:: Human Rights Art Festival ::

Silver Spring, Maryland, April 23-25, 2010

Workshops, Readings, Conferences

click here for the workshops, readings and conferences schedule in pdf

Schedule

Friday, April 23

10:30 Group Meditation: Peace and Compassion

An exploration of the root of Raja Yoga Meditation.

(60 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

2 Introduction on How to Meditate

A brief introduction to the experience of meditation and inner power.

(30 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

7 Iraqi Refugees in the United States

Presentation and Panel Discussion with photographer Gabriela Bulisova and documentary filmmaker Jehan Harney on the subject of Iraqi Refugees in the United States, including film clips of Ms. Harney’s current documentary, Friends of America. Moderated by Erica Ginsberg. (90 minutes) (Docs-in-Progress)

Saturday, April 24

10 Kaffee Klatch + Hyde Park Corner

First gathering of the day, where artists, politicians and festival goers can enjoy coffee and schnecken purchased from Festival Partner Kefa Café, plan their schedule for the day and step up on the soapbox at our “Hyde Park Corner,” venting their spleen on issues concerning human rights and social transformation. At 11:30, Art Festival Honorary Chairwoman Ms. Catherine Leggett will be unveiling Pyramid Atlantic’s new mural in honor of people of color, who made a difference in Maryland history. (120 minutes) (Pyramid Atlantic)

10 Anti-Violence Against Women Conference

One of our central events will be this gathering of all the participants concerned with violence against women issues. This conference will address using art to advocate and educate on this central problem. Our eight artist/advocates who are working on this issue will introduce their work, followed by an open discussion. (180 minutes) (City Place Mall Theater I)

10:30 Group Meditation: Peace and Compassion

An exploration of the root of Raja Yoga Meditation.

(60 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

11 Safe Spaces Art Workshop

This workshop will address intimate and global traumas, emphasizing transformation and healing through artistic expression. Using creative visioning, writing, performance, and Theater of the Oppressed Techniques, workshop participants will create their own monologues. This workshop will be facilitated by Sybil Roberts (playwright, “Zimbabwe”), Ocean Ana Rising and Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative. (120 minutes) (Jackie’s)

11:30 Visual Art for Social Transformation

Don Russell of Provisions Gallery will lead a panel of artists discussing how they use visual art to spur positive social transformation. Panelists include Linda Hesh (see her work at Jackie’s), Carolina Mayorga (B&O Station and City Place Sculpture Garden), Lucien Perkins (2 time Pulitzer Prize winning photo journalist), Brian Liu (activist artist concerning land mines) and Mary Brown, Executive Director of Life Pieces To Masterpieces.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College Cafritz 101)

Noon Theater for Social Transformation

Moderated by Washington Post theater critic Nelson Pressley, the panel includes Michael Mack (actor), Catherine Filloux (playwright), Tara Bracco (founder: Poetic People Power), Karen Bradley (University of Maryland), Cindy Cooper (Words of Choice Theater), Tayla Ealom (University of Colorado), will discuss using theater as a tool for social transformation.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 203)

Noon Non-violent Direct Action

Nadine Bloch will lead a workshop on the movement aspect of non-violent direct action. She will explore using the body to reclaim the streets, as well as utilizing a Theater of the Oppressed-inspired workshop.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC Dance Recital Studio)

Noon Linda Rabben

Human rights author will read from her book: Fierce Legion of Friends: A History of Human Rights Campaigns and Campaigners (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

Noon Killer Fashion Revolution

Participants are guided through activities to transform war-related street fashion to artifacts that stand for human rights. The creations from "Killer Fashion Revolution" workshops will be documented in a participatory media art installation and online. PLEASE PLAN AHEAD, as you can transform your old, unused t-shirts through this installation. You can also purchase a t-shirt in the mall. (‘til 6 pm) (City Place Mall)

Noon Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony and Snack

Addis Ababa will host you and your friends ($20/4 people) for an authentic 30-minute Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. The coffee is taken through its full life cycle of preparation in front of you in a ceremonial manner. Call ahead to reserve (Tel 301.589.1400/1999); ceremonies performed for up to 80 people.

