THE ALBUQUERQUE CULTURAL CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 28-30, 2012
“Crossing Borders: Personal, Regional, International.”
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
4:30 pm:
RECEPTION AT THE CENTER FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE. Light refreshments and drinks provided by La Montanita Co-Op.
7-9:30 pm:
READING AND CONCERT AT OUTPOST PERFORMANCE SPACE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
9 am:
GREETINGS, INTRODUCTIONS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
9:30 am:
PANEL ONE: THE SOUTHWEST BORDER
E. A. Mares, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Roberto Rodriguez, Irene Vasquez.
The relationship of peoples on the border from Texas to California. Immigration issues. “Americanizing” the population vs. self-identification of indigenous peoples. The attack on Mexican American Studies in Tucson public schools.
11 am:
PANEL TWO: CULTURE AND COMMUNITY OF THE BORDER
Michelle Otero, Kamala Platt, Sandra Soto, and Luis Rodriguez. The reaction of the Mexican American and indigenous communities. Strains on human and environmental resources, pressures of law enforcement, the tribal situation, educational impoverishment, the presence of the Wall.
11 am-1 pm:
LUNCH – Food truck service in Harwood parking lot by Rustic
12:30pm:
WORKSHOP: COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Re-thinking our community labor in ways that reflect collective pedagogical thinking on all levels. Pedagogy in the service of social transformation. Presented by Antonia Darder
1:00pm:
YOGA
Yoga instructor Joe Wolffe will teach a 50-minute donation-based yoga class. A yoga practitioner since 2001, Joe predominantly teaches in the Ashtanga-Vinyasa school of yoga at studios around Albuquerque, and he is also trained to teach Yin yoga, pranayama breathing exercises, and meditation. He is a graduate from Naropa University, where he studied poetry, Yoga, Buddhist psychology, and Sanskrit.
2 pm:
PANEL THREE: CROSSING BORDERS OF OUR OWN
Margaret Randall, Susan Sherman, Anya Achtenberg, and Glenn Weyant.
How the beleaguered communities we now live in impinge on our consciousness. Trauma: an America under siege of a new type. The current impoverishment of America: economic, social, and cultural, including questions of survival. How can cultural activists respond?
3:30 pm:
PANEL FOUR: BUILDING A CULTURE OF RESISTANCE
John Crawford, Levi Romero, Roberto Rodriguez, Jeff Biggers, Antonia Darder.
The support of multicultural, indigenous communities. Politics of the local: preservation of population centers and of the land. Ideas of world harmony and restitution. Education, performance, popular music and dance.
5 pm: Dinner on your own
7 pm-9:30 pm: Performances and open mic with Jeff Biggers, Lyle Daggett, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, Merimee Moffitt, Peter Street, Jennifer Simpson, Fred Whitehead, and others.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
9 am:
PANEL ONE: CAN TUCSON HAPPEN HERE?
Richard Vargas, Irene Vasquez, Elaine Romero, Sofia Martinez, and Nadine Cordova. Attacks on Chicano and indigenous culture in Arizona, political revision of textbooks in Texas raise questions: What are the prospects for defense of New Mexican culture? What cultural forms, events, programs, educational initiatives should we support and/or undertake?
PANEL TWO: COSMOPOLITANISM—SOME EXISTING CULTURES
Anya Achtenberg, Fred Whitehead, Peter Street, and Michael Henson.
Cuban culture and society; traveling the European continent, a voice from working class England; Appalachia and its challenges.
10:30 am:
PANEL THREE: SURVIVAL IS A FORM OF RESISTANCE
John Crawford, Fred Whitehead, Lyle Daggett, Jeanetta Mish.
A tribute to four writer-activists–Meridel Le Sueur, Thomas McGrath, Roy McBride, and Carol Tarlen. A Look at early populism, working class literature, the Kansas City Cultural Conference (1978-1980) and the intersection of regional arts and progressive culture in heartland America.
PANEL FOUR: EDUCATION FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
Shauna Osborn, Bronson Elliott, Casey Mason, Carla Nieto. This panel will bring together three education movements that cross local, national and international borders. A teacher from Amy Biehl Charter High School in downtown Albuquerque will discuss Facing History and Ourselves, which teaches students that their choices can change history. A recent graduate of ABQ’s South Valley Academy will share her senior year service learning experience, when she became a community activist as part of her graduation requirement. A community educator will consider DIY and open source education, which allow students of all ages to learn what they want when they
want – for free.
11 am-1 pm:
LUNCH – Food truck service in Harwood parking lot by Roxy’s Bistro on Wheels
1:30 pm:
PANEL FIVE: COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP AND COMMUNITY CULTURE.
Clarissa Ibarra, Javier Benavidez, Jerome Padilla, Moises Gonzalez, Erin Chavez.
Preserving community and culture in the face of re/development projects and political redistricting. The case of Barelas neighborhood in Albuquerque. Members of Barelas Community Coalition, SW Organizing Project, Atrisco land grant heirs, planners and cultural activists discuss the past, present, and future.
PANEL SIX: COMMUNITY WRITING I: THEORY AND PRACTICE
Mandy Gardner, Michelle Welsing, Anya Achtenberg, Olivia Romo.
Writing for literacy, digital production, regional writing, neighborhoods, homeless shelters, and prisons. Possibilities for nationwide organizing. The role of performance workshops and almanacs.
3 pm:
PANEL SEVEN: LOCAL CULTURAL PUBLISHING
John Crawford, Richard Vargas, Gary Brower, Jeanetta Mish
Book publication, literary magazines, the support of progressive writers and writing. The relationship of print culture to the reading and performance scene, digital and social media, and cultural events. New challenges we face as publishers.
PANEL EIGHT: COMMUNITY WRITING II: ABQ SLAM TRADITION.
Don McIver, Damien Flores, Tracey Dahl, Manuel Gonzalez. How slam in Albuquerque has facilitated and inspired community writing projects in the city and the region.
4:30 pm:
WRAP-UP SESSION: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Cultural work as a model and an end in itself. Performance, the arts, and resistance culture. Building networks, towns, and cities. Taking it on the road. Drama, festivals, events, alternative media, educational projects? How do we make a better world?
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