artsed4all Art & the Environment, Arts Education, Community, Family Art Workshop, Music, poetry, Technology, Visual Arts

We The Arts: Civic Season 2023

We The Arts: Civic Engagement Through Art is an ArtsEd4All project taking place from June 17 – July 4, 2023, in celebration of Civic Season 2023.

From Juneteenth to the 4th of July, we invite you to participate in the third annual #CivicSeason through self-guided public art visits in San Francisco, as well as in-person and online events that invite civic engagement through the arts. We’re teaming up with hundreds of history museums and sites across the country through @HistoryMadeByUs, in partnership with the next generation shaping our democracy to launch a new tradition that makes room for all of our stories – and write the next chapter together.

Read the Civic Season Report: The Art of Changemaking for more about ArtsEd4All’s participation in Civic Season 2022.

JUNETEENTH at Healdsburg Jazz

FREE – Saturday, JUNE 17, 2 pm – 8 pm Healdsburg Plaza, Corner of Healdsburg Avenue and Matheson Street, Healdsburg CA.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival kicks off its 25th Anniversary Season with Juneteenth. Enjoy free music and arts & crafts workshops!

Healdsburg Jazz is proud to present a diverse range of music, art, culture and education in honor of this holiday, free to the public in the Healdsburg Plaza. Our Juneteenth performances celebrate the wide range of Black music and art including gospel, early blues, New Orleans jazz, funk, R&B, spoken word, and straight ahead modern swing.

FREE JUNETEENTH Celebration in the Healdsburg Plaza with the Charles McPherson Quintet featuring Terell Stafford, Randy Porter, Akira Tana, and Marcus Shelby, vocalist Martin Luther The Real McCoy, The Robin Hodge Williams Gospel Choir, MJ’s Brass Boppers, Healdsburg Jazz Poet Laureate Enid Pickett and KCSM’s Greg Bridges.

Families and young people are invited to join ArtsEd4All in the plaza to learn more about Juneteenth. Fold a zine, make a flag, pinwheel, fan or decorate your own musical shaker at the art table. This year, the public is also invited to join teaching artist Amelie Anna Hinman for music workshops at 2:30 pm-3:00 pm and 4:30 pm-5:00 pm to play and learn about the origins of a variety of percussion instruments.

Imagining “TOMORROW” with DWeb Camp

The Internet Archive is an American digital library with a mission to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge. DWeb is a global network of builders and dreamers working to create a better, decentralized web. The goal of DWeb Camp is to create a collaborative space for people to connect, learn, share, and have fun as we work towards building a better, decentralized web.

Del Sol Quartet’s DWeb Camp 2022 performance inspired The DWeb is an Ensemble Piece” which uses music as a metaphor for cooperation.

At camp, Del Sol Quartet and composer Erika Oba conducted an open workshop demonstrating the give-and-take process that goes into creating and performing a new musical composition. Erika’s composition, “Behold the Sea,” is inspired by a story of friendship between two artists, Bill Zacha & Japanese artist Toshi Yoshida which resulted in a sister city relationship between Mendocino, California (USA) and Miasa, Nagano (Japan). Continuing the tradition, Erika and the Del Sol Quartet are using music to highlight the importance of building friendships and networks of community in order to protect the water and environment to help build a better world.

Composer Erika Oba invited DWeb campers to make music using stones in the dry bed of the Navarro River.

This plaque, dedicated in a community ceremony held on July 4th, 1982 reads, “The citizens of the sister cities of Mendocino, California and Miasa, Japan dedicate this plaque to the peaceful pursuits of the peoples of the Pacific Basin and to the protection of its environment that all living things there-in may exist in perpetual harmony.”

The Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Global Webinar dives deep into the challenges that plastic pollution poses to our oceans and our bodies.

Register for the global webinar: https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/event/ppc-webinar-062223

FREE on ZOOM – Thursday, JUNE 22, 12-1 pm PT | 3-4 pm ET.

This year at DWeb Camp, we’re tuning into the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s global webinar, Plastic-Free Seas: Diving Into How Plastic Impacts Health, Climate, and Our Oceans, on Thursday, June 22, 12-1 pm PT | 3-4 pm ET. On June 22, we will dive deep into the challenges that plastic pollution poses to our oceans and our bodies, how polluted waters disrupt the “Blue Mind” mental health benefits we gain from access to healthy oceans and waterways, and how we may restore our planet as well as our own physical and mental well-being.

