Take Courage!

Announcing the 2009 Credere Fund Recipients

Courage is needed for human beings to create the future. Individuals must be true to their inner calling even if it vague and unformed or even if it seems crazy to the outer world.

Initiative is not a one way street. If it is to come into being, the outer world must also be receptive. What may appear crazy nevertheless needs recognition to exist. Today no one can go it alone. Those with greater experience, connections, and resources must recognize what is struggling to be born and attempt to support it.

In this spirit the Credere Fund is proud to present the recipients of the 2009 Credere Grants. Four individuals have been directly supported this year and three others are part of our Circle of Support. We lack the money to support these individuals but strongly believe in their projects and so are appealing to you. These individuals are our co-workers. Like you and I, they are striving to make things better in whatever way they can. Please consider donating to their worthy causes.


2009 Credere Grant Recipients


SOCIAL CHANGE + ANTHROPOSOPHY

Silas Beardslee ~ The Rimbi Farm Project
The vision of the Rimbi Farm Project is to start a community-based and supported biodynamic farm in eastern rural Zimbabwe. Through community engagement a new type of agriculture will be introduced that not only has potential to boost harvest quantity through permaculture and crop rotation but also create job opportunities, a space for cultural exchange and ultimately, a new source of hope. In the words of an active Rimbi Community Council member, “[t]his is an opportunity for the community that should be upheld, maintained and carried by the community at large, inclusive, non-discriminating and open for all”. Silas Beardslee is a recent graduate of the Youth Initiative Program (YIP) in Järna, Sweden.

Bea Birch ~ Agawamuck Project for the Fine and Practical Arts
Bea Birch of Philmont, NY, has been an artistic therapist for many years and has worked with individuals with various physical and psychological conditions, including addiction and incarceration. The Agawamuck Project for the Fine and Practical Arts in Philmont, NY will offer approaches to learning which honor not only the intellect but also the intelligence of the heart and hands. The Project will provide a therapeutic, supportive environment for at-risk youth and facilitate meetings, workshops, and apprenticeships with members of the local craft and trade community.


ART + ANTHROPOSOPHY

Benjamin-Jonas Meier ~ A Marionette Performance of 2 scenes (2 & 9) from Rudolf Steiner's first Mystery Drama
Why marionettes? Because marionettes have a real power to develop the faculty of imagination. To look at marionettes cultivates and reawakens our heart, as if it were again the heart of a child. These scenes from Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Drama were chosen because the characters in them are striving with their inner being. The language from Rudolf Steiner, the sounds and the rhythmic aspects of it, are composed in such a way that spiritual forces are revealed to the senses. The scenes will be performed by Benjamin-Jonas Meier and Cecelia Elinson. The backdrop will be painted by Nathaniel Williams. Performances will begin in the Harlemville, NY, area around Eastertime, 2010.

Seamus Maynard ~ Music for Everyday Life
Seamus is a young actor and musician who has studied with the Actor's Ensemble in the U.S. and at the Artemis and Guildhall schools in England. Music for Everyday Life attempts to answer the questions: "How can the work of the artist be brought to its fullest potential? How can that continuously developing work be brought to the people purely, given freely as a gift, unblocked by doubts, fears, anxieties, and pride? And perhaps most importantly - how can simply living and being become a perpetual act of creativity...fulfilling us both on an individual and on a communal level?" Money from the Credere Fund will enable Seamus to explore these questions and offer his musical findings in a number of concerts in 2010. In order to keep the gift moving, proceeds from these concerts will be given to other worthy projects, including Patrick Stolfo's outdoor Flowform Cascade that can be found in our Circle of Support.


CIRCLE OF SUPPORT

Simon Stott ~ Aramitan-Cultural Work Camp
Simon is originally from Germany and is now working at Aramitan in São Paulo, Brazil. Aramitan is an initiative inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s insights into education and the needs of São Paulo. He is organizing and helping to execute work camps that will renovate and build facilities for volunteer housing and for families in need. Those executing the work will be from all over the globe and will be living together, learning about Brazil from many perspectives and creating art together, among other activities. The program will be based on a balance of theoretical work and practical/artistic work. Donate to Simon here.

