A meeting of performing and creative artists, educators and producers working across artistic disciplines and cultural divides
Greetings! The 5th annual residency for the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium is happening August 14th – 18th at Earthdance– an artist-run retreat center in Western Massachusetts. Sixteen other artists from Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.S. (Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania) will join me for four days of exchanging approaches to making work and to engage in dialogue sessions about interdisciplinary performance and its role in education and in different cultural contexts. Immediately following our time together, we will serve as teachers for the Moving Arts Lab, August 18th – 21st – a three day festival of workshops open to the general public. Included in the weekend is a larger dialogue session, sharing our findings from the residency with all of the participants, and opening the floor to discuss the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in our world today. We will also offer a faculty performance.
I need your support to cover travel expenses for all of the residency artists/teachers, plus room and board at Earthdance during our stay. For the last two years I have run successful fundraising campaigns, in major part to your contributions. This year, as with last, I want to continue a vision of having all of the teachers for the Lab present for the entire duration of the residency. Previously I was only able to support a smaller group of artists participating in this portion of the project.
In a culture that often devalues artists and their contributions, it has been important to me to provide this opportunity to artists without them having to incur any out-of-pocket expenses. The residency and lab are spaces where we can continue to identify and support the values that we share, and that are in danger of being lost in a world of distraction, increasing violence and instant gratification. We will also continue to identify our individual and collective resources toward further supporting our individual artistic projects, engaging various communities throughout the world.
History:
The International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium (IIAC) is a network of performing and creative artists, educators and producers working across artistic disciplines and continental divides. The objective of the IIAC is three-fold:
-to engage in artists’ residencies that offer opportunities for knowledge exchange which feed into larger social and educational structures (i.e. workshops, festivals and academia)
-to identify and sustain methods for sharing resources and values
-to expand a network of partners
Established in 2012, the IIAC has since grown to include 46 artists living and/or working in such countries as Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Curaçao, England, Finland, Germany, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, and Uruguay, and from within the U.S. in states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania.
This year’s roster includes Esther Baker-Tarpaga, Krista DeNio, Margot Bassett Silver, Deborah Black, Will Bond, Marianne Kim, Debra Disbrow, Conrado Falbo, Ximena Garnica, Shige Moriya, Jack Gray, Maré Hieronimus, Martín Lanz Landázuri, Tara Rynders, Petra Van Noort, Edisa Weeks and Sarah Young.
For more information, please visit www.interdisciplinaryartistsconsortium.com
Thank you!
Peter Sciscioli, Interdisciplinary Performer, Creator, Educator and Producer
The main challenge I face is financial. If I don’t find support then I will have ongoing out-of-pocket expenses, and I will have to forfeit any fee for my time and work. It may also jeopardize another possibility for me to continue creating these kinds of opportunities in the future.