Joining the conversation will be “Her Deepness,” Sylvia Earle, President & Co-Chair of Mission Blue and National Geographic Explorer in Residence; Wallace J Nichols, Marine Biologist & Author of Blue Mind; and Imari Walker-Franklin, PhD, Research Chemist at RTI International & Author of Plastics. The panel will be moderated by Plastic Pollution Coalition CEO & Co-Founder Dianna Cohen.

“Tomorrow” is a LARP!

DWeb Camp is using imaginative live action role play to dream of a better internet.

Build new networks and find your flow in Nature.

FREE – Saturday, JUNE 24 (or anytime, anywhere, as you please)

Technologists at DWeb Camp are hosting a LARP Worldbuilding session, using play to imagine how the Internet of Tomorrow might be transformed for the better. A LARP is a a live-action role-playing game in which a group of people enacts a fictional scenario (such as a fantasy adventure) in real time typically under the guidance of a facilitator or organizer.

Here are some ways to play along and join in the DWeb Camp experiment.

UNPLUG– Take time out from the Internet and spend time recharging with a walk in nature.
– Reflect upon your relationship with technology. Make a list of the ways that technology has changed your your life – for better and for worse.
– What might be different? Are there aspects about your relationship with the Internet that you would like to change? “Think Different” was a slogan created for a 1997 ad campaign for Apple.
LEARN– What is the Decentralized Web?
– What are some important real world challenges that the DWeb aims to address?
– Read the DWeb Principles which define the values of a decentralized web based on enabling agency of all peoples and learn about the origins of DWeb Camp
ENGAGE– Design your DWeb Alter Ego (with or without technology!)

“A Place for Poetry” with The Last Hoisan Poets

Anytime, in-person or virtual, FREE exploration of San Francisco public art

Take a poetry tour of the public spaces at the de Young Museum in San Francisco with The Last Hoisan Poets.

Write a poem with The Last Hoisan Poets.

Poets Genny Lim, Nellie Wong, and Flo Oy Wong — trace their roots to China’s Hoisan villages. They conduct special poetry readings in English and Hoisan-wa (a.k.a. the Toisanese/Taishanese Chinese dialect), to pay homage to their mother language which is at risk of fading from collective memory.

A Place for Poetry is a collection of poems by The Last Hoisan Poets inspired by the de Young Museum’s art and architecture. “One Eye” is a community poem begun by The Last Hoisan Poets, inspired by the sculpture of Ruth Asawa. The Last Hoisan Poets welcome poet of all ages and abilities to write a cinquain of their own. Listen to Asawa’s Gift to San Francisco, an audio tour sharing stories from the Asawa family. Take an ASL Tour of the Asawa sculpture installation the de Young Museum docent Jim Brune.

“When you put a seed in the ground, it doesn’t stop growing after eight hours. It keeps going every minute that it’s in the earth. We, too, need to keep growing every moment of every day that we are on this earth.” — Ruth Asawa

The book Your Brain on Art by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen shares that “neuroarts” is the transdisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and wellbeing. The Aesthetic Mindset Index is based on a research instrument called the Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment or AReA,developed by Ed Vessel, cognitive neuroscientist and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany. The authors invite you to take the short survey, and then take it again in a month or two after you’ve had time to go out in the world and build your aesthetic mindset.

San Francisco is home to one of the largest and most diverse public art collections in the country. All city residents, workers and visitors have access to world-class art in everyday settings. Here are additional resources that will introduce you to some of the most engaging public art that San Francisco has to offer.

This Civic Season, discover your story.

Join 400 cultural and civic institutions across the country for the third annual Civic Season, a new summer tradition for learning and action co-designed with Gen Z, the future inheritors of our democracy. Civic Season unites our oldest federal holiday with our newest, going beyond hot dogs and fireworks to invite meaningful reflection on our country’s past and our role in shaping its future.

artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Literary Arts, poetry, Visual Arts

Happy World Poetry Day 💗

The Last Hoisan Poets & Friends have been drawing inspiration from the de Young Museum, using poetry to reflect upon the sights and sounds of silence.

Read Poetry inspired by the de Young by the Last Hoisan Poets in the March 16, 2023 Stories article by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

In conjunction with the March 25th celebration of World Poetry Day with The Last Hoisan Poets & Friends at the de Young, poets of all ages and abilities are invited to write a short poem inspired by the work of two American artists – sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) and poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1915).

We welcome your participation!

Celebrate Women’s History Month 💗

Poetry in Motion: Participate in the creation of a community poem.

