The Workshop we are proposing is: Creative Ceremony: Circus, Visual & Spoken Word Arts for Connection, Resistance and Change
We are proposing 2 two-hour daily workshops. One teaches basic stilt- walking skills, and the other incorporates spoken word and shadow puppets as a way of exploring our inter-connectedness. Participants from diverse backgrounds work together to tell stories of resistance and survival in a poetic and visual framework, culminating in a public presentation of the created material.

The ideas we want the participants to take away are:
The Arts are powerful tools for creating resilience in individuals and communities. The creative process gives us a non-threatening way to present life experiences, histories and perspectives while still actively affecting social consciousness that leads to change. It provides a place of recognition without judgment where multiple truths can co-exist, and different styles of self-expression are honored. It is connection beyond ideology, beyond politic, beyond personal history, beyond prejudice

How does it connect cross cutting themes? Art serves as a medium to connect across seemingly divisive lines of separation by providing a space that honors the existence of multiple truths, perspectives, styles of learning, ways of processing experiences and styles of leadership. These workshops provide an opportunity to explore the various issues facing individuals and communities, and a space to honor and celebrate the varied strategies for addressing those issues by giving voice through poetry, visualization through puppetry and ceremony through stilt walking.

The shadow puppet and spoken word workshop serves to illustrate stories of individual and community resistance. While the calculated risk taking involved in stilt-walking instantly changes one’s perspective allowing participants to achieve tangible goals that immediately empower. Stilt walking fosters trust among individuals who may not naturally gravitate towards each other, requiring presence of both mind and body and incorporates the many elements of true communication by teaching us to read and interpret non-verbal signals. Skills applicable to our daily lives.

How will participants be engaged?
Participants will be physically engaged in games and exercises designed to create body and voice awareness, build group cohesion and prepare for the physicality of stilt-walking. Additionally through writing exercises to help spark dialogue and inspire visual creation for the shadow puppet narratives.

Languages the workshop can be conducted in:
English, Ebonics, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chanting and Body

Will we provide an oral presentation? We can open space in ceremony and provide an introductory presentation about who we are, the work that we do and maybe how it fits into our individual commitments to social justice work. And move right into the workshop.

Will we provide equipment for interpretation? We do not have interpretation equipment. We would also like to have if possible an ASL interpreter.

Will we provide handouts? We can give out some handouts illustrating how to construct stilts and shadow puppets..

What is the biggest challenge/adversary your organization faces?
Operating a non-profit community based arts organization is at times a difficult task. Our lives and work are impacted by the inability of the current political climate and the limitation of the exploitative economic system to meet the needs of our community, especially young people, folks of color, women and poor folks. We are faced with low -funding opportunities available for art based programming for at-risk populations. In working with diverse communities we deal directly with the historical impact of various forms of domination and discrimination.
In addition, there are few organizational models that incorporate our inclusive/ expansive values and ideals as artists/educators/activists that honor differences, power sharing and mutual respect.
Our aim is to create space where the arts are an active part of social change. In order to achieve all of these things it is critical that the connection between art and justice are clear. This requires regular retreats, trainings, workshops – all of which require funding and a functional organizational structure to assist artists in being of service.

What concrete alternatives do you propose?
Concrete alternatives include:
·Provide free or low cost circus/performance and visual art classes to young people and women.
·Share skill sets for personal enrichment and performance.
·Expand teaching capabilities and opportunities for/of artists.
·Assist artists or groups of artists in accessing funding/production support for community based programming and performance.
·Provide a low-cost performance space for community events.
·Facilitate dialogue, problem solving and self-empowerment utilizing multiple aspects of circus and visual arts.

What strategies do you propose to achieve these alternatives?
·Seek out and create opportunities to share the unique capacity of circus arts to empower people.
·Provide an alternative idea about the role of art in society by making creative expression accessible.
·Create spaces in which to dialogue and address real issues in a non-threatening and creative way.
·Encourage non-competitive skill sharing.
·Develop leadership abilities in young people by inviting them to expand their understanding of themselves, each other and their own capabilities allowing them agency over their own bodies and their self-expression.
·Educate and motivate people to action in social justice movements.
·Include different artistic mediums to reach a variety of audiences.

Any special needs? A large enough carpeted indoor or outside space at least 40x40 that can handle the safe physical movement of 25 people, a space to store equipment and supplies on sight and a microphone. For shadow puppets we would need a space that can get dark, and that has tables to cut and draw on.

***We would like to hold the workshop on all three days of the conference.