Thijs Moonen ~ Sense Magazine
A graduate of YIP in Järna, Sweden, and a recent intern with WorldChanging in Seattle, Washington, Thijs is now creating a new periodical called Sense Magazine. The magazine’s layout will be organized so as to help the reader perceive the threefoldness of social life and it’s content will focus on experienced and aspiring social entrepreneurs who are working towards Comprehensive Sustainable Development (sustainable development that considers social and spiritual realities as well as purely economic and ecological). On the one hand, it will be an open platform initiative where everyone is a potential contributor, while on the other, it will continue to serve, and be organized by, students at YIP. Donate to Thijs here.

Patrick Stolfo ~ An Outdoor Flowform Cascade
Patrick Stolfo is building a 9’ long, 4’ wide set of seven Flowforms to be installed on the grounds of Hawthorne Valley School in Ghent NY. This artistic/social centerpiece will honor former teacher William Ward. Flowforms are an artistic/functional offshoot of the pioneering research, in the realm of applied Goethean exploration into fluid movement, of Theodor Schwenk and John Wilkes. Most of the Flowform installations worldwide are in public settings where people, especially children, are magnetically drawn to the sight, sound and magic atmosphere of the pulsating water. Donate to Patrick here

9/01/09 Report by Tatiane Andrade

The "Youth Preparation Program" in Aramitan began February 2009 with two international work camps, bringing a new experience of being an active cosmopolitan. That was the first unit of the program - creating a practical work space for participation, the emergence of local knowledge, and a cultural exchange. Then the young Brazilians were invited to continue the course in a form of a seminar every 15 days.

The second unit, entitled "Vision of Brazil," started with 20 participants (with additional visitors and volunteers) coming Fridays and Saturdays and sometime stretching their stay until Sunday. We did 7 classes, as well as planned and carried out a traditional party - a "Festa Junina" - for a poor community. We also participated in the mini congress "Youth Connection" 2009 in Horizonte Azul. 



• 1st class - To be Brazilian (Ser Brasileiro) with Rangel Garcia and Waldorf students from Sao Paulo, dealt with the roots of this young nation, identifying with the land and the first new mixed population of Brazil 

• 2nd class - We went deeper into this subject with Marli Pereira
• 3rd class - We explored this content further through participatory exercises 

• 4th class - Youth Identity with Reinaldo Nascimento / Freunde (after which we had our "Festa Junina")
• 5th class - With Youth Connection, an exploration of the topic "Who stole from me?" - organized and conducted by young people! 

• 6th class - Learn how to be an adult!? with Oliver Tump 

• 7th class - A continuation of the theme and reflection and orientation to the year. Introduction to the 
theme of the third unit: Globalization - World Vision with Simon Stott 



All classes were accompanied by practical and artistic activities: 


Portrait Collage - Beautification and Painting 
/ Food, traditional sweets 
/ Contemporary & African Dance - Musica Berimbau 
/ Games work shop for children and celebrating
 / Dynamics
 / Choir 
/ Recycling Crafts 



As well as social and individual activities:

Discussions / Music Rap / Documentation of the Family House / Interest in the participation of public Budget / the idea of a room for the preparation program / Sofia YIP Monitoring Program / Portfolio 



We also offer space to participate in other initiatives: 


Language classes such as English, German, and Portuguese 
/ Mini Work camps Family House 
/ Work camps International Futures 
/ Connectivity 2011 South Africa



We were lovingly accompanied by cooks Dona Jacinta, Solange, and Rosangela; by workers and professional friends Joshua, Mary, Ute, Santiago, and Lila; and by the Aramitan crew Tatiane, Simon Oliver, Eduardo, Andreza, volunteers and tutors of the seminars.

Thanks to everyone in the realization of the first half of the program and welcome to its continuation. 


Gratefully,

Oliver Tump / Tatiane Andrade / Simon Stott

6/17/09 Report by Tatiane Andrade

The Day of Play

Every year the Alliance for Childhood in Brazil supports and funds the “Day of Play.” For the last 3 years I have participated in bringing about the Play Day in the south area of Sao Paulo. This year my experience was a bit different, not of the organization or the workshops that were offered, but in how I saw this world. Everything has changed since I’ve been in contact with a family whose situation is quite precarious, a family with six children whose eyes reflect a sea of dried roses.

