On September 11—the 10th anniversary of the 9/11—at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at Lincoln Center, a signature symposium on interdependence was convened. With a the overall theme "America in an Interdependent World Ten Years After 9/11," the Symposium reflected back to that tragic day and also looked forward toward a world of positive interdependence. Organizers Benjamin Barber (Founder of the Interdependence Movement) and Jacqueline Z. Davis (Director of the Library for the Performing Arts) brought together a diverse and distinguished group of participants:
Rachel Cooper: Director for Performing Arts and Programs, Asia Society
Howard Dean: Former U.S. Presidential Candidate and Former Governor of Vermont
Laura Flanders: Host and Founder, GRITtv
Josh Fox: Director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland
John Fullerton: Founder and President of the Capital Institute
Carol Gilligan: Renowned Writer, Psychologist and Professor, New York University
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Author and Former Lt. Governor of Maryland
Jakob Köllhofer: Director, German-American Institute
Khalil Gibran Muhammad: Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
Miles Rapoport: President, Dēmos
Tiffany Shlain: Filmmaker and Founder of the Webby Awards
Faouzi Skali: Director, Fes Festival of World Sacred Music
Tavis Smiley: PBS and NPR Journalist and Host, "The Tavis Smiley Show"
David M. Steiner: Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York
Cornel West: Philosopher and Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University
Keynote address by Gov. Howard Dean.
INTERDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION:
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Faouzi Skali, Jacqueline Z. Davis, Carol Gilligan, James Early, Dina Hestad & Josh Fox
On September 12, Interdependence Day was celebrated at 3LD Art and Technology Center, located near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Using state of the art technology provided by 3LD, the celebration connected live with venues across the globe--including Montreal, Canada and Memphis, TN--for a series of world café style community discussions, with musical and arts components deeply intertwined. Participants worked on common solutions and plan for future action in breakout sessions at 3LD, punctuated by multimedia presentations, musical interludes, artistic performances, and addresses by various distinguished guest speakers.
Speakers included Leon Botstein (President, Bard College & Music Director and Principal Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra), James Early (Director, Cultural Heritage Policy, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution) and many of the speakers from the previous day's Symposium. Performances from acclaimed Irish musicians Moya Brennan and Cormac DeBarra and a group of underground hip-hop and spoken word artists brought together from across the U.S. and UK by Dannii Evans of OneTaste UK (see concert poster below) complemented the discussion sections.
Keynote address by Leon Botstein.
INTERDEPENDENCE DAY CONCERT - "It Starts with Us..." When: Monday September 12, 8:00 pm - midnight Where: 3LD Art & Technology Center - 80 Greenwich St, New York, NY Cost: FREE Age: All ages What: "It Starts with Us…" a live music and spoken word event, presented by OneTaste (UK) and 3-Legged Dog. Featuring:
SPECIAL PREVIEW SCREENING OF CONNECTED When: Saturday September 10, 6:30 pm Where: 3LD Art & Technology Center - 80 Greenwich St, New York, NY Cost: FREE What: The Interdependence Movement and the WE Campaign present a special sneak preview screening of Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology, in theaters nationwide this fall. Q & A with director Tiffany Shlain after the film. Film opens in theaters this fall--in New York, on October 14 at the Angelika Theater!
LOCAL ARTS EVENTS:
In New York, as well as across the globe, arts events were held dedicated to the notion of interdependence. Planned NY arts events tied to Interdependence Day include:
The People's Potlucks, a series of community dinner discussions and participatory arts gatherings, by MAPP International Productions. These culminated in the WeDaPeoplesCabaret at Harlem Stage on September 15.
Lush Valley, a live art participatory performance put on by HERE Arts Center, had its opening on the evening of September 11. An interactive live art event, Lush Valley was hatched by a creative artistic team and shaped nightly by an ever-expanding community of you.
