Spiral Q
PUPPET THEATER’S
PEOPLEHOOD A Parade & Pageant rd
Saturday, October 23 2010
PRESENTED by:
be par t of ar t
Spiral Q Puppet Theater MISSION¬
Spiral Q builds strong and equitable communities characterized by creativity, joy, can-do attitudes, and the courage to act on their convictions.
of discrimination and oppression. We envision a world of abundance that mobilizes its resources to nurture shared vitality.
VISION
We imagine a city whose streets reflect the full spectrum of its residents’ creativity. We see a responsive and engaged society that rallies consistently to overcome the challenges
Our Work: Spiral Q does a whole lot more
than just puppets and parades. We work in schools, parks, universities, community centers, libraries, day cares, medical and health service facilities, and streets throughout Philadelphia with a wide variety of students, teachers, artists, community organizers, health service providers, activists, and other neighborhood residents. We lead workshops, community planning processes and meetings, produce exhibitions, engage in ground-breaking research, provide technical support to activist and community groups, and have developed an award-winning education pro-
Peoplehood community meeting, August 2009 tional, artistic, and developmental opportunities for Philadelphia’s children and youth. From storybook hours at libraries and day cares, to school-wide parade projects in elementary schools, to silk screening classes at high schools, Spiral Q provides age-appropriate, hands-on education classes and workshops that empower
ACTION
We take to the streets (real and virtual) our unflinching and joyous commitment to justice and equality. We use our art to connect people, actions, values, neighborhoods, organizations, and movements to each other and to their collective creative force for change. We remain steadfast in cultivating a climate of mutual respect, open to difficult conversations, and committed to seeking a sense of shared purpose.
Researching and Learning: Spiral Q maintains a strong dedication to furthering research and learning in our own work and the work of our partners and constituents. We lead trainings for community groups and organizers, study the
3rd grade activists from Montessori Genesis II Parkway NW silk-screen residency, May 2010 students to identify the stories they want to tell and to share those stories through a variety of creative means.
Working with Communities:
Norris Square Pageant, June 2010 gram. Spiral Q works across a variety of artistic disciplines (including printing and silk-screening, three-dimensional art and sculpture, drawing, painting, theater, music, spoken word, and street theater) and often combine several art forms in our productions and presentations. We engage mainly in three types of work:
Developing Youth: Through our programming, Spiral Q works to provide unique educa-
When Spiral Q is requested to work with different community organizations, we bring a unique, collaborative planning process that leads neighborhood groups in finding new ways of forming partnerships around shared goals. From providing support to the Coalition to Save the Free Libraries and Casino-Free Philadelphia, to working with the Norris Square community for the past five years to build a safer, more unified neighborhood, Spiral Q is renowned for leading groups in discussions of difficult and important topics with skill and safety. These processes help communities identify and mobilize their resources, develop and deliver powerful messages to their audiences, and feel less isolated and more connected to larger movements and institutions.
work of similar organizations like In the Heart of the Beast and work with both locally and internationally known artists. Most recently Spiral Q traveled to South Africa to interview artists and study the role of grass roots, community art in the anti-apartheid movement, which then influenced an educational curriculum, a presentation, and several exhibitions.
What it Takes:
• One 8,000 sq. ft. warehouse: two studios, an office, an exhibition room, and storage • Over 2,000 puppets and other artifacts • 100 gallons of paint • 10,000 sheets of recycled cardboard • 40 Rapid 31 staple pliers • Hundreds of brown paper bags • A mountain of newspapers • 1 green Ford Econoline • At least 12 bikes • A barrel of bicycle tubes • Over 100 partner organizations • 20 part-time staff • 10 Board members • 250 friends and volunteers • Four full-time staff • One beautiful, creative, equitable city we can all believe in • AND YOU!
WELCOME TO PEOPLEHOOD!
A Note from the Director -- Tracy Broyles
r We began the journey of Peoplehood this year surrounded by a viral rise of racism, discrimination, and violence. Not new, but like a fever spiking, an anti-other movement is on the rise. A surge in political organizing rooted in protectionism, speakers capitalize on the recession to build support through cloaked and not so cloaked anti-immigrant, anti-queer, and anti-poor rhetoric. The shrill call for religious intolerance sounds. Here in Philadelphia, we have seen the escalation of racially motivated hate crimes and violence in our schools and our neighborhoods.
