Shapiro-Phim, Armine Avetisyan, and Cindy Cohen
Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, Brandeis University
This issue of PBA Now was put together before the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. We are reeling at the magnitude of the devastation, and will connect readers with ways to support on-the-ground relief in our next issue.
| |
|
Recent publications and reports engaging with creativity in the face of violence, human rights abuses, and the climate crisis
Books
The Routledge Companion to Applied Performance (Volumes One and Two)
Tim Prentki and Ananda Breed, editors
“These volumes offer insights from within and beyond the sphere of English-speaking scholarship, curated by regional experts in applied performance. The reader will gain an understanding of some of the dominant preoccupations of performance in specified regions, enhanced by contextual framing. From the dis(h)arming of the human body through dance in Colombia to clowning with dementia in Australia, via challenges to violent nationalism in the Balkans, transgender performance in Pakistan and resistance rap in Kashmir, the essays, interviews and scripts are eloquent testimony to the courage and hope of people who believe in the power of art to renew the human spirit.”
L’empreinte. Une archive d’artiste soustraite au terrorisme d’État
[The footprint. Artist Archive Safeguarded From State Terrorism]
Marisa Cornejo
Chile, 1973 — Geneva, 2023. This is an intimate story of a daughter (visual artist Marisa Cornejo) dedicated to the memory of her father. In it, a discovery of photographs leads to a revelation about the repercussions of Augusto Pinochet's military coup (in Chile) on a family of artists and teachers on the roads of exile.
Afghanistan Dispossessed: Women, Culture and the Taliban
Razia Sultanova
“How does normal social, cultural, religious life survive in constant turmoil? How can the people flourish? These basic questions are examined and answered by Razia Sultanova's academic analysis and deep fieldwork, with extensive eye-witness and personal contacts and conversations with a wide variety of Afghan men and women. She looks at basic questions of gender, identity, nation, tradition, history, popular culture and especially the role of music - classical, popular, modern and contemporary - as a vital element for survival.”
Music, Dance and the Archive
Amanda Harris, Linda Barwick and Jakelin Troy, Editors
Part of the Indigenous Music, Language and Performing Arts series from Sydney University Press, “Music, Dance and the Archive interrogates historical practices of access to archives by showing how Indigenous performing artists and community members and academic researchers (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) are collaborating to bring life to objects that have been stored in archives. It not only examines colonial archiving practices but also creative and provocative efforts to redefine the role of archives and to bring them into dialogue with contemporary creative work… Music, Dance and the Archive highlights the necessity of relationships, Country and creativity in practising song and dance, and in revitalising practices that have gone out of use. As contemporary Australia reckons with its past, this volume is both timely and urgent. We readers are challenged to critically reflect on how history lives on in the present – with implications not only for creativity, heritage, and the arts, but also for prosperous and equitable societies and thriving cultures, now and into the future.”
Art in a Democracy: The Plays of Roadside Theater
“This 2-volume work tells the story of a rural Appalachian theater company’s 45-year search for a form of artistic expression that advances the project of American democracy… [It] includes 9 award-winning original play scripts, a critical recounting of the theater’s history from 1975 through 2020, and 10 essays by authors from different disciplines and generations exploring the plays’ social, economic, and political circumstances.”
Reports
Buffer Fringe Festival 2020: An Artist-Based Conflict Transformation Festival on the Fringes (January 2023)
Lee Perlman and Meropi Moiseos
Although on the fringes of Cyprus' political and arts scenes, the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival attempts to culturally dismantle the walls and barriers between the island's north and south. This study examines how the 2020 festival provided artists and live and online (global) audiences a platform to question sensitive historical grievances during the challenging first year of the global pandemic. The study questions how contentious the festival might or could be in its quest to transform the Cyprus conflict.
Art in Turmoil: Artistic Freedom and Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean (December 2022)
Artists at Risk Connection
“Art in Turmoil shares personal insights from key stakeholders in the field of artistic freedom on the main challenges artists and human rights defenders in the region face today, from repressive state and non-state actors to COVID-19. The report also provides tools and recommendations intended to help artists – and the organizations that support them – continue to create and defend artistic freedom, even in the face of growing adversity.”
| |
|
Review of/Response to the book, Care Aesthetics, by James Thompson
By Cindy Cohen, co-director of Brandeis’ Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts
Below are excerpts from a letter to author James Thompson from Cindy Cohen, read aloud during an October 2022 presentation by Dr. Thompson about his new book, Care Aesthetics
Dear James,
One of my first questions to you is about the craft of writing: How did you manage to squish so many nuanced stories and complex ideas into a mere 160 pages? I started out marking passages or making notes on the paragraphs that could inform my comments here, and nearly every page of my copy is a mess of lines and exclamation points!