Through Aramitan’s activities and part of the Preparacao Jovem program, work camps took place at the family‘s house, where we tried to build for these children (who live in extreme poverty, like millions in our country) a decent home to live in. We borrowed a car and had the opportunity to drive these curious children, juice and biscuits in hand, from Embu-Guaçu, the children’s hometown, to Jardim Vera Cruz, where the Monte-Azul nucleus Horizonte Azul was offering the Day of Play. Here we stayed for 3 and a half hours doing activities such as modeling clay, constructing kites, creating necklaces, dreamcatchers, and “Gira-gira” flags to be used for a circus performance. We also saw a wonderful theatre play with puppets (the story of Saint Elizabeth offered by the educators at Monte Azul).

I believe this tour has been quite remarkable for the children: leaving home and going to a place which wasn’t their school, interacting with other children, doing activities for which they didn’t need money, playing free and happy in an environment which is very different then their own. These are realities where much more light is needed.

We returned home with the kids, had lunch, and continued playing throughout the afternoon with the toys they had built on this Day of Play.

Tatiane Andrade


(I very much like this song World of Youth. The words are:

Worlds of Youth, Young World

The world is yours
Hey World of Youth
Young world, World of Youth
Free to live

How can man live and forget about the future?
knowing from what he plants today the young people will harvest the fruits.
Seek for power, fame, profit, and dirty money. It’s useless.
Wisdom is much better than all that. Our study.
For us to change the world it’s just necessary to be united. It is not asking for too much.
Just share a little bit, respect each other, love everyone, be fair.
In memory of childhood, the children’s innocence, and the hope.
It is time for change, confidence.

World of Youth ... [repeats the first verse]

Man, with little faith claim about this and that
Feel alone but never avoid making enemies.
Give an example to your children, This is live.
Teach them not to confront, but avoid conflicts.
Everyone has a bit of a hero, a bit of coward within himself
To apologize, it is needed a lot of courage
It’s never too late
Who has character and strength of will plays his part
Is not a coward.

World of Youth ... [repeat]

Who does not want to live the freedom of a Youth?
Who does not want to live without worrying about death?
So do not ignore
The world cries when it rains
Only you don’t see it
And insist in loosing your Youth
It is inside of you - your virtue is to be able to choose.
Then change through good, don’t be rude.
Change for good
Change

Hey World of Youth ... [repeat]

The world is already coming
Free to live ...)

6/17/09 Report on the work of Emily Hassell

"Blindness wields itself against the propeller of indignation

Of nations crumpled under their own forgetfulness,

Toys of the tycoons’ belt-

We under its knuckles,

Even as the sun sets, we turn again and

Breathe out into the universe as singing birds at dawn."

(EH)

Emily Hassell, recipient of the Art and Anthroposophy grant this year, has been working towards the completion of her presentation and is more than half way done with the works that are due to be exhibited at the end of summer. Although Hassell’s work little resembles Joseph Beuys and Ellsworth Kelly in outer form, Hassell has chosen to use a theme very close to both artists - ‘the space between matter’ - as the focus of her projects. Upon receiving the grant in January, the artist presented the first of her series - "1050˚ F" - a performance installation. Maneuvering through the cumbersome darkness of human atrocities, Hassell’s devastating and beautiful piece responded to politically and socially sensitive issue of the conflict on the Gaza Strip in December and January '09. Hassell says: "Although I knew I had to do this piece, it was not without moral and spiritual questioning. My question was whether or not I could do it in such a way that faced the gruesome nature of it, yet somehow said 'I see, I feel, I will remember, I am your witness.' The space 'in between' in this piece became surrounded by a feeling of immense gratitude, compassion, and love" says Hassell. "I think it worked. Does anything feel better in life than being passionately involved with something you love?" "I have been able to advance both my 'career' and inner state tremendously through this project, and to think, it’s only at the half way mark as we speak!" laughs Hassell.

