In The Music Box, New Orleans Residents Hear Hope

We are so pleased that NPR's "All Things Considered" has published a piece about one of our 2010 grant recipients, the Music Box. The Music Box is an interactive environment built from the remains of an 18th century derelict cottage in New Orleans. This imaginatively reconstructed, and ultimately livable “house”, has become a musical instrument to be played by visitors. Instrumentation will range from the rudimentary banging of wooden boards to more elaborate sounds mechanically triggered by opening doors or pulling levers. In addition to visitors, a range of local and national musicians, including a regional high school marching band, have been invited to play the house for the project’s Block Party series, which are free and open to all.

To read the NPR story, click HERE

Photo: Morgan Sasser/New Orleans Airlift via NPR

Cardboardia - A Country Built Out of Cardboard

Tomorrow is the big day for us to receive your Letter of Intent to apply for a Black Rock Arts Foundation Grant for your off-playa project. We are looking forward to reading all of them.

We thought you might like to see what one of our prior grant recipients is up to. We found this video to be completely charming, and we hope you do too.


Cardboardia, a country built out of cardboard by Zoomin_UK

Apply for a Grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation

BRAF Grantees Across the Years

The deadline for applying for a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation is fast approaching...

Attention artists! In an effort to streamline our grant application process, the Black Rock Arts Foundation has initiated a new step to our application instructions. To apply for a grant from BRAF, you will now need to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) before submitting a full proposal. If the grant committee feels your project is a potential fit for our grants, you will be invited to submit a full proposal.

This cuts down on the work involved for both you, the grant applicant, and for our grant review committee. You'll have the chance to give a succinct, one-page overview of your project, and to tell us why you think it's a good fit for BRAF's grants program.

Usually, at this time of year, we begin accepting online grant applications. Instead, we'll accept online LOI's at this time. Online LOI's are due December 1, 2011.

To see if your project qualifies for a BRAF grant, and to read our full grant timeline and application instructions, visit BRAF Grant Criteria .

Please contact Josie at BRAF with questions: josie@blackrockarts.org

Картонск!

A visit with one of our grant recipients

Wish we could be there!

Mobule Needs You!

In the spirit of the revolutionary interactive art of Burning Man and BRAF, we invite YOU to come out to celebrate and pARTicipate in the Mobule experience! Get involved with this great BRAF grantee project and help make it happen! New York, Black Rock City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. You know you want to , so make it happen!

Mobule is a kinetic, multi-media, mobile, interactive street art performance that connects people from different cities.

Check out theses videos about Mobule on the project's website: http://www.mobule.org/

The artist, Ludale, needs 3 partners for each performance. It's really easy to help! All you do is:

- Invite people to participate in an interactive game (invite them to try on the 'space helmet' and control the Mobule. Who doesn't want to wear a space helmet?!?)
- Interview people
- Help video the interviews
- Help pack up the Mobule after the show

Here are the dates the Mobule needs help. All performances are 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm:

Monday, August 15th
Tuesday August 16th
Brooklyn Bridge park - New York.

Friday, August 19th
Pier 14, Near the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, by the Ferry building - San Francisco.

Saturday 20th, August 20th
Mission Delores Park - San Francisco.

August, 29th - September 4th
Center Camp - Black Rock City.

Friday, September 9th and Saturday 10th
Santa Monica Pier - Los Angeles.

Artist Ludale and the Mobule also need places to stay during their travels, and need a ride to and from Burning Man any day between 8/23 and 8/28!

Can you help? Email ludo@ludale.fr if you can!

Fashion in Russia!

One of our 2009 Grantees, Cardboardia, in Moscow, put on a Haute Couture Fashion Show recently and it is delightful. It put a big smile on my face!

Ghana ThinkTank - 2011 Grantee

The Ghana ThinkTank is developing the First World. Ghana Thinktank is a worldwide network of think tanks creating strategies to resolve local problems in the "developed" world. The network is composed of people from all walks of life and levels of expertise and began with groups in Ghana, Cuba and El Salvador. It has since expanded to include Serbia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Iran, and a group of incarcerated girls in the U.S. prison system.