In 2005, artist Ruth Asawa donated 15 sculptures to the deYoung museum. 

>>> Listen to Asawa’s Gift to SF, de Young Museum, 2005 on the Ruth Asawa Public Art Tour (3:47)

>>> See the sculpture Installation at the de Young museum

Docent Jim Brune provides an ASL Tour of Ruth Asawa’s Sculpture Installation at the de Young museum (5:26)

Learn more about Ruth Asawa with the de Young museum on Google Arts & Culture.

Write a cinquain inspired by Ruth Asawa’s looped wire sculptures.  

Poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1915) is credited with invention of a new poetic form: the American cinquain. Her poems share a similarity with the Japanese tanka, another five-line form, in their focuses on imagery and the natural world. 

“… these poems grew—flowers of a battlefield of the spirit.”

— Verse, Adelaide Crapsey’s first book of poems which includes 28 cinquains, was published posthumously in 1915. 

An American cinquain has five lines and twenty-two-syllables.

Here is an example:

Amaze

by Adelaide Crapsey

I know

Not these my hands

And yet I think there was

A woman like me once had hands

Like these.

Use this form to write your own poem about Ruth Asawa’s art.

Line 1 has two syllables. ____________________________________________________________

Line 2 has four syllables.  ____________________________________________________________

Line 3 has six syllables.  ____________________________________________________________

Line 4 has eight syllables. ____________________________________________________________

Line 5 has two syllables. ____________________________________________________________

If you wish to share your cinquain, please email your contribution to andi@artsed4all.blog. We will loop these short poems together to create a collaborative community poem.

artsed4all Art & the Environment, Community, Literary Arts, STEAM

Angel Island Insight #9: Mr. T and The Poet’s Tree

Tyson and Genny, together under the Elk Antler Arch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Our friend Tyson really enjoys plants and being outside in nature. He wanted to have the experience of planting and caring for a real tree, in conjunction with a special book project that he is working on with his grandmother. They are collaborating to write story of hope and compassion that involves the history of immigration to the United States through Angel Island.

Tyson and his Paw Paw are excited to collaborate on this story of love, gratitude, and healing that bridges generations, with help from the natural world. Thanks to a project mini-grant from Roots and Shoots USA, we were able to purchase a cherry tree, soil and planter, and give Tyson some money to buy art supplies that he needs to create the illustrations for his storybook.

In Genny and Tyson’s story, The Bird from Heaven, a boy cares for a bird named Tien-si.

Through this project, we certainly learned a lot more about cherry trees! Andi’s cousin Todd, who is also an Angel Island descendant, absorbed a lot of knowledge about planting vegetables and fruit trees, passed on from his grandparents who tended their home gardens. Todd shared some very important advice with us about cherry trees— we would certainly need to purchase a second tree, if we wanted fruit in the future, because most sweet cherry trees do not self-pollinate without the help of honeybees. Jan suggested that we go to Green Acres in Elk Grove to look for some nice trees. Since we knew that Tyson would like to enjoy cherries with his friends, we purchased two trees – one cherry tree is a Bing; the other is a Lapin. Tracy, who works at Green Acres, offered Tyson some great tips on how to plant and care for his new cherry trees.

We hope that Tracy’s advice can help others who might like to plant a cherry tree!
Tyson’s new trees, Bing & Lapin, fresh art created with brand new ParKoo markers.

Good for All: Roots & Shoots Celebration 2023

When Dr. Jane Goodall came to the Oakland Zoo for the Good for All Roots & Shoots Celebration on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, there was time after her remarks for a Q & A session hosted by April Z, a freshman at UC Berkeley. We recorded the response to our question, “Do you have a favorite myth or story that you heard as a child, that you would like to share with future generations?” Of course, Dr. Jane wanted to share what she learned from animals, saying of her dog Rusty, “I think he was sent to teach me” because Rusty didn’t actually belong to her family, but lived in a hotel around the corner. “Out of nowhere comes… the most amazing intelligent dog that I’ve ever known.” The young protagonist in Tyson & Genny’s story finds an injured golden finch, which the boy names “Tien-si,” which means “Angel” in Chinese. The boy and the bird become friends on Angel Island.

Dr. Jane also answered a wonderful question from the 5th graders and their teacher Carol at San Dominico School asked “What student activism has made an impact on you? What story has stayed in your mind and your heart?” She responded with a moving story, about planting trees for the future, involving the first group of Roots and Shoots started in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Good for All: Roots & Shoots Celebration Q & A with Dr. Jane Goodall and April Z.

