Belonging As A Cultural Right -CANCELLED

CANCELLED – unfortunately we have had to cancel this event until further notice. We hope to bring Arlene to our community at another time.

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We are thrilled to host a special event featuring Arlene Goldbard, who will be presenting “Belonging As A Cultural Right.”

From Arlene:
Our chief cultural deficit is belonging. Ask a roomful of people who among them feels a strong sense of belonging—cultural citizenship, the right to practice one’s culture, to be valued as an equal contributor to community life, to feel welcome in one’s own city or town—and often, only a few will raise their hands. Some may feel excluded or devalued because they aren’t part of a dominant cultural group that shapes the larger social framework. Others may feel that way on account of coming here as a refugee, of ancestors being forcibly relocated from Indigenous lands or arriving via slave ship, of a hostile environment for people of their race, religion, gender, or orientation. Yet we can never achieve a truly equitable,  livable, and creative society without practicing full cultural citizenship, without seeking full belonging for all.

Artists and culture-makers have key roles to play in the realizing a vision of true belonging. Participants in this workshop will gain insight into the power of belonging, how belonging (and its opposite, “disbelonging”) play out in their own experience, and what artists and organizers can do to nourish true belonging and cultural citizenship in their communities. They’ll also learn a simple and remarkably powerful dialogue technique—Story Circles—they will be able to apply in their own work.

Arlene Goldbard (www.arlenegoldbard.com) is a New Mexico-based writer, speaker, consultant, cultural activist, and visual artist. Her books include The Wave, The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future; New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, Community, Culture and Globalization, Crossroads: Reflections on the Politics of Culture, and Clarity. She has addressed academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe and provided advice to community-based organizations, independent media groups, and public and private funders and policymakers.