These think tanks analyze First World problems and propose solutions, which are enacted in the community where the problems originated – whether those solutions seem impractical or brilliant. The success or failure of the solutions is documented and sent back to the think tanks, initiating another round of dialogue and action. For exhibitions, The Ghana Thinktank manifests as elaborate installations that document the entire process and involve audience participants in each step.

The Ghana ThinkTank in Corona involves a custom-built teardrop trailer designed to journey into different locales in the “First” world, collecting community and personal issues, and sending them to think tanks in Ghana, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Serbia, Iran, Afghanistan, and others…

Once we receive the solutions, our trailer rolls back into the communities, this time as a mobile workstation, so that we can work with community members to apply the solutions we have received from our global network of think tanks.

The Ghana Think Tank operates in Corona May 21 – Aug 14.

El Ghana ThinkTank en Corona utiliza un remolque hecho a la medida para viajar entre los diferentes niveles del “Primer mundo.” El remolque sirve de punto de recogida para problemas de la comunidad y asuntos personales. Despues de la fase de collección las problemas serán eviadas a nuestra red de gabinetes estrategicos en Ghana, Cuba, El Salvador, México, Serbia, Irán, y Afganistán para ser resueltas.

Una vez que recibamos las soluciones, nuestro remolque volverá a las comunidades de Corona, esta vez como una estación de trabajo móvil para aplicar las soluciones que hemos recibido.

El Ghana ThinkTank opera en Corona desde mayo 21 hasta agosto 14.

The Ghana ThinkTank in Corona is supported by the Queens Museum of Art, Creative Time, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and The Greenwall Foundation. Additional funding provided by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

The Mobule on Tour - First Stop, Paris

One of our 2011 grant recipients, Mobule is going to be touring beginning in Paris, opening the FUTUR EN SEINE FESTIVAL, on June 19th. Then on to Barcelona, London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Mobule is a travelling video sculpture that passes on recorded 'messages of love' from one city's citizens to those of the next. This eight-foot balloon appears at night in public streets. Illuminated from within, it displays a video projection of a large eye. The eye searches and focuses on passers by, selects individuals and pursues them. Once in proximity of the individual, a recorded message from another individual, from the previous city of the tour, appears in the eye. Once the individual receives the message, he/she is invited to wear the 'space helmet' that controls the eye. The mystery of how the Mobule operates is revealed, and the individual may control its next interaction. Participants are also then invited to leave a video message for the next city's residents. The Mobule is scheduled to tour Paris, Barcelona, London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Tour Schedule: Save the dates! More details TBA!

- Paris: Esplanade du Trocadero, July 7 - 8, 2011, from 9pm to
midnight
- Barcelona: Location TBD, July 21 - 22, 2011, from 9pm to midnight
- London: Tate Modern, August 4 - 5, 2011, from 9pm to midnight
- NYC: Location TBD, August 18 - 19, 2011, from 9pm to midnight
- Los Angeles: Location TBD, August 25 - 26, 2011, from 9pm to
midnight
- San Francisco: Location TBD, September 8 - 9, 2011, from 9pm to
midnight
- Miami: Location TBD, September 15 - 16, 2011, from 9pm to midnight

The Mobule is seeking more venues and events to visit. Please contact
the artist if you know of any opportunities or venues in the times
and locations listed above.

The Mobule will need volunteers for the following locations!

- London: Tate Modern, August 4 - 5, 2011
- NYC: Location TBD, August 18 - 19, 2011
- Los Angeles: Location TBD, August 25 - 26, 2011
- San Francisco: Location TBD, September 8 - 9, 2011
- Miami: Location TBD, September 15 - 16, 2011

For each location, the project needs:

- A local manager to:
* Suggest the best area of the city to present the show
* Ask for authorizations for such street performance
* PR staff to promote the Mobule to local and national media
- 2 volunteers to manage the audience during the art performance
- Accommodation to put up 2 operators during 6 nights

Read about the Mobule on artist Ludale's website at www.ludale.fr

Or read about Mobule in the Design Milk blog:
design-milk.com/get-out-mobule/

See prototypes of Mobule here: bit.ly/kc9uje

Contact the artist at ludo@ludale.fr

I am so excited I am going to get to see this in San Francisco and I will be looking forward to seeing what New York City has to say to San Francisco. We hope you will follow its tour and check it out if it is coming to your town.

