Catalyst Initiative ROUND 3
Sarah Campen, interdisciplinary artist and rural community
organizer, worked with Christine Woll of The Nature Conservancy in Southeast Alaska, which is dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Their work focused on Sarah’s lifelong knowledge of rural Southeast Alaska communities and her skills of creating collaborative performance to explore how a land conservation agency can integrate artistic practice to build a network of emerging leaders across great distances. Their story over a year of collaboration is one of testing and experimentation in form, building of local and regional networks, and hosting long distance events with technology that includes video, in person conversation, handwritten notes, and the US Postal Service.
Alaska
CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE AND CIVIC PRACTICE
Question —How can an artist and a land conservation organization integrate artistic practice to gather the momentum of emerging leaders across the region, build upon this potential, and catalyze that energy into more vibrant, prosperous, and equitable rural communities?
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THE PARTNERS
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SOUTHEAST ALASKA
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THE IMPULSE
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THE PLAN
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THE PROJECT
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CHALLENGES 24 RIPPLES 26 ALASKA - 1
The Partners
Sarah Campen Christine Woll
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Sarah Campen is an Alaskan rural community organizer and interdisciplinary artist working in the mediums of dance/movement, playwriting, and theatre performance. Sarah designs collaborative performances exploring the complexities of human communication and connections between people and place. Her community development work facilitates community-based solutions to natural resource concerns. A lifelong Alaskan, Sarah is committed to utilizing the arts as a means to celebrate and strengthen the life and culture of Alaska. Sarah makes her home on the remote island of Taas Daa/Lemesurier in Icy Strait. She is a boat captain, berry picker, and jars a good salmon. Sarah is currently developing a dance piece documenting the gestures used for harvesting salmon in the commercial troll fishery.
T H E PA R T N E R S
Christine Woll is the Southeast Alaska Director for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), where she has worked based in Juneau, Alaska for over 6 years. Her research and conservation interests include fisheries management and salmon habitat protection; Indigenous and communitybased stewardship; and rural community development. Christine’s education includes a M.S.degree in Fisheries from University of Alaska Fairbanks and a B.S. degree in Biology and Anthropology from Bates College.
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Alaska Southeast Alaska is an archipelago of islands approximately 600 miles long with small villages separated by waterways and mountain chains. Home to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian nations, the cultural heritage of Southeast Alaska is rich: connection to land and community is deep, and people find a unique way of life. At the same time, many communities are experiencing shifting economies that have resulted in fewer jobs and population loss. The rocky terrain and the many islands and fjords make travel difficult, often limited to boat or airplane. The costs of travel and limited internet connections can lead to a sense of isolation in the rural communities.
The Impulse Christine and Sarah had previously collaborated on a project that invited emerging leaders in Juneau to a series of small gatherings to share knowledge and local resources. They wanted to refine and expand this idea to connect with emerging leaders outside of Juneau, particularly in rural areas of Southeast Alaska. Both Christine and Sarah have connections with young adults across the region who are working to improve the quality of life in their local communities through small business development, transportation, racial equity, food security, and affordable housing endeavors. These emerging leaders are a mix of Indigenous people, second and third generation Alaskans from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, and young adults who have more recently made Southeast Alaska their home. They are young adults who are ready to be leaders and interested in embracing new approaches to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable futures for their communities and their region.
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SOUTHEAST ALASKA
SOUTHEAST ALASKA
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The Plan “We want to engage people in conversation with each other. And we’re thinking of ideas of how we can allow people to capture their ideas on what they envision for themselves and their communities and at the same time help other participants interact with these ideas in remote places.” Christine
“Our next step is gauging to what extent our networks in Southeast Alaska will want to engage in the project we’ve developed an idea for. Our project hinges on having other people want to take part — we’re both feeling positive that people will want to engage, but we don’t have people confirmed yet so it’s still an unknown at this point.” Sarah
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THE IMPULSE
The Project Working from two different locations, Sarah and Christine had several video planning conversations to discuss visions and goals for the project. Goals they established together: − build connection and friendship both within and beyond
our small Southeast towns − gain understanding of the skills and resources we each have to offer − develop vision around the futures that we want for ourselves and our communities
“Sarah and I have really succeeded in continuing to refine our project with more and more detail by consensus. At the Catalyst Initiative cohort training in December, we defined goals and values; after the convening we defined approaches and objectives and started to list potential project ideas, which we have narrowed to one. Next up is to more fully outline our project design, and then implement.” Christine
“I appreciate that part of this initiative is supporting artists to develop their process and vision around the work that I’m doing. I was surprised at how long the process takes. Yesterday, I was working on a couple of ideas that might be outside the scope of this project. Today I realized that what we can accomplish is less than I had previously thought.” Sarah
THE IMPULSE
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The Rolodex Project// Connecting emerging leaders across Southeast Alaska through links — digital, analog, and human Knowing that this project would involve connecting people living great distances from each other, some without regular access to the internet, Sarah and Christine spent time exploring ways people can communicate without the aid of technology.
