Girding time
Well friends, here we are. I hope you're taking care of your spirit and your body this week and in the weeks ahead of us. And if there are resources that you find especially helpful or invigorating or collective actions that seem especially effective or galvanizing or promising strategies for having each other's backs, let's hear 'em and share 'em, yeah? Here are a few things that lit up my week... plus a lot of photos of my cat, just because.
Lab Artists announced
I am a starry-eyed fan of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum and wish that every major American city had a similar organization. Its signature Lab Artists program awards 4 local dance artists each year with $25,000 to support the creation of new work or deepen existing projects. Dreamy!
The announcement of this year's cohort was a bright spot in the week and I'm sending along hearty congratulations to these artists. I've been personally moved by the work of Courtney Mackedanz and Keyierra Collins (seen recently in Philly while touring with Erin Kilmurray's The Function), and hope to get to know the others as well.
Quote of the week
The below is from a speech Ursula K. Le Guin gave almost exactly 10 years ago, accepting an award on November 19, 2014, and I am keeping it close for the foreseeable future:
I think hard times are coming, when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries - the realists of a larger reality.
Full speech here.
Embodied storytelling opportunity
Shavon Norris is a Philly treasure and she's offering a 4-part workshop series on embodied storytelling. Applications are due by December 13 as she's creating a 15 person group for this offering. See below for more details and if you want more information, email me and I'll forward you what I got, or be in touch with Shavon at shavonnichellenorris at gmail.
What: One virtual session and three in person sessions exploring how our individual and collective identities, histories, and experiences inform and expose the feelings/sounds/images/philosophies of our development and our living. Grounding in the body and in movement, and utilizing other art forms, participants will be invited to investigate the biological, cultural, and historical artifacts, fossils, and stories living within. Naming the body as source and resource, participants will be invited to consider – what is within us and what needs/desires to be affirmed, adjusted, and or transformed? What is within us and what needs/desires to be expressed and shared in sound / song/ gesture/ movement/ dance/ text/ conversation/ imagery? How do we practice curiosity, courage, and compassion, as we experience ourselves and creativity?
Another quote
Another one that I'll be keeping my eyes trained on in the upcoming weeks and months is this classic from Timothy Snyder on resisting tyranny:
Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.
I think this one is especially on point for those of us socialized to be obedient people-pleasers.
Playwriting fellowship
If the election results have you questioning all of your life decisions and wanting to shake things up a bit, maybe two years in Atlanta is what you're after? An interesting opportunity for anyone with an "MFA in Playwriting, or equivalent degree, within the past 8 years, and related teaching experience." I am curious about whether they would consider an MFA in Devised Performance an equivalent... holler at me if you know!
Sisterly Affection (a bit of Philadelphia appreciation)
The best part of my election day was getting to eat some fantastic pizza crafted by freelance pizza and donated to pollworkers! I cannot decide which is better: this person's extremely delicious pizza or their post-election invitation to unfollow a free pizza account if you are a hateful bully.
If you are new to the newsletter, welcome and thanks for reading! You can check out the 'about' page if you'd like a little context for where I'm coming from. Each newsletter closes with a Philadelphia moment, institution, or window cat of the week because I love it here. And you can always hit me up with what you're curious about, steamed about, excited about in your own arts ecosystem or in Philly at solidseam@gmail.com.