Announcing Our 2011 Grant Recipients

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is thrilled to announce our 2011 Grant Recipients. Read all about these about these inspiring, community-focused projects! Each of these projects integrate art and life in an exciting new way.

Read more about them here!

Community Art Makers

This is one of the scenic backdrops they built that was used at Art Outside. I just love it!

"Community Art Makers" was one of the Black Rock Arts Foundation's 2010 grant recipients. They are Austin, Texas based community leaders offering work and meeting space, guidance and assistance to artists endeavoring to engage their community.

Former notable projects have included recently showcasing the 32 foot tall fire tornado from the BRC 'Fire of Fires' Temple for a public audience of thousands, and the first public burn night on NYE, 2009 of the Resolution Clock in the center of Austin, Texas for 100,000 people.

BRAF's infrastructure investment will allow the Community Art Makers to build upon current resources and offer more structured resources and work space for artists. Their upcoming projects are focused on artist empowerment and community building. Some of these projects for 2010 include partnerships with the City of Austin Library, Parks and Art in Public Places Departments, 'Art Outside' and 'First Night' pieces that showcase interactivity to a public audience and hands on classes and training for trained and aspiring artists.

This is what their most recent blog post had to say:

Thanks to the continued generosity of the Black Rock Arts Foundation , we have nearly completed a 400 SF studio space renovation at our North Austin Compound. This weekend we should be finished renovating our very own glass studio! Our space will be equipped with tools for creating stained glass, fusing and also slumping glass. Need some space to create? Want to learn? Drop us a line and get involved!

Burning Man and BRAF Art Grant Workshop and Art Lounge

You must RSVP if you wish to attend. Email to: rsvp-specialevents@burningman.com

Attention Artists:

You've asked, and we've listened! This year we are hosting our first art grants workshop. Come hear from those involved in both BRAF's and Burning Man's grant processes about what is needed to create a successful grant proposal. You'll be given a chance to ask questions about the mandatory grant forms – why we ask certain questions, what information we are looking for and more. If you can't make it to the event, don't worry! Send in your question by Wednesday, January 12th and it will be answered during the workshop. The workshop will be recorded, and a video posted on the Burning Man website shortly after the event.

After the workshop, please join us for the Art Lounge. This event is a social mixer for the artists and volunteers who created work for Burning Man and BRAF last year and/or are planning art projects this coming year. Your creative spirit gives so much to the world. We want to thank you for your inventiveness and resourcefulness. We hope this will be an opportunity to meet one another and spark increased creative cross-pollination and collaboration.

We invite our community's artists to join the BRAF and Burning Man staff, members of the Burning Man Art Department, and ARTery volunteers for a little reception – our yearly, intimate gathering in appreciation of the visionaries among us!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Mission Rock Cafe
817 Terry Francois Blvd San Francisco, CA

Grant Workshop 5:30 to 7 pm
Art Lounge 7 pm to 9 pm

At approximately 7:30pm there will be brief introductions and a short talk about this years Burning Man theme: "Rites of Passage."

To attend, please RSVP to rsvp-specialevents@burningman.com.

It's an intimate space, and we need an exact number to plan for. This is not the place to review specific art grant proposals with Burning Man or BRAF staff, though staff will be on hand who can answer basic questions regarding the process. Remember, the deadline to submit art grant proposals for BRAF is January 15th and for Burning Man this year is February 1st.

Hope to see you there!

Online Grant Applications due January 15th, 2011 at 5:00 pm, PST

Our online application for BRAF's 2011 Grants is now live and will close on Saturday (yes, Saturday!) January 15, 2011, at 5:00 pm, sharp!

About our grants:

We fund highly interactive, community-driven works of art. We fund art that is accessible to the public, civic in scope and prompts the viewer to act. We like art that can be experienced in more ways than visually. We are fans of art that is meant to be touched, heard or experienced, as well as viewed. We prioritize funding art that involves the audience in its creation and presentation. Does this sound like your artwork?