National Angel Island Day 2023 at the de Young Museum

In the coming weeks, Tyson will be picking out a few of his illustrations to share in a special pop-up exhibiton created for National Angel Island Day at the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In 2010, former president Barack Obama proclaimed January 21 as National Angel Island Day, calling upon the people of the United States to “learn more about the history of Angel Island and to observe this anniversary with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

On January 21, 2023, the de Young Museum, Angel Island Immigration Station and UC Berkeley’s Future Histories Lab present a special free Saturday program, “Echoes from Angel Island” with The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet, dedicated to the ancestors and descendants of Angel Island immigrants. We invite the public to join us to learn more about Angel Island history through poetry, music and art, including Tyson’s illustrations for “The Bird from Heaven,” a story written by his grandmother, poet Genny Lim.

For the 2023 National Angel Island Day program, Genny will read her poem, The Journey, which closed Del Sol Quartet & The Last Hoisan Poets virtual presentation of Angel Island Insight for APICC’s United States of Asian America Festival 2021.

“The Journey” was originally written and performed as the concluding poem for Lenora Lee Dance’s Within These Walls, an integrated, multi-media contemporary dance project performed at the Angel Island Island Immigration Station in 2017.

Within These Walls, choreographed by Lenora Lee Dance, performed by the Berkeley Dance Project, directed by SanSan Kwan, will be presented at the Zellerbach Playhouse from February 23-26, 2023, in conjunction with UC Berkeley’s Arts + Design Initiative and Future Histories Lab’s project, A Year on Angel Island,

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit http://www.calhum.org

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ANGEL ISLAND: IN SIGHT 2021 at the Angel Island Immigration Station is made possible with support from North East Medical Services (NEMS). https://www.nems.org/

artsed4all Community, Film, Media Arts, Music, Technology

Mission: JOY Finding Happiness in Troubled Times

Enjoy a FREE screening of Mission JOY: Finding Happiness in Troubled Times from December 9th through the 11th, in recognition of Human Rights Day 2022.

Every year on 10 December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, the very day when, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR consists of a preamble and 30 articles that set out a broad range of fundamental human rights and freedoms to which all of us, everywhere around the world, are entitled. It guarantees our rights without distinction of nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other status.

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/

Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, Mission: JOY is a documentary with unprecedented access to the unlikely friendship of two international icons who transcend religion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu. In their final joint mission, these self-described mischievous brothers give a master class in how to create joy in a world that was never easy for them. They offer neuroscience-backed wisdom to help each of us live with more joy, despite circumstances.

To access the screening room, use the link in the box below:

https://www.filmplatform.net/impact-event/mission-joy-artsed4all/
Invitation code:
MJA-AE4A

Click “Register” and enter your email address and the event invitation code MJA-AE4A. You can return as many times as you like during the screening window by clicking “Event Login” and entering the same email address and invitation code. If you have trouble registering, please see the FAQ section within the screening room.

Inspired by New York Times bestseller The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, the film showcases the exchange between these two Nobel Peace Prize winners that led to that book.

Consisting largely of never-before-seen footage shot over 5 days at the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, the film invites viewers to join these luminaries behind the scenes as they recount stories from their lives, each having lived through periods of incredible difficulty and strife.

With genuine affection, mutual respect and a healthy dose of teasing, these unlikely friends impart lessons gleaned from lived experience, ancient traditions, and the latest cutting-edge science regarding how to live with joy in the face of all of life’s challenges from the extraordinary to the mundane. Mission: Joy is an antidote for the times.

Watch the film and participate in the BIG JOY Project! MissionJOY.org/BIGJOY

Just 7 minutes a day for 7 days to create more JOY for yourself: The Mission: JOY Team worked with top researchers from UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, Harvard and 14 other universities to identify micro-actions–called Acts of JOY–that we can each do to create more JOY for ourselves in the moment. They’re quick, easy, and can be done by anyone of any age anywhere.

Sign up here and try out one Act of JOY a day, and at the end of 7 days, you’ll receive a free, individualized JOY Report that will show you which Acts were most beneficial for you. You will also be part of the world’s largest-ever citizen science project on JOY, helping scientists unlock the next level of discovery about how we can all feel more JOY!

“Joy manifests in human rights victories, the fighting for a just cause, and in the songs and artwork of social protest. Joy is transgressive of current conditions, and a force to bring people together to realize our potentials.”

— William Paul Simmons, Making the case for a more joyful approach to human rights, OpenGlobalRights.

