Human Rights Activism and The Arts

1. Human Rights Activism and The Arts

2. Agenda • About the Human Rights Project • Introduction: Why the Arts and Human Rights? • A Conversation with Paloma McGregor and Stephanie McKee • Questions and Answers • Conclusion

3. Who we are… Shani Jamila Artist and Director of the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center

4. About the Human Rights Project • One of 10 projects at the Urban Justice Center, an anti-poverty organization that serves NYC's most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct services, systemic advocacy, community education and organizing. • Founded in 1999. • Inspired by efforts to hold the government accountable to human rights standards, evolved into the Human Rights Project (HRP).

5. Today, the Human Rights Project • Advances human rights in the U.S. through arts activism and political education • Conducts trainings that bring together human rights groups from across the nation • Works to secure human rights for New York’s most vulnerable.

6. HRP’s Primary Initiatives Under a human rights framework, Council has the obligation to act proactively to advance equality. HRP’s New York City Council Human Rights Report Card is designed to measure the extent to which it succeeds in doing so.

7. Methodology: General Legislative analysis: using human rights criteria and working with advocates to identify human rights bills Data analysis to determine trends in hearing rates, votes scheduled, and passage of legislation

8. The Human Rights Institute • An annual fellowship program co-sponsored by the Human Rights Project and the US Human Rights Network. • Equips participants with information on the human rights framework and provides tools for applying the framework to strengthen local advocacy efforts around economic and social justice. • The application period for the 2013 Human Rights Institute, to be held in New York City, will be open soon!

9. HRP and the Arts Recently, HRP has begun to incorporate art as a core pedagogical tool during our community forums and events, and we have begun to expand our cultural activism offerings. For instance, HRP has: -Co-sponsored Dancing While Black, that featured a performance by the latest generation of dancers to emerge from the acclaimed Urban Bush Women dance company and a panel on the arts and human rights -Joined in planning the US Human Rights Media Arts Festival in coalition with groups including the US Human Rights Fund and National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. -Expanded the HRP advisory board to include prominent members of the arts and culture communities.

10. Why Art + Human Rights? With this initial webinar, we are interested in catalyzing a community conversation about critical social issues. HRP’s work is rooted in an ethic of transformation, and in no medium is change as permissible as in the artistic realm. Our challenge as arts activism facilitators is to create moments wherein the community with whom we work feels compelled, inspired, or otherwise motivated to believe bigger than they see. This is the groundwork that must be laid in encouraging and empowering people to understand and explore their political imagination—a fundamentally undervalued part of creating social change.

11. Introducing… Stephanie McKee Artistic Director at Junebug Productions and Member of Urban Bush Women’s B.O.L.D Network (Builders, Organizers, Leaders through Dance).

12. Junebug Productions The Mission of Junebug Productions is to create and present artwork of the highest quality that encourages and supports African Americans in the Black Belt South who are working to improve the quality of life available to themselves and others who are similarly oppressed and exploited. Junebug Productions, Inc. is the organizational successor to the Free Southern Theater, (FST), which was formed in 1963 to be a cultural arm of the Civil Rights Movement—“a theater for those who have no theater.” The FST was a major influence in the Black Theater Movement. Junebug Productions’ Artistic Director, John O’Neal, was a co-founder of the FST and a guiding force throughout the organization’s existence.

13. Introducing… Paloma McGregor Co-Founder of Angela’s Pulse and Lead Facilitator with Urban Bush Women’s Leadership Institute and B.O.L.D Network (Builders, Organizers, Leaders through Dance).

14. Angela’s Pulse Angela's Pulse is a home for interdisciplinary collaborations that thrive on both politics and play. We are committed to developing timely performance works that provoke, inform and inspire.

15. Today’s Conversation Cultural production is a human right. During today’s conversation, we look forward to exploring how…

16. Human Rights Are… Human rights are the basic rights that we are all entitled to by virtue of being human. Human rights include: • Civil • Political • Cultural • Social • Economic

17. Q&A We are happy to take your questions at this time. Please press *1 on your phone to “raise your hand.”

18. Thank you! We appreciate your time and are glad that you joined us today. We look forward to continuing the conversation with you. To join the HRP listserv, please email kadolphs@urbanjustice.org.

19. Thank you! Human Rights Project Urban Justice Center 123 William Street, 16th Floor New York, NY 10038 www.hrpujc.org