Art Feeds

Founded in 2009 by Meg Bourne, Art Feeds is dedicated to empowering children through creativity. In collaboration with schools and after school programs Art Feeds uses music, art, writing, and performing arts for the development and creative expression of children. We are here to help children explore their love of Art and better express themselves through art and imagination. We strive to live by the lessons the children of Art Feeds teach us. These are to- Love Naively. Give Generously. Be Foolishly Compassionate.

Art Feeds began as an outreach to one simple classroom, and now provides art for many in-need classrooms, after school programs and across the globe to our partners in Africa to provide children the tools they need to develop creatively. Through music, art, writing, photography, dance and performing arts, Art Feeds teaches children how to express themselves in a positive and uplifting manner. We seek to allow children to build themselves up through unique expression and creative passions. We create programs that are relevant and meet the needs within the communities we serve. These communities include- special needs classrooms, behavioral disorder classrooms and after school care. Our focus is to make a difference in each child’s life through mentorship and community. Art Feeds does this by bringing art back into the classroom and making art an accessible outlet in children’s lives.

DreamYard’s A.C.T.I.O.N. Project (Art Community Teams in Our Neighborhoods) is our 4-year arts activism and youth development program for Bronx teenagers. Its mission is to develop young people as effective social leaders and active civic participants through challenging artistic projects. A.C.T.I.O.N. participants explore social issues through a rigorous, engaging process that focuses on the root causes of oppression guided by a strong, dedicated team of teaching artists. Through the A.C.T.I.O.N. Project, young people develop powerful strategies to respond to the issues that are most important to them in their communities.

Life Drama

Ba Futura

Ba Futuru, meaning ‘for the future’, is Timor-Leste’s preeminent national peace building organization. Ba Futuru staff are renowned for their quality training skills and have provided educational training programs to more than 20,000 children, youth, teachers and community leaders since 2004.

Free Dimensional

fD supports culture in the service of free expression, justice & equality.

The Creative Resistance Fund provides small distress grants to people in danger due to their use of creativity to fight injustice.

VicHealth – Building health through arts and new media

The greatest social impacts of the participation in the arts… arise from their ability to help people think critically about and question their experiences and those of others… with all the excitement, danger, magic, colour, symbolism, feeling, metaphor and creativity that the arts offer. It is in the act of creativity that empowerment lies, and through sharing creativity that understanding and social inclusiveness are promoted.
Matarasso 1997

On the one hand, millions of dollars are committed to alleviating ill health through individual intervention. Meanwhile we ignore what our everyday experience tells us, i.e. the way we organise our society, the extent to which we encourage interaction among the citizenry and the degree to which we trust and associate with each other in caring communities is probably one of the most important determinants of health.
Lomas 1998

“The arts are not somehow apart from national life, the arts are at the heart of national life… In times of war and sacrifice, the arts – and artists – remind us to sing and to laugh and to live. In times of plenty, they challenge our conscience and implore us to remember the least among us. In moments of division or doubt, they compel us to see the common values that we share; the ideals to which we aspire, even if we sometimes fall short. In days of hardship, they renew our hope that brighter days are still ahead.”
US President, Barack Obama, Reception for Kennedy Center Honorees The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC 6 December 2009

Quotes from:
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) 2010. Building health through arts and new media, VicHealth Action plan 2010–13.

Staying Alive

Staying Alive Foundation give out small sums of money to young people who we believe in – who we trust – and who we are genuinely inspired by. These young people have one thing in common – they’re fighting to conquer HIV and AIDS in their local communities in the most creative and innovative ways.

Wan Smolbag Theatre

Wan Smolbag Theatre is a non-government organisation based in Vanuatu but operating all over the South Pacific. We started as a group of 15 voluntary actors in 1989, then 5 paid actors, and we celebrated 20 years in 2009 and now have a staff of around 100 full- and part-time staff and over 400 volunteers.

Coupled with structured workshops facilitated by actors, the organisation uses drama to inform, raise awareness and encourage public discussion on a range of contemporary health, lifestyle, environment and governance issues.

WSB is funded by international donors and runs programmes in Education, Environment, Governance, Health and Youth issues. These can address many themes from waste management and electoral rights to domestic violence and AIDS, plus much in between.

Freedom To Create

Freedom to Create was founded in 2006 to foster prosperity in the developing world by investing in the creative foundations of society. The Freedom to Create Prize was added in 2008 to support and recognise artists who strive for social change on the frontlines of poverty, conflict and suffering.

The arts have a unique ability to improve lives in innovative and low cost ways. To date more than 230 grants have been made in over 80 countries, touching over 12 million lives altogether.

The Freedom to Create Prize has captured the imagination of artists and development communities around the world, attracting nominations from over 100 countries.

my search to define & list the conventions of political theatre continues…

Philosophy, politics, literary studies, sociology et al have always offered theatre interesting material; methods to speak about life without stepping down to the level of the everyday. Art has that right – perhaps even obligation – but it only becomes political when the creator does not fear losing the immunity of the artist and offers opinions, chooses sides. With art-works like these, the aesthetic purpose is no longer the most important element. It is precisely at this moment when using the term political theatre (art) can be helpful in analysing and evaluating the perception of the piece.

On a quest to find political theatre by Ott Karulin