Highlighting Art and Green Urbanism at Chispadc

Last Thursday, February 17th, I presented on the topic Eco-art East of the River: Green Urbanism, Business and Art in Ward 7 in the winter edition of Chispa DC, a part of this year’s Intersections Art Festival, held February 17, 2011 at The Atlas Performing Arts Center, in Washington, DC. My presentation was correlated to my role as the art curator of The Center for Green Urbanism, located also in Washington, DC.

Chispa is a quarterly curated media mash-up for artists, organizers and change agents in the DC area to share what they’re thinking, dreaming and doing. The event features 8 – 10 people “who have the freedom to present anything they’re passionate about.” Chispa is an opportunity for cultural creatives to connect with each other and share what they love both in and outside of their own circles – theater, organization development, community organizing, etc.

Chispa is inspired by a presentation format that emerged in Japan as a way for architects to share their work: each speaker is limited to 20 images which automatically advance after 20 seconds. Variations of this format, called Pecha Kucha, have sprung up around the world.

I joined five other exciting presenters to address one of the overall themes of this edition of Chispa by answering “How does your work/dream/idea explore an artistic or cultural intersection?”

Chispa is a collaboration between Potomac Group, LLC and Spark Creativity, small organization development practitioners with deep roots in social justice and cultural creation. For more information about Chispa visit the website at http://chispadc.wordpress.com/.

Special thanks to the Chispa organizers for an inspiring evening featuring the “intersections” of art, culture and creativity in the DMV!

Check out the presentation below, filmed by Zandra Chestnut, co-Founder of The Center for Green Urbanism.

Check out a slide show of the speakers below, courtesy of Chispadc.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Eco-art East of the River at Chispa on 2/17!

I am excited to announce that I will be presenting on the topic Eco-art East of the River: Green Urbanism, Business and Art in Ward 7 in the winter edition of Chispa DC, a part of this year’s Intersections Art Festival, February 17, 2011 at The Atlas Performing Arts Center , Atlas District. 1333 H Street NE Washington, DC.

Chispa is a quarterly curated media mash-up for artists, organizers and change agents in the DC area to share what they’re thinking, dreaming and doing. The event features 8 – 10 people “who have the freedom to present anything they’re passionate about.” Chispa is an opportunity for cultural creatives to connect with each other and share what they love both in and outside of their own circles – theater, organization development, community organizing, etc.

Chispa is inspired by a presentation format that emerged in Japan as a way for architects to share their work: each speaker is limited to 20 images which automatically advance after 20 seconds. Variations of this format, called Pecha Kucha, have sprung up around the world.

I will join five other exciting presenters to address one of the overall themes of this edition of Chispa by answering “How does your work/dream/idea explore an artistic or cultural intersection?” The focus will be on the fusion of art, green urbanism and entrepreneurship at the Center for Green Urbanism.

Chispa is a collaboration between Potomac Group, LLC and Spark Creativity, small organization development practitioners with deep roots in social justice and cultural creation. For more information about Chispa visit the website at http://chispadc.wordpress.com/.

INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival premiered in February 2010 and attracted over 6000 patrons to the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The festival returns in February 2011 for nine days of multidisciplinary, curated performances celebrating art as an inspiration for conversation and connection.

“We hope to create through the arts a place where we all can meet, bringing with us our past and our present, with our eyes set on what’s ahead. We will meet at a crossroads of multiple perspectives offered by over 400 artists of all ages, cultures and races. We will meet as audiences from every neighborhood in DC. From this intersection of people and place, an energy will be ignited — an energy that transforms. Our hope is that we will all go down roads we have not traveled before, and along the way, find new seeds for understanding about ourselves, our community and this richly-connected, ever-evolving place that is America.”
—Mary Hall Surface, Festival Artistic Director

For nine days over three weekends, more than 600 of Washington’s emerging and established artists will be featured in over 100 performances in the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s six intimate performance venues. Located in the heart of the burgeoning H Street corridor, the INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival celebrates the collaborative energy and spirit of Washington’s most talented and diverse arts scene.

For more information and to view a schedule of performances, visit http://intersectionsdc.org/