Please note* – ArtRage will be closed for regular hours from July 19 thru August 4, 2009. We will re-open for films, events and exhibition on Wednesday, August 5 at our regular times of 2-7pm.

We end our season in June with a powerful exhibit of photographs from the Oaxaca, Mexico resistance movement combined with original political posters from art collectives there.

In 2006, Oaxaca, Mexico came alive with a broad and diverse movement that captivated the nation and inspired communities organizing for social justice around the world. Fueled by long ignored social contradictions, what began as a teachers’ strike demanding more resources for education quickly turned into a massive movement that demanded direct, participatory democracy.

Hundreds of thousands of Oaxacans raised their voices against the abuses of the state government. They participated in marches of up to 800,000 people, planned strategy at the barricades, occupied government buildings, took over radio stations, held sit-ins, and reclaimed spaces for public art and altars for assassinated activists. In the now Legendary March of Pots and Pans, 2,000 women peacefully took over and operated the state television channel for three weeks.

All this despite the fierce repression that the movement faced – with hundreds arbitrarily detained, tortured, forced into hiding, or murdered by government forces and paramilitary death squads. And the Oaxacan people are still determined to make their voices heard. This exhibit is our attempt at ArtRage to help make those voices heard through the photographs and art of those who were there and to learn from them.

Films and presentations on this struggle will accompany the exhibit along with the sale of a must read book, “Teaching Rebellion; Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca”.

The Syracuse International Film Festival will screen sneak peeks of their 2009 upcoming films and award winning 2008 shorts. Join us for a night of film madness to support independent filmmakers.

Sneak Peeks for Festival 2009:

Famous in 31 Days - by John Gerard – Local newscaster, John Gerard, decides to rise above obscurity and become a famous TV star in 31 days.  We share with him the laughter, the rejection, and the fun as he makes his way across the USA to Los Angeles to follow his dream.

Animated American – The future collides with the past as a house-hunting executive crosses swords with his realtor.

The Best of 2008 -

The Box - Korea – animation – A man sits on a stage with a box on his knees waiting for you to enter a magical phantasmagoria.

The Miracle - USA – A woman who dares to dream past her own physical limits takes us on her journey. Based on a true story.

Program length:  approximately 90 minutes.

For more information contact:Christine Fawcett-Shapiro – Festival Producer, Syracuse International Film Festival Hotel Syracuse, 500 S. Warren St. Syracuse, NY 13202
e christine@syrfilm.com t 315.443.8826 f 315.443.2493

Deadline: March 15, 2009
Because community is so central to an Arts Covenant, the Arts Covenant working group invites everyone’s involvement. To begin with, we’re asking you or your students to help design an Arts Covenant logo and tag line. Besides a design task, this is a chance to discover what covenant, community, culture and the arts mean.

Logo designs can be submitted in two categories: 18-and-under &
Adult. All Central New Yorkers are eligible. We’ll have prizes for the winner in each category:
! 18-and-under – $100 iPod card
! Adult category – two tickets to Syracuse Stage and two tickets to Syracuse Opera and two tickets to Syracuse Symphony
! Top three entries in each category will be posted on syracuse.com/ CNYSpeaks and www.artscovenant.com.
! The public will select the best in each category.
! One of the two winners will be chosen as the official Arts Covenant Logo.

The CNY Arts Covenant invites EVERYONE in our region to support the arts and culture of our community by making and keeping four simple art-based agreements a year.

Within the broad categories of the Arts Covenant, each person can choose to participate in his or her own way. Since the NYSCA Cultural Blueprints conference last fall, a working group of artists and arts allies, with the assistance of the Post-Standard’s Civic Engagement Editor, have been working to create this ARTS COVENANT in Central
New York.

An Arts Covenant acknowledges that arts and culture is essential to quality of life and a lively, creative community – in good times and bad. In its deepest sense a covenant is what creates community.

For more on the Arts Covenant check out our website, www.artscovenant.com

Take this opportunity to meet Jafeth, our visiting artist from Popayán, Colombia in this informal setting. Jafeth will make a short presentation and open up a discussion with participants.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jafeth is an artist from the Cauca region of Colombia. He has lived in Popayán since 1985 and produces much of his work from there. In his early days he was involved in community activities; teaching literacy, as a school teacher, as a leader of a Christian community and as a youth leader at a regional and national level. This experience gave him a wider understanding of the social realities of his country and resulted in him publishing a range of material in the 1980s.

In 1978, he published his first drawings. Ever since, his commitment to art as a profession has become more intensive and full-time, as he quickly developed a distinct and recognizable style, heavily tempered by ethnic, social, religious and cultural influences. He recently celebrated 30 years of producing art that boasts a firm and deeply rooted social commitment.

He regularly collaborates with local and national institutions in the development of graphic materials such as posters, drawings and illustrations, mostly aimed at supporting processes of social and community empowerment. He continues to bring his artistic experience to the wider community through workshops with grassroots groups and indigenous communities in the region.

Jafeth has exhibited his work in Popayán and other Colombian cities. He has completed murals both in Colombia and Europe. He is regularly invited abroad and has traveled with his work to Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Austria where it is widely recognized and well received.