(‘til 6 pm) (Addis Ababa)

12:30 Guy Djoken & Lyubomir Nikolov

These two international poets (Guy is a human rights defender from Cameroon, while Lyubomir is from Bulgaria) will be reading from their own poetry, as well as their students’ and other poets. (90 minutes) (Bombay Gaylord)

12:30 Break Through Yoga

Yogis from Willow Street Yoga will be materializing, unfurling their Yoga mats and practicing their trade, before disappearing (into the aether?) only to reappear in another time and place along the Plaza. (120 minutes) (Ellsworth Plaza)

1 Artist Trading Cards (ATC)

Are small works of art the size of a playing card. People create them and trade with others to build a collection – kind of like a modern day baseball card. Often times the ATC is a collage piece using photographs or stamping in addition to painting or drawing. The ATC can be anything, even expressive writing! Run by Michelle Johnson Major. (60 minutes) (Plaza Art Store)

1 Empowered Women International

Panel Discussion. Tales of Courage, Hope and Transformation: Extraordinary Journeys of Immigrant and Refugee Women Empowered Through Art.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College Cafritz 101)

1 Kyi May Kaung

Burmese dissident and human rights advocate Dr. Kyi May Kaung will discuss mass human rights abuses leading up to Burmese so-called election of October 10, 2010. She is planning on bringing Ms. Wa Wa Maw, the fiancé of a US Citizen now sentenced to 3 years + in Burma for his activities.

(60 minutes) (Taste of Jerusalem)

2 Tayla Ealom

Will run a workshop about transforming the pain of true-life stories from the Rwanda massacre into a theater project that uses art for socially transformative purpose. The workshop utilizes video and poetry, as well as interactive performance.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC Dance Recital Studio)

2 Borderland Youth

Walk through the Festival area to see the 20 images installed throughout, and hear about the youth group from southern Texas that uses mediums such as photography and creative writing as a means to add the personal, familial and cultural stories and perspectives of these young students from various ethnic backgrounds, to the collective archive of both American and global life.

(90 minutes) (meet at the Big Greek Café)

2 Caryn West

Will read from The Trouble with the Alphabet, which illuminates the world’s injustice in a compelling and unforgettable manner. The book highlights 26 different countries, one for each letter of the alphabet. The countries selected represent the wide range of human rights abuses and injustices that plague the world and prey on the smallest and youngest in society – the children.

(60 minutes) (Bombay Gaylord)

2 Angelica Harris

Come hear Angelica Harris read from her most recent book, Excalibur Reclaims Her King, where she tells the story of a woman escaping abuse, conquering the rage, and becoming a hero in 6th Century times.

(60 minutes) (B&O Historic Railroad Station)

2 Rob Gerhardt

Bring your photos for a photography portfolio review with New York documentary photographer (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 201)

2 Empowered Women International

Art and Remembrance: Illuminating the experience of war, oppression and injustice through the power and passion of personal narrative in art. Film and discussion. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College Cafritz 101)

2 Cooking and Consciousness

The art of cooking and eating, exploring vegetarian and raw food cooking and consciousness. (60 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

2:30 Rajput Miniature Art

Deepali Moondra and Kusum Purohit will lead a hands-on workshop concerning Persian influenced Miniature Art, in the tradition of Jaipur School.

(60 minutes) (Plaza Art Store)

3 Jay Fuhrman

Will show slides of his work and several iconic examples from art history, as they address human experience as whole. Fuhrman will also show works of the ‘still and calm’ that he has created in his own transformative art for nearly 50 years. Political art fails as art because it often gets bogged down in polemic. This work transcends that. C. Owen 2006

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 201)

3 Project Youth ArtReach

Will run a panel on using the arts as a means of restorative justice and/or “restoration” within correctional institutions.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

3 Kiva Fecteau

There are and have been different ideas through time and geography about whether using one's left hand is just different, or wrong, dirty, or even evil. This workshop explores how we can learn to understand, tolerate, and eventually value differences, in re: these superstitions. The workshop will also demonstrate interactively the oppressive nature of making people act in ways unnatural to who they are. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 203)

4 Carolina Mayorga

Based on the Leeps-Teek performance/video and installation piece, participants will create a promotional card that combines commercial images with personal stories, thoughts or emotions concerning war, human rights or displacement. Participants may trade or hand out their promotional card.