Del Sol Quartet: The Joy Project @ DWeb Camp 2022

The Del Sol Quartet brought The Joy Project to DWeb Camp at Camp Navarro, Mendocino, where a globally diverse community of builders and dreamers gathered in nature to tackle the real world challenges facing the web and to co-create the decentralized technologies of the future. The quartet plays Sam Weiser’s composition, Let Joy Wash Over You as You Fall Asleep, and campers are invited by composer Erika Oba to gather rocks from the dry riverbed to create a soundscape together.

Scenes from DWeb Camp 2022, Del Sol Quartet #3 by Paul d’Aoust, Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons License

Del Sol has commissioned a body of short musical works written to give joy. As a gift to the community during these times, they are performing these pieces in numerous free concerts at public settings around the Bay Area — parks, schoolyards, open-spaces — where people can soak up some musical “joy” while safely practicing social distancing in the open air.

Sign up on Del Sol’s “Joy List” for the latest information regarding future performances.

artsed4all Film, Media Arts, Photography

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

FREE On Demand Online Film Screening –

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

Sunday, JUNE 12 – Monday, JULY 4, 2022

CliCK HERE TO REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks explores the power of images in advancing racial, economic, and social equality as seen through the lens of Gordon Parks, one of America’s most trailblazing artists, and the generation of young photographers, filmmakers, and activists he inspired.

Directed by John Maggio; Produced by Monica Berra, Richard Lowe, George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt, Matthew Henderson; Executive Produced by Alicia Keys, Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Jelani Cobb, Jacqueline Glover, Peter Kunhardt, Sr., Peter Kunhardt, Jr.

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks explores the enduring legacy of photographer, writer, composer, activist, and filmmaker Gordon Parks, and spotlights his visionary work and its impact on artists working today. Gordon’s legacy comes to life through three contemporary photographers: Devin Allen, whose photograph Baltimore Uprising of the 2015 Freddie Gray protests was featured on the cover of Time magazine; LaToya Ruby Frazier who for five years documented the Flint, Michigan water crisis and in 2020 photographed Breonna Taylor’s family for Vanity Fair; and Jamel Shabazz, whose New York City photographs of individuals and groups form a visual history of cultural shifts and struggles across the city. The film celebrates the power of images in advancing racial, economic, and social equality as seen through the lens of Gordon Parks, one of America’s most trailblazing artists, and the generation of young photographers, filmmakers, and activists he inspired.

“There’s another horizon out there, one more horizon that you have to make for yourself and let other people discover it, and someone else will take it further on, you know.” — Gordon Parks

The Kunhardt Film Foundation has created free Educator Resources to accompany the film, including lesson plans and interview archives and photo archive to accompany the film. A discussion guide and six lessons supports creative and dynamic conversation about Gordon Parks and the ways his trailblazing work continues to inspire photographers and filmmakers today. Adult learners, high school and college classrooms, museum programs, and youth art organizations will find dynamic and robust resources.

https://www.kunhardtfilmfoundation.org/educator-resources

The Gordon Parks Foundation permanently preserves the work of Gordon Parks, makes it available to the public through exhibitions, books, and electronic media and supports artistic and educational activities that advance what Gordon described as “the common search for a better life and a better world.”

We The Arts: Civic Engagement Through Art is an ArtsEd4All project taking place from June 12 – July 4, 2022, in celebration of Civic Season 2022.

From Juneteenth to the 4th of July, we invite you to participate in the second annual #CivicSeason through self-guided public art visits in San Francisco, as well as in-person and online events that invite civic engagement through the arts. We’re teaming up with hundreds of history museums and sites across the country through @HistoryMadeByUs, in partnership with the next generation shaping our democracy to launch a new tradition that makes room for all of our stories – and write the next chapter together.

artsed4all Community, Literary Arts, Philanthropy

600 Books of Hope: Compassion Through Story

Mendell Morgan, the public library director, thought about closing on Wednesday, out of respect for those who’d lost their children. Ultimately he decided to keep the library open. He wanted to show his community what, in his view, a library really is. 

“A refuge. A safe place. An escape.”

Martha Carreon, a children’s librarian at El Progreso Memorial Library in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday. Photo: Liz Moskowitz for NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvalde-texas-shooting-library-storytime-rcna30512

Every Wednesday at El Progreso Memorial Library in Uvalde, the children’s librarian, Mrs. Martha Carreon usually does story time for young children, but she didn’t know if she could do it that day. “I felt like it was going to be too much to look at those little faces. I didn’t think I would be able to bear it.”

