Oct 23, 2016

Join us on Sunday, October 30th at LAMAG for a workshop on Self Organized Education as a Call to Action!

 

We're happy to be a part of the public programming for the S/election Exhibition at LAMAG/Barnsdall and invite you to participate in a hands- on workshop with presenters from Anti-Recidivism Coalition in collaboration with Gregory Sale, CHIRLA and Food Policy Council, among others.

Please join us as we share direct community action methods that we use to affect local and regional politics. We are interested in identifying ways to encourage democratic participation in communities and in public spaces through organizing and direct action, and on how to expand beyond narrow definitions of ‘citizenship’.  We will be teaching these methods to one another and learning from each other during the workshop.


We hope to see you this coming Sunday, October 30th from 2-4pm!


Thanks to Dan McCleary and Art Division!

We had a wonderful meeting with Dan at the Art Division's Library on August 24th; Dorit Cypis joined us to speak about her work in communities and alternative educational models.

The Art Division Library is open by appointment and is a most beautiful resource for the community and the school.  Thank you so much to Dan for his warmth and hospitality!


Please be sure to join us on Sunday October 30th from 2-4pm at Barnsdall/Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery for a workshop, Self-Organized Education as a Call to Action, as part of the S/election Exhibition!  More info forthcoming....

See you soon.

Jul 30, 2016

Heartfelt thanks to all our participants at 18th Street!

Thank you to all those who were a part of our Conversation Circle at 18th Street Art Center's Champagne Social on July 24th.

We had a rich conversation amongst many amazing artists and educators, including Fabian Debora from La Classe Art Academy,  Veronique d'Etremont and Betty Marin from School of Echoes and Liberated Arts Collective  Adrienne Walser from Bard MAT, Dan McCleary from Art Division, David Whitaker from DIY PhD, and many others.

We had great participation from visitors, who responded very positively to the interactive conversation between self-organized groups.

A special thank you to 18th Street staff Sue Bell Yank and Anuradha Vikram, and interns Rebecca and Coco for their invitation and help in organizing this event.

Please join us for our next meeting, at Art Division's Library on Sunday, August 28th from 2-4pm.
Dorit Cypis will share her experience organizing alternative educational models such as FAR (Foundation for Arts Resources) and Kulture Klub.

See you on August 24th!

Jul 15, 2016

Join us at 18th Street Arts Center on July 24th!

Hello friends, we hope summer is treating you well!

We had a fantastic meeting at Noura's house on June 11th, with a presentation by Hayk Makmuryan.
He made us delicious Armenian/Turkish coffee and spoke about his work at LAMP as the Fine Arts Coordinator working with the people living in Skid Row neighborhood.
We also welcomed some new participants, and hope they'll continue joining us!

We're in the last stages of planning for our upcoming event at 18th Street Arts Center for their bi-annual Open House/Champagne Social.


Our participation includes an exploration of where learning happens in Los Angeles, made possible by Fred's wonderful LA map.
Also on the agenda is a Conversation Circle with representatives from numerous self-organized Pedagogy groups, including Art Division, Liberation Arts Collective, DIY PhD, Bard MAT and La Classe, among others!

Please come join us on Sunday the 24th from 11am-2pm for conversation and mapping.
To RSVP, see the form under the event description on this page.

And please mark your calendars...our next group meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday August 28th.  Dorit Cypis will be present to discuss her work with independent models of radical education.

Looking forward to seeing you at 18th Street!

Sincerely,

Nancy, Stephanie, Ro, Jess, Sue (and Janet, from the UK!)

May 28, 2016

Meeting, discussion - Saturday, June 11 in Northeast LA

Hello Friends,

We are gathering again on Saturday June 11th, at 11:00am at the home of one of our members in Northeast LA (info provided upon request). Hayk Makhmuryan, Fine Arts Coordinator of the LAMP Arts Program, an arts studio and creativity center for the Skid Row neighborhood, will join us to discuss his work at the intersection of art, pedagogy, and social care.

(From the LAMP Arts program)

We will also discuss potential projects, activities, and participants/invitees for our engagement with the 18th Street Arts Center at their upcoming Champagne Social event. In addition, we will continue to gather further research on existing radical and alternative educational projects to contact and invite to ally and work with us.  Please RSVP, so that we can plan for snacks and seats.

And please bring food or drink to share--our meetings are potluck style. Hayk plans to bring ingredients for making Armenian/Turkish coffee!

RSVP for info by emailing: ahuehuete [at] sbcglobal [dot] net


Hope to see you on the 11th!
Warm regards,

Apr 28, 2016

Radical and Alternative Pedagogies Discussion, Meeting - Saturday, April 30 in Hollywood

Hello friends,

We are gathering again on Saturday April 30th, from 1-4pm at the home of another group member, (contact info. upon request). Please note that the meeting will start on time, as we have a guest speaker:

Artist Lisa Adams will share about her experience with alternative and radical education, specifically with alternative school the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture, at which she taught for nine years. (*1989 LA Times article on the SMCDAA and its ultimate birth, the following year.)

Lisa Adams in her studio

We will also discuss potential structures and methods of engagement for an upcoming tabling session at 18th Street Arts Center, and gather further research on alternative educational models to contact and invite to work with us.

Please RSVP (ahuehuete at sbcglobal dot net), so that we can plan for snacks and seats.
And please bring food or drink to share--potluck style, as usual.

We typically have good potluck offerings

(**Public Transit is highly recommended--parking can be a challenge in this area: 10-minute walk from Hollywood/Highland Red Line Metro Station)


Hope to see you on the 30th!
-Warm regards

From Saturday, 4.16.16, "How Can Black Mountain College Matter to Schools Today? An Arts & Education Roundtable Discussion"

Our group was fortunate to have been invited this past April 16 to a roundtable discussion at the Bard Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, located adjacent to MacArthur Park.



Two of our members--Janet and Rojelio--sat on a panel, where the impact of the Black Mountain College (current exhibit at Hammer Museum) and all its related humans were considered as a fulcrum for conversation and questions, including the state of arts and education today from perspectives inside and out (sometimes both simultaneously) of institutional models, their impact, their goals, etc.


Much thanks go to Bard College MAT Literature and Education faculty member, Adrienne Walser, those that helped organize this event, and to the fellow panelists.

Mar 28, 2016

03.26.16 Debrief

Hello all....thanks for those who made the trek on Saturday!
We had a very productive meeting.

A few things to share:

- We voted to participate in an event in [July on the west side of LA].
  Please contact us if you are interested in participating in planning for that event; we are submitting a finalized proposal in the next 2-3 weeks.

- We now have a [live] public blog detailing our work, and will be updating and refining it [as time goes on]!

Our blog's old background image (aka LA County "Red Sandstone" Courthouse)


- We will be trying out Slack as an internal communications and organizing tool (thanks Sue!).
Contact us if you want to be included on any working groups!

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled on April 30th at [a collaborator's] home in Hollywood.
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us.


See you all soon!
-Jan & Nancy

*[slight edits= fp, ca. 03.28-10pm]

Mar 17, 2016

Meeting on Westside in late March

Hello friends,

Thank you for supporting our recent Public School conversation on Feb 28th!
Feb28 @ Public School, Los Angeles
We drew over 20 new folks to our discussion, and hope to see some of them at our next meeting.

We are planning to gather to continue the conversation on an afternoon near the end of March, at the home of one of our members, Rojelio.  Please contact/email any of us for the address and contact info.  Please bring food or drink to share.

We will be reflecting on the Public School gathering, discussing an invitation for an upcoming tabling session at 18th Street Arts Center, and gathering further research on alternative educational models to contact and invite to work with us.  If you would like participate in a group meeting to plan this upcoming gathering, please get involved and join us!

And please RSVP, so Rojelio, Janet and I can plan for snacks and seats.

See you this March!

All best,
Jan & Nancy (and Ro) 

Feb 29, 2016

The day after 02.28.2016 - AKA Leap Day, 2016 and more! (Take 2)

Hello humyns

Theatre of The Oppressed exercise @ Feb28 event

This event produced much documentation that we want to share with all those interested in following or joining our multifaceted work as best as possible. A good way to do that is, likely ("likely" because our online presence is an evolving project), to follow our private blog. But, it requires an invite so, contact me or another organizer if you'd like to check that out. Obviously, if you're already seeing this on the blog, that's moot.

Some key points:

-The day's photographs are posted on this Album on Flickr
-If you have videos and or photos you'd like to share, feel free to post them here (ie., on this blog), please!
-The day's event was broadcast live on Periscope. Sadly, being new to the medium, I wasn't sure if I could still share videos after their 24hr expiration policy. So, there was a link but, until I find a way to share them again, in the future I'm likely to use uStream or something like that where I can have a copy sent to the cloud automatically that can be shared and edited. If anyone has experience with similar services, your feedback is much welcome in the comments. Really hope I can share them again--recorded most of the event. :(
-There is still more to share and post about Sunday's event (2.28)--documentation or otherwise--so, look forward to that, please
-Lastly, we scheduled a small conversation for late March, so contact us, or follow the blog to learn more.


Thank you very much to all who were able to make it out to Chinatown and, I look forward to seeing newer and not so newer faces in the future.

-fp

Feb 25, 2016

02.28.2016 @ The Public School, LA

Radical and Alternative Pedagogies Discussion (02.28.2016 @ The Public School)

Join an ongoing discussion and research project that began with the question “Do artists need art school?”

Since October 2015, a group has met regularly to feel and think our way around alternative pedagogies, and research contemporary and historical models for community-based education. (Including the PLM’s La Escuela Rationalista and La Casa del Obrero Internacional, both of which operated a century ago close by the Public School location).

With a mid-term goal of hosting a ‘tabling day’ for the many rad ped/alt ped groups and orgs that SoCal holds, we’re currently in process of compiling information on local contemporary alternative practices.

Bring your thoughts to the conversation, and ideas for projects to include.
Sunday February 28th at 2 PM - 4 PM

rsvp @ the Facebook event page

and @ The Public School website

Here are a few links from our past discussions:

The Future - Art Degree Optional, by Janet Owen Driggs, Nancy Popp 
Will Art School Adjuncts Organize? by Janet Owen Driggs and Robby Herbst
Dismantling Art School, by Nancy Popp
The Neoliberal Arts, by William Deresewicz
Speculative Capitalism by Matias Viegener
Ultra-Red Workbook No. 5: Protocols for a School of Echoes
How One of America's Last Free Colleges Screwed it's Students and Betrayed it's Legacy, by Felix Salmon
How is the Artist or Writer to Function (Survive and Produce) in the Community, Outside of Institutions? by Sesshu Foster

Image: La Casa del Obrero Internacional, home of La Escuela Rationalista, 809 Yale St. 1913-1914

*(PLM) - Partido Liberal Mexicano