PARTNERS AND SPONSORS:
Co-Hosts:
CivWorld at Dēmos
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center
Partners:
Asia Society
Beckoning for Change: Artists with a Cause
Dēmos
dotSUB
Fundación Sebastian
The Gathering for Justice
HERE Arts Center
Institute for Culture in the Service of Community Sustainability
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
MAPP International Productions
The Moxie Institute
the WE Campaign
Youth Now
Sponsors:
Freedom Tower level:
Institute of International Education
New York Community Trust
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
SAGE Publications
Jerre Stead
G.H. Thyssen
Empire State level:
Benjamin and Leah Barber
David and Katherine Bradley
Caroline Gerry and Betsy von Furstenberg
Ralph Guild
Gopal Shrestha
Paige West
Other levels:
Carlos Cano
Lee Elman
Heidi Fiske
Marcia Fox
Vartan Gregorian
Michael Levy & Bonny Wolf
Stuart MacNiven
Ann O'Bryan
In-kind Sponsors:
Empire Hotel
Hostelling International New York
New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
INTERDEPENDENCE DAY IX - Worldwide, 2011 Interdependence events around the world: September, 2011
Following eight successful Interdependence Days, previously held annually in a single global city, in addition to this year's "hub" in New York City, Interdependence Day 2011 was celebrated in locations around the world on September 12, 2011 and in the days leading up to and following it. Events occurred in London, Brussels, Nepal, Melbourne (Australia), Montreal (QC), Amherst (MA), Memphis (TN), Purchase (NY) and Scranton (PA). Read some highlights below:
House of Lords, London, United Kingdom
Hosted by Prof. Lord Bhikhu Parekh, FBA and Chaired by Professor Lord Kamlesh Patel, the panel addressed the topic "Islam, Multiculturalism and the Lessons of Norway". The panel featured Mr. Jan Gustav Strandenaes (Norwegian citizen, Consultant to the UN on Governance and Environmental issues), Lord Frank Judd (Life Peer, House of Lords), Dr. Omar Khan (Research Director, Runnymede Trust), Imam Dr. Abduljalil Sajid (Chair, Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony), Rabbi Jackie Tabick (Chair, World Council of Faiths), Dr. Varun Uberoi (Lecturer, Brunel University). The event was supported by the Gandhi Foundation, Runnymede Trust, Universal Peace Federation and CivWorld. Read the program here.
Melbourne, Australia
The Global Interdependence Day Committee (Australia) launched on Interdependence Day at Ormond College (University of Melbourne) in Melbourne, Australia. The event brought together academics, students and creative artists to explore the meaning of interdependence at personal, national and global levels at a 2-hour symposium.
A core theme of the discussions was to highlight ways in which international students at the University of Melbourne are developing relationships with Australian students, including Aboriginal students, and vice versa. A secondary theme was to consider the relevance of the Global Interdependence Movement for the active promotion of peace - with reference to the Global Peace Index. The program for the event was developed in consultation with the students, taking into account their ideas, including their artistic and cultural contributions. Read more (including the program and see what the discussions produced) on the official website. See video of the event here.
Memphis, TN, USA
The New Ballet Ensemble & School, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is a comprehensive community arts program that reaches into diverse neighborhoods, offering excellence in training and innovative programming while providing access to a cross-cultural environment and a track to higher education. They partnered with the Interdependence Movement to perform a piece at the National Civil Rights Museum and stream live to the audience in New York.
The piece, UBUNTU, springs from the "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We find ourselves dancing, performing and teaching together within an organization that-with great intention-brings together children, on a daily basis, in a standard of excellence and professionalism to grow up hand in hand as artists, regardless of their difference or ability to pay. We see ourselves-New Ballet Ensemble-as emblematic of the school itself; we recognize that it takes an understanding and appreciation of our diverse backgrounds and personalities to create a community in which art-making can exist. After our basic needs are met, the next are to matter and to be heard. UBUNTU is a collaboration that seeks to meet such needs. We used Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech as inspiration for our own dreams. What resulted is a piece that combines movement, spoken word, rhythms and music to represent what interdependence means to us.
Montreal, QC, Canada
The Segal Centre for the Performing Arts initiated Montreal’s first participation in Global Interdependence Day celebrations. This worldwide project commemorates the events of 9/11 with the mission of fostering solidarity among nations and recognizing the importance of working together to solve the problems that affect us all.
Events at the Segal Centre included two presentations of In Transit (in French and English), the Segal Centre Academy’s original musical. Performed by the Wandering Stars, the Segal’s theatre troupe made up of young artists aged 16 to 22, In Transit is set in an airport lounge where a canceled flight to Montreal leads to chaos among the stranded passengers. This modern story of Babel is co-written by Elsa Perez and Ben Gerlis, directed by Elsa Perez and designed by Ben Gerlis with music by Elan Kunin and additional songs by Nick Burgess.
Other events included a panel discussion titled "Peace Making and Community Building through the Arts," animated by Patricia Rimok, founder of ib2ib.net and former President, Conseil des relations interculturelles for the Quebec government. Artists and scholars were among the speakers. There was also an art exhibition on display throughout the day in the Segal Centre by artists Camilo Gomez Duràn, Nora Golic, and Bismark Villacrés.
ARTS SUBMISSION CALL
See the submissions from our 2011 Arts Sumbmission Call for Interdependence on our 2011 Arts Submission Call page.
User: jacdavisI serve on CivWorld's Executive Committe and the Interdependence Arts Committee. We are encouraging the arts community globally to create aView Profile