Read the full letter.
| |
|  |
Haleakala
Photo by Aimee Kimura Koch
|
|
Artist Spotlight: Peter Rockford Espiritu
By Toni Shapiro-Phim, co-director of Brandeis’ Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts
Peter Rockford Espiritu founded Tau Dance Theater in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA), as a “safe and creative space for ‘Brown Dance’ to thrive and grow equally in traditional and contemporary modes of expression.” Tau is actually a shortened form of Ututau, Espiritu’s middle name. The Samoan name Ututau, literally meaning "ammunition," but according to Espiritu, something akin to “the keeper of the spears and clubs,” is given to just one male member of each generation. He was honored with this designation following the traditional practice of his mother’s family, who is Samoan. With Hawaiian heritage on his father’s side, Espiritu has been, in a sense, “carrying the spears” for Indigenous storytelling on stages throughout the Pacific and, indeed, the world, ever since beginning his study of hula (Hawaiian traditional dance) in the 1970s with the late kumu hula (hula teacher) John Ka'imikaua. In 2022, Espiritu’s work was recognized with three prestigious awards giving him time, space, and funds to further develop his artistic practice as an Indigenous choreographer focused on dance and social justice.
| |
|  |
Screening of Acting Together at Prologue to the Arts and Human Rights Festival
|
| Ukrainian-Language Screening of Acting Together on the World Stage in Belgrade
As part of Serbia-based DAH Theatre’s “Prologue to the Arts and Human Rights Festival,” to mark International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2022, artists and activists from Iran, Russia, Israel, and the United States shared in conversations about the urgent actions needed to counter rights abuses around the world. Brandeis’ Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts was represented by PBA co-director Cindy Cohen who introduced a screening of the documentary she co-directed, Acting Together on the World Stage, with Ukrainian and English subtitles.
| |
|  |
Communities hit by Nigeria's worst recorded floods are at the centre of an exhibition by photographer Gideon Mendel. He took portraits of people standing amid their drowned homes in the southern state of Bayelsa. Source: bbc.com
|
|
Upcoming Events
Fire / Flood (Exhibition)
Now through May
Soho Photography Quarter, part of The Photographers' Gallery, London
“Communities hit by Nigeria's worst recorded floods are at the centre of an exhibition by photographer Gideon Mendel. He took portraits of people standing amid their drowned homes in the southern state of Bayelsa.”
Melbourne Women in Film Festival
February 23-27
One of the Festival's many partnerships this year is "with Femme Frontera, a Latinx-led film organization made up of, and founded by women and non-binary filmmakers from the U.S.-Mexico border regions of Texas and Mexico."
Barents Spektakel 2023: Trust
February 24 - March 1
"Pikene på Broen will stage the 19th edition of Barents Spektakel in Kirkenes, Norway — an international festival consisting of contemporary art, theatre, music, debates, film, performances and a bar concept. Through these different elements the festival will again become a meeting place for everyone with an interest in the cultures and contemporary issues related to the High North. In 2022 the festival theme formed a question: Where do we go from here? For Barents Spektakel 2023 we aim to discover some answers through the exploration of one deceptively simple concept: TRUST. What does it mean to trust a friend, a family member, a stranger, a politician, a government, or different types of information and media? How do we express this trust? What happens when trust is broken, and how can it be repaired or remade? Finally, what role does trust play in the contemporary moment, as our societies attempt to deal with the rising costs of food and energy, as they navigate the climate crisis, and as they approach the planet’s continuing geo-political uncertainty?”
IPRA Conference: Rooted Futures: Visions of Peace and Justice
May 17-21
“The conference aims, as does IPRA and the field of peace studies itself, to promote dialogue across disciplines. Diverse formats and activities are encouraged, and ongoing relationships will be nurtured. In so doing, [IPRA 2023] promises to be a site of critical dialogue, reflection, and action—a truly unique and urgently needed opportunity to advance progressive justice and peacebuilding strategies.”
| |
|
Opportunities and Resources
Art Prospect Network Residencies
CEC Artslink
Deadline: February 20
“Residencies for artists and curators at the Art Prospect Network partner organizations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus/Germany, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine/Poland, and Uzbekistan.”
Prince Claus Seed Awards 2023
Deadline: February 23
“Each year, we grant Seed Awards to 100 emerging artists working in contexts where cultural expression is under pressure to support their personal and artistic development, amplify their talent, and ultimately spark a new wave of changemakers. Each Seed Award recipient will receive an award of €5000 to invest into the development of their artistic and cultural practice on their own terms - be it through experimentation, fostering new perspectives and connections, or pursuing a dream project.”
Open Call: Mentorships for Audacious Minds
Deadline: February 26
“Forecast offers artists and creative thinkers from anywhere in the world the chance to work with accomplished mentors toward bringing their projects to fruition. As an international mentorship program with annual editions, Forecast transcends neatly defined disciplines and genres to provide insight into creative production processes, and carve out space for the questions on the minds of the next generation of trailblazers. The mentors in Forecast’s eighth edition engage with practices that highlight the autonomy of creative endeavors and emphasize the significance of independent art-making in today’s deeply politicized climate of cultural production and its reception.”
IPRA Peace Research Grants
Deadline: February 28
“Ever since the Peace Research Grants Fund was created in 2002, the IPRA Foundation has awarded grants to help fund peace research projects in places as diverse as Argentina, Bosnia, inner city communities in the United States, the Middle East, the Philippines, the Punjab, and Uganda.”
Explore more resources and opportunities.
| |
|
|