Apply for a grant in 2011!

For more about our criteria, and for our online application, visit: Black Rock Arts Foundation Grants

We look forward to reading about your project!

Storyline Transports: Shadow and Light Festival

One of our 2010 grant recipients, Storyline Transports: Shadow and Light Festival, is a traveling festival bringing hands-on shadow puppet and lantern makingworkshops, a shadow puppet performance stage, and curated videoscreenings to neighborhoods in the Chicago metropolitan area, during weekends this month.

In collaboration with architreasures, an arts-based community development organization, the festival targets children and adults of all ages in under-served communities throughout Chicago.

Festival Dates and Locations

Public Locations:

August 20th - Experimental Station (Hyde Park) 5-8pm

www.experimentalstation.org/

Community Locations (archi-treasures Sites):
August 10th - Barbara Jean Wright Courts 5-9pm
August 14th - Westhaven Park 4-9pm
August 24th - Germano Millgate Apartments 5-9pm

Storyline Transports is seeking Volunteers! Get involved with this great project! Come be a part of this exciting festival, learn shadow puppet-making skills and teach them to kids! The festival is needs of volunteers to help with running workshops and with set-up and tear down of the mobile festival. If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, pleaseemail David Prince at wooleeprince@gmail.com.

More information is also available at shadowandlightfestival.blogspot.com

Hawthorne 100 at the PDX Bridge Festival

We got this little note last week and we wanted to share it with you "Thank you BRAF for supporting large-scale, interactive, public art in Portland with PDX Bridge Festival's Lift 100!!"

We are so happy when we hear from our grantees and we love to share it with you so here are a couple of videos from the Hawthorne 100 at the PDX Bridge Festival.

photo: Major Clanger

Illuminating the Illuminated Forest

photo: affinity
photo: affinity

photo: Thomas Pontailler

photo: Thomas Pontailler

photo: Thomas Pontailler
photo: Extramatic
photo: Extramatic

photos: Rob Schober of Dan Frazier SchoberRob@Netscape.net

photos: Rob Schober of Dan Frazier SchoberRob@Netscape.net

We stopped by the opening of the MEDIATE Art Group’s highly anticipated Illuminated Forest last week at The Lab in San Francisco. We met a few photographers while we were there and they were each kind enough to send us a few photos. I really enjoyed seeing each of them express a different point of view about the installations. Especially since many of th installations were activated by the viewer making sounds.

This Black Rock Arts Foundation supported exhibition features an artist-imagined multimedia environment by Agnes Szelag, Ben Bracken, Jorge Bachman and Alan So in which viewers activate both visual and auditory sensations. The installation includes environmental pieces by Suzanne Husky, Jessica Resmond, Reenie Charriere, Vaughn Bell, Alyce Santoro, Sam Easterson and Elin Oyen Vister.

This experiential exhibit actively reminds people that what we do has impact: on our own lives, on others, and the world around us, both in the present and the future. The Forest will host experiential performances by some of the most compelling local, national and international artists and musicians.

Visit Illuminated Forest!
Gallery hours, July 9 - August 13, 2010, Wednesday - Saturday, 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
The Lab, 2948 16th Street
San Francisco, CA

Illuminated Forest is part of Project>Soundwave's fourth season,
entitled GREEN SOUND, that began June 6 and runs to August 13.

the lab-illuminated forest exhibit

the lab-illuminated forest exhibit
Originally uploaded by pagedesign

One of the exhibits from the Illuminated Forest Opening last night This installation created the illusion of being able to see into a mole's burrow.

Last night was the San Francisco opening of "Illuminated Forest", the only 2010 grant recipient that was located in San Francisco.

To read more about the installation:

http://blackrockarts.blogspot.com/2010/06/illuminated-forest.html

Hawthorne 100 at the PDX Bridge Festival!

The Hawthorne 100 created by Tucker Teutsch and the PDX Bridge Festival Portland, Oregon is one of our 2010 Grant recipients.

