From: Carlton Turner <carlton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [rsc] Re: Fwd: the forth request for assistance
To: rsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: "Carolyn Morris" <carolyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 4:09 PM

Hey everyone,

I spoke with Ashley Milburn after he left the second message at the ROOTS office via email. I think that his first request came through as Etta was transitioning out of the office and I relayed to Mr. Milburn that this may have been the reason that he didn’t get an immediate response.

When I spoke with him in April, I asked him to send more information to us regarding his request, as I wasn’t quite sure what he was asking of RSC. He promptly responded and I immediately sent the information to the RSC listserv. I also sent him the name and contact information for our representatives in his region as well as contact information for Hope Clark. I am not sure if the email with the attachments came through the listserv, but they were sent.

In short, Mr. Milburn has had a response. I just want to make sure that the group knows that though we are always quite busy in the office, we have not been unresponsive.

If you would like a copy of the information that Mr. Milburn sent to the office in April email me and I will email the attachments to you directly. They are quite large, which also may be the reason that the original email didn’t make it through.

Peace
Carlton Turner


On 6/10/08 1:52 PM, "Sheila Kerrigan" <kerrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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
Fellows Profiles <http://www.soros.org/initiatives/baltimore/focus_areas/community_fellowship/case_studies/>  

   
  
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 <http://www.collaborativecreativity.com>
www.heinemanndrama.com/products/E00311.aspx <http://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
 


--
Peace
Carlton Turner
Regional Director
Alternate ROOTS

"love is all around, take some for yourself, pass it round, when it comes back round you'll see what is real, by the way you feel, the things you say, the things you do, your backyard is calling you"
       -M.U.G.A.B.E.E. "Backyard Rituals" (unreleased)
            http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/399225