(60 minutes) (Plaza Art Store)

4 Amani Elkassabani

Come hear this award-winning, Egyptian-American writer read her short story, The Barber’s Son, which treats the continuing brutal practice of female genital mutilation in Egypt. (60 minutes, including discussion) (B&O Railroad Station)

4 Nadine Bloch

The Art of Protest: slide/art show exploring the different manners in which artists have advocated for social change. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

4 Courage Network

This workshop will discuss the Courage Network and the need to bring resources together in support of more awareness and prevention of violence against women. It will explore forms of art as healing therapy, in particular writing and painting. The specifics of how to keep yourself safe at college and in the workplace if you are a victim of DV will also be looked at.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 203)

5 Anne Bouie

The workshop will share Anne’s process of creating assemblage art. The work involves getting in touch with what is important and meaningful to the artist on the personal, social, political, and/or spiritual realms, choosing collage components that reflect the ideas and beliefs, and the interactive process with each piece of work that leads to its creation. (60 minutes) (Plaza Art Store)

5 Escape on the Pearl

From Book to Screen: A Conversation with Filmmaker Michael Mack and Author Mary Kay Ricks. They will have a conversation with the audience about translating this history into a compelling film. Escape on the Pearl concerns 77 slaves who attempted a daring escape down the Potomac River in a schooner called the Pearl in 1848. (75 minutes) (Bombay Gaylord)

5 Angelica Harris

Author Angelica Harris fought against her rage for years until she found her inner heroine within the fabric of the characters she wrote about. Angelica can inspire you to explore your rage and find your hero through creative writing and character development. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

5 Borderland Youth

Lecture/workshop that breaks down further some of the ideas they are working with in terms of expanding the public narrative, provides a model for others, and shows more of the work that they have done.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 203)

5 Introduction on How to Meditate

A brief introduction to the experience of meditation and the experience of inner power. (30 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

Sunday, April 25

10 Kaffee Klatch + Hyde Park Corner

First gathering of the day, where artists, politicians and festival goers can enjoy coffee and schnecken purchased from Festival Partner Kefa Café, plan their schedule for the day and step up on the soapbox at our “Hyde Park Corner,” venting their spleen on issues concerning human rights and social transformation. Beware: You will be videotaped and posted to YouTube, unless you ask not to be! (120 minutes) (Pyramid Atlantic)

10:30 Group Meditation: Peace and Compassion

An exploration of the root of Raja Yoga Meditation.

(60 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

Noon Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Participatory workshop lead by youth to engage people in learning more about the IMPACT Silver Spring’s “Neighbors Campaign” and how it relates to Human Rights. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC Dance Recital Studio)

Noon Killer Fashion Revolution

Noon Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony and Snack

(‘til 6 pm) (Addis Ababa)

12:30 Muslim Women Speak

A group of Muslim women from around the world will discuss what it means to be Muslim women, living in America, while still practicing their religion. A fascinating introduction into the everyday life of Muslim women living in the west. Featuring Amani Elkassabani (Egyptian-American), Sabahat Qamar (Pashtun), Nasrin Zoghbia (Phillipina-Scottish), Sheherazade Jafari (Iran) and moderated by Robina Niaz (Pakistan).

(120 minutes) (Montgomery College Cafritz 101)

1 Words of Choice

Artists and writers from Words of Choice, a social activist theater company from New York City, share enriching exercises and theatrical techniques for opening up discussions about women’s freedom, reproductive justice and human rights. (60 minutes) (Pyramid Atlantic)

1 Anne Bouie

1 Angelica Harris

Angelica Harris will read from her most recent book, Excalibur Reclaims Her King, where she tells the story of a woman escaping abuse, conquering the rage, and becoming a hero in 6th Century times. (60 minutes) (Bombay Gaylord)

1:15 Tayla Ealom

Will run a workshop entitled “Cherish Bowl,” in which participants will be required to create images using their bodies to help tell the story. Magazines and other inspirational images will be provided to help groups create compositions and striking visual pictures. After about 30-40 minutes of working together to tell the story, Participants will come back together to perform the whole piece, one group after another.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC Dance Recital Studio)

2 Artist Trading Cards (ATC)

Are small works of art the size of a playing card; people create these works of art and trade them with others to build a collection-kind of like a modern day baseball card. Often times the ATC is a collage piece using photographs or stamping in addition to painting or drawing. The ATC can be anything, even expressive writing! Run by Michelle Johnson Major.