How
PEOPLEHOOD works The pulse of the people
In response, we set out within Peoplehood to engage our city in a conversation, to share our encounters with discrimination and to seek and to propose better ways of living together. Peoplehood begins with sharing stories, one of the oldest traditions in the world. We sit in circles and take time. We take time to share, to listen, to witness. We pause and interrupt the normal routines to reflect on what is and what we wish will be. Then a story evolves, woven together from the bits and pieces of our lives and imaginations.
community conversations about what matters workshops in public spaces and partner organizations begin to yield a cast of characters and sketches of scenes emerge
People shared stories of personal loss, of shame and fear, of crippling isolation. They pointed to a lack of accountability and systems that reinforce and perpetuate the alignment of poverty with race. However, people also shared stories of hope, of witness, of finding ground. People spoke of supporting one another, of unlikely alliances, and of strangers extending a hand.
finishing puppets at the studio painting, stapling, paper macheing sewing, stenciling, sculpting spinning cardboard into stories putting the pieces together
Collaboration is not simply working together. Rather it is the space in which an idea is changed, transformed, affected by another. We each bring to this creative table a color, a vision, a song and when these blend, we ourselves are transformed, are affected by one another. Birds flock, dividing and coming together, wolves howl and hunt, we sleep, it rains, and in this vacuum we deposit our dreams, our highest expectations of ourselves and others. In pageants, we are allowed to be idealists. Indeed, it is the place in which we practice that which may seem impossible or at least improbable in our daily lives.
At the park with puppets
So, this year’s Peoplehood is dedicated to the PEOPLE of PEOPLEHOOD, that is, to all of humanity. Today we do not pretend to resolve this struggle, however we are resolved in our commitment to see one another, to make a safe space, and to work together to build a city we can all believe in. We invite you to join us in this moment and beyond, to challenge that which causes us to shrink, which pulls us from compassion. We invite you to assemble with us, to encounter one another, and to create that beautiful world which can only come from the wealth of our difference.
Today’s Events
12:00 - Peoplehood Parade Line-up 1PM - Peoplehood Parade steps off Around 2PM - Pageant Begins Around 4PM - The Factorye’s Post Pageant Music & Testimonials
The Puppets of Peoplehood
The push
in various stages of completion scenes move from ideas to action choreographing, coordinating dodging soccer balls and dogs
The big day
line up at Paul Robeson house drums beating, flags waving, The parade steps off at one friends waving and joining in arrive at Clark Park
Places!
those who think that they know what is happening (?) and those with no idea gravitate to the puppets the band strikes up A pageant unfolds there are surprises moments of unrehearsed serendipity as the shadows move across the park neighbor to neighbor
A story is told
The Ancestors
The Everyone
The Houses
The Wraiths
Humanity
The People who make Peoplehood Every year, PEOPLEHOOD evolves from an unlikely force of individuals and organizations, friends, strangers, neighbors, coworkers, organizers, artists, grown-ups and children, bike riders, grandmothers, teachers, builders, drummers, dog walkers, fathers, singers, preachers, activists, storytellers, bankers, librarians, leaders, people of faith, atheists, americans of all racial and cultural
Pageant Team Tracy Broyles Ted Enoch Liza Goodell Shayne Bargman Annie Daley Jamie Campbell Jennifer Turnbull Kestrel Plump
Karyl Weber Kasia Brzeska Kate Farquhar Katherine Malloy Katie Banas Kelly Colligan Kensey Berry Kyle Goldbach
Alice Manos Alicia Willett Alison Duncan Anne Margrethe Melsom Barbara Sheehan Beth Huegel Bethany Lucas Village of Arts & Humanities, Peoplehood 2009 Charles Tyson Christianne Kapps Liz Brown Deney Nguyen Lorna Peterson Elizabeth Victor Mielele Hawkins Fran Aulston Najee Haynes-Follins Grace Kennedy Nita Algarin Imanni Wilkes Pablo Virgo Jenn DiBartolomeo Patrick Sampson Josh Herren Peter Fischbeck
backgrounds, immigrants, exiles, refugees. We move through a meandering dialogue of drawing, listening, dance, words, puppet making, dreaming, truck loading, and finally walking through our neighborhood to Clark Park. Thank you to this year’s pageant team and the organizations who have worked together to bring you PEOPLEHOOD. Pramod Dibble Rebecca Quinn-Wolf Samantha Hyman Sara Outing Scotty Krueger Serena Saunders Shandea Baker Solomon Moreno-Rosa Stephen Landis Tara Jaiyeola Thaddeus Govan Jr. Yasmona Edwards Zoe Bassett Board of Directors Christina Cantrill Dustin Kidd Peter Appelbaum Camina Ceasar J. Martin Futrell Michelle Freeman Tawanna Jones Jake Kaskey Victoria Prizzia Partner Organizations Paul Robeson House
Abington Arts Center ACT-UP Philadelphia Bache Martin School Boycott Divest Sanctions Broad Street Ministry Build On Casino Free Philly EducationWorks
Casino Free Philladelphia, 2009
The Factorye Friends of Clark Park Girard Medical Center Harris Steppers Montessori Genesis II New Freedom Theatre Neighborhood Bike Works New Life Consumer Center
Build On volunteer, 2010
North Philly Stompers Park Pleasant Nursing & Rehab Pearl Pressman Liberty Penske Truck Rental Phila. Outward Bound Powelton Steppers Project Home Prometheus Radio Project SCI West Tasker Elite Offical Teens 4 Good The Enterprise Center CDC and Street Team University City District United Block Captains Assoc. Village of Arts & Humanities Walnut Hill Community Association West Philadelphia Cooperative Preschool Youth Build Charter School
A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Humanity
The actions of these puppets in today’s pageant were inspired in part by THE PEOPLE’S INSTITUTE For Survival and Beyond’s Anti-Racist Principles for Effective Organizing & Social Transformation.
