Arts Festival for Type 1 Diabetes

Here is an e-mail I recently sent out to begin acquiring information about organizing an arts festival that will ultimately help raise funds to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes...

Dear Loretta Yarlow, I am a 2nd year MFA Candidate for Lighting Design in the UMass, Department of Theater. I am beginning to develop a seed idea for organizing an arts festival. I want the festival to embrace not only theatrical art, but art from a wide variety of resources. In particular, I am wondering if you would be interested in discussing the possibility of creating an exhibit of a variety of professional artist's work that speaks to our current environmental atmosphere. My initial thoughts and hopes about using the University Gallery space are to install either a painter's exhibit or an installation artist's exhibit. I am beginning my research far in advance. If, after a few conversations, my idea is one that you might consider, then the exhibit would not be installed until April 2011. I am very excited about my plans for this arts festival and would appreciate any feedback and/or support you might be able to afford me. If my inquiry would be better directed toward another person or another of the Fine Arts Center galleries, then please feel free to contact me with your advice.

Sincerely, Jonathan Hicks

Here is her wonderful and exciting response! I appreciate her initial question, which has helped me to begin to harness my thoughts and focus for this arts festival!

Dear Jonathan, I'm not really sure what you mean by the "current environmental atmosphere". The University Gallery has organized exhibitions that activate the architecture of our exhibition spaces involving light projections and video projections with gel filters (example: spring 2007, "The Experience of Color: Ann Veronica Janssens and Diana Thater"). The most recent exhibition "Gravity" this past semester showcased 9 light projections on beds of salt by artist Miroslaw Balka. Did you happen to see it? Also, our permanent installation called "Scrim Piece" by LA artist Robert Irwin (it's installed in our north entrance) typifies light and atmosphere in current art practice. So maybe you can clarify your definition so that I have a better understanding of what you're proposing. Also, please let me know if you had a chance to see any of the artworks I mention above, and whether they fit the categories you're speaking of. Thanks, Loretta

My response back to her from this morning...!

Thank you Loretta for your wonderful response and great opening question! To be honest, I am still exploring what, specifically, I mean by the "current environmental atmosphere". As one can imagine that statement encompasses a far too broad range of topics. I will need to be more specific about that phrase in order to have a cohesive festival capable of having a strong and meaningful impact on our local and global community. When I think of our world's current state-of-being, I immediately think of the environment around us (cities, farmlands, forests, bodies of water, air, solar systems). So, when I think of our current environmental atmosphere, I think of websites like the following: Inhabitat (for its vast exploration and commentary on the invention and use of energy efficient products to conserve natural resources like oil, air, and water) Charity:Water (for its concern and care for our worlds water resources) Environmental Working Group (for its intuitive and detailed research on our worlds oil situation) Solar Power (for its ability to make tangible understanding how to harness the power of the sun) These sites, among others, inspire me to create works of art that create social commentary on our worlds current environmental atmosphere. I think of artists: Andy Goldsworthy Shai Zakai Jim Hamlyn Jason Ditmars Urs Jaeggi And many others...I have not seen any of the exhibitions you mentioned. Last year was my first year, and with a newborn baby during the first week of school, the rest of my year was plagued with catching up. The next two years, however, I plan on moving forward with bold and exciting work! The culmination of which, I hope will be this arts festival of installation artists, music, art exhibitions, and theatrical performances all focused around creating a conversation about our current environmental atmosphere. I would like to push my research for artists who would be interested in participating toward exhibiting art work related more closely with light as I am a lighting design student. The exhibitions you mentioned sound like they fit well with my dreams for this arts festival. Again, thank you so much for helping me to flesh out my seed idea with such a simple question as "what do you mean by...?". I hope I have been able to get closer to answering that question in this e-mail, and I look forward to further interaction with you! Sincerely, Jonathan Hicks

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a wonderful collaboration!

Portfolio Update

Howdy folks...I wanted to let you all know that my Portfolio is completed. Check in the list of links to the right and you will find a link that takes you to my Portfolio. I will also be working on a page where you will be able to read a brief description of the production.

While you are purusing the links to the right find something you are interested in and enjoy looking at the various sites I enjoy looking at...Also, you may find a number links within my posts...please take some time to check out these links as they are most often quite intriguing.

Thanks for stopping by...

J

2008 Presidential Elections

Me when I am OLD!!!