6/15/09 Report from Tatiane Andrade

Dear Friends,
Some News!

What we’ve tried to do at our latest seminar (where we’ve explored the “Identity and Vision of Brazil” through the lens of Geography and History) is the following:

• characterize the historical building process of the Brazilian people
• reinforce the idea that Brazilians are multiethnic – that we’ve been created through the mixture, the transformation, of different ethnic groups
• reinforce this characteristic of a multicultural population and use it as a point of departure in thinking about our national and international politics
• build up the nation’s self-esteem out of this understanding of “nobodyness” – something which has been done in nations with a similar cultural history

We were 26 participants, including visitors and short-term students, coming from the southern suburbs of Sao Paulo and from Embu Guacu. Also, some of the Brazilians who participated in our work camps continued on with this course.

After the very first discussion time and artistic exercise we already knew each other and felt at home as a group. We drew profiles of our neighbors and later added colored paper and pieces of newspaper, making an individual “piece of art” of the positive and negative frames.

Afterwards we worked inside the house, painting the wooden walls and creating a smaller, enclosed study area within the big, unfinished building. Step by step we will manage to set up the other rooms. Next are the living room and library.

Now we are enthusiastically planning and looking forward to see how this pilot project will develop as the year goes on, with other work camps scheduled for later. We will report back to Aramitan and Credere as progress is made.

Thank you for your support and your interest.

With warm greetings from our team Preparacao Jovem 2009

6/5/09 Report from Jordan Walker and Lachlan Grey

announcing the Mercury in America research tour

What does it mean to be human and free?

To know love and truth

To serve the healthy evolution of humanity?

Mercury in America brings together a unique group of individuals for an epic journey exploring the terrain that lives within us and that we live within. This is a collaborative project and we are looking for others to contribute their questions and capacities for a heightened experience of what a thinking/feeling/doing community looks like in the late summer/early fall of 2009.

Practically, this takes the form of a traveling research project that will cross the country for six weeks (August 30 - October 5) aboard a biodiesel tour bus named "Mercury". We begin on the Pacific Ocean, experience a week in the desert at the Burning Man Arts Festival, explore sacred sites in the southwest and biodynamic farms in the mid-west. Then we head east to take part in an arts and science exhibition and Creating Living Connections, the national conference coinciding with the annual member's meeting of the Anthroposophical Society of North America.

Take a look at our tentative itinerary.

Our mobile laboratory will be staffed by a merry band of socially inspired artists, spiritual scientists, Waldorf teachers, biodynamic farmers, contemporary myth-makers and simple fools.

We would love to have you join us!

We will be attempting spiritual research. Attempting to place our ideals at the center of our time together. We will study the wisdom of the past, experience the broad spectrum awareness of the moment and actively presence a future fast approaching.

If you would like to receive updates about our plans and trip as they progress, respond to us and we'll keep you in the loop. Please pass this email along to whomever it might inspire. Likewise, feel free to put us in touch with people we need to meet and places we need to see. We'd love to hear about your efforts to transform passive consumption into active participation - tell us your stories and we'll tell you ours.

Updated details and more information at:

www.newformsproject.org/mercury-in-america

6/1/09 Report from Tatiane Andrade

Dear friends,

After a very successful first part of our youth program “Preparacao Jovem,” (Youth Preparation Year) containing the two international work camps, we will now initiate the second part beginning with the weekend seminars twice a month plus some study support days during the week.

Our first theme is Identity & Vision of Brazil. We will be working on this for two months and I am exited to do this with other interested young Brazilians of the suburbs of Sao Paulo and Embu Guacu.

There is personal news: I moved with a friend from Sao Paulo to Embu Guacu (close by the project Aramitan) and I am very proud and happy, seeing as this is the first time in my 22 years that I’m able to live on my own and not as before with my mom and other family members. This is not usual here in Brazil. So I feel more and more free to work and have new life experiences.

A big hug and see you!

(Here are some pictures from our last project)

Still without a proper structure we are improvising. Here a lecture with Odilo Guedes, a very busy civil society activist and economist in what will be our future cultural center.