“The image of a Rolodex appeared in my mind repeatedly. I envisioned adding Southeast Alaskans to my mental Rolodex, building links one by one.” Sarah
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THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
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After establishing goals, Sarah spent time conceptualizing different ways she could host these gatherings and how her artistic practice could play a role. In early May 2018, Sarah, Christine and Rebecca MartĂnez from the Center for Performance and Civic Practice spent two days together in a retreat on Taas Daa (Lemesurier Island) where Sarah lives. During this time, they spent hours brainstorming how to host long-distance gathering in communities where neither Sarah nor Christine would be present. They planned to host multiple gatherings in five different communities. They decided that each gathering would include these four components:
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THE PROJECT
Analog: Five team leaders in five different communities throughout Southeast Alaska would receive a care package and a set of instructions in the mail from Sarah and Christine.
IRL: Each of the five team leaders would be asked to invite four other young adults who are deeply connected to Southeast Alaska, care about its future, and are interested in thinking about how to improve their communities. Team leaders would also be encouraged to invite people they didn’t know well: other young adults they knew of, but hadn’t yet developed a strong relationship with. At the first gathering they would open the care package (with a gift of homemade nettle pesto from Sarah and Christine) and follow a set of prompts to guide their conversation for the evening.
Digital: The five team leaders would digitally capture a component of their gathering to share with all of the other participating communities.
Links: The five teams would then mail a care package to one of the other communities.
THE PROJECT
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Gathering #1 Participants were asked to bring an object that held a personal connection.
A few of the objects shared between Juneau and Hoonah
They shared these objects with each other and then put the objects into a box along with a personal note and mailed them to another town. Each participant was also asked to share a song that was personally meaningful to them.
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THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
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Note accompanying one of the objects
Snail mail notes shared between participants: Hoonah and Juneau:
Hello Rolodex Project// Hoonah! —How has Hoonah changed in your opinion (since you’ve been there)?
Hoonah to Juneau:
—Hello Juneau— How has Hoonah changed? City limit moved out farther, less restaurants & stores. No more movie theater, tourists, charter fisheries, fisheries in general, charter out number commercial. Huna Heritage moved back to Hoonah. Strengthened culturally. More Tlingit culture & language in the schools. We have an awesome zip line, come check it out :)
“The object sharing was fun. We all picked very different objects than what the group in Hoonah sent us, which is fascinating. One person wrote a poem about her object, also really cool!” Rolodex Project// participant
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THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
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Gathering #2 Participants opened the box they were sent from the team in another town
and were invited to connect digitally with them. They filmed short videos of each other and took photos. They then were invited to have a conversation about personal assets and skills. People partnered with someone they didn’t know well and had 90 seconds to answer a series of questions identifying personal assets. These were then written down and mailed to another town.
Assets we bring: − sticks
to decisions − wilderness guide − courage − salmon slayer − brave − she’s a boat captain − community oriented − good listener − open minded − enjoys using conversation to understand difference − curious “It was great that we met new people. The gatherings in Hoonah… it wasn’t people who usually hang out together.” Rolodex Project// participant
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THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
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THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
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Gathering #3 Participants were asked to share their values around leadership and create short dance videos with gestures that symbolize critical leadership attributes. The teams wrote on notecards qualities that they feel are most valuable in a leader.
