[rsc] Re: Fwd: the forth request for assistance
- From: "Sheila Kerrigan" <kerrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:52:37 -0400
Dear RSC folks,
I know we're all busy with our learning exchanges, but. Ashley Milburn
deserves a reply. Seems that Gwylene and other visual artists might be the
people to talk with him.
What do you think?
Ashley Milburn (Bon Secours Foundation-Operation ReachOut Southwest) holds a
master in education with a focus in fine arts and classroom teaching with an
emphasis in multiple intelligence from the University of Rio Grande in Ohio.
In addition to sitting on the advisory board of MICA's Community Art
Partnerships (CAP) program, he is a planning member for the upcoming Black
Panther Party Exhibition at MICA, and has 10 years experience teaching art.
At Operation ReachOut Southwest, he developed a public art project
addressing the "Highway to Nowhere," Route 40 corridor, which included the
reuse of open spaces for community cultural development initiatives.
Fellows Profiles
<http://www.soros.org/initiatives/baltimore/focus_areas/community_fellowship
/case_studies/> <Fellows Profiles
Ashley Milburn
Baltimore, Maryland
2007
At 62, Ashley Milburn is an artist who specializes in "found objects," or
objects that come from our culture. Milburn puts it even more bluntly: "I
like junk," he says with a laugh.
Milburn plans to use his fellowship-and his scavenger's skills-to pursue a
community arts project called "Envisioning the 'Highway to Nowhere.'" To
Milburn, the stretch of Route 40 between Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd., and
the West Baltimore MARC station has become a metaphor for the cultural
disenfranchisement of black urban communities. Before its completion in
1979, the highway displaced 5,000 residents and more than 700 homes,
schools, hospitals and small businesses, disrupting life in the black
community and leaving lasting pain on both sides of Franklin and Mulberry
Streets. And for what? The original plan called for the highway to connect
with Interstate 70 but that never happened. Instead, it simply dead-ends
after about a mile and quite literally goes nowhere. "If you ask anyone over
40 about the highway, they get a faraway look of something horrific that
happened," he says.
Milburn says the more he dug into the little-known highway story, the more
he saw an opportunity to use art as a way to heal the heartache. "In my work
as a community artist, it seems that the thing that hurts us will cure us,"
says Milburn, who recently completed a master's degree in the community arts
program at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He envisions using
storytelling, historical documentation, exhibitions, and celebrations to
tell of the highway's decimation of the community. He sees the possibility
for public art-perhaps a powerful mural-along a 3.5-mile wall and in 52
acres of open space in the highway corridor. The aim actually is to go
beyond art and to organize the West Baltimore communities to imagine the
highway as a cultural asset. "Perhaps this could become something that will
help reunite the community," he says.
Best,
Sheila Kerrigan
kerrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2310 Stansbury Rd
Chapel Hill NC 27516
919-929-1624
Check out my book, The Performer's Guide to the Collaborative Process:
www.collaborativecreativity.com
www.heinemanndrama.com/products/E00311.aspx
_____
From: rsc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rsc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Hope Clark
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 7:08 AM
To: rsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ashleysparkles Sparks; adrienne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rsc] Fwd: the forth request for assistance
Dear RSC,
I received this message today.
I did a mailing for the Gatherings at the Crossroad of Arts and Activism
happening this month and next to the large group of participants I got in
contact with through attending MICA.
I have written Ashley back, but may I suggest that one of the lead RSC
trainers also write her a note?
Thank you,
Hope
Begin forwarded message:
From: Ashley Milburn <milburn.ashley@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: June 10, 2008 1:57:35 AM EDT (CA)
To: hopeclark@xxxxxxx
Subject: the forth request for assistance
Ms. Clark
I have been trying to arrange to host Resources for Social Change Workshop
in Baltimore, Maryland for some time with requests for information. The last
time I had the opportunity to talk to someone in your organization, I was
told that you were havomg problems with staffing.
I have sent along, on two separte occasions, supportive documents concerning
the social change project I had initiated centering around what residents
call, The Highway to Nowhere. Again, I am requesting information and
consideration to host a workshop. I am, again, including supportive material
outlining our needs. I am hopeful that one day I will make contact with
someone in your organization who will be able to assist us. This will be the
forth time that I have made this request.
Please, review the link below:
http://www.motionbox.com/videos/7c9ad0be1117e1f4
Ashley Milburn
Cultural Activist, OSI Fellow,
Fusion Partnership Member
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