BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.7//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:234@somervilleartscouncil.org DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170618T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170618T160000 DTSTAMP:20250224T203017Z URL:https://somervilleartscouncil.org/events/fixtheworld/ SUMMARY:How to Fix the World Festival DESCRIPTION: \;\n\nA community festival featuring dance\, music and art offering \;solutions for How to Fix the World!\n\nThe How To Fix The World Festival brings together art and activism to consider ways we can im prove our communities and the larger world. The FREE event will be present ed by the \;Somerville Arts Council (and partners) in the city&rsquo\; s Union Square from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday\, June 18 (raindate: July 8).\n\ nProduced with funding from \;The Boston Foundation'\;s Live Art Bo ston (LAB) Grant\, the festival will showcase music (including Tef Poe\, t he St. Louis rapper and current Harvard University fellow who rose to nati onal prominence as an activist at the forefront of the 2014 Ferguson\, Mis souri\, protests)\, dance\, visual art\, talks\, sign-making\, letter-writ ing and other participatory activities. The festival also will offer ways to engage with local activist groups and community organizations addressin g racism\, sexism\, global warming\, the flaws of capitalism and other maj or problems. \;\n\nThe How To Fix The World Festival will culminate wi th a 3 p.m. parade/march and 3:30pm rally\, which all are invited to join. The parade will be led by the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band\, Asociació\;n Carnavalesca de Massachusetts\, and the B oston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The parade will end with a 3:30 p.m . rally in which artists\, activists and community groups will lead partic ipatory chants.\n\nThe festival is organized by a planning committee that includes Deidra Montgomery\, Marissa Molinar\, DiDi Delgado\, Greg Cook an d Nina Eichner.\n\nThe festival includes:\n\n&bull\; A performance by  \;Tef Poe\, the St. Louis rapper and current \;Harvard University  \;fellow who rose to national prominence as an activist at the forefront o f the 2014 Ferguson\, Missouri\, protests in the wake of a police officer fatally shooting Michael Brown.\n\n&bull\; A dance performance by Danza Or gá\;nica\, the Boston-based social justice oriented dance company\, will perform &ldquo\;Running in Stillness\,&rdquo\; a dance-theater piece based on the impact of mass incarceration on women and their families and inspired by the group&rsquo\;s work with people who&rsquo\;ve directly exp erienced incarceration.\n\n&bull\; A dance performance by \;Lakaï\ ; \;Dance Theatre\, \;which roots itself in stories of home in ord er to highlight the issues affecting our communities and neighborhoods. Th e brainchild of choreographer McKersin Previlus\, the company takes its na me from the word for home in McKersin&rsquo\;s native tongue of Haitian Cr eole. Lakaï\; Dance Theatre draws on the full Afro-Diaspora of dances\ , making work that uses the idea of home to trace the ripple effects of ha rm but also of healing through families and neighborhoods. The company des igns and leads workshops to identify and counter the ways trauma has been built up in our cities only to then follow us home. Exploring and then tel ling these stories of home through the language of dance lets us see the h and each of us has in facing the issues that must be addressed together if we are to become communities that can meaningfully be called home to all who live there.\n\n&bull\; A dance performance by \;Subject:Matter\,&n bsp\;a Boston based tap dance company\, under the direction of choreograph er Ian Berg\, with the aim of presenting new\, cutting-edge tap dance work primarily in the Boston area. \;\n \;\n\n&bull\; The Urbano Proje ct\, the Boston community art project\, will present its "\;Nomadic Ci vic Sculpture/Escultura cí\;vica nó\;mada\, a mobile art insta llation that prompts conversations with visitors about "\;What is the solution to youth gang violence\,"\; "\;How do we influence next g eneration leaders\,"\; and other vital questions about how we can impr ove our communities.\n\n\n&bull\; The \;Second Line Social Aid and Ple asure Society Brass Band\, a New Orleans-style street band based in Somerv ille and Cambridge\, will lead the concluding parade. The band combines mu sic with social action\, performing at protests and peace rallies\, as wel l as helping organize Somerville&rsquo\;s annual Honk festival of activist street bands.\n\n&bull\; Dancing by \;Asociacion Carnavalesca de Mass achusetts\, a Lawrence-based group that brings the carnival traditions of the Dominican Republic to the United States. Its diablos cojuelos (limping devils) and the fabulous\, ruffled attire of its other masqueraders are p art of a tradition whose roots include satire of Europeans who colonized t he island nation.