Be Fierce. Be Kind. When speaking about what most defines a leader, the participants named several qualities over and over again that Sarah later synthesized to: − be assertive − advocate for what you care for − love deeply − feel passionately about a cause − don’t apologize in your advocacy − be empathetic − have a good sense of humor − be a good listener − care for others, especially those who may be less powerful − work in a way that brings others along
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THE PROJECT
The participants created gestures based on qualities they value in leaders. Some of the values they voiced:
Listening To Yourself; Listening To Others Reaching Behind to Bring Others Forward − Gratitude − Boldness
& Bravery
− Humor − Vision − Collaboration − Inclusivity − Action − Encouraging
Others
− Cooperation − Wisdom
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THE PROJECT
https://tinyurl.com/Rolodex-Project-We-Value-These
“I was really delighted every time people did these activities that I spent so much time putting together and seeing people hungry to have these conversations. Learning how to host these conversations from multiple artistic mediums was really delightful.� Sarah
THE PROJECT
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Challenges “One of our five teams had to drop out, so we're down to four towns. Most of the teams have been finding that initial start-up takes a significant push (getting people's schedules in line, actually getting together, etc.), but that after the first gathering people are hungry for it and ready for more.” Sarah
“One of the challenges I’m having right now is making time! The more intentionally I make this personal instead of professional, the more time I end up having for it. Which counters some of my objectives around changing how I do my professional work, but makes it more fun at the same time.” Christine
“Christine and I were able to facilitate gatherings in two of the communities and those went really well. But maybe there were too many instructions for the other two communities we weren’t present for. The first gathering was the most simple. The hunger for it is really there. They loved it, loved getting together, maybe just a bit overwhelmed with the directions and logistics of getting people together.” Sarah
“We could see a hunger for meeting people in these other communities. We haven’t quite been able to connect all the communities to each other as we initially had hoped, but the communities that were able to share videos with each other felt most connected.” Christine
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CHALLENGES
CHALLENGES
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Ripples Over the summer and fall of 2018, over 20 emerging leaders from
Petersburg, Sitka, Hoonah and Juneau participated in the Rolodex Project//. The participants were mostly women and a mix of white, Alaska Native, and Black individuals. They represented a diversity of ages and economic backgrounds and included one community’s only female city council member. “The conversations themselves have been really powerful, to sit and think about these questions: What are our values and what assets do we have to bring? How do we identify assets and pair our passions with the needs in our communities?” Sarah
“We could keep meeting forever, we haven’t finished our conversations.” Christine
“One of the learnings that I had - when do you push and when do you let go? I could see very clearly in my mind how cool it would to be to make a collaborative dance piece to share with the broader public. But it’s far outside of the box for many people and it’s hard to know when do you let go and when do you push an activity like this. But I found a way to simplify it and made the videos anonymous to make sure the dancers felt comfortable in sharing publicly.” Sarah
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RIPPLES
RIPPLES
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In December 2018, Sarah was invited to create an installation on the
Rolodex Project// in the lobby of Juneau’s Centennial Hall Convention Center. In the exhibit Sarah shared some of the writings, ideas, and videos from the 12 gatherings. Attendees were invited into a video booth to create dances around the attributes of leadership and to answer questions such as:
− What does it mean to be a leader in this particular time and
place? − What leadership attributes does the external word value? What leadership attributes do we personally value? − Who are the leaders who have touched our lives and what is it about them that inspires us?
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RIPPLES
RIPPLES
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The Rolodex Project// gave participants opportunities to create professional networks and cultivate new friendships locally and regionally. Several project participants in Juneau helped Sarah conceptualize and set up the installation. One participant’s sister (visiting from Puerto Rico), a filmmaker, was hired to manage the video booth during the gallery opening. The Rolodex Project// allowed for further relationship building prior to the hiring and an expanded interest amongst TNC staff for art-based civic practice collaborations. One project participant was in the process of being hired by The Nature Conservancy. The Rolodex Project// allowed for further relationship building prior to the hiring and an expanded interest amongst TNC staff for art-based civic practice collaborations. The Rolodex Project// gave participants opportunities to create professional networks and cultivate new friendships locally and regionally. “So glad you included us in this super fun project — excited about what 2019 will bring!” The Rolodex Project// participant
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Center For Performance + Civic Practice © 2019
Written by Rebecca Martínez Designed by Tanya Rubbak Additional support by Soneela Nankani, Michael Rohd, Sara Sawicki, & Shannon Scrofano THE ANDREW W.
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MELLON FOUNDATION