RAT Re: world wide wrat

["Erik Ehn" <shadowtackle@worldnet.att.net>]

Dear Rats:

      We have at least one sympathizer in Australia, a few more in New Zealand. They won't be able to come to Iowa, but, someday...

     Christine Evans, a fine playwright and musician from Adelaide, puts us on to a festival there in march. Discussed in Real Time - a free arts bi-monthly. The site is worth checking out:

http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/

     I recommend the editorial, the article on globalization, and news from Wales. A germane question in the ed.: pressure is on the arts to be more inclusive - should the pressure be reversed? Is the culture inclusive of the arts? (school funding, etc.). Are some forms of the arts (those that chose to provoke rather than cajole) any less inclusive than, say pro-sports (which not anybody can play, but which are given the broadest possible audiences with civic supported arenas and government brokered deals with the wealthy)? In the end: an appeal for greater subsidy. Don't know that I come down to the same spot, but I like the ride.

     Also, an interview with Robin Archer, who's putting the Adelaide Festival together. She recommends gatherings that represent the fruits of collaboration, and cause collaboration, over meets that set autonomous works up for display. Point taken. Rat works when it offers up twin supports: new strength to be what we are, new incentive to be what we are not yet - the discovery of collaborative partners. In addition to demonstrations, workshops, discussions and performance events, I'm hoping we can structure time where collaborative processes are explored in practical ways. The Actor's Gang/Bogart inspired construction festivo  is one model. Other thoughts?

a thousand years of peace,

e