As I am completing this portfolio in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, my plans and delivery of my Arts Dialogue have had to shift somewhat dramatically.
Initially, I was going to hold an in person event which was to be part performance and part interactive workshop. The plan was also to discuss my work on the project to date, particular the research project I completed as part of the Methods and Materials of Qualitative Research course, and engage in a discussion with the audience to gather their feedback. The event was to be held on March 26th at the University of Chicago's Arts + Public Life, and hosted by Pivot Arts, with the audience being made up of other Chicago artists in theater and of other practices, as well as it would have been open to community members of the Arts + Public Life Space, who are predominately black and working-class.
Due to the stay-at-home measures that most communities have undertaken, I had to adjust to giving a shorter presentation on my work thus far to a community of artists in the Lincoln City Fellowship program, which is part of The Speranza Foundation. This presentation took place on March 21st, with the discussion occurring March 31st, both conducted online via Zoom, with other program fellows and mentors, including Dr. Amy Cordileone.
On the Written Presentation page, you will find both the in-person and online presentation plans, and on the Post Oral Presentation page, my reflection on the event, next steps, and bibliography.
The Arts Dialogue event will involve me leading the attendees in some participatory actions around the theme of play (and the focus of my research), which is Re-Writing the Declaration. The play will be participatory, and invites the audience to join the multi-generational cast of 7 women/femmes/non-binary folks of color on a journey to claim this space as one of belonging, and to begin to imagine systems and structures of governance that center the most oppressed. I'll be drawing from queer, feminist, and critical race theory for the research/play, as well as from participatory workshops that I've been hosting to create the play.
This event will attempt to synthesize/present some of the data that I've gathered thus far, invite a new audience into the participation, serve as a moment of public feedback, and demonstrate how/why I'm qualified to take on my research project.