Not just thinking of ourselves – we’re doing our work camps in areas with real need.

In this case we were building a family house. A family of eight lived here without a proper kitchen or any toilet.

Some people on a cultural event called Sarau/open stage, where everybody is invited to offer poems, music, dances...

5/24/09 Report from Luke Fischer

I was invited to contribute poems for the last two Think OutWord conferences. These have been wonderful occasions to share my poetry with the community and receive encouragement for my work. At the conference “Art is Movement” in Spring Valley and NYC, Lachlan Grey brought my poem, “Metamorphosis,” to life in creative speech. Marcus Macauley composed music for the poem which he taught the conference participants to sing. The interweaving of poetry, speech, and song was an enriching and enlivening experience for all.

For the conference “Social Forms to Embody the Future” I was invited to recite a selection of poems, and my poem “Snow” (see below) formed the starting point for a social sculpture. My poetry was very warmly received and many people expressed gratitude for my contribution and asked me to send them the poems. After the conference Laura Summer sent a report to the Social Sculpture USA website run by Rosemary McMullen. Rosemary also published a report on the social sculpture in the Pittsburgh paper, The New People, in which my poem was also published.

There are presently further plans in the works, to collaborate with artists connected to the Think OutWord community.

At the end of June I will be attending a course on Goethean Science at The Nature Institute. While Goethean Science, as a way of perceiving and thinking about nature, is already an inspiration for my poetry, I am sure the time at the Nature Institute will serve to deepen my understanding and perception.

I am seeking various avenues to publish my work. This is a necessary first step before finding a press to publish a book of my poems.

Snow

 

The clouds empty their pockets

of lint,

sending multitudes

of winged-parachutes

spiralling down,

joining hands

in diving-formations,

almost weightless

as air.

 

Aid-bringing

messengers,

radial symmetries, little universes

descending

one upon the other,

white seeds

sewing and laying

new ground.

 

After weeks of news of war

sky sheds its sleep,

a veil

 like forgetting

upon charred clay.

Guiltless

weaving baptismal cloth

and shroud,

unceasingly trustful

in amending possibility

even as it is muddied

and melting…

3/20/09 Report from Annie Sauerland

News from Jordan and the Ayni Aynak film festival. Unfortunately it is not good.

Last week an email was sent out by a Jordanian filmmaker saying that Ayni Aynak and eye-to-I are Israeli organizations and serving the normalization (normalization means: the normalization of the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians before the occupation is ended). He called for Boycott.

Here in Jordan this is a very sensitive issue. Even though the king has a peace agreement with Israel, cultural organizations are trying not to have any contact with Israeli organizations.

The filmmaker isn’t right about us being Israeli. What he found on the eye-to-I website was a former project that happened in 2007 in cooperation with the Kibuzz Harduf in Israel (the "Walk your Talk" conference) Even though eye-to-I took a clear stand against normalization and proved that we are not an Israeli organization the filmmaker continued to threaten us.

As a result our 2 partners in Jordan pulled out of the Ayni Aynak film festival (we found out that the filmmaker arranged several boycotts against projects that one of our partners was doing as the organization that he works with is not friendly with it). Both partner organizations fear to be related in any way to an Israeli project. They would still love to do the project but not now and not with eye-to-I.

For Amna, Alexia and me as the organizers it is a tough time right now. On the one hand we seem to be the victim of an internal dispute between competing film organizations, and on the other hand, the fact that eye-to-I once had a project with Israel is a fundamental problem here.

All of this happened at a stage of the project where posters were printed, participants started to apply, and we finalized arrangements with people from the Jordanian film industry. Now we are trying to find out if we can do the Ayni Aynak film week without eye-to-I and with other partners in the near future.

We will inform you as soon as we have more news.

