Grassroots Leadership and the Arts For Social Change

Susan J. Erenrich, American University and New York University, USAJon F. Wergin, Antioch University, USA

"As someone who has simultaneously been both an organizer and an artist for over 50 years, it's a deep pleasure to welcome a book that honors the critical but rarely understood relationship between social justice and cultural work. Because organizing helps everyday people build power, it's absolutely necessary if we are ever even to approach establishing justice and equity in this world we share. But power alone, however necessary, is never sufficient. It does not necessarily help us become better people, more understanding, kinder, more welcoming and supportive of those we see as different from ourselves. That's exactly what, coupled with strategic social justice organizing, the arts can help individuals and communities do, questioning our assumptions, our prejudices so that we become willing and able to take the radical risk of transforming ourselves even as we work together to challenge and change the world around us. 'Grassroots Leadership and the Arts for Social Change' is a contemporary Guide for the Perplexed for those who dream of and work for a 'Bread and Roses' future for us all."

• SECTION I: GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL ACTIVISTS PART 1: PERFORMANCE ART1. The Cellist of Sarajevo: Courage and Defiance through Music as Inspirations for Social Change - Randal Joy Thompson and Edin Ibrahimefendic2. Fela Kuti: The Man, His Music, The Activist - Greg Chidi Obi3. Václav Havel, the Playwright-Dissident: Theater as a Seismograph for Social Change - Joshua M. Hayden 4. Armand Gattís L’Inconnu N°5: Theater as a Catalyst for Resistance - Suzanne Epstein SECTION II: GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL ACTIVISTS PART 2: VISUAL ART AND FILM5. Boniface Mwangi: Photo-Journalist/Social Activist - Nita Hungu and Marta D. Bennett 6. Benevolent Subversion: Graffiti, Street Art, and the Emergence of the Anonymous Leader - James Jarc and Tricia Garwood7. Innovating Social Change through Grassroots Leadership Practices in the Arts - Anu M. Mitra8. Peter Young: The Filmmaker as Agent Provocateur - Margot Edwards and Ralph BathurstSECTION III: GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP, PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY, AND THE ROLE OF THE ARTS IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES9. They Were All Leaders: The IWW and Songs for Revolution - Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino10. Women’s Music: The Mothership - Holly Near11. Acting Up and Fighting Back: How New York’s Artistic Community Responded to AIDS - David EdelmanSECTION IV: THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED AS A FORM OF GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP12. Truth Comes in Many Colors: Theatre of the Oppressed for Conflict Transformation and Trauma Healing in Kenya - Mecca Antonia Burns, Bonface Njeresa Beti and Maxwel Eliakim Okuto13. Theater Research Methodology of a Split Society: Ukrainian Reality - Natalia Kostenko and Kateryna Tiahlo14. From Needs-Based to Asset-Based Community Development: The ABCD Method as an Effective Strategy for Engaging with Grassroots Leaders in South Africa - Kennedy C. Chinyowa, Mziwoxolo Sirayi and Selloane MokukuSECTION V: PEOPLE POWER, COMMUNITY BUILDING, AND THE ARTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE15. Finding a Line from Fight Club to the Kennedy Center: How We Learned to Cross Invisible Bridges - Garth A. Ross16. Crafting Community and Change through Books and Pads: The Tikondwe Teachers Project in Domasi, Malawi - Kevin Bottomley, Justin Snyder, Alinane Misomali, Denise Archuleta, David H. Davenport, Marsha Dwyer, Destenie Nock, Lucy Kapenuka, Chifundo Ziyaya, Ann Potts and Liz Barber 17. The Shape of Water… Palestine, Badke and Let’s Make Noise for Gaza: Three Journeys of Intercultural Choreographic Practice in Palestine - Nicholas Rowe, Noora Baker and Ata Khatab18. In Case of Emergency, Break Convention: Popular Education, Cultural Leadership, and Public Museums - Darlene E. CloverIndex