Steven Dahlberg, contributor to the latest issue of New Village Online will be teaching a new course at the University of Connecticut, “Creativity and Social Change”, which is the first offering in a new interdisciplinary Creative Community Building Program that includes partners outside the university. The program is offered through the Center for Continuing Studies for a Bachelor of General Studies degree, as well as non-credit workshops and seminars for professional development. Learn more about the course and program on Steve’s Applied Imagination blog.

Dear Friends of New Village Press,

A short newsletter to announce the newest issue of New Village Online and two upcoming book events:

Issue #4 of New Village Online—Unboxing Democracy’s Magic— offers an inspiring exploration of community building forged from democratic partnerships between off-campus communities and universities. Guest editor Len Krimerman, director of a new degree program in Creative Community Building at the University of Connecticut, infuses the work reported here with his valuable understanding of how cooperatives work. In this issue we not only encounter new ideas, we learn new vocabulary, gaining understanding of a kind of cooperative economy that uses a “Participatory Budget” process, and we discover the “Communiversity.” (more…)

Craig Zelizer, Ph.D., visiting professor in Conflict Resolution studies at Georgetown University and co-founder of the Alliance for Conflict Transformation has written a sensitive and enlightening review of Bill Cleveland’s new book — Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World Frontlines. In his review for the Community Arts Network, Zelizer offers lessons he learned from the book. Here is his opening.

Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World Frontlines by William Cleveland (Oakland, CA: New Village Press, 2008, 352 pp.)

Dear Friends of New Village Press,

Happy Summer! We are thrilled to announce the release of our tenth new title—Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World’s Frontlines by William Cleveland. This is a rare and moving account of local artists rebuilding the social infrastructure of communities in six parts of the world that have suffered the trauma of civil war or political repression. (more…)

Patience is a word that has been showing up for me lately—at least three reminders this month to consider a slower mode of living. In this why-didn’t-we-fix-it-yesterday world, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer potential of what we can do, what we feel we should do, and what we feel we must do, not mention what we wish we had done. Finding reminders about patience, I am nudged to give myself permission to ease into the space of just appreciating what is, take off the yanking bridle that pulls me ever forward and really feel the luscious grass on my bare feet.

You may think this is only metaphor, but that is exactly what I did this past Saturday at a festival called the Big One that our parent organization, ADPSR, co-sponsored at Golden Gate Park in SF. Wisely, we were invited on arrival to take off our shoes and sit down for a guided meditation. I never put those shoes back on and enjoyed all day the glorious lawn of Sharon Meadows that stretched for a hundred yards in all directions from the event center, a space dressed in colorful Indian cloths and tables of fresh organic strawberries, bread and beverages. (more…)

I am wearing orange today in solidarity with Plain Human, a group of artists and designers in San Francisco and Northampton Massachusetts who are making March 11th Prisoner Awareness Day.

This week and last, prison issues have been prominent in the mainstream press, as more Americans are starting to see the physical and fiscal realities of rocketing incarceration rates, even if they have yet to feel the profound suffering it causes individuals, families and communities. A Pew Center on the States report, which came out February 28, offered the startling statistic that one in 99.1 adults in the United States is behind bars. Overwhelmingly, those incarcerated come from the least educated, most impoverished neighborhoods. If the distress of low-income communities and communities of color hadn’t got anyone’s attention, the price tag for putting and keeping people in jail or prison finally has. States, alone, are paying nearly $50 billion annually, on a par now with their spending for higher education. (more…)

Thousand Kites is a national multi-media arts project created to spark a dialog about incarceration in the United States. The project uses film, theater, radio, and the Internet to explore the criminal justice system and bridge racial, cultural, and geographic divides between stakeholder communities. (more…)

I recently discovered an uplifting body of work by a group of public-realm artists called the Cause Collective. Their projects aim to “explore and enliven public spaces by creating a dynamic conversation between issues, sites and the public audience.”

“Along the Way” image courtesy the Cause Collective

Take a look at their video “Along the Way“, a 20-minute mosaic made from original footage of more than 1,500 Oakland residents. I had to smile at their clever and lighthearted assembly, which includes a few people I recognize like Bakesale Betty (Alison Barakat), with her distinctive blue hair, from my own Temescal neighborhood! The work runs continuously until 2010 in the baggage claim area of the Oakland airport and was recently shown at The Temporary Museum of Permanent Change (another site worth visiting!) in Salt Lake City during the Sundance Film Festival.

Dear Friends of New Village Press,

What a thrill it is to feel our nation waking up to the stirrings of its heart. Hope renewed for a brighter, more compassionate future. A dream being shared that we can create a peaceful and democratic society.

The theme of our newest issue of New Village Online is “A Festival of Democracyâ€, the idea behind it being that social change is not so much a task for wise leaders as it is a task for creative citizens. Every person has not only the right to contribute to the vision of the world they want, every citizen has creative abilities to tap in describing that vision.

Contributors to this issue, Arlene Goldbard and Maryo Gard Ewell, point out how community-based arts in both modern and historic forms are brilliant vehicles through which citizens can express themselves. Arlene’s essay, “The Culture of Politics”, and Maryo’s speech, “Who Walks with You?â€, show potentials and models for engaging social imagination and involving more people, including children, in meaningful democratic experiences. (more…)

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, the parent organization for New Village Press, is deeply concerned about the escalation of incarceration in response to violence. Rather than build more prisons, ADPSR believes in investing in the health of our communities. ADPSR’s national Prison Design Boycott has recently evolved into a Prison Alternatives Initiative and will be making an effort to learn about and promote programs that strengthen communities rather than break them apart.

Today’s New York Times featured “A Home Remedy for Juvenile Offendersâ€, a report by Leslie Kaufman about an alternative sentencing program started a year ago this month in New York City called the Juvenile Justice Initiative. The program allows medium-risk youth offenders to stay with their families and provides intensive home therapy instead of jail, prison or other correctional facilities. (more…)