Best greetings,
Annie

3/25/09 Report from Martina Muller

Dear wonderful Credere Fund people and everyone who donated,

I wanted to thank all of you for the support that I received recently for my “Wall of Light” project! You have no idea how much this means to me! I carry the thoughts and ideas about the project with me continuously, and they have resulted in other ideas already. I think this is only the beginning. I have finished my scale model, I recently got very good technical advise, and I am ready to start the actual project in a week or two. (I will have pictures of my progress for you shortly.) People have come towards me with very helpful ideas. I hope with all my heart that this is going to be something that will be uplifting and transforming for the people who see it. Right now this project serves as a big red thread and as a life line into the future for me. Your support has been invaluable, a true affirmation, and a true blessing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Martina

3/25/09 Report from Tatiane Andrade

Dear Think OutWord team,

About our project:

Things have been very busy over the last months. I have been practically living in Aramitan. Most nights I stay here!

We began the activities of Preparacao Jovem with an international work camp at the beginning of February and it ended last week. It was very enriching for us all and at times we were 55 people taking part in the activities. Now we have started the second work camp with participants mainly from the YIP program (http://www.yip.se) who are doing an internship here. We are together with about 30 Brazilian participants. We are and have been working in the Aramitan building and have put a lot of work in the construction of the volunteer accommodation – a building to host 3 volunteers with a toilet and kitchen. Parallel to this we have been working out in the local community, building a home for a family who live in absolute misery. They have 6 children, the mother is pregnant and they were living in a "home" without a kitchen or toilet. Their lives are now changed and so are the lives of all of us who were able to work on this project.

During the workcamp we have also had lots of times for reflection, and we have had talks from professionals about the history of Brazil, the situation of the youth in Brazil and so on. We have watched movies that are relevant to the current situation of Brazil and have organized cultural events for the community. Many of the young participants from Brazil are now again with us for this second workcamp and the idea is that they will continue during the year with the rest of the activities of Preparacao Jovem. These workcamps give us all the possibility of understanding more about the world and through these knowing more about who we are as individuals...

Of course we also face challenges and questions of how we will continue with the work and these questions make us go further in the work we do!

Many thanks for your support and interest in our work!

Tati

Response by Tatiane Andrade, recipient of the Social Change + Anthropsophy grant

Dear Friends of Think OutWord,

I would like to thank you all so much in the name of Aramitan for trusting and supporting me with this grant for the project Preparacao Jovem. It is with great joy that we can now start implementing and taking this project further in Embú-Guacú (the suburb where Aramitan is located, in the south of Sao Paulo) and that I can personally, thanks to your support, dedicate myself 100% to this work.

Every day we realize how our thoughts become actions through our work and it is now empowering to be supported in this way by Think OutWord from the other side of the World.

We feel proud for having been chosen for this grant and also for being part of this active bridge that strengthens the social impulse of anthroposophy.

We hope this is the beginning of a long lasting partnership between our work in Brazil and your work in the States and OUR work for the world.

Muito obrigada!

Yours truly,

Tatiane Andrade e o grupo Preparacao Jovem-Aramitan

Wanted: Initiative!

THE CREDERE FUND RECIPIENTS OF 2008

When we put out a call for applications in September, with the deadline only two months away, we knew we weren’t giving people much time. We hoped the grants would embolden at least a few people to take initiative and pursue their inspiration, to create projects that otherwise might never see the light of day. We were astonished when we received 14 powerful applications. Then the question arose: who would we give these two small grants to?

Giving money away is both an exciting and sobering experience. 14 seedlings raised their heads and we had water enough only for two. So we went out and got more water…though still not enough. In the end, we are awarding the two original grants. We also raised enough extra money to offer a third grant and a loan! But some very deserving projects are still in need. To meet this need we’ve created a “Circle of Support” to highlight those projects that we believe are ready to be undertaken even if they don’t receive the full grant amount. Please donate to one of these projects right now, no gift is too small! Also, please keep up with the progress of these projects here on the Credere Blog, where all the recipients will be posting occasional updates. Thanks for your interest and support!

Recipient of the 2008 “Social Change + Anthroposophy” grant:
Tatiana Andrade ~ Youth Preparation Year

Tatiana Andrade grew up in a dangerous and violent area of San Paulo, Brazil and met anthroposophy through the Association Monte Azul (http://www.monteazul.org.br/). The relationship with Monte Azul changed her life and she resolved to develop a program to help young people with similar backgrounds to take charge of their lives, transcending and breaking free of the violence around them. The Youth Preparation Year is a one year training for youth aged 18 to 25 that encourages the exploration and understanding of identity and globalization, and develops the skills necessary for young people to make a positive contribution in today's society. The program will be based on a balance of theoretical work in the mornings and practical/artistic work in the afternoons. Tutors and professionals from various initiatives will be involved with the project.