ANTI-RACIST PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE ORGANIZING & SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION According to The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, is a national and international collective of anti-racist, multicultural community organizers and educators dedicated to building an effective movement for social transformation. The People’s Institute considers racism the primary barrier preventing communities from building effective coalitions and overcoming institutionalized oppression and inequities. Through Undoing RacismTM / Community Organizing Workshops, technical assistance and consultations, PISAB helps individuals, communities, organizations and institutions move beyond addressing the symptoms of racism to undoing the causes of racism so as to create a more just and equitable society. Today, The People’s Institute is recognized as one of the foremost anti-racism training and organizing institutions in the nation.
standing the lessons of history frees us to create a more humane future.
The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond believes that an effective, broad-based movement for social transformation must be rooted in their articulated Anti-Racist Principles (excerpted below and found in full detail at www.pisab.org under Our Approach.)
Networking
Learning from History
Analyzing Power
History is a tool for effective organizing. Under-
Sharing Culture
Culture is the life support system of a community. If a community’s culture is respected and nurture, the community’s power will grow.
Developing Leadership
Anti-racist leadership needs to be developed intentionally and systematically within local communities and organizations.
Maintaining Accountability
To organize with integrity requires that we be accountable to the communities struggling with racist oppression. The growth of an effective broad-based movement for social transformation requires networking or “building a net that works”. As the movement develops a strong net, people are less likely to fall through.
As a society, we often believe that individuals and/
or their communities are solely responsible for their conditions. Through the analysis of institutional power, we identify and unpack the systems external to the community that crate the internal realities that many people experience daily.
Gatekeeping
Persons who work in institutions often function as gatekeepers to ensure that the institution perpetuates itself. By operating with anti-racist values and networking with those who share those values and maintaining an accountable relationship with the community, the gatekeeper becomes an agent of institutional transformation.
UNDOING RACISM COMMUNITY ORGANIZING WORKSHOP October 29-31, 2010 at Temple University’s Mitten Hall
Contact Onaje Muid, MSW / Fatima Hafiz, PhD at 610.394.0512 or 201.647.4513 to sign up for the workshop. (Limited scholarships available.) Go to www.pisab.org for more info about The People’s Institute.
Resources A limited listing of additional community resources in the work to overcome discrimination, create safe spaces, and build equity and justice include:
ACT UP Philadelphia - http://critpath.org/actup Asian Americans United - http://aaunited.org New Sanctuary Movement - http://nsmphilly.blogspot.com/ The Attic Youth Center - http://atticyouthcenter.org The Council on American Islamic Relations - http://pa.cair.com The Mazzoni Center - http://www.mazzonicenter.org/ The National Coalition Building Institute - www.ncbiphilly.org
The Southern Poverty Law Center - http://www.splcenter.org Women’s Way - http://www.womensway.org Mexicanos JUNTOS - mexjuntos@yahoo.com Community Legal Services - http://www.clsphila.org NAACP - www.naacp.org ACLU - www.aclupa.org Education Law Center - www.elc-pa.org
Spiral Q thanks Penske Truck Rentals Happy Peoplehood! Penske Truck Rentals 1216 Washington Ave Philadelphia, PA 19147 (215) 334-3006
Spiral Q is supported by:
The Barra Foundation • Connelly Foundation • Douty Foundation • Enterprise Rent-a-Car Foundation • Samuel S. Fels Fund • Independence Foundation • Lincoln Financial Fund • Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial Fund • National Endowment of the Arts • Pennsylvania Humanities Council • Patricia Kind Family Foundation • Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Program Stream • Philadelphia Cultural Fund • Philadelphia Foundation • PNC ArtsAlive • Seybert Institution • Stockton Rush Bartol • Union Benevolent Association • American Street Empowerment Zone Community Trust Board • William Penn Foundation • And the generous donors like you.
Build a City You Believe In Donate to Spiral Q! Money
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It s FUN to FUND the Q!
Have time each week or once in a while to:
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Drop CASH in the buckets when they go by.
Work in our STUDIOS Assist in our CLASSROOMS
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Mail a CHECK to the address below
Be on a COMMITTEE Promote in our STREET TEAMS Help us with EVENTS like today.
A great fax machine and copier Laser Printers Digital CAMERAS Latex paints and other ART SUPPLIES A sweet mini FRIDGE Office Supplies Sturdy Ladders Check our website for other needs!
Call Liza at 215.222.6979 if you have material donations or want to volunteer.
Spiral
puppet theater
3114 Spring Garden St. Philadelphia, PA 19104 215.222.6979 www.spiralq.org
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF PEOPLEHOOD GO ONLINE and take this SURVEY: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2QKL7XH Or write one out now and give it to the info table.