I‘d been wrestling with the idea of how to stay somewhat sane when the world’s going nutso.
Then I saw this fascinating video by Jennifer Lisa Vest. The Indigenous philosopher and psychic said that when watching things get torn down (America? Democracy? Retirement savings?), the best answer is to build something.
I’ve seen people doing that, especially in Manitou – creating art at the MAC, joining book, gardening and wine-drinking groups.
I needed to build something – something that would channel all my frustrations, outrage, grief and hope in a positive way.
Turns out, a lot of other arts folks felt the same way. I put a note on Facebook, calling for creative types looking for an outlet. My theater friends Kathy Paradise and MJ Hafter and I led a discussion at the MAC about what we could build.
The answers rushed out, like a dam burst. We would create a movement, using mostly theatre, speaking to this moment in our country.
Someone asked the obvious – “Won’t we just be preaching to the choir?”
Absolutely! But the choir has been silenced, discouraged, beaten down. The choir could use some preaching, not to mention some fine entertainment.
The choir could use some preaching.
My first thought was to call ourselves something with “Resistance” in the name. But someone pointed out that when you’re just about resisting, you’re giving energy to the thing you’re against.
Instead, we settled on The Arts Uprise.
Our first Uprise festival will be a multi-media (but mostly original theatre) thing, June 20 to 22 at the Millibo Art Theatre. Tickets are on sale now at TheMAT.org.
This will be an opportunity to experience phenomenal plays, spoken word, music and visual art. Please come and support our movement, and especially the MAT. Small arts groups like the MAT are struggling, seeing their federal and state funding dry up, and they need us now more than ever.
But this won’t be the last word from The Arts Uprise. We hope to have another festival at the Cottonwood Arts Festival this fall. And maybe this movement will go viral. More than anything else, The Arts Uprise is an invitation – for communities, for arts organizations, for individual artists (like singer Lindsay Facknitz, who just gave a wonderful concert of protest music at the MAT), to find a way to channel their talents into something that makes us all feel a little more empowered, a little less alone.
I’ve made no bones about my partisan stances in recent Bulletin commentaries, as well as my Facebook page. But The Uprise is open to everyone, regardless of party or philosophy, who has something to create that speaks to the current state of the country or the world.
The Uprise is ready for lift-off. Please join us.
