Thank You
Thank you to the
members of this year's Artist Selection Committee, who have provided
invaluable help reviewing artist applications: Lisa Dorval Hall,
Diane Faissler, Jenny Graf, Tally Forbes, and Carol Seitchik.
The Art and Social Change Funding Circle recently awarded a
grant to ArtCorps. Thank you!
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Welcome
This summer, masters student in Global
Marketing Communications and Advertising at Emerson College Chris
Cunnane is helping ArtCorps with our communications and
recruitment. Welcome Chris! |
Contact Info
ArtCorps
www.artcorp.org
+1 (978)
927-2404
artcorps@nebf.org
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This Month
Read
below about how the Wildlife Conservation Society and ArtCorps
artist Kate Sanders-Fleming have used the arts to initiate
youth leadership to protect Guatemala's scarlet macaw.
About WCS: WCS is best-known in the United
States for managing New York City's urban wildlife parks, like
the Bronx Zoo, but it has been actively involved in wildlife
preservation globally since its founding more than 100 years
ago. It has worked to protect the scarlet macaw in Guatemala
since 1992.
About the Artist: Artist Kate
Sanders-Fleming is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of
Design. She seeks to use her artistic talent to create
dialogue, build community, and address critical social issues.
She has worked in Puerto Rico, mounting an exhibition on the
environmental impact of US military occupation of the island
of Vieques. She has also served as an artist mentor and
instructor in Rhode Island.
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Protecting the Scarlet Macaw of
Guatemala
The scarlet macaw has a few
more guardians in the Pipiles area in the Petén, Guatemala
thanks to a partnership between the Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS), ArtCorps and artist Kate Sanders-Fleming.
 After an alarming discovery about threats to this
endangered bird, WCS education staff member Jeovany Tut
Rodriguez and Kate met with students in Pipiles in February of
this year. With the youth, they discussed the importance of
the macaw and began to develop youth leadership to promote
conservation. In a few months, these efforts created several
community arts projects that drew widespread participation
around the potentially sensitive issue.
From August to
December, the brightly-plumed scarlet macaw migrates to the
Pipiles region. The birds travel from Montes Azul, Mexico and
the Mayan Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Residents of Pipiles
share that the birds come to eat the fruit of the corozo (a
palm-like tree) and to regain their health and strength after
mating season.
Migration also makes the birds
vulnerable to poachers. Poachers shoot and wound the birds'
wings and then capture and sell the birds to international animal traders. Representatives of WCS
found areas of the forest littered with macaw feathers. "It's
terrible news," says Roan Balas McNab, Director of WCS
Guatemala, "but now that we know, we can do something about
it."
This discovery presented a challenge to those who
sought to protect the macaw. The wrong approach--one that
focused on blame and reproach--could damage relationships in
the community, hindering conservation work and leaving the
macaw more vulnerable.
The presence of an ArtCorps
artist helped overcome this challenge because community art
and popular education offer a creative and engaging way to
discuss sensitive topics--and to mobilize a community for
action. Kate's work with WCS created an opportunity for
greater outreach in a community that faces many
challenges.
A group of 13 young people gathered for 4
days of discussion, popular education games and arts
activities. Kate led them through individual drawing, group
mural painting and theater games. Finally, the youth
reached nearly 80% of the community with a dramatic
presentation of their concerns about protecting the scarlet
macaw on International Women's Day (May 10).
Under
Kate's facilitation, the youth first played games and drew
images of scarlet macaws. Kate designed a mural based upon
their images--including a wounded macaw falling from the
sky--and the youth helped paint the mural. Together they
developed a dramatic presentation that tells the story of the
scarlet macaw's migration and performed it in front of the
mural. Different creative layers provided different
opportunities to engage with the issue.
WCS will
follow up in Pipiles to ensure that the youth leaders
identified through this process continue to develop and
continue to tell the story of protecting Guatemala's scarlet
macaw around the region. Organizers hope that the experience
in Pipiles will serve as a model for other
communities.
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