"With our project we want to rescue children and young people in high-risk situations, providing them with the opportunity of growing and developing; acquiring physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual strengths that will prevail in adulthood and will allow them to lead full, autonomous and caring lives"

Recipient of the 2008 “Art +Anthroposophy” grant:

Emily Hassell ~ The Space in Between

The Space in Between is a sculpture project concerned with material reality and the space in between material reality. Using figure as her inspiration, Hassell (www.emilyhassell.com/) will explore complex questions of relationship – both physical and spiritual.

"I am looking at how to create figurative sculpture that shows both the internal and external origin of change, turning points, relationships and ties that are created in physical and nonphysical planes."

A series of sculptures will be created. One or two of these will become publicly-owned, roaming sculptures, available for non-lucrative exhibition, to be used for Think OutWord events, or to be placed within the community at large. In this way questions of art and ownership can also be explored.

"If our body, (and everything else), is mostly space, with only minute physicality, are our senses the only medium creating the sensation of aliveness? What part of us, if we are mostly space, is realizing and experiencing "aliveness" within ourselves? If what we feel as our bodies is our heart beating and our lungs breathing and our senses sensing, and the heart beat and breath of all living things are as one universal beat and breath, how do I respond through artistic expression?"

~~~

Recipient of the new (and one-time) “Social Art + Anthroposophy” grant:
Jordan Walker and Lachlan Grey ~ The New Forms Project

The New Forms Project (www.newformsproject.org/) is a joint collaboration that started with the question "How does one lead an extraordinary life"? Through diligent research and the constant practice of "permanent conference" (a term coined by the artist Joseph Beuys to express the process of continuous conversation with alternative perspectives) Jordan and Lach will help create a Social Sculpture which will exhibit emerging forms of thought, art, ritual and science, and engender an experience of the radical potential of the human being.

On their upcoming travels from New Zealand, to the Goetheanum in Switzerland, to the Burning Man arts festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada (for which they have found independent funding) they will create this sculpture through dialogue and collaboration with the individuals they meet. What they ultimately envision is a modular, sustainably-powered structure that will present sacred, aesthetic technology, focusing especially on water and the Flow Form technology developed by John Wilkes. Their artistic, technical and social backgrounds recommend them as ideal candidates in the imagination and creation of such a Social Sculpture.

Recipient of the new (and one-time) “Entrepreneurship Loan”:

Simeon Amstutz ~ Assenza Painting Course
“When one creates something artistic, it is not just paintings or crafts that are being produced, but it is in a very tangible way community building…this is why a big part of community needs to center around art in the widest sense. Venerable communication is to be a part of everyday life.”

Simeon, an artist from NY, is organizing a week-long painting course to be taught by Freddie Buchwalder, one of the carrying faculty at the Assenza Painting School in Basel Switzerland. The course is envisioned as financially self-sustaining and as the first of many such courses to be offered yearly.

“In making this course possible, it is my intention to broaden and develop the painterly impulse of Beppe Assenza in the northeastern United States. From there it will hopefully permeate and solidify its presence in the contemporary art scene as well as in the anthroposophical community at large.”

Circle of Support:

Annie Sauerland ~ Ayni Aynak: A Palestinian-Jordanian film festival and youth exchange
Annie Sauerland (25 years) has made it her work to build bridges within, and to, the middle-east. Living in Lebanon and Palestine, she has worked with the Goethanum to form an Independent Study around the question "What is the spirit of Islam and what is its task in the world today?" Ayni Aynak (http://ayniaynak.blogspot.com/) is the latest expression of this active searching. Literally translated as "Eye to Eye," Ayni Aynak is a Palestinian-Jordanian youth film festival aimed at bringing young filmmakers together for a week-long festival, not only to show and share films, but to provide a space for dialogue where these young people have an opportunity to share their points of view. Each Jordanian participant will host a Palestinian participant in his home, providing a rare opportunity for these young people to share cultural and life experiences with one another.