About 24 hours later, Carreon stood in front of a group of 10 smiling faces, struggling not to cry as the children giggled and sang along with her.

600 Books of Hope for The Children of Uvalde

Carreon’s wish to create a safe space for children and community after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, inspired @pinatadirector, children’s book author e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, founder of the nonprofit Never Counted Out, to organize a book drive called 600 Books of Hope.

“600 Books of Hope is an opportunity for us as a community of artists and writers, along with the companies that publish us, to embrace the children of Robb Elementary School. My goal is to collect a minimum of 600 books of hope which would ensure that every child there would receive one book. One tangible thing they can take with them that might shine a ray of promise in their unbearable darkness. My ideal goal is to collect an additional 1,300 books to gift to the town’s remaining K-6 schools: Anton Elementary, Benson Elementary, Dalton Elementary, and Sacred Heart, knowing they too suffer the consequences. This would allow for every grade school kid in Uvalde to have at least one book, one token of hope to grab onto.”

We sent a note to e.E. to find out how to best participate and received this email in response.

Thank you for reaching out. I am so grateful to our community of librarians, authors, illustrators, and publishers who are showing up for the kids of Uvalde. People across America, Canada, and elsewhere have messaged, making this goal achievable. It’s truly a beautiful thing…

… In a time where we can feel powerless and overwhelmed, we as a community are shining the light of what we do into the hearts of those we create for. By doing that, we are giving these children a safe place to be held. To feel seen. To feel hope. I am so grateful to you for that.

e.E. Charlton-Trujillo
Author . Filmmaker . Literacy Activist

If you would like to sponsor a book to send to the children of Uvalde, please join #600Books.

Learn more at bit.ly/3LSws2f

You can also contact andi@artsed4all.blog before June 12th to arrange for an order through the ArtsEd4All Bookshop.

A note: We added four special book titles to “Fill the World with Hope,” the Bookshop list that we created for the 2022 Blake Mini Library Book Drive — El Niño, El Topo, El Zorro Y El Caballo, El Lórax, and Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide and e.E’s new book, Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules, which comes out on June 28th.

artsed4all Community, Dance, Literary Arts, Music, poetry, Visual Arts

“Generations of Power” United States of Asian America Festival 2022 Performing Arts Showcase

The Asian-Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) proudly presents GENERATIONS OF POWER, a multi-disciplinary showcase featuring The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet (spoken word with live instrumentation), Autonomous Region (jazz fusion), First Voice (story theater), Asian American Dance Performances (contemporary dance), Leela Youth Dance Company (classical North Indian dance), and tashi tamate weiss (movement/ritual).

This FREE, ALL-AGES, OUTDOOR event is part of the 25th annual United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF): Generations of Power. We are proud to host this event at the historic Japantown Peace Plaza as a visual symbol of community resilience and resistance during this period of increased Anti-Asian sentiment.

MORE INFORMATION & FREE REGISTRATION on EVENTBRITE
artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Family Art Workshop, Film, Music, Photography, Visual Arts

We The Arts: JUNETEENTH Celebration in Healdsburg

We The Arts: Civic Engagement Through Art is an ArtsEd4All project taking place from June 12 – July 4, 2022, in celebration of Civic Season 2022.

JUNETEENTH Celebration in the Healdsburg Plaza

Juneteenth is the African American celebration of liberation 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Soon after the end of the Civil War, black communities throughout the nation celebrated independence every June 19th with gatherings, delicious food, and of course good music. Healdsburg Jazz is proud to present a diverse range of music, art, culture and education in honor of this holiday, free to the public, in the Healdsburg Plaza.

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Sunday, JUNE 19, 2022, 11 am – 4 pm,

Healdsburg Plaza, Healdsburg, CA

Healdsburg Jazz Festival 2022

https://healdsburgjazz.org/sunday-june-19/

Juneteenth Celebration in the Healdsburg Plaza with Willie Jones III Quintet, MJ’s Brass Boppers, the Curtis Family C-notes, poets Enid Pickett and Kamau Daáood, KCSM’s Greg Bridges, educational areas, vendors and more.

Presented in partnership with Healdsburg Community Services Department

Make a flag in the arts and crafts area in the plaza.

The Juneteenth Flag, a symbolic representation of the end of slavery in the United States — was created in 1997 by Ben Haith, the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF). In 2000, artist Lisa Jeanne Graf modified the flag to its present, modern-day design.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14th.