The Hawthorne 100 was created to celebrate the centennial of the nation's oldest working vertical lift bridge, this project turns the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, OR into a kinetic art installation. A solar-powered lighting display, installed for the duration of the festival, makes use of interactive elements to transform the bridge’s traffic into a catalyst for moving light. For one hour on the night of Saturday, July 31, the Hawthorne Bridge will raise to reveal a projection screen stretched across the displaced area of the lift span. The screen provides a framework to give a visual tour of Portland—who we are, where we've come from, and where we're going—using gathered media from the last 100 years, text-based interactions from our audience, and captured images from the event. This display, produced in conjunction with a free concert on the Morrison Bridge, will be visible from neighboring bridges, both banks of the river, and downtown buildings. The Hawthorne Bridge Centennial Project will be a spectacle to remember! Estimated audience: 40,000+

Opening event

"Hit the lights!"
Where: Hawthorne Bridge
When: July 24 – August 7, 2010
What: “Hit the Lights” on July 24th at 10:00 p.m. is the opening for the lighting and fabric installation on the Hawthorne Bridge, possibly the largest art installation in Portland history. The lights make use of programmable and environmentally-aware lighting technology to interact with the nightly vehicle and bike traffic on the bridge. The lights accentuate 60 panels of fabric installed in the bridge trusses and lift towers, turning the structure into a wash of color and moving light and marking the rhythm of commuter traffic as it moves across the bridge. The installation will be visible for the 15 days of the festival, but there will be a ceremonial opening night event—when we "hit the lights!"

The Illuminated Forest

MEDIATE Art Group’s highly anticipated Illuminated Forest opens July 9th and runs to August 7th at The Lab in San Francisco. This Black Rock Arts Foundation supported exhibition features an artist-imagined multimedia environment by Agnes Szelag, Ben Bracken, Jorge Bachman and Alan So in which viewers activate both visual and auditory sensations. The installation includes environmental pieces by Suzanne Husky, Jessica Resmond, Reenie Charriere, Vaughn Bell, Alyce Santoro, Sam Easterson and Elin Oyen Vister. This experiential exhibit actively reminds people that what we do has impact: on our own lives, on others, and the world around us, both in the present and the future. The Forest will host experiential performances by some of the most compelling local, national and international artists and musicians.

Visit Illuminated Forest!
Opening Reception, July 9, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Gallery hours, July 9 - August 13, 2010, Wednesday - Saturday, 1:00
pm - 6:00 pm
The Lab, 2948 16th Street
San Francisco, CA

Illuminated Forest is part of Project>Soundwave's fourth season,
entitled GREEN SOUND, that began June 6 and runs to August 13.

FIGMENT - Governors Island this Weekend!

We told you last week that FIGMENT - Boston was coming and this week we are here to tell you that FIGMENT NEW YORK is coming BIG this weekend.

When the founders of FIGMENT began the event in 2007, their inspiration was to marry Burning Man‐style do-ocracy, volunteerism, and the 10 principles with the prolific New York arts scene, and to build a new community for the participatory arts. In 2009, the vast majority of the FIGMENT artists, and a growing number of FIGMENT volunteers, have never been to Burning Man, and there is a groundswell of enthusiasm for an increasing number of season long projects on the island.

This year, FIGMENT includes a 2010 Black Rock Arts Foundation grant recipient 1000 Pieces, so check out the video and then go see the art!

FIGMENT in Boston this Weekend

FIGMENT is a forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists across disciplines. FIGMENT began in July 2007 as a free, one-day participatory arts event on Governors Island in New York Harbor with over 2,600 participants. Since then, FIGMENT has grown significantly each year—in number of projects, duration, participants, volunteers, fundraising capability, exhibitions, locations, overall level of commitment and participation, and public support. FIGMENT now expands to the Boston area, with its first event outside of New York and is one of the 2010 Black Rock Art Foudation's grant recipients!

FIGMENT will be produced through a partnership with the Cambridge Arts Council, on June 5, 2010, co-located with the Cambridge Arts Council’s long-running Cambridge River Festival, on Memorial Drive on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 12 pm to 6 pm.

See the web site for directions: figmentboston.org