"Our activities and concepts are built up around the principle of addressing head, heart, and hand in an equal way, as well as giving each participant the opportunity to go through, and honor, a process within himself while also going out into the world with action." Donate to Annie

Kristin Lee ~ Peacemaker: An American Process and Vision towards Global Peace
In this project Kristin Lee delves deeply into the little-known legend of the great social/spiritual leader of the Iroquois people - Peacemaker. Through a creative retelling of this story in the form of an epic poem, Ms. Lee, herself half Iroquois, strives to provide "a vision of global brotherhood/sisterhood based on mutually-supportive independence, individual and social health, freedom and right thinking." Peacemaker was pivotal in the creation of the Iroquois Confederacy, an advanced form of rights awareness and governance in early North America which would eventually be a powerful influence in the creation of the U.S. Constitution and the forming of American democracy. Out of this powerful story it is perhaps possible to find essential images for a reimagination of the true impulses behind America's innovative social and political forms, and engender an experience of the true spirit of America - discover that which is our own uniquely "American Philosophy of Freedom." Donate to Kristin

Christianne Sinoo ~ Children's Creativity Project
Christianne proposes to spend one month at the Al Jaleel center in Lebanon, a refugee camp serving children who have been traumatized by the Israel – Lebanon war in 2006 and the Lebanese political complex. Her proposal is to bring curative artistic work, handcrafts, music, and theater activities to the children as a way to help them process and overcome the violence around them, think about their future in a more positive way, and leave an impression of the western world that involves peace, beauty and laughter rather than conflict.

"Although the activities will be taking place in the duration of a month, the project aims to bring the experience of art to the children on a long-term basis. Therefore I wish to stock up the Center with a basic supply of art material, skills, and inspiration that can be active further on after I leave."

Additionally, "I plan to give inspiration through activities like planting a tree and painting a wall of the center courtyard together with the children. Furthermore, I am aiming for an open event in the end where the local community is invited…"

Christianne is 19 years old. She is from Holland and is currently studying at YIP (the Youth Initiative Program) in Jarna, Sweden. Donate to Christianne

Martina Angela Muller ~ Wall of Light
"Wall of Light is an installation that consists of softly moving, diaphanous, luminous layers of light with slowly drifting, transparent, organically inspired shapes that create new overlapping forms every second they move. The effect is supposed to suffuse our usual concept of a fixed and non-transparent world with impenetrable border to create an impression that there is a spiritual and luminous world beyond our sense perceptions. The viewers should be able to stand in this space of light and movement and have an almost 'magical' experience of beauty of light, color and form in a less material way."

The installation will involve fabric, sculpture, painting, and mobile lighting, and will be premiered at the Art Collective Studio 345 on Warren Street in Hudson in the summer, 2009.

"This project would be a stepping stone to innovative creations with light in larger spaces. It has been an ongoing question of how one can liberate the visual arts from the painting/museum/gallery pattern and make actual living spaces for people more artistic, creative and ultimately more spiritual…At this point in my artistic career I am imagining solar powered light/movement/water installations that could enliven residential and corporate living spaces."

Martina Muller (www.martinaangelamuller.com/) lives in Harlemville, NY and is a founding member of the Art Collective Studio 345. Donate to Martina

Luke Fischer ~ Crossings
Crossings is the working title of a book of poems that Luke Fischer (29 years) would like to collate and publish. Inspired by his intensive engagements with Anthroposophy, Goethean Science, and phenomenological philosophy, and having recently received his doctoral degree for his philosophical interpretation of Rilke's poetry from Tubingen, Germany, Mr. Fischer will now focus on his own poetry, submit it to journals, and find a publisher for his work. His poetry seeks to reveal the spiritual dimensions of nature and the world. He says: "Poetry is a way in which I seek to approach this dimension of reality and communicate it to others… Poetry springs from a place of unity between self and world, and in addition to communicating spiritual inspiration can play a significant role in healing this rift between nature and spirit." Donate to Luke