While flags are everywhere and a part of daily life; most people don’t pause to unlock the rich history and ideas they represent.  With North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and the community of knowledge it builds, members say “open, sesame” to reveal the wealth of symbols and stories behind flags.

Flags first developed in China, with the advent of silk, and spread across Asia to the Middle East, where crusaders brought them to Europe.  Beginning as markers on the battlefield, their use expanded to identification at sea, denoting who owned, taxed, and protected vessels.  Eventually they became the ultimate icon representing nations, peoples, sub-national and civic entities, organizations, military units, companies, and individuals.  Flag design began with heraldry, then spread its independent wings.  Even before flags, “vexilloids” served as earlier symbols of group affiliation—tribes, armies, clans—and the Romans’ battle standard, the vexillum, gave its name to “vexillology”, the study of flags.

Good Flag, Bad Flag – This 16-page booklet, compiled from the expert input of over 20 different vexillologists world-wide, has become a classic resource for flag design.

African American artists, including Faith Ringgold, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hammons and Gordon Parks have used the flag form in their art.

“American Gothic, Washington, D.C.” Credit: Photograph by Gordon Parks.

FREE On Demand Online Film Screening

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks explores the power of images in advancing racial, economic, and social equality as seen through the lens of Gordon Parks, one of America’s most trailblazing artists, and the generation of young photographers, filmmakers, and activists he inspired.

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks is a co-production of Kunhardt Films and HBO. Film for this screening provided by Kunhardt Film Foundation.

This film screening is presented by ArtsEd4All, in conjunction with this year’s #CivicSeason (from Juneteenth to July 4th). Please RSVP to receive a link and password enabling FREE unlimited access to the film via the virtual screening room from Monday, June 12, 2022 at 12:01 AM PST to Tuesday, July 4, 2022, 11:59 PM PST.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER on EVENTBRITE

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Resilience

Juneteenth is a time to gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. Discover ways to celebrate this African American cultural tradition of music, food and freedom.

Learn more about the historical legacy of Juneteenth and explore more objects related to emancipation in the National Museum of African American History & Culture’s collections. https://nmaahc.si.edu/juneteenth

The Emancipation Proclamation

https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation

Transcript of the Proclamation, January 1, 1863. By the President of the United States of America. https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html

‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass’ Speech | NPR

In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide protests for racial justice and systemic reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s death. That June, we asked five young descendants of Frederick Douglass to read and respond to excerpts of his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”. It’s a powerful, historical text that reminds us of the ongoing work of liberation.

FEATURING (alphabetically) Douglass Washington Morris II, 20 (he/him) Isidore Dharma Douglass Skinner, 15 (they/their) Zoë Douglass Skinner, 12 (she/her) Alexa Anne Watson, 19 (she/her) Haley Rose Watson, 17 (she/her)

A text version of the full speech is available here.

artsed4all Community, Music

Mark Izu’s “Songs for J-Town”

Emmy Award winning composer Mark Izu presents an evening of American jazz infused with traditional Japanese Gagaku music and poetry about San Francisco’s Japantown.

For one performance only, Songs for J-Town will feature music from the history of San Francisco’s Japantown. The evening will begin with the story of the Sun Goddess by Brenda Wong Aoki and a blessing by Konko Priest Mas Kawahatsu, followed by an instrumental jazz performance infused with Gagaku, a 1500-year-old ceremonial Japanese music that Izu studied for 26 years under his mentor Togi Suenobu.

Saturday, April 23, 7:30pm, Presidio Theatre, San Francisco

For tickets, visit https://www.presidiotheatre.org/show/2022songsforjtown/

Creative Team

Compositions by Emmy Award Winning Mark Izu (Contrabass and Sho) with Mas Koga (Shakuhachi, Flute, Saxophones), Jimi Nakagawa (Taiko & Traps), Jim Norton (Woodwinds), Caroline Cabading (Vocals), devorah major (Spoken Word), Sara Sithi-Amnuai (Trumpet & Sheng), and Brenda Wong Aoki (Storyteller). Blessing by Rev. Mas Kawahatsu, Digital Collage by Andi Wong, Film by Tonilyn Sideco.

Pre-show Sacred Tree & Post-Show Reception

A classic yorishiro: a giant tree from Kyoto, Japan 
Photo by Chris Gladis (MShades) is marked with CC BY 2.0. 