(60 minutes) (Plaza Art Store)

2 Laura Elkins

The Inspectors, which are part of her HOMEwRAP series and will be featured in paintings and sculptures during the Arts Festival, embody abuse of power, “the sin beyond all other sins.” She will discuss the development of HOMEwRAP and the Inspector imagery in response to a personal experience of abusive government. (45 minutes) (B & O Historic Railroad Station)

2 Caryn West

(60 minutes) (Bombay Gaylord)

2 In Character

The workshop will explore dignity, silence, love, truth and courage and how to use the actor’s tools for self-discovery. (60 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

2:30 Activist Skills Workshop

Activist artist Nadine Bloch will take participants through a series of art activities to expand their visual skills. Workshop will include screen-printing, stencil making, puppet building, and sign creation. Come for some or all of the workshop. (150 minutes) (Pyramid Atlantic)

2:30 Filmmakers Panel

Jerry Blumenthal (Kartemquin Films, Chicago), Jeffrey Spitz (Groundswell Films, Chicago), Jehan Harney (Egypt), Jeffrey Kramer (Price of Paradise film) and others will discuss using film for activist purpose. Adele Schmidt, of Festival Official Partner Docs-in-Progress, will moderate the panel.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College Cafritz 101)

2:30 Our Histories: Story-gathering and Performance

As activists, advocates, and peace-builders, how do we cultivate oral histories of resistance, learn from our elders, and celebrate our identities? Using community-based theater and oral history processes, this workshop will create space for participants to learn theater and oral history techniques for use in community.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC Dance Recital Studio)

2:30 Shea Yeleen

Shea Yeleen International's mission is to promote sustainable economic development and empower women in rural West Africa through organizing and training women owned cooperatives to produce, market, and sell high quality shea butter; and educate consumers in the U.S. about natural body care products and fair trade. A short video and discussion will introduce the group.

(45 minutes) (Mandalay)

3 Sidney Axinn

A Moral Military provides the first full-length treatment of the military conventions from a philosophical point of view. The aims of this study are to establish a basic twentieth-century framework for moral military action and to assist military personnel in analyzing their won professional ethic. Additionally, the author examines the question of the limits of military obedience.

(60 minutes) (Abyssinia)

4 Scott Langley

The presentation visually depicts an hour-by-hour walk-through of what happens on an execution night, taking the viewer from the prison deathwatch cell into the actual lethal injection chamber. Scott Langley's death penalty photo documentary is a 10-year product of exploring capital punishment through the photographer's lens. (60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

4 Empowered Women International

A panel with immigrant artists discussing their work, as well as the challenges of working as an immigrant artist in America.

(90 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 203)

4 Embodied Peacemaking

A movement class in which participants will engage kinesthetically with their own empowerment to create change. Come prepared to move and become more resilient! (60 minutes) (Montgomery College Dance Recital Studio)

4 Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Langano’s will host an authentic Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. The coffee is taken through its full life cycle of preparation in a ceremonial manner. Price will be $35 total for 1-15 people and $45 total for more than 15 people. 301 563-6700 or yyibass07@gmail.com (30-minutes/ceremony; ‘til 7) (Langano’s)

4:30 Compassion over Killing

As millions starve across the world, precious resources are being diverted from growing crops for human consumption to the inefficient system of raising animals for food. Join Christina Tacoronti, Campaigns Director for Compassion Over Killing, as she discusses why so many human and civil rights activists have followed a vegetarian diet, and how a vegetarian diet is better for the environment, the animals, and our health. (60 minutes) (Mandalay)

5 Serinity Knight

The presentation will use video, poetry and discussion to discuss transforming the pain of true-life stories about survivors of the Rwanda massacre, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, political prisoners of Ethiopia and the lost boys of the Sudan and the Congo into a form of visual social commentary and a long suffering series of artworks that transform the human condition.

(60 minutes) (Montgomery College PAC 202)

5 Embodied Peacemaking

5 Introduction on How to Meditate

A brief introduction to the experience of meditation and the experience of inner power. (30 minutes) (Meditation Museum)

5 Kyi May Kaung "Scream Louder:" A poetry reading of Dr. Kaung’s own and other dissident poetry. Dr. Kaung is a Burmese dissident, whose poetry has been anthologized in Norton ‘s "Language for a New Century," as well as in Counterpunch, Glass, Poet Lore, Asian-American Poetry etc. She is also profiled with Thich Hnat Hanh, Yoko Ono and others on MAP (Museum of American Poetics). (60 minutes) (Nicaro’s)

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