I am registered to vote!!! This wouldn't normally be something to shout out loud about, but a few days ago I was resigned to accepting the fact that I made a mistake and would not be able to vote in this years elections. I honestly thought that you could register to vote the day of elections...my brother, Norman, informed me otherwise...Thanks Norm! I am such a dork! Lucky for me, here in Massachusetts they let you register up until Oct. 15th, unlike in California where they require registration by Oct. 4th.

Anyway, I get the chance this year to make my vote for Barack Obama count. Who are you voting for?

Sites to check out

Look to the right and scroll down a little...I posted a new list of sites that I will be reading for this week...enjoy!

Charitable Organizations

I was thinking about money today...you know...green paper that has been redesigned to look like monopoly money...

Well, we all need it, most of us want it, some of us love it, a few worship it, and I can't figure out what to do now that I need it. I am getting ready to attend graduate school, and my loans will not be distributed until after the first day of classes, which means I can't pay my bills for the month of September until the loan checks come in the mail. Now, my biggest worry should probably be my family, and how we are going make this work, but since I have wonderful parents and siblings...I basically don't need to worry. So instead, my mind is obviously thinking differently about the situation...I am actually more concerned that I am not able to contribute to people in more need than myself (at least in a monetary fashion).

Before I lay out the rest of my thought, I want to state a brief disclaimer. I am sure there are enough people giving in mass quantities that it easily makes up for the idea I am going to explain, but let's just say, for the sake of argument, that in those cases (which I will explain soon) these people continue to give the same amount...we are adding those that aren't giving as much or at all into the mix of those that are giving more, above and beyond.

Anyway, my thought or idea is this...What would it look like if each citizen in a city the size of



Amherts, MA, was to donate $1 a day to a different charitable organizations for 365 days each year. As of 2000, that would be 34,874 people donating $365 each year and at least 365 different charities would receive a dollar (obviously more than 365 since we all believe in the work of different charities). We are looking at $12,729,010.00

That is just for one little hick town in Massachusetts. If we all gave $365 (a car payment, a few trips to the hair salon, a membership to the local gym, cable tv and internet, dinner out every week), then we could give so much more than the nearly 13 Million dollars. In fact, that is less than the normal 10% of our annual income that Christians (I chose this link because it is public and relatively factual rather than biased with emotional beliefs) and other religions believe is due to God or God. Like I said in my disclaimer, I know a lot of people are giving far more than this, but what if those people continued to give as they are, and then on top of that, everybody gave a mere $365 dollars. We could see some really wonderful things happen in our world. (I know there will always be those people that catch on to a good thing and try to scam us and ruin the amazing work, but that is just a chance we must take, and a problem that can be avoided if people do their research on the organization they are donating to).

I hope the few people that read my blog from time to time will really take this idea to heart in whatever small way you can. This is my challenge to you...what can you give from the abundance of God's gifts, or if you don't believe in God...what can you give from the abundance of your hard earned cash...???

Weekly Reading List

I have just updated my list of Weekly Havens to the right. I will be reading these folks blogs this week as much as I can, or if they are websites, then I will be learning about their work as much as I can. Each site is a link from my New Haven list of links to the right. I hope to add a few more sections to these soon, as well as make each blog its own unique outpost. Keep checking back for more developments and take a look at my Weekly Havens list...you may just find something you like.

Charity and Diabetes

I have been developing the link to the right "Charity." Check it out...It isn't much to look at, but has a lot of great sites to link to and learn about. One in particular that I read a little about and can't wait to search deeper into is Imagine a Cure. This organization and the Juvenile Research Diabetes Foundation (JDRF) will be growing closer and closer to my heart as my wife, Adrienne, has Type 1 Diabetes. She is an amazing and strong woman, but this disease is brutal (yet she fights every day), debilitating (yet she has almost finished her second pregnancy...pregnancy and diabetes do not go well together), and life long (yet I know my wife will be with me to the end). I am sure you have heard of the disease, but everybody can know more. I have been studying it for nearly 3 years now, and I am just beginning to grasp the depth of how integral the pancreas is to the human body. It breaks my heart to think that little children barely able to talk and just learning what life is like, are forced to learn life differently because of diabetes. Take some time, read the sites, and then look around you to see who in your life you can love.

Inspired to Prayer

A few weeks ago I came across the 40 day fast on Brody Harper's blog. Inspired to Action is the group that has facilitated this wonderful search for understanding and support through prayer, discussion, and knowledge of a vast array of organizations. Today, I am going to take some quiet time and look through some of these sites to see what they are about, how I can help, and how I can spread their work to others. Check a few of these links and organizations in your spare time today. A few minutes could change a life!