Sacred trees, called shinboku, are a deeply ingrained part of a Japanese culture that has historically viewed itself as being united with nature, rather than separate from nature; thus, recognizing the sacredness of trees, stones, mountains, forests, and the elements has been a relatively constant theme in Japanese culture for thousands of years.

“BLESSINGS” are the wondrous gifts all people receive each day that allows us to live: sun, air, rain, food, shelter, our heartbeat.

The evening’s program will begin with a purification blessing by Reverend Masato Kawahatsu, Minister at Konko Church of San Francisco. After the performance, enjoy tea and sweets in the courtyard.

Support Provided By

This work was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission with support from Grants for the Arts, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Office of Economic Workforce Development, City and County of San Francisco. In partnership with the JapanTown Task Force, Center for Asian American Media, and co-presented by the Presidio Theatre. Produced by First Voice.

artsed4all Community, Film, Literary Arts, Philanthropy, Visual Arts

In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union

Each year on Martin Luther King Day of Service, ArtsEd4All officially launches the Blake Mini Library Book Drive. Founded in December 2013 by then six-year old Blake Ansari in New York City, Blake Mini Library supports the reading, writing and science literacy of children ages birth to 21 living in homes for runaways, homeless shelters and foster care. Here on the West Coast in San Francisco, we’ve shared our love of books and reading with the children and families at the Hamilton Families shelter in the Tenderloin since 2016.

In 2022, we are pleased to kick off the 7th Annual Blake Mini Library Book Drive with a special online film screening of OBAMA: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union. This three-part documentary chronicling the personal and political journey of President Barack Obama is available to registered viewers via View on Demand. Please RSVP on Eventbrite to receive a link and password enabling FREE unlimited access to our virtual screening room from Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service through Presidents’ Day — Monday, January 17, 2022 at 12 noon PST to Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 12 noon PST.

The New 3Rs

It is especially exciting to present this film in partnership with The New 3Rs, an educational program that uses stories of social justice to dismantle racism. The New 3Rs educates and empowers through the art of social justice storytelling, building relationships, and fostering a sense of responsibility. By offering programs and resources, the organization educates and empowers children, parents, educators, and workplace leaders through a lens of racial justice and racial awareness.

“The New 3RS is a diverse group. We listen to each other’s stories. We talk about the great things Black people gave the world and racial topics that usually are not taught in school. The New 3Rs gives me hope and strength. And for that, I am grateful!”

— Donovan, age 13

Learn more about The New 3Rs at https://thenew3rs.org/

Students of The New 3Rs, including Blake Mini Library founder Blake Ansari, plan to participate by viewing the film. The students will select a racial inequity issue from The New 3Rs curriculum and envision how they or their nation can become a more perfect union in areas such as education, health, environment, and other topics of concern? The New 3Rs will create A More Perfect Union Anthology that will share student essays and art which they will send to Congressional Black Caucus and President Biden in late spring.

Download The New 3Rs 2019-2020 Student Anthology HERE.

Take Action: My School Votes!

When We All Vote is a leading national, nonpartisan initiative on a mission to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Created by Michelle Obama, When We All Vote brings together individuals, institutions, brands, and organizations to register new voters across the country and advance civic education for the entire family and voters of every age to build an informed and engaged electorate for today and generations to come. https://whenweallvote.org/

My School Votes is an action-oriented civics program where students learn by doing, to build student leadership, advocate for local issues, create exceptional voter registration campaigns, and together, launch young people into cycles of life-long civic engagement.

Geared towards children in Kindergarten through 5th, Parent Read Alouds feature Michelle Obama, WWAV co-chairs, and parents from around the country reading civics themed children’s literature paired with tangible learning opportunities for parents to engage in with their children.

“Change only happens when ordinary people get involved” – @BarackObama.

Find resources and tools here: bit.ly/ObamaSeriesTakeAction

ArtsEd4All invites young artists to design a one-word poster reminding grown ups of the importance of voting. The poster criteria: The one word, VOTE, should be big, clear and visible. The rest, images & media, size is up to you. Parents can share photos of poster art (no faces, hands only please) and credit the artists with first name & last initial, age & city of residence.

Fill Yourself with Hope

President Obama and daughter Malia and Sasha watch Michelle Obama deliver her speech to the Democratic National Convention from the White House Treaty Room, September 4, 2012 (Courtesy Barack Obama Presidential Library)

Each year, former President Barack Obama releases a list of favorite books, music and films, and we enjoy doing the same! We hope that you will enjoy our recommended reading list compiled for this year’s 2022 Blake Mini Library book drive.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you.  If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” 

― Barack Obama