\n\n&bull\; Appearances by \;The Boston Sisters of Pe rpetual Indulgence\, the Boston branch of a gay activist group founded in San Francisco in 1979. They describe themselves as a &ldquo\;modern order of nuns&rdquo\; devoted to fostering joy\, eliminating guilt and serving t heir community. &ldquo\;We are the sacred clowns of our community\, taking a stand on the edge of what our society defines as &lsquo\;normal.&rsquo\ ;&rdquo\;\n\n&bull\; Boston artist \;Ife Franklin \;will lead her &ldquo\;Ancestor Slave Cabin Workshop&rdquo\; in which visitors are invite d to craft small structures reminiscent of slave cabins to honor the ances tral spirits of Africans who were enslaved throughout the early centuries of America.\n\n&bull\; \;Ben Echevarria \;of Somerville&rsquo\;s&n bsp\;The Welcome Project \;will lead a discussion about immigration an d race in Somerville. \;\n\n&bull\; Somerville activist \;Katie Gr adowski \;will lead a discssion entitle All Politics are Local about h ow to navigate Somerville&rsquo\;s local government \;\n\n&bull\; A ta lk &\; discssion with Ben Echevarria from the Welcome project about rac e and immigration and supporting undocumented immigrants\n\n&bull\; A talk &\; discussion with Katie Gradowski about how to engage in local gover ment to make change\n\n&bull\; Cambridge puppeteers \;Trudi Cohen  \;and \;John Bell \;perform their toy theater show about the clash between government urban planner Robert Moses and community activist Jane Jacobs in the mid-1960s New York.\n\n&bull\; To help us envision threats from global warming\, Boston artist \;Jason Turgeon \;will constru ct an installation that visitors can enter that depticts an office waiting room that&rsquo\;s been flooded.\n\n&bull\; Boston artist \;Ria Brode ll \;will share &ldquo\;Butch Heroes&rdquo\; cards\, based on icon-lik e paintings Brodell has made illustrating the lives of people assigned fem ale at birth\, but who presented as masculine as they grew up\, and had do cumented relationships with women.\n\n&bull\; \;Jere Pilapill\, \; Gloria Rose \;and \;Kwasi Mensah \;will perform stand-up comed y about state of the world (organized by Christa Weiss).\n\n&bull\; A danc e performance by the Boston dance troupe \;Upasana\, based on classica l Indian style\, about reconnecting with nature.\n\n&bull\; Boston artist James Montford will offer visitors white circles to place in spaces and ph otograph where they see &ldquo\;Blind Spots\,&rdquo\; problems of exclusio n and other social injustices.\n\n&bull\; Somerville makerspace \;Part s and Crafts \;(Dina Gjertsen) invites festival-goers to screenprint p olitical patches with them. \;\n\n&bull\; Songs about social change fr om Boston based indie folk singer songwriter Grace Givertz. With a large v oice packed into a tiny body\, Grace pairs her witty and honest lyrics wit h various instruments to bring a refreshing sound to folk. \;\n\n&bull \; Boston artists \;Ariel DiOrio and \;Rebecca Hsieh \;explore identity and intersectionality with their participatory "\;Label Your self"\; project.\n\n&bull\; Write a letter to support a cause\, write a letter to an old friend with your hopes and dreams. Jane Long of Somervi lle will lead letter writing and present steps for taking action on contac ting your representatives via phone and email.\n\n&bull\; Malden artists&n bsp\;Kari Percival \;and Greg Cook will lead a workshop to make poster s for the festival parade. \;\n\n&bull\; \;A dance performance by youth from Somerville'\;s Deborah Mason School of Dance\n\nAdditional a ctivist\, community and government groups that will be presenting at the f estival:\n&bull\; \;The Center for Teen Empowerment\, Inc.\n&bull\; We lcome Project\n&bull\; \;MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Adv ocacy Coalition)\n&bull\; Somerville&rsquo\;s Office of Environment and Su stainability\n&bull\; Somerville&rsquo\;s Housing Department\n&bull\; Some rville Food Security Coalition&mdash\;a partnership of \;Groundwork So merville\, \;Cambridge Health Alliance \;and \;Shape Up Somerv ille\n&bull\; The Network/La Red \;\n&bull\; \;Voter Choice MA\n&b ull\; MassPeace Action\n&bull\; MASSCreative\n\nWe would like to thank BLM Cambridge for their support in planning and promoting the call to artists and event through their networks. Thank you to Deborah Mason for lending us their mylar dance flooring. \;Thank you to Masai Andrews for design ing the save the date flyer and Kenji Nakayama for designing the final pos ter.\n\n \;\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://somervilleartscouncil.org/wp-content/upl oads/2017/04/sanctuary-city-rally.jpg CATEGORIES:ArtsUnion END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20170312T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR