BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Sanctuary For Independent Media - ECPv6.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:The Sanctuary For Independent Media X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Sanctuary For Independent Media REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20200308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20201101T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20210314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20211107T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220310T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220310T203000 DTSTAMP:20230213T185426Z CREATED:20220216T210412Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T185426Z UID:10001529-1646938800-1646944200@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Direct Air Capture: False Climate Solution? DESCRIPTION:Join us for a virtual town hall and learn about Direct Air Capture. \n\n\n\n\nREGISTER\n\n\n\n\nThis virtual event will begin with an overview of the Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act (A8597/S8171)\, now pending in the NYS Assembly and Senate. Presentations by our speakers\, June Sekera (policy scholar)\, Visiting Scholar at the New School University\, New York\, and a Senior Research Fellow at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center; and  Jim Walsh Policy Director for Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action\, will be followed by a Q&A. We’ll then end with a Call to Action! \n\n\n\nActivists charge that the Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act (A8597/S8171)\, now pending in the NYS Assembly and Senate\, would generously subsidize the Direct Air Capture technology that they characterize as a false “greenwashing” solution. Comments from environmental experts opposing this bill: \n\n\n\n\n“Let’s be clear that any government support for carbon capture or direct air capture is a FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDY.“ \n-Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson\, PhD\n\n\n\nCarbon Engineering pilot plant in Squamish\, B.C. featuring Direct Air Capture technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere. \nCC image by Stephen Hui\, Pembina Institute\n\n\n\nDIRECT AIR CAPTURE (DAC) is a costly mechanical-chemical method of carbon capture and storage that critics charge is unproven\, dangerous and energy-intensive. They say DAC would likely require a massive build-out of pipelines to transport CO2 and that it is an unwise public investment that diverts resources and attention from real solutions. \n\n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJune Sekera is a Visiting Scholar at the New School University\, New York\, and a Senior Research Fellow at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center. Her review article\, “Assessing Carbon Capture: Public Policy\, Science and Societal Need” was published in Biophysical Economics and Sustainability (October 2020).   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFood and Water Watch Policy Director\, Jim Walsh oversees campaigns to ban fracking\, end water privatization\, and push back on fossil fuel industry-backed false solutions to the climate crisis. Jim works with Food & Water Watch’s policy experts and national allies to develop and implement campaigns to mobilize the public and educate decision makers on strategies that support the development of a better food system\, a safe and livable climate and support safe and clean public water for all. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe moderator for the event is Barbara Heinzen\, PhD\, Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena Coeymans \n\n\n\n\n\nCo-Sponsors\n\n\n\nThank you to our co-sponsors: Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena Coeymans\, Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls\, Beyond Plastics\, People of Albany United for Safe Energy\, Food & Water Watch\, Green Education and Legal Fund\, and NATURE Lab and People’s Health Sanctuary with The Sanctuary for Independent Media. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/direct-air-capture/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event,Panel Discussion ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/StephenHui_PembinaInstitute.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220303T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220303T210000 DTSTAMP:20230213T185803Z CREATED:20220111T225042Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T185803Z UID:10001327-1646334000-1646341200@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Digital Ofrenda / Altar with Minerva Hernández / Bioscénica and IONE DESCRIPTION:Celebrate the new moon of March and the coming of the light\, as you join us in this virtual healing event featuring an artist talk\, live digital ritual and meditation. \n\n\n\n\nRegister\n\n\n\n\nWe welcome Minerva Hernández Trejo with Bioscénica\, along with artist/healer IONE\, in the third in The Sanctuary for Independent Media’s latest virtual series of artist residencies\, “Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes.” This event is designed as a healing ritual for People’s Health Sanctuary\, part of a year-long inauguration of our new NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Arts & Education Center. \n\n\n\nThis virtual event will begin with an artist presentation by Minerva Hernández Trejo\, followed by a live ritual performance by Minerva and colleagues broadcast from Mexico City to our live zoom audience\, and completed by a healing meditation by IONE. \n\n\n\nWe chose this artistic ceremony to celebrate new moon of Pisces\, a time of beginnings. We mark the spring\, and a new year\, setting intentions for where we want to put our energies.  We focus on the five elements: water\, color/ fire\, wind/air\, earth/body\, spirit. Our overriding intention is healing — our planet\, our bodies — in this event and future events. \n\n\n\n\n\nMoon in the night sky just after the New Moon during the waxing crescent towards becoming full again.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArt & Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes\n\n\n\nMinerva Hernández Trejo is the third in The Sanctuary for Independent Media’s latest virtual series of artist residencies\, “Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes.” \n\n\n\nInaugurating our new NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Arts & Education Center\, this event is designed as a healing ritual for People’s Health Sanctuary’s new home on the second floor. This NATURE LAB residency program is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts\, for women artists offer creative calls to action for ecological justice and survival of Planet Earth.  \n\n\n\nThe century-old suffragette message gives voice to inequities\, and our struggle for the environmental health of our local\, national and global communities. \n\n\n\nParticipating Artists\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMinerva H. Trejo \n\n\n\nMinerva H. Trejo is a transdisciplinary artist. Her work revolves around collective memory\, the relationship between body\, technology\, science\, poetry and vitality. She studied Photography and Cinematography in Brussels\, Belgium. She is an honorary member of the National System of Creators since 2010 and is part of the Art and Science research and creation group of the UNAM. She currently directs the transdisciplinary Bioscénica company\, dedicated to creating\, developing and producing proposals that combine arts\, sciences and technology. http://bioscenica.mx \n\n\n\nListen to Minerva’s interview for Hudson Mohawk Magazine: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Minerva Hernández\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGéraldine Eguiluz \n\n\n\nGéraldine Eguiluz is a multi-instrumentalist (voice\, guitar\, trumpet\, percussions) improviser\, composer\, musicologist\, as well as poet and painter. Born in Mexico in 1969\, citizen of the world and multi-lingual\, she grew up in Bogota\, Lisbon and Paris. She discovered herself as a musician from adolescence and deepened her practice until today. She signs her latest album Mexihcah Bones (2021) on the label Corne de Brume.  Géraldine Eguiluz’s work is in constant transformation\, cultivating new connections between individuals\, communities and institutions\, while making her unique contribution to the world. http://geraldineeguiluz.com \n\n\n\nListen to Géraldine’s interview for Hudson Mohawk Magazine: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Geraldine Eguiluz\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMyriam Beutelspacher Alcántar  \n\n\n\nTransdisciplinary artist\, teacher and researcher. Master in Technology and Aesthetics of Electronic Arts. Co-founder of Bioscénica\, Digital Body and Transdisciplinarity. She researches digital performance from an arche-machine logic to configure thermodynamics relationships. Curator of the International Meetings of Performing Arts\, Science and Technology\, “Efusion: code and production of meaning”; “Liveness: prosthetics\, gesture and metaphor” and LabCET Epigenetics. has been part of several academic research groups in Latin America. Recently served as Director of Academic Development at the National Arts Center. http://m-y-r-i.net \n\n\n\nListen to Myriam’s interview for Hudson Mohawk Magazine: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Myriam Beutelspacher\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEurídice NaVi \n\n\n\nA communicologist\, alchemist and amateur anthropologist\, she produces video dance\, craft beer and healing potions from herbalism. \n\n\n\nShe works in the dissemination of traditional Mexican music and sound experimentation and directs a home project for the conservation and protection of the Axolotl\, a species declared in danger of extinction. \n\n\n\nShe remains active as a transdisciplinary artist\, performer\, choreographer and dance teacher. Collaborator of Bioscénica\, digital body and transdiscipline since 2018. www.bioscenica.mx \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIONE \n\n\n\nIONE is an author/playwright/director and improvising text/sound artist. Her numerous publications include the memoir\, Pride of Family; Four Generations of American Women of Color\, a NY Times Notable Book\, Spell Breaking 1 & 2Anthologies of Women’s Mysteries. and Listening in Dreams!  She is playwright and director of Njinga the Queen King\, the Dance Opera Io and Her and the Trouble with Him\, The Lunar Opera; Deep Listening For_Tunes\, collaborations with composer Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) IONE and Oliveros’ The Nubian Word for Flowers\, A Phantom Opera. premiered in November 2017 -Pocket Edition at NYPL for the Performing Arts-Lincoln Center.2020 IONE is former Artistic Director of Deep Listening Institute\, Ltd. and Founding Director of the Ministry of Maåt\, a not- for- profit organization emphasizing women’s spiritual and educational wellbeing. A specialist in dreams and the creative process\, IONE facilitates retreats world-wide. www.Ionedreams.us \n\n\n\nListen to IONE’s interview for Hudson Mohawk Magazine: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with IONE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Listen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine interviews about this event:\n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Minerva Hernández\n \n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with IONE\n \n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Geraldine Eguiluz\n \n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Myriam Beutelspacher\n \n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Digital Ofrenda / Altar Event with Eurídice NaVi\n \n \n \n \n \n Read More\n \n Altars and the Transformative Power of Creating Art with Nancy Weber\n \n \n \n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is supported by the National Endowment of the Arts\, as well as a collaboration between the iEAR Presents series with support from RPI’s ARTS department and School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Science\, and from the New York State Council for the Arts/ NYSCA\, with The Sanctuary for Independent Media and People’s Health Sanctuary. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/digital-altar-with-minerva-hernandez/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Performance ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ritual33.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220117T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220117T163000 DTSTAMP:20230213T190712Z CREATED:20210824T160053Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T190712Z UID:10001019-1642428000-1642437000@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:MLK Celebration 2022: "Labor and Community United for Social Justice" DESCRIPTION:We invite you to join the virtual Martin L. King Celebration “Labor and Community United for Social Justice.” Over the past years\, dynamic MLK programs have been led\, in person at the Sanctuary and virtually\, by community organizers and organizations! This trend with the focus of organizing labor and community united in Troy will continue in 2022! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrganizations leading and participating in this event include: NAACP Troy Branch\, Team HERO\, Troy Coalition of Black Leaders\, Coalition of Black Trade Unions\, United Ordained Church-North Central\, Coalition of Labor Union Women\, Equality for Troy\, Troy Sanctuary Campaign\, NYCLU\, Troy DSA\, Solidarity Committee of the Capital District\, Collectiveffort\, Troy Area Labor Council\, 5th Avenue AME Zion\, Civil Service Employees Association\, New York State Public Employees Federation\, Capital Region Labor Council for Latin American Advancement\, Shades of Cocoa\, One Troy\, Justice Center of Rensselaer County\, Capital Region Poor People’s Campaign\, and People’s Health Sanctuary. \n\n\n\nFeaturing:  \n\n\n\n\nTroy Community/ Labor Organization speakers\n\n\n\nRoundtable discussion: Candidates of Color\, Rensselaer County\, 2021\n\n\n\nArchival videos and live poetry\n\n\n\nCalls to Action! \n\n\n\n\n\n“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is\, ‘What are you doing for others?’” \n– MLK Jr.\, 1957\n\n\n\nEvent MC: Deacon Jerry Ford (Team HERO; Vice President\, NAACP Troy Branch) \n\n\n\nMultiple speakers representing diverse community organizations in Troy will respond to MLK’s Call for Alliances for Inter-sectional Justice\, around the key issues: Racial Justice and Civil Rights\, Labor Justice and Community Organizing\, Health Justice/Environmental Justice/Economic Justice and The Next Generation. \n\n\n\nSpeakers include:  \n\n\n\n\nTerry Melvin (Coalition of Black Trade Unionists)\n\n\n\nWillie Terry (Coalition of Black Trade Unionists)\n\n\n\nRenée Powell (NAACP Troy Branch #2182-B)\n\n\n\nReverend Hunter (5th Avenue AME Zion Church)\n\n\n\nRev. Charles Burkes (United Ordained Church)\n\n\n\nAdam Pelletier (Troy Area Labor Council)\n\n\n\nDebra Garrett (Shades of Cocoa)\n\n\n\nAileen Javier (People’s Health Sanctuary at The Sanctuary for Independent Media)\n\n\n\nJess Bennett (Friends of the Mohicantuck)\n\n\n\nDan Lyles (Collectiveffort)\n\n\n\nDavid Banks (Troy DSA)\n\n\n\nNoreen Mckee (Justice Center of Rensselaer County)\n\n\n\nSiobhan Burke (Troy Sanctuary Campaign)\n\n\n\n\nRoundtable featuring Candidates of Color who ran for public office in Troy in 2021: \n\n\n\n\nGwen Wright (Candidate for Rensselaer County Executive)\n\n\n\nD. Colin (Candidate for City Council – District 1)\n\n\n\nSteven Figueroa (Candidate for City Council – District 2)\n\n\n\nKiani Conley Wilson (Candidate for City Council – District 5)\n\n\n\nMarketa Edwards (Candidate for City Council – District 6)\n\n\n\nShawntell Mills-Sanchez (Candidate for Rensselaer County Legislature\, District 4)\n\ndiscussion moderated by Daquetta Jones\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPoetry by:  \n\n\n\n\nD. Colin\n\n\n\nIan Macks\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpecial thanks to event organizers Renée Powell\, Adam Pelletier and Willie Terry!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKEYNOTE SPEAKER:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReverend Terrance Melvin \n\n\n\nRev. Terrence L. Melvin holds the second highest office in the New York State labor movement – Secretary-Treasurer of the 2.5 million members\, New York State AFL-CIO. In May 2012\, at the 41st International Convention of the CBTU\, Mr. Melvin was elected unanimously as the organization’s new president\, succeeding William (Bill) Lucy\, who had held the position since he co-founded CBTU in 1972. Mr. Melvin has focused on developing lasting ties between labor\, religious organizations and community partners.  In December 2008\, he spearheaded the development of the NYS AFL-CIO Community Outreach Department which he oversees the day to day operations.Amongst his various Labor and community roles\, Mr. Melvin is a man of devout faith and spiritual belief. He is an ordained Baptist Minister.  He serves as Associate Minister and Assistant to the Pastor at Second Baptist Church\, Lackawanna\, New York. \n\n\n\n\n\nEVENT MC:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDeacon Jerry Ford \n\n\n\nDeacon Jerry Ford\, a husband\, father and leader; has seen his share of trauma and adversity. He lost his mother and father at a young age. He was raised by a loving aunt\, but found himself in the streets looking for the love he never received from his parents and eventually ended up in prison. After his 3rd prison stint\, he saw himself on a path toward life in prison or death. Finding strength in faith\,  Deacon Ford was able to make a 180 degree turn and now his story of resilience and hope is impacting communities across the nation. He currently serves as the Vice President of the NAACP Troy Branch. He also started a nonprofit organization named Team H.E.R.O about 10 years ago. H.E.R.O. standing for Helping Everyone Recognize Opportunities which focuses on youth mentoring\, character and leadership development and linking families to resources. He has been recognized both locally and nationally for his service to the community\, most notably winning  the Maytag Dependable Leader Award. This award is only given to 11 individuals across the nation.  \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Deacon Jerry Ford: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Jerry Ford talking about Troy NY MLK2022 Commemeration\n\n\n\n\n\nMORE INFO ABOUT PRESENTERS: (in progress)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDaquetta Jones  \n\n\n\nDaquetta Jones is the former Deputy Commissioner for Administration with the New York State Department of Civil Service and Executive Director of the YWCA of the Greater Capital District. Throughout her life’s work she has proven herself to be a change agent and activist for Black Liberation\, Human Rights\, Womxn’s Rights\, and Racial Justice and Equality. Daquetta has earned and received numerous accolades and honors including: Albany Business Review’s Women Who Mean Business Award\, was named as one of the 40 Under 40\, the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society Change Maker Award\, and many others. Daqetta will be moderating the roundtable discussion featuring Candidates of Color who ran for public office in Troy and Rensselaer County in 2021. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGwen Wright \n\n\n\nGwen Wright has spent most of her career in public service. She recently retired as the executive director of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV)\, a position she held for years. She was with the agency for over 27 years. Prior to joining OPDV\, Ms. Wright was the executive director of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence a statewide non-profit domestic violence advocacy organization. \n\n\n\nMs. Wright has served on many non-profit boards of directors throughout her career. Currently\, she is on the board of directors of Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood and the Center for Women and Government in Civil Society. She is past president of both In Our Own Voices and the Pride Center of the Capital Region. She is the mother of three adult children and has four wonderful grandchildren. She has been a resident of Schodack since 2001. \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Gwen Wright: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · MLK Celebration 2022: Candidate Gwen Wright\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarketa Edwards \n\n\n\nMarketa Edwards is a community activist that wants to give a voice to the voiceless. She is the Executive Director of the Community Rising Project. The Community Rising Project is dedicated to the advancement of Boys and Men of Color who have been directly impacted by trauma and their involvement in the criminal justice system. Marketa is a Mother\, Grandmother\, and community organizer who ran for City Council in Troy in 2021.arketa Edwards \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShawntell Mills-Sanchez \n\n\n\nShawntell came to the Capital Region in 1994 to attend the University of Albany. Upon graduation\, Shawntell remained in the Capital Region where she has worked in the human services sector for over 20 years. She started her career at Albany County Department for Children\, Youth and Families. She moved on to continue her focus on child welfare policy & practice in a non-profit organization. Like many working women with expertise in her field\, Shawntell pursued career advancement and experienced challenges along the way. She obtained a master’s degree in education and started her own small business by combining her knowledge of information technology and child welfare programs. She now provides her expertise & services to the NYS Office of Children and Family Services as a consultant. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nD. Colin \n\n\n\nOriginally from Bridgeport\, CT\, D. Colin is a poet\, actor\, and visual artist living in Troy\, NY. As a multidisciplinary artist\, she aims to inspire\, empower and educate through poetry\, paint and performance and is passionate about cultivating space for stories\, healing and community. She is the author of Dreaming in Kreyol and Said the Swing to the Hoop. She is also a Cave Canem\, VONA and New York State Writers Institute fellow with degrees in English and Africana Studies. D. Colin is a board member of The Sanctuary for Independent Media. \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with D. Colin: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · MLK Celebration 2022: Artist D. Colin\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIan Macks\, poet \n\n\n\nIan Macks is a 28-year old poet from Troy\, New York. His long-awaited debut full-length collection\, Identity Crisis\, is due to be announced this spring on recto y verso editions\, inc. His poetry has recently been chosen for publication in Hypersaturation Magazine and BigCityLit literary journal. You can get at him and read his work on Instagram @imacks22 \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Ian Macks: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · MLK Celebration 2022: Poet Ian Macks\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRenee Powell\, President of the NAACP Troy Branch \n\n\n\nRenee is president of the NAACP Troy Branch since 2019.  The 21st century goal of the NAACP is to build Black political power to end structural racism to put end to race-based discrimination. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdam Pelletier\, MLK 22 Celebration Organizer \n\n\n\nAdam Pelletier is the President of the Troy Area Labor Council (AFL-CIO)\, which represents approximately 10\,000 working people in Troy and Rensselaer County. He has been involved in labor union and social issue advocacy and organizing in the Capital District for the last 10 years. He has been known to upset people in positions of power. Adam is a graduate of Clarkson University and veteran with prior active service in the United States Marine. He is also a member of the Troy Democratic Socialists of America and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3343.  \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Adam Pelletier: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Interview With Adam Pellitier MLK2022 B\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWillie Terry\, Coalition of Black Trade Unions\, Troy Area Labor Council\, MLK 22 Celebration Organizer \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Willie Terry: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Willie Terry Wants More Education Around MLK’s Legacy and Labor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nRev. Charles Burkes\, United Ordained Church-North Central \n\n\n\nRev. Burkes is currently the Pastor of United Ordained Church-North Central Troy. He is the former Director for the Albany County Veterans Services Bureau where he was responsible for serving veterans in the 17 cities and towns in Albany County. His duties included assisting veterans\, their spouses\, and their dependents navigate the process while seeking eligibility for VA benefits and returning to civilian life. In 2014\, Rev. Burkes was also nominated and confirmed to the Citizen’s Policy and Complaint Review Council. Rev. Burkers is a graduate of the Sage Colleges and is a Vietnam era Veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps from 1974-1978. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReverend Hunter\, 5th Avenue AME Zion \n\n\n\nRev. Xavier Hunter is the pastor of the Fifth Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church in Troy\, NY. Finishing his first year here in the Troy Community he has hit the ground running in leading the church and becoming a part of the Troy and Capital area community. Pastor Hunter is a native of Buffalo\, NY  and has become a unique orator who is able to convey the truth of God’s word clearly\, compellingly and in a way that makes the word come alive to his congregation. An out of the box thinker\, teacher\, and preacher\, who believes in out of the box worship and praise! Combining his business experience and leadership with God’s direction\, his ministry has grown and most importantly helped grow the kingdom of God. Rev. Hunter is currently finishing his Master’s of Divinity at Northeastern Seminary in Rochester\, NY. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAileen Javier\, People’s Health Sanctuary \n\n\n\nAileen Javier is a Community Health Worker/ Outreach Educator/Family Advocate. She is passionate about fomenting community health by supporting and empowering people to successfully navigate the local social and health care system.Previously\, Aileen has worked as a Community Outreach / Family Advocate in Massachusetts. She is part of the People Power at the Sanctuary because she believes in the Sanctuary’s Mission: “We use art and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice and freedom of creative expression.” \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Banks\, Troy DSA \n\n\n\nDavid A. Banks is the chair of Troy DSA’s defund police working group and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Geography and Planning department at University at Albany\, SUNY where he is the director of the Globalization Studies program. He is also a proud delegate to the Troy Area Labor Council\, and the Officer for Contingents of the Albany chapter of United University Professions (UUP). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDebra Garrett\, Community Organizer \n\n\n\nDebra Garrett holds an A.A.S. in Medical Administration and B.S. in Health Science  She currently works at the NYS Comptroller’s office and at TRIP as a community capacity builder.  Ms. Garrett has also held positions with CEO and St. Peter’s Partners in the past.  She currently serves on boards for the Troy Drug Free Coalition\, the Ark After School and the Oakwood Community Center.  Ms. Garrett volunteers in many local organizations throughout Troy including School 2 and Troy Prep.  She previously served on the Troy City Council for District 2 and loved helping the community.  Ms. Garrett founded\, Shades of Cocoa\, a group empowering black and brown young girls.  She also created the Parent Speak Advocate organization to support parents with school policy.  Ms. Garrett resides in Troy with her husband\, LT\, and their four children who all attend Troy Prep. \n\n\n\nHear Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Shades of Cocoa \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Shades of Cocoa\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDan Lyles\, Collectiveffort \n\n\n\nDr. Dan Lyles is the VP of Operations and Research at Collectiveffort is has been a faculty member at Rensselaer Polytechnic institute for 5 years. He is a Sociologist of Scientific Knowledge and Institutions and received his degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic in 2016. At RPI\, he focuses on raising engineering students awareness of the unique opportunities they have to use engineering knowledge and skills to change the world for the better. At Collectiveffort\, he focuses on cooperative governance\, project management and using the immense power of shared resources to develop community resources and assets. He is pursuing his introductory Professional Project Management certificate in 2022. In his spare time\, he likes to organize community organizations and foundations.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNoreen McKee\, Board Member\, League of Women Voters and the Justice Center of Rensselaer County \n\n\n\nAs a board member of the League of Women Voters and the Justice Center of Rensselaer County\, Noreen McKee has fought successfully to bring early voting into the heart of downtown Troy to provide equitable access to early voting for minorities and low income voters. She is also on the board of directors of Unity House and a member of its advocacy committee\, which is “dedicated to giving voice to the voiceless by shining the spotlight on the injustices suffered by the poor and the racial inequality that fuels poverty. \n\n\n\nListen to Hudson Mohawk Magazine’s interview with Noreen McKee: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Is Democracy Dying in Rensselaer County? with Noreen McKee\n\n\n\n\n\nMore interviews by Hudson Mohawk Magazine: \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · “The Strategy Comes Out of Struggle” Says Leon Van Dyke of The Brothers\n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · PEF Union and MLK Civil Rights talk with Wayne Spence\n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Labor Organizing Around MLK Day\n\n\n\nMORE INFO ABOUT CO-SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS (in progress)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNAACP Troy Branch #2182-B \n\n\n\nThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States\, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois\, Mary White Ovington\, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells. \n\n\n\nThe NAACP’s mission in the 21st century is “to ensure the political\, educational\, social\, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination”. National NAACP initiatives include political lobbying\, publicity efforts and litigation strategies developed by its legal team.  The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct\, the status of black foreign refugees and questions of economic development. Its name\, retained in accordance with tradition\, uses the once common term colored people\, referring to those with some African ancestry. Contact: TroyNYNAACP@gmail.com. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou can view our MLK Holiday Labor and Community Celebration from 2021 below: URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/mlk-2022/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/MLK22-v2-sq-plain-01.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211218T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211218T170000 DTSTAMP:20211223T155011Z CREATED:20211213T174705Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211223T155011Z UID:10001296-1639843200-1639846800@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Light Coming Out of Darkness: Holiday Interfaith Justice and Peace Circle at Freedom Square DESCRIPTION:View the gallery of photos from this event\n\n\n\n\nJoin us on Saturday in a circle of light. Together we will light candles and look to the future. Bring your wishes for light\, justice and peace\, as we reflect on current times and come together with sacred intention\, embracing all religions and beliefs. \n\n\n\nThis community event is organized with co-sponsors Team H.E.R.O.\, Troy Central Little League\, NATURE Lab and People’s Health Sanctuary… \n\n\n\nFeel free to bring decorations for our community tree and altar\, messages and memories. \n\n\n\nAll are welcome! Please wear a mask \n\n\n\nCheck out a past Holiday Interfaith Justice and Peace Community Celebration at Freedom Square with the following video: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nH Bosh Jr.\, Uncle Mac & Jerry Ford Share Holiday Memories with the Sanctuary URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/tree-lighting-light-coming-out-of-darkness/ LOCATION:Freedom Square\, 35 5th Ave\, Troy\, NY\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Screenshot_2019-12-13-North-Central-Troy-Justice-and-Peace-Holiday-Celebration-The-Sanctuary-for-Independent-Media.png GEO:42.754030225802;-73.681172076926 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Freedom Square 35 5th Ave Troy NY 12180 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=35 5th Ave:geo:-73.681172076926,42.754030225802 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211112T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211112T220000 DTSTAMP:20230213T191325Z CREATED:20211110T214649Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T191325Z UID:10001222-1636743600-1636754400@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:"Not Going Quietly" w/ filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman and panel discussion DESCRIPTION:Join us for a virtual film screening of “Not Going Quietly” with filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman\, followed by a panel discussion. \n\n\n\nThe event begins with a quick introduction by filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman\, then we will screen Not Going Quietly. Following the film\, a personal message by Ady Barkan and brief Q&A with Nicholas will lead into a discussion led by People’s Health Sanctuary moderators Aileen Javier and Corinne Carey with panelists: Tracey Corder\, ACRE (Action Center on Race and the Economy); Ursula Rozum\, Campaign for NY Health; Julia Solow\, Hand in Hand (The Network of Domestic Employers); Scott Desnoyers\, health care activist. \n\n\n\n\nCLICK HERE FOR VIDEO DOCUMENTATION\n\n\n\n\n\nOn December 18\, 2017\, approximately 70 protesters against the GOP Tax Bill were arrested while staging a ‘die-in’ in the rotunda of the Rayburn House office building. One of the arrestees was health care activist Ady Barkan\, who is living with ALS. Barkan said the GOP tax bill’s cuts to Medicaid will put his and 13 million other American’s life at risk. (Photo by Michael Nigro)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA rising star in progressive politics and a new father\, 32-year-old Ady Barkan’s life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS. But after a confrontation with powerful Senator Jeff Flake on an airplane goes viral\, catapulting him to national fame\, Ady and a motley crew of activists ignite a once-in-a-generation political movement called “Be a Hero.” Together\, they barnstorm across the country and empower people to confront their elected officials with emotional\, personal stories to demand healthcare justice\, and Ady holds groundbreaking interviews with Joe Biden\, Kamala Harris\, Bernie Sanders\, and Elizabeth Warren.  Through his journey\, Ady discovers that collective action and speaking truth to power offers hope for his family and millions of others. \n\n\n\nView Democracy Now! clip of “Not Going Quietly”: Paralyzed with ALS\, Ady Barkan Continues Fighting for Medicare for All \n\n\n\nThis event is a collaboration between the iEAR Presents series with support from RPI’s ARTS department and School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Science\, and from the New York State Council for the Arts/ NYSCA\, with The Sanctuary for Independent Media and People’s Health Sanctuary. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps://www.notgoingquietlyfilm.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNicholas Bruckman produced the feature film VALLEY OF SAINTS\, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. The film was released on Netflix and was a New York Times Critics Pick. \n\n\n\nHe previously directed the feature documentary LA AMERICANA\, which won the best documentary prize at the NY and LA Latino Film Festivals. The film broadcast worldwide on networks including PBS\, National Geographic\, and Al Jazeera. \n\n\n\nNicholas Bruckman is the director of NOT GOING QUIETLY\, his latest film about 32-year-old Ady Barkan’s life. \n\n\n\nNicholas’ work has received support from foundations including the Fledgling Fund\, Cinereach\, NYSCA\, NYFA\, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is the founder and CEO of People’s Television\, a New York and D.C.-based branded & original content company. \n\n\n\n\n\nPANEL \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTracey Corder\, Campaign Director – Policing and Incarceration\, ACRE (Action Center on Race and the Economy) \n\n\n\nTracey is a Deputy Campaign Director for ACRE ‘s Policing work. She comes to this work after serving as a social worker\, electoral campaign organizer and political strategist. \n\n\n\nHer most recent position as Director of Federal Action and Racial Justice at Center for Popular Democracy worked to advance direct action as a tactic to advocate for progressive legislation on housing\, immigration\, voting rights\, climate and policing. \n\n\n\nTracey serves on the Advisory Board of Be A Hero\, the Steering Committee of Black Womxn For and is a trainer for the Birddog Nation. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUrsula Rozum\, Co-Director\, Campaign for NY Health \n\n\n\nUrsula Rozum\, a Syracuse native\, is an organizer building people power to win healthcare for all with Campaign for New York Health. In 2012\, she was the Green party candidate for Congress. She likes bicycles and growing vegetables.Busy-bee organizer in Syracuse\, NY. \n\n\n\nThe pandemic is exposing the weaknesses of the current healthcare system and why we must create a system that guarantees care for everybody. The New York Health Act (A5248a/S3577a) will provide comprehensive\, universal health coverage — including long-term care — for every resident of New York.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScott Desnoyer\, healthcare activist \n\n\n\nScott Desnoyers says his son died because of $20 and Amy Sterling Casil was charged $50\,000 after her baby died – they are among many Americans sharing their stories about the health system. \n\n\n\nDaniel was 29 when he died. He killed himself after failing to get his medication refilled because he missed a $20 premium he was not aware of. \n\n\n\n“I promised his siblings and him at the funeral in front of everyone that I was going to make our lawmakers look me in the eye and see the consequences of their decisions\,” shares his father\, Scott Desnoyers. a loving father who lost his son and became a Medicare-for-All activist. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJulia Solow\, Lead NY Caring Majority Organizer at Hand-in-Hand: The Network of Domestic Employers \n\n\n\nJulia’s passion for organizing comes from a long legacy of organizing in her family\, personal experiences of struggle and amazing mentors along her journey. She first got involved in movement work when social work professors in college introduced her to immigrant rights leaders fighting for the DREAM Act in 2010. Since then\, Julia has been organizing in solidarity with working class people of color-led movements and power organizations on efforts to address gentrification\, living wages for farm workers and drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants in New York State\, among others. Prior to her work at Hand-In-Hand\, she has had the privilege of working at AFL-CIO National Headquarters in DC\, Community Voices Heard in New York and as an Americorps VISTA in Cleveland\, Ohio. Julia has a Masters in Social Work from CUNY Hunter College. She is bilingual in English and Spanish \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAileen Javier\, co-moderator \n\n\n\nAileen Javier is a Community Health Worker/ Outreach Educator/Family Advocate. She is passionate about fomenting community health by supporting and empowering people to successfully navigate the local social and health care system. She worked as a Community Outreach / Family Advocate in Massachusetts. At the Sanctuary Aileen collaborates in the NATURE Lab’s newest initiative: Health Autonomy Clinic and she is working on radio production for WOOC 105.3 FM publishing pieces on local health resources. Aside from the radio production\, she helps plan and organize events and distribute flyers\, she is ready to help in any way that she can. In the near future she will do community outreach for the HAC. \n\n\n\nShe enjoys dancing\, buying from local businesses and farms\, meditation\, yoga\, hiking and living a healthy lifestyle. She loves talking and meeting new people. She is part of the People Power at the Sanctuary because she believes in the Sanctuary’s Mission “We use art and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice and freedom of creative expression.” \n\n\n\n – From Aileen: The Sanctuary For Independent Media is My Tribe and my Second Family. I am honored to be part of such a Great  Organization! I Love You Guys! See what Aileen has done with the Sanctuary \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCorinne Carey\, co-moderator \n\n\n\nCorinne Carey is a political & public affairs strategist taking on bold public health initiatives backed by sound evidence & human rights. Carey is the campaign director of Compassion & Choices New York. Compassion & Choices improves care\, expands options and empowers everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. \n\n\n\nCompassion & Choices’ award-winning video features the groundbreaking filmmaker Hammer urging New York lawmakers to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act. “My cancer is incurable … I will reach a very debilitated state\,” she says in the video\, in which she notes that she suffered through more than 100 chemo treatments for ovarian cancer over 12 years before entering hospice in late 2018. “I would so much like to be able to manage my own death by choosing the time and the person I’d like to have with me so that I can die in comfort and with compassion and not in pain and morphine-drugged.” Hammer died on March 16\, 2019\, at age 79 in her Manhattan home without access to this gently dying option. In February\, Oscars in Memoriam honored her for her legacy as an experimental filmmaker. Watch the entire award-winning video of Barbara Hammer urging New York lawmakers to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act. \n\n\n\nCorinne Carey is a radio producer with Hudson Mohawk Magazine on WOOC 105.3 FM.  \n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nCO-SPONSORS \n\n\n\nBe A Hero Fund \n\n\n\nBe A Hero takes on the impossible fights. Big money. Special interests. Powerful politicians. We’ve taken them all on– and won. \n\n\n\nThe Be A Hero team is led by Ady and co-Executive Director Jamila Headley. Together with a group of committed organizers\, Ady and Jamila are fighting for a more just health care system in the United States. \n\n\n\nFour months after the birth of his son Carl\, Ady Barkan was diagnosed with ALS. Confronting his own mortality\, Ady decided to spend his remaining time fighting to transform America’s health care system so that it guarantees all of us the care and dignity we deserve and lifting up stories of incredible heroism in the face of injustice. \n\n\n\nJamila is an impact-focused leader and an accomplished advocate for healthcare\, racial\, and disability justice. She thrives at the intersections of strategy and implementation\, building organizations and movements at the global and local levels\, and caring for the individuals in them. \n\n\n\nThe COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the brokenness of our healthcare system\, and the time is ripe for transformational change. But in order to win\, we must build a powerful movement and we can’t do it without you. Join our fight today! \n\n\n\nNY Health: Healthcare for Every New Yorker \n\n\n\nThe New York Health Act [A.6058/S.5474] will provide comprehensive health care for every New Yorker. You and your healthcare provider of choice will work to keep you healthy—New York Health pays the bill. You will never have to fear going without coverage again—especially in the middle of a deadly pandemic.  \n\n\n\nOver the last year\, tens of thousands of New Yorkers died\, lost income\, fell behind on rent\, and struggled to pay medical bills. Meanwhile\, private health insurance corporations made record profits. The COVID-19 pandemic puts everyone at risk\, but Black\, brown\, and low-income New Yorkers carry the greatest burden of exposure\, with disproportionately more serving as essential workers and disproportionately fewer having access to healthcare. \n\n\n\nWe need a legislative agenda of compassionate care to heal from this pandemic. That’s why we partnered with allies in the housing justice and decarceration movements to release the Compassionate New York Agenda. This is a road map to saving lives and billions of dollars by providing guaranteed healthcare\, stopping unjust evictions\, and reducing the number of people behind bars and harmed by the criminal and immigration systems. We reject the austerity agenda\, and call for a movement based on compassion and care to drive the legislative agenda in New York. \n\n\n\nJoin us in building the movement to win universal\, guaranteed healthcare — and more. Check out ways to get involved in passing the New York Health Act! URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/not-going-quietly/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event,Panel Discussion,Screening,Speaker ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NotGoingQuietly.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211112T163000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211112T173000 DTSTAMP:20230213T191456Z CREATED:20211110T214747Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T191456Z UID:10001223-1636734600-1636738200@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Be The Media! Workshop: "Building a Media Business While Staying True to Your Activist Roots" w/ filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman DESCRIPTION:Join us for a workshop on creative entrepreneurship and activism\, and how to build a career in the arts while staying true to your principles. Learn how you can intentionally avoid a traditional film path\, and take your storytelling skills and translate to what matters! \n\n\n\nActivist Ady Barkan and filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman\n\n\n\n\nCLICK HERE TO REGISTER\n\n\n\n\nFilmmaker and CEO Nicholas Bruckman will show samples of his work\, including feature films and short form storytelling or companies and social justice organizations. Nicholas talk about how he began his career in independent feature length film\, and his discovery connecting artistry\, activism and storytelling to have an impact in the world. \n\n\n\nAt the intersection of being a CEO and social justice filmmaker\, he’ll provide guidance for people starting their career in documentary film and video production and the intersection with small business. He will share his personal experiences building People’s Television\, a 17-person production studio that emphasizes stories for social change\, and strategies for branding\, sustainability and entrepreneurship. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNicholas Bruckman produced the feature film VALLEY OF SAINTS\, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. The film was released on Netflix and was a New York Times Critics Pick.He previously directed the feature documentary LA AMERICANA\, which won the best documentary prize at the NY and LA Latino Film Festivals. The film broadcast worldwide on networks including PBS\, Nationa Geographic\, and Al Jazeera. \n\n\n\nNicholas Bruckman is the director of NOT GOING QUIETLY\, his latest film about 32-year-old Ady Barkan’s life. \n\n\n\nNicholas is the founder and CEO of People’s Television\, a creative studio that produces award-winning independent films as well as digital and broadcast content for the world’s leading brands and organizations. \n\n\n\nThrough People’s TV\, Nick regularly directs films for brands including Greenpeace\, Facebook\, and Dropbox. His work has been supported by Sundance\, Film Independent\, the Sloan Foundation\, the IFP Cannes Producers Fellowship\, and the International Documentary Association. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nThis event is a collaboration between the iEAR Presents series with support from RPI’s ARTS department and School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Science\, and from the New York State Council for the Arts/ NYSCA\, with The Sanctuary for Independent Media. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/be-the-media-workshop-building-a-media-business-while-staying-true-to-your-activist-roots-w-filmmaker-nicholas-bruckman/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Workshop ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Nicholas-Bruckman-People-Television.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211029T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211029T170000 DTSTAMP:20241203T171357Z CREATED:20210910T164025Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241203T171357Z UID:10001022-1635519600-1635526800@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Tony Cokes in Conversation DESCRIPTION:Please join us for an online presentation with American artist Tony Cokes. \n\n\n\nThrough a rigorous analysis of images and language\, Tony Cokes dissects the often-obscured power dynamics at work in the cultural and political representation of histories of Blackness\, class\, and the war on terror. \n\n\n\nThis event is a collaboration between EMPAC and the iEAR Presents series with support from RPI’s ARTS department and School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Science\, and from the New York State Council for the Arts/ NYSCA\, with The Sanctuary for Independent Media as Community Co-sponsor. \n\n\n\nThe talk will be followed by a Q&A with the artist. \n\n\n\nHear the Hudson Mohawk Magazine interview with Tony Cokes \n\n\n \nMediaSanctuary · Tony Cokes Contradicts Cultural Associations with Sound\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTony Cokes’ distinctive artworks and installations center on videos that foreground textual statements\, often overlaid onto colorful monochromatic backgrounds with pop\, punk\, and electronic music soundtracks. Quoting language from across the political spectrum—from philosophical statements to news\, art criticism\, advertising\, and song lyrics—Cokes mixes linguistic\, visual\, and sonic oppositions in a pared back approach that refuses the easy desire for a spectacular image. Shot through with wry humor and the aesthetics and upbeat music of popular culture\, the videos project unstable meanings that deconstruct how we receive and read images. \n\n\n\nTony Cokes makes video\, installation\, print\, sound\, and other works that reframe appropriated texts to reflect upon capitalism\, subjectivity\, knowledge\, and pleasure. Cokes deploys sound as a crucial\, intertextual element\, complicating minimal visuals. He has shown works internationally at venues including Tate Modern\, and CCA Goldsmiths\, London; Centre Georges Pompidou\, Paris; Museum of Modern Art\, and Whitney Museum\, New York; ZKM\, Karlsruhe; REDCAT\, and Hammer Museum\, Los Angeles; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Schinkel Pavillion\, Berlin; ICA\, Philadelphia; Stedelijk Museum\, Amsterdam; MMK Frankfurt; and La Cinémathèque Française. Cokes has screened works in festivals including the Berlin Biennale X; RuhrTriennale 2019\, Essen; Rotterdam International Film Festival; Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid; and the Oberhausen Short Film Festival.  He is a Professor in the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University\, Providence\,RI. His work is represented by Greene Naftali\, New York\, Hannah Hoffman\, Los Angeles\, and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)\, New York. \n\n\n\n\n\nFunding has been provided by the Electronic Film and Media area of the New York Council on the Arts. \n\n\n\nEMPAC \n\n\n\nhttps://empac.rpi.edu/ URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/tony-cokes-in-conversation-2/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event,Speaker ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MJ_but-also-of-the-seductions_-1536x1099-1-1024x733-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211022T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211024T160000 DTSTAMP:20240606T190735Z CREATED:20211022T170400Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240606T190735Z UID:10001029-1634925600-1635091200@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Ruderal Ecologies 2 DESCRIPTION:The Ruderal Ecologies 2 virtual conference builds upon the 2018 Ruderal Ecologies: Grounds for Change conference\, which brought together thought leaders in art\, science\, and environmental justice to explore the history and future of urban environments shaped by stress. “Ruderal\,” from the Latin rudus (rubble)\, refers to plant species that are first to repopulate disturbed lands\, an apt analogy for the state of our post-industrial neighborhoods. It is through this lens that we will envision our futures. Ruderal Ecologies 2 conference is a collaboration between the School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Science\, ARTS and STS departments\, NATURE Lab and The Sanctuary for Independent Media\, and the iEAR Presents series\, supported by in part by a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act\, and the Vollmer Fries Lecture Series at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Media Alliance programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.   \n\n\n\nClick For SCHEDULE OF CONFERENCE\n\n\n\nRuderal Ecologies 2 will once again bring together cutting-edge artists\, social scientists\, scholars\, and activists learning and working beyond the barriers of any one discipline\, and this time our work will be all-virtual\, making it possible to present thinkers and host virtual audiences from all over the globe. Reflecting our commitment to curating a feminist framework into this conference\, the majority of our presenters are women or gender non-conforming. We have also invited Indigenous authors\, artists\, and speakers\, with the intention of embedding a variety of Indigenous ways of thinking\, storytelling\, and expression into conversations about our urban futures. \n\n\n\nNATURE Lab\, a project of The Sanctuary for Independent Media\, is one block from the Hudson River at the beginning of the Erie Canal. Our Environmental education campus\, including Collard City Growers’ garden\, the L-Lot sustainable forest\, the NATURE Lab Residency Space\, and Freedom Square commons offer programming including community workshops\, public art installations\, artist residencies\, research activities\, and after school programs. NATURE Lab’s biosafety level 1 community bio laboratory focuses on issues around urban environmental justice and social justice. Upstairs from the laboratory the People’s Health Sanctuary space is being constructed to share health skills\, provide basic integrative care and explore ways to build networks of community health.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRuderal Ecologies 2 virtual conference confirmed presenters include: \n\n\n\nFriday night\, October 22\, 6pm – 8pm EDT: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with Max Liboiron \n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Max Liboiron is leader in both developing and promoting anticolonial research methods into a wide array of disciplines and spaces. As founder of CLEAR\, an interdisciplinary plastic pollution laboratory whose methods foreground humility and good land relations\, Liboiron has influenced national policy on both plastics and Indigenous research\, invented technologies and protocols for community monitoring of plastics\, and led the development of the interdisciplinary field of discard studies. \n\n\n\nHere is the recording of Dr. Liboiron’s talk. \n\n\n\nLiboiron’s book\, Pollution is Colonialism\, bridges Science and Technology Studies (STS)\, Indigenous studies\, and discard studies while providing a framework for understanding all research methods as practices that align with or against colonialism. Focusing on plastic pollution\, the text models an anticolonial scientific practice associated with Métis concepts of land\, ethics\, and relations\, and demonstrates that anticolonial science is not only possible\, but it is currently being practiced. One reviewer for the book wrote that the text “is at the leading edge of a significant turn in STS towards thinking with settler-colonialism as a structure and terrain and contributes significantly as well to thinking about how ethical principles related to lab science and studies of pollution and shorelines. There are exceedingly few texts of this kind that ask\, how might we consider relations with land/waters and science – and still practice ‘good’ science?” \n\n\n\nDr. Liboiron is an Associate Professor in Geography and is formerly the Associate Vice-President (Indigenous Research) at Memorial University. Liboiron is Métis/Michif (Woodman via Red River) who grew up in Lac la Biche\, Treaty 6 territory. Gender pronouns: they/them. Liboiron is pronounced: Lee-Bwah-rohn. https://maxliboiron.com/ \n\n\n\n\n\nSaturday\, October 23 11am – 4pm EDT: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with Bettina Stoetzer \n\n\n\n\n\nBettina Stoetzer teaches cultural anthropology at M.I.T. Her research focuses on the intersections of ecology\, globalization\, and urban social justice. Bettina received her M.A. in Sociology\, Anthropology and Media Studies from the University of Goettingen and completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of California Santa Cruz in 2011. Before coming to MIT\, she was a Harper Fellow in the Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago. Bettina’s most recent book\, Ruderal City: Ecologies of Migration and Urban Life in Berlin (Duke University Press\, 2018)\, draws on fieldwork with immigrant and refugee communities\, as well as ecologists\, nature enthusiasts and other Berlin residents to illustrate how human-environment relations have become a key register through which urban citizenship is articulated in contemporary Europe.  https://culanth.org/fieldsights/rethinking-nature-an-interview-with-bettina-stoetzer \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with Anna Scime \n\n\n\n\n\nAnna Scime is an internationally exhibited media artist whose latest project\, Lake Sturgeons’ Guide for Surviving the Anthropocene\, is an experimental work created from nine years of research and fieldwork collaborations with scientists working in biology\, geology and ecology. It consists of a feature length nonfiction film\, a series of short video essays and a multimedia installation comprised of interrelated pieces. The project examines history\, art\, culture\, and language through an ecological lens pointed at a single species and zooms outward from there. Though varied in material\, style and genre\, Scime most often experiments with moving-image-based work at the intersection of art\, technology and science – addressing topics including the Anthropocene\, eco-histories\, and the archive. http://www.a–a.org/ \n\n\n\nMediaSanctuary · Interview with Anna Scime\, Presenter at Ruderal Ecologies 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTiare Ribeaux is a kānaka maoli interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker originally from Honolulu and based in the Bay Area. Her work employs storytelling to reveal social and ecological imbalances while imagining more regenerative futures. She explores how both our bodies and the technologies we use are entangled with the environment\, and aims to recenter indigenous narratives. She is the co-founder and creative director of B4BEL4B gallery. \n\n\n\nShe has shown work both nationally and internationally\, and has won numerous grants and awards for her artistic leadership including 2 New and Experimental Works Grants from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation\, and grants from the Zellerbach Family Foundation\, the National Endowment for the Arts\, the Doris Duke Foundation\, and the Center for Cultural Innovation\, among others. She has given artist guest lectures at conferences and universities\, and has worked with Leonardo/ISAST\, the de Young Museum\, YBCA\, and the California Academy of Sciences\, among others. She was awarded a web residency with Akademie Schloss Solitude + ZKM in 2019 and selected for the American Arts Incubator in 2017-18 with ZERO1 Arts and Technology Network with the US Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs. http://www.tiareribeaux.com/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNatasha Myers is ill and unable to attend \n\n\n\nNatasha Myers is an anthropologist\, artist\, and activist living on Dish With One Spoon Lands\, in Toronto. She is an associate professor at York University\, director of the Plant Studies Collaboratory\, founder of the Politics of Evidence Working Group\, and co-founder of Toronto’s Technoscience Salon. Her current ethnographic projects speculate on ways of seeding plant/people conspiracies\, with investigations spanning the arts and sciences of vegetal sensing and sentience\, the politics of gardens\, and the enduring colonial violence of restoration ecology. Since 2015 she has been working with dancer and filmmaker Ayelen Liberona on Becoming Sensor\, an anticolonial research-creation project that detunes settler common sense to invent protocols for an ungrid-able ecology of the happenings ongoing in the ancient oak savannah lands around Toronto. She is the author of Rendering Life Molecular: Models\, Modelers and Excitable Matter (Duke 2015)\, co-author of Le Ravissement de Darwin: Le langage des plants (Éditions La Découverte 2020) co-editor of the forthcoming Reactivating Elements: Chemistry\, Ecology\, Practice (Duke\, 2022)\, and co-editor of the forthcoming What is Life? (Das Neue Alphabet\, Spector Books\, 2021).  For more information see http://natashamyers.org  \n\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, October 24 11am – 4pm EDT: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with Scott Kellogg \n\n\n\n\n\nScott Kellogg\, is the Educational Director of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center\, an urban environmental education non-profit in Albany\, New York.  Radix’s pedagogy applies questions of equity\, access\, race\, and class to the post-industrial urban ecosystem\, seeking to create reciprocal and mutualistic relationships between urban youth and the soils\, water\, air\, non-human life\, and waste cycles of the city.  Scott’s work with Radix is documented in his new book Urban Ecosystem Justice: Strategies for Equitable Sustainability and Ecological Literacy in the City (Routledge\, 2021)\, which explores topics including community-based bioremediation\, artificial floating islands\, composting justice\, and biocultural diversity.  Scott holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and teaches in Bard College’s Masters in Environmental Education program. http://radixcenter.org/   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with WhiteFeather Hunter \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhiteFeather Hunter is a multiple award-winning Canadian artist and scholar working in a research\, craft and performance-based transdisciplinary practice. She specializes in biomaterials research\, used predominantly to develop new critical discourse. She has been professionally engaged in a craft-based (bio)art practice for over 18 years\, via an ongoing material investigation of the functional\, aesthetic and technological potential of bodily materials. Her works coalesce various media approaches\, such as textile methods\, biology\, storytelling (video\, audio and text)\, performance\, public intervention\, digital + web-based installations and DIY electronics. WhiteFeather is a multiple-award winner and grant recipient\, holding a Master of Fine Arts in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University. She is currently a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow\, Australian Government International RTP Scholar and UWA Postgraduate Scholar\, situated between the School of Human Sciences and School of Design at The University of Western Australia. https://www.whitefeatherhunter.ca/about \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHear HMM’s interview with Margaretha Haughwout \n\n\n\n\n\nMargaretha Haughwout collaborates with humans\, and the more-than-human\, across technologies and ecologies\, to enact possible worlds. Speculative fabulation\, intervention\, participatory event\, walking tour\, experimental pedagogy\, installation\, and biological processes articulate stages of her worlding processes. As an intertwined series of related interventions\, she explores Ruderal Witchcraft: a project in collaboration with the artist Oliver Kellhammer that consider of set of practices specific to planetary\, weedy natures that work their way at edges and interstices of public and private property\, and which are entangled with a range of other human and non-human outcasts of capitalist modernity. Active relationships with weedy\, rapidly reproducing species that primarily operate in everyday spaces of disturbance give guerrilla gardeners\, activists\, artists\, witches\, and other practitioners concerned with the ongoing threats of the global Capitalocene new spatiotemporal opportunities for anti-capitalist magic\, sabotage\, and retreat. Haughwout received her MFA from the Digital Art and New Media program at the University of California Santa Cruz\, her Permaculture Design Certificate from the Urban Permaculture Institute\, and has studied with numerous herbalists including Matthew Wood. https://beforebefore.net/ \n\n\n\n\n\nRadio Bonus! Hear the interview with NATURE Lab director Kathy High who talks about Ruderal Ecologies 1 and what to expect at this year’s conference. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nSchedule of Event\n\n\n\nFriday\, October 22 6:00pm – 8:00pm EDT \n\n\n\n6:00 Welcome to the Conference \n\n\n\n6:10 Max Liboiron \n\n\n\n7:15 General Panel Discussion with Discussants Abby Kinchy & Guy Schaffer  \n\n\n\n7:30 Q&A \n\n\n\n8:00 END SESSION \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nSaturday\, October 23 11:00am – 4:00pm EDT \n\n\n\n11:00 Welcome to Day 2 \n\n\n\n11:10 Bettina Stoetzer \n\n\n\n12:30 Anna Scime \n\n\n\n1:45 Tiare Ribeaux \n\n\n\n3:00 General Panel Discussion with Discussants Nancy Campbell & Ellie Irons & Jenifer Wightman \n\n\n\n3:30 Q&A \n\n\n\n4:00 END SESSION \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nSunday\, October 24 11:00am – 4:00pm EDT \n\n\n\n11:00 Welcome to Day 3 \n\n\n\n11:10 Scott Kellogg \n\n\n\n12:30 WhiteFeather Hunter \n\n\n\n1:45 Margaretha Haughwout \n\n\n\n3:00 General Panel Discussion with Discussants Oliver Kellhammer & Kate Galloway \n\n\n\n3:30 Q&A \n\n\n\n4:00 END SESSION \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\nRegister for the Virtual Conference\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nAny views\, findings\, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment of the Humanities. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/ruderal-ecologies-2-bios/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/RuderalEcologies2-sm.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211019T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211019T203000 DTSTAMP:20250212T182953Z CREATED:20211019T200100Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T182953Z UID:10001027-1634670000-1634675400@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Chris Hedges: "Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison" DESCRIPTION:In this virtual talk\, activist author Chris Hedges speaks about his new book\, “Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison\,” on the occasion of its release by publisher Simon & Schuster. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHedges has taught courses in drama\, literature\, philosophy\, and history since 2013 in the college degree program offered by Rutgers University at East Jersey State Prison and other New Jersey prisons. In his first class at East Jersey State Prison\, where students read and discussed plays by Amiri Baraka and August Wilson\, among others\, his class set out to write a play of their own. In writing the play\, Caged\, which would run for a month in 2018 to sold-out audiences at The Passage Theatre in Trenton\, New Jersey\, and later be published\, students gave words to the grief and suffering they and their families have endured\, as well as to their hopes and dreams. The class’s artistic and personal discovery\, as well as transformation\, is chronicled in heart-breaking detail in Our Class. This book gives a human face and a voice to those our society too often demonizes and abandons. It exposes the terrible crucible and injustice of America’s penal system and the struggle by those trapped within its embrace to live lives of dignity\, meaning\, and purpose. \n\n\n\nFind videos of Chris Hedges’s previous visits to the Sanctuary on Sanctuary TV. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans for fifteen years for The New York Times. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News\, The Christian Science Monitor\, and NPR. He is host of the Emmy Award­–nominated RT America show On Contact. Hedges\, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University\, is the author of numerous books and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University\, New York University\, Princeton University\, and the University of Toronto. He has taught college credit courses through Rutgers University since 2013 in the New Jersey prison system. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/our-class-trauma-and-transformation-in-an-american-prison-w-chris-hedges/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chris-Hedges-webshot-2021-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211011T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211011T180000 DTSTAMP:20230213T193038Z CREATED:20210929T133058Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T193038Z UID:10001026-1633964400-1633975200@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Garlic Planting Party DESCRIPTION:Collard City Growers will be hosting a Garlic Planting Party to honor Indigenous People’s Day and prepare for next year’s growing season. The garlic planted is generously donated by Dara Silbermann of 2nd Street Farm and from our own Branda Miller’s Garden. \n\n\n\nWe will also be fundraising for Collard City Growers by selling some jellies and jams made from various fruits of the garden. We sincerely appreciate any small monitory donation to help us purchase necessary items to keep the garden healthy and productive in coming years. \n\n\n\nPick up for your own: \n\n\n\n\nHomemade grape jellies  \n\n\n\nDried herbs \n\n\n\nPotted plants \n\n\n\nFresh veggies from the garden\n\n\n\n\nStop in for planting\, stay to enjoy the fruits of our fall labor. This in person event will take place at the Collar City Grower Garden at 3337 6th Ave in North Troy 12181 URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/garlic-planting-party/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event,Fundraiser ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SBH_CCG_garlicplanting_2021Oct11_6364s.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211002T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211002T120000 DTSTAMP:20230213T193645Z CREATED:20210903T235247Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T193645Z UID:10001020-1633168800-1633176000@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:"Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes" Mycelial tiles workshop with Mae-ling Lokko DESCRIPTION:Watch the event recording here.\n\n\n\nMae-ling will be offering a virtual overview of her work with mycelia from 10:00-10:30am. Her brief presentation will be followed by a small number of participants at NATURE Lab who will engage in a hands-on workshop creating the mycelial tiles. This workshop is part of Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes\, funded by National Endowment for the Arts “Art Works.” \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist and biomaterials technology researcher from Ghana and the Philippines whose work centers on the upcycling of agrowaste and biopolymer materials. Her research integrates a broad range of criteria that questions contemporary material-value systems to evolve life cycle design to meet generative justice criteria.  \n\n\n\nLokko teaches seminars and design studios on energy and ecology in relation to the built environment\, upcycling and ecoeffective material life cycle design. Lokko holds a Ph.D. and Masters of Science in Architectural Science from the Center from Architecture\, Science and Ecology\, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and B.A from Tufts University. \n\n\n\nFor more information: maelokko.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Deeper View of the Mycelial Tiles Workshop\n\n\n\nThe exquisite tiles created from this workshop will adorn the wall of the People’s Health Sanctuary in NATURE Lab. While adding aesthetic beauty to the space\, they offer deeper metaphor of connection at the People’s Health Santuary\, NATURE Lab and the Sanctuary. \n\n\n\n\n“As we move forward in an unknown future\, we can learn so much from the invisible organisms that create the foundation of our living world! The mycelial tiles we create will be a constant reminder for us of the power of the community when it works together.” \n\n\n\nBoard member Aileen Javier \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nWhat can we learn from mycelium?– A mycelium is the bulk of the fungi organism\, growing a mass of threads and fibrous networks underground.  While we see the mushroom (which is the fruiting body of the fungi)\, mycelium create massive networks underground\, which are used to allow communication and resource sharing throughout the forest.  Like mycelium\, we are also social creatures\, forming networks and connections that can allow us to communicate and help each other.  How do networks strengthen communities?– The pandemic has brought up more and more to the surface that in order to have a sustainable society we must go back to a community-based participatory approach; we are seeing more networks forming and collaborating to help each other (like the mycelium).   Individuals as part of those networks? – Metaphorically\, Individuals are like the branches of the mycelium\, stepping up and helping each other bringing up their strengths. While our culture highlights some individuals and creates hierarchies of importance\, we can learn from mycelium that the underground\, invisible work that so many individuals do is what creates the strength of our networks.  \n\n\n\nArt & Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes\, supported by National Endowment of the Arts “Art Works.”\n\n\n\nThis workshop is part of Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes\, funded by National Endowment for the Arts “Art Works.” We highlight the work of three exceptional women artists who represent a diversity of races and cultures: \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nMae-Ling Lokko\, an artist and architect who lives between Ghana and U.S.\, focuses on upcycling. She transforms materials considered waste into building materials. Lokko will work with community to create a public art sculpture. \n\n\n\nTiare Ribeaux will focus on creation of bio-plastics and biodegradable materials for art projects\, potentially culminating in a site-specific installation that can be reabsorbed into the environment\, and creating bioplastic tiles which share participants’ hopes and dreams for a sustainable future  \n\n\n\nMinerva Hernández is a Mexican artist who combines art\, science and technology to realize interdisciplinary formations which include dance\, cinematography and photography. Her innovative observations of biodiversity\, as well as experience with arts collectives\, offer opportunity to collaborate with local community to realize a site specific installation for our local ecology.  \n\n\n\nThese residencies inaugurate our new NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Arts & Education Center at the northern tip of the Hudson River Estuary. Through intersections of art\, science and social practice\, each artist will develop a project to advance research\, produce creative content\, and help our surrounding community. \n\n\n\nPositioning the suffragettes as important role models to explore the devastating effects of gender\, racial and economic bias on our biodiversity and ecosystems\, the artists offer creative calls to action for ecological justice and survival of Mother Earth. Our goal is to bring history alive through the trans-disciplinary field of bio-art. Integrating art and biology\, installation and multimedia\, visual arts and performance\, these new forms of artistic expression pose ethical\, social and philosophical questions about our rapidly changing ecosystem. \n\n\n\nWomen artists and artists of color continue to face pervasive under-representation in museums and galleries. This project is in protest of this discrimination–even the new field of bio-arts is male-dominated. We will showcase world-class artists who demonstrate the present-day creative power of women working together to overcome great odds. The century-old suffragette message needs to be heard: women bear the brunt of economic inequality and ecological devastation. These residencies give voice to inequities\, and our struggle for the environmental health of our community and wide world.  \n\n\n\n\nPeople’s Science Interview With Mae – Ling Lokko URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/art-and-ecology-in-the-spirit-of-the-suffragettes-mycelial-tiles-workshop-with-mae-ling-lokko/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Workshop ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Luma-Kitchen-Panels_Lokko-1-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210812T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210812T190000 DTSTAMP:20230213T193816Z CREATED:20210726T143758Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T193816Z UID:10001016-1628784000-1628794800@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Black August DESCRIPTION:Open to all\, this Black August event is a time to remember Black revolutionaries\, organize around principles of unity and self-sacrifice\, and educate ourselves around critical resistance for Black people. Black August was initially conceptualized around the murder of George Jackson in 1971. \n\n\n\nOrganized and led by Hope Health Healing Collective of Youth Sanctuary\, with Uptown Summer 2021! \n\n\n\nPlease check the Black August NY web site for other Black August events! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBLACK AUGUST 2020 (Luz Marquez Benbow) URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-august/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1115364254_1280x720.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210725T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210725T203000 DTSTAMP:20210725T181844Z CREATED:20210712T184607Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210725T181844Z UID:10001015-1627239600-1627245000@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Our Soil Community Meeting DESCRIPTION:REGISTER HERE\n\n\n\n\nLead poisoning is a serious health threat in many cities\, including Troy\, but there is a lot we can do to prevent it. At this community meeting\, you will learn about how soil can be a source of lead exposure – and you will have a chance to shape a study of soil contamination in North Central Troy! This meeting is open to anyone interested in environmental justice and a healthy city for the residents of Troy. \n\n\n\nWe will be hosting the Our Soil Community Event through NATURE Lab at the Sanctuary for Independent Media.  At this time\, the meeting will be online\, via Zoom\, however we will also be sharing it on YouTube afterward to make it easier to access for the greater community. \n\n\n\nWe strongly encourage you to invite family\, friends and neighbors to attend – as this community focused meeting will be introducing neighborhood residents and the broader Troy community to the issue of heavy metals in urban soils\, and ways to reduce exposure to lead and arsenic found in urban soils. \n\n\n\nParticipating fellows will have an opportunity to speak during the meeting to share with their community why they are participating in the Our Soil project\, we will have interactive activities to not only spark conversations around the concerns of the community\, but also to help inspire appreciation for healthy soils and hope about our future relationships with soil. You can learn more about Our Soil by visiting our project page HERE \n\n\n\nAgenda : \n\n\n\nIntroduction to the Sanctuary and NATURE Lab Introduction to Our Soil – purpose\, goals\, plans Introduction of Soil Justice Fellows and how their efforts will help the community Overview of North Central environmental history and why we find lead and arsenic hereGroup interactive activities and brainstorming sessionsCulminating discussion about how improving the health of soils has direct health benefits for us\, giving some practical ideas about what everyone can do to reduce exposures to contaminated soils and improve the quality of the soils around them. Sampling instructions for Soil Justice Fellows\n\n\n\nTO JOIN/REGISTER FOR THE MEETING : \n\n\n\nTopic: Our Soil MeetingTime: Jul 25\, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) \n\n\n\nJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/82095722569 \n\n\n\nMeeting ID: 820 9572 2569One tap mobile+19292056099\,\,82095722569# US (New York)+13126266799\,\,82095722569# US (Chicago) \n\n\n\nDial by your location        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)Meeting ID: 820 9572 2569Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdaPdauixa URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/oursoil/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-16-at-7.16.37-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210627T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210627T203000 DTSTAMP:20250212T183332Z CREATED:20210518T024546Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T183332Z UID:10001221-1624820400-1624825800@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Chris Hedges: "American Sadism" DESCRIPTION:Chris Hedges returns to the Sanctuary for a virtual talk about the times in which we live. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSadism now defines nearly every cultural\, social and political experience in the United States. It is expressed in the greed of an oligarchic elite that has seen its wealth increase during the pandemic by $1.1 trillion while the country has suffered the sharpest rise in its poverty rate in more than 50 years.  It is expressed in extra-judicial killings by police in cities such as Minneapolis. It is expressed in our complicity in Israel’s wholesale killing of unarmed Palestinians\, the humanitarian crisis engendered by the war in Yemen and our reigns of terror in Afghanistan\, Iraq and Syria. It is expressed in the torture in our prisons and black sites. It is expressed in the separation of children from their undocumented parents\, where they are held as if they were dogs in a kennel. \n\n\n\nThe historian Johan Huizinga\, writing about the twilight of the middle ages\, argued that as things fall apart sadism is embraced as a way to cope with the hostility of an indifferent universe. No longer bound to a common purpose\, a ruptured society retreats into the cult of the self. It celebrates\, as do corporations on Wall Street or mass culture through reality television shows\, the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm\, grandiosity and self-importance; a need for constant stimulation; a penchant for lying\, deception and manipulation; and the incapacity for remorse or guilt. Get what you can\, as fast as you can\, before someone else gets it. This is the state of nature\, the “war of all against all\,” Thomas Hobbes saw as the consequence of social collapse\, a world in which life becomes “solitary\, poor\, nasty\, brutish\, and short.” And this sadism\, as Friedrich Nietzsche understood\, fuels a perverted\, sadistic pleasure. \n\n\n\nCheck out Chris Hedges’ “The Politics of Cultural Despair\,” recorded on October 18\, 2020 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media! URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/chris-hedges-american-sadism/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Speaker ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chris_Hedges_glasses_in_hand_DSC06838-4-2-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210627T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210627T133000 DTSTAMP:20250327T032221Z CREATED:20210511T144437Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250327T032221Z UID:10001219-1624795200-1624800600@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:NATURE Lab Opening Celebration with Dr. Jennifer Willet and special guests DESCRIPTION:From the streets of Troy\, NY to community science labs around the globe\, join our NATURE Lab Opening Celebration!  \n\n\n\nJoin us for the grand virtual opening of NATURE Lab! From around the world\, bio artists\, scientists and ecologists will inaugurate our new community science laboratory. Featuring a virtual talk/performance by Dr. Jennifer Willet\, bio artist from INCUBATOR Lab in Windsor\, Canada\, along with special guests including Dr. Catherine Febria from Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research in Windsor\, Marta de Menezes from Cultivamos Cultura in Portugal\, and more! \n\n\n\nDirectly after this event\, witness our Water Justice Lab youth fellows\, in collaboration with Riverkeeper\, test community collected water samples of our nearby Hudson River! \n\n\n\nSponsored by iEAR Presents! and the School of Humanities\, Arts and Social Sciences at Rensselaer\, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. \n\n\n\nDr. Jennifer Willet\n\n\n\nDr. Jennifer Willet is a Canada Research Chair in Art\, Science\, and Ecology and an Associate Professor in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Windsor (Canada.) Willet is an internationally successful artist and curator in the emerging field of bioart. Her work explores notions of representation and body in relation to evolving biotechnologies with an emphasis on ecological metaphors.  She taught in the Studio Arts Department at Concordia University in Montreal Canada from 2000-2007\, and completed her PhD in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at the same institution.  Willet also taught “Bioart: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences” for The Art and Genomics Centre at The University of Leiden in The Netherlands in 2008.  In 2009 she opened the first bioart lab in Canada called INCUBATOR: Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art\, Science\, and Ecology.  www.incubatorartlab.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSPECIAL GUESTS\n\n\n\nDr. Catherine Febria\n\n\n\nDr. Catherine Febria is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) & Dept. of Integrative Biology at the University of Windsor. She is co-Director of the GLIER Organic Analysis & Nutrients Laboratory\, a central research facility.  She is Associate Director of FishCAST\, an NSERC CREATE graduate student training program. Her research focuses on the ecology and restoration of small streams and wetlands\, and their role in contributing to ecosystem health in the Laurentian Great Lakes. She remains actively involved as an alumni Fellow with the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)\, as Co-Chair of the International Science Advisory Panel for New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge\, and has served as Coordinating Editor with the journal Restoration Ecology since 2017. She held a postdoctoral role at the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (2010-2013) and most recently relocated her research back to the Great Lakes Region of Canada from the University of Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is co-founder of the Kindness in Science global initiative\, and contributes actively to actions\, scholarship & mentorship to support justice\, equity\, diversity & inclusion in academia. Twitter: @ecofebria \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarta de Menezes\n\n\n\nMarta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist with a degree in Fine Arts by the University in Lisbon\, a MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture by the University of Oxford\, and a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. She has been exploring the intersection between Art and Biology\, working in research laboratories demonstrating that new biological technologies can be used as new art medium. In 1999 de Menezes created her first biological artwork (Nature?) by modifying the wing patterns of live butterflies. Since then\, she has used diverse biological techniques including functional MRI of the brain to create portraits where the mind can be visualised (Functional Portraits\, 2002); fluorescent DNA probes to create micro-sculptures in human cell nuclei (nucleArt\, 2002); sculptures made of proteins (Proteic Portrait\, 2002-2007)\, DNA (Innercloud\, 2003; The Family\, 2004) or incorporating live neurons (Tree of Knowledge\, 2005) or bacteria (Decon\, 2007). Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions\, articles and lectures. She is currently the artistic director of Ectopia\, an experimental art laboratory in Lisbon\, and Director of Cultivamos Cultura in the South of Portugal. http://martademenezes.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaul Vanouse\n\n\n\nPaul Vanouse is an artist working in Emerging Media forms. Radical interdisciplinarity and impassioned amateurism guide his practice. Since the early 1990s his artwork has addressed complex issues raised by varied new techno-sciences using these very techno-sciences as a medium.  His artworks have included data collection devices that examine the ramifications of polling and categorization\, genetic experiments that undermine scientific constructions of race and identity\, and temporary organizations that playfully critique institutionalization and corporatization. These “Operational Fictions” are hybrid entities–simultaneously real things and fanciful representations–intended to resonate in the equally hyper-real context of the contemporary electronic landscape. Paul Vanouse is the founder and director of Coalesce: Center for Biological Arts. Coalesce Lab is a hybrid studio laboratory facility dedicated to enabling hands-on creative engagement with the tools and technologies of the life sciences. https://www.buffalo.edu/genomeenvironmentmicrobiome/coalesce.html Website: http://paulvanouse.com/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProf. Joel Ong\n\n\n\nProfessor Joel Ong is a media artist whose works connect scientific and artistic approaches to the environment\, particularly with respect to sound and physical space.  Professor Ong’s work explores the way objects and spaces can function as repositories of ‘frozen sound’\, and in elucidating these\, he is interested in creating what systems theorist Jack Burnham (1968) refers to as “art (that) does not reside in material entities\, but in relations between people and between people and the components of their environment”. A serial collaborator\, Professor Ong is invested in the broader scope of Art-Science collaborations and is engaged constantly in the discourses and processes that facilitate viewing these two polemical disciplines on similar ground. Joel Ong is the Director\, Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology. Based in the School of the Arts\, Media\, Performance & Design (AMPD) at York University\, Sensorium is a research centre for creative inquiry and experimentation at the intersection of the media arts\, performance\, and digital culture. As a site for co-creation and shared critical reflection\, Sensorium serves as a catalyst for examining how diverse media platforms enable multi-sensory perception and embodied experience\, along with new modes of social engagement. Bridging disciplines and diverse communities\, Sensorium researchers\, artists\, and scientists explore networked connections between people\, sentient environments\, and ecologies of place. https://sensorium.ampd.yorku.ca/joel-ong/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeth Tuck\, M.S.\n\n\n\nBeth Tuck (she/her) is the Executive Director at Genspace. Previously\, she was a genomics education specialist at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) where she worked on enhancing K-16 genomic literacy\, education\, and community engagement. Her work included designing curricular resources\, engaging students and teachers in hands-on genomics activities\, supporting teacher professional development\, and training scientists in public engagement skills. Her graduate research at Washington University in St. Louis focused on the genetics and molecular mechanisms of neurological and neuromuscular disorders. Genspace is the world’s first community biology lab — a place where people of all backgrounds can learn\, create\, and grow with the life sciences. Since 2009\, we have served the greater New York area by providing hands-on STEAM education programs for youth and adults\, cultural and outreach events for the public\, and a membership program to support New York’s community of creatives\, researchers\, and entrepreneurs. Our programs demystify scientific processes\, provide a platform for innovation\, and cultivate the next generation of life sciences leaders in emerging global technologies\, such as biotechnology\, neuroscience\, epidemiology\, genomics\, and many more. https://www.genspace.org/ \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVictoria Vesna\, Ph.D.\n\n\n\nVictoria Vesna\, Ph.D.\, is an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the Arts (North campus) and California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) (South campus). Although she was trained early on as a painter (Faculty of Fine arts\, University of Belgrade\, 1984)\, her curious mind took her on an exploratory path that resulted in work can be defined as experimental creative research residing between disciplines and technologies. With her installations she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD\, CAiiA_STAR\, University of Wales\, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers\, nano-scientists\, neuroscientists\, evolutionary biologists and she brings this experience to students. Victoria Vesna is the founder and director of Art|Sci of UCLA. The Art|Sci Center focuses on collaborative projects that address social\, ethical and environmental issues related to scientific innovations. “To pursue\, facilitate and promote research and programs that demonstrate the potential of media arts and science collaborations.” We are part of a world-wide network of artists and scientists who are interested in philosophical dialogue as well as working together on artistic or applied projects. http://artsci.ucla.edu/ Website : https://www.victoriavesna.com/ URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/nature-lab-opening-celebration-with-dr-jennifer-willet-and-special-guests/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/willet_main.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210528T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210528T190000 DTSTAMP:20230213T194759Z CREATED:20210525T155334Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T194759Z UID:10001012-1622221200-1622228400@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Blitz of the L-Lot: Permaculture in North Central! DESCRIPTION:Join us! \n\n\n\nWe have a semi annual Blitz of the L lot\, which is at the South End of the alley on Glen Street and is one of CCG Garden Mentor Christian Grigoraskos’ favorite places on the Sanctuary campus. With a bit of care each year\, we have been ushering this once abandoned space into a beautiful and productive Food Forest\, a very unique sort that is largely been dictated by what is already there and has come in naturally. Includes Plant Identification! Please bring gloves if you have them! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA message from Christian: \n\n\n\nMay you live in Wild times\, with Wild Spaces. \n\n\n\nEcology capitalizes on disturbance (dissed-urbance) and when humans intervene with guided observance a paradise is born…so join us for our biannual Blitz of a patch of land We call the L lot because of its L shape and because of the deep Love we have for all our Botanical allies that inhabit it.  Each growing season we give just a little bit more support to the plants we want to see grow while utilizing the surrounding biomass of support species that grow rampant in our climate offering their bodies to the cycle of soil life.  \n\n\n\n\nIn this workshop we will cover many permaculture principles and practices such as:\n\n\n\n\nPaying attention\n\n\n\nPlant identification\n\n\n\nSuccession planning\n\n\n\nChop and drop mulching \n\n\n\nPollarding and other radical pruning methods\n\n\n\nPicking up trash\n\n\n\nStaring at bees coming and going from their entrance\n\n\n\nImagining the possibilities based on our observations URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/blitz-of-the-l-lot-permaculture-in-north-central/ LOCATION:Collard City Growers\, 3337 6th Avenue\, Troy\, New York\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event,Workshop ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/mhp_logo_collard-city-growers.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210522T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210522T130000 DTSTAMP:20230213T194853Z CREATED:20210427T130848Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T194853Z UID:10001212-1621681200-1621688400@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:CCG Plant Swap Party! DESCRIPTION:Join us (socially distanced\, of course!) to actively learn about garden propagation and division! The fruits of our labor will fill the beds of Collard City Growers and swap plants with attendees! \n\n\n\n\nThis is an event for the community and gardeners to get together and exchange seedlings for the season. Stop by to pick up some seedlings that you might want for your garden\, drop off any extra flats that you don’t have room for\, or just come on over to hangout and say hi 🙂 Azure and Christian are generously providing Shiso\, Bronze Fennel\, Absinth\, Wormwood\, Wild Strawberries\, Anise Hyssop\, Bee Balm\, Garlic Chives\, Elderberry\, Lovage\, Rhubarb\, Willow cuttings\, Borage\, Irises\, Day Lilies\, and lots more. And remember\, all plants that you give and take are FREE! \n\n\n\n\nPhoto by Felicity Jones\n\n\n\n\nWe hope everyone will enjoy the plants we have to offer and are excited to see what others have to share. Please be sure to still wear a face mask and follow safe social distancing. Looking forward to seeing you there! \n\n\n\nAnd if you haven’t listened to it already\, check out an interview with Christian Grigoraskos and Azure Keahi talking about the history of Collard City Growers\, the purpose of the space\, and advertising the Plant Swap. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/ccg-plant-swap-party/ LOCATION:Collard City Growers\, 3337 6th Avenue\, Troy\, New York\, 12180\, United States CATEGORIES:Community Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/icon-strawberry-2-web.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210515T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210515T120000 DTSTAMP:20210512T032210Z CREATED:20210512T025701Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210512T032210Z UID:10001220-1621072800-1621080000@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Sunflower Planting around Norlite DESCRIPTION:Join us on Saturday\, May 15th to plant sunflowers across the City of Cohoes\, with the City’s permission. We hope this will be a healing activity for our community that is affected by Norlite’s emissions. Sunflowers not only beautify the landscape\, they are hyperaccumulators\, removing toxins and heavy metals from the soil. \n\n\n\nWhere: Saratoga Sites (courtyard)Bring water to stay hydrated and garden tools/gloves\, if handy. \n\n\n\nRain Day/Updates/Directions: call or text Alexis Goldsmith\, 260-444-1341 URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/sunflower-planting-around-norlite/ LOCATION:The Sanctuary\, 3361 6th Ave\, Troy\, 12180\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Sunflower_Planting.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210505T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210505T235959 DTSTAMP:20230213T195116Z CREATED:20210417T184155Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T195116Z UID:10001193-1620172800-1620259199@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Witness to the Future: 25th Anniversary Screening DESCRIPTION:Witness to the Future still\n\n\n\nTwenty-five years after its release\, Witness to the Future’s focus on so-called “ordinary” citizens turned environmental activists has more relevance than ever before! Here’s an interview with producer Branda Miller on the WOOC Hudson Mohawk Magazine as part of the build-up to this event. \n\n\n\nIt’s time to watch this video again! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThen\, watch the Q&A with WTTF filmmaker Branda Miller and co-producer Robin Oppenheimer speaking with interviewer Corinne Carey of WOOC 105.3 FM’s Hudson Mohawk Magazine before this 25th anniversary screening. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBranda Miller’s “Witness to the Future” is an experimental documentary video project about individuals who have been transformed from so called “ordinary” citizens into activists who struggle for environmental and social change. \n\n\n\n“Witness to the Future” seeks connections that unite people of all cultures\, communities\, races\, and economic classes as they struggle for environmental and social change. Represented are people from three regions of the U.S.: the “downwinders” of Hanford\, WA\, including Native Americans; “whistleblowers” and white-collar workers from the nuclear reservation; rural African American\, poor\, and working-class communities in “Cancer Alley\,” LA; and Latino and Hmong farmworkers and mothers in the San Joaquin Valley\, CA. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReviews of “Witness to the Future“ \n\n\n\nThe Economist \n\n\n\n\n“Environmentalist may be leery of some modern technologies\, such as genetic engineering and nuclear power. Yet one new technology promises to make their movement much more powerful. This CD-ROM demonstrates how recent advances in computing and the internet can be used for dramatic political effect. The enemies of the greens – the firms and governments that greens accuse of neglecting nature – aught to watch out.” \n\n\n\n\nMacWorld \n\n\n\n\n“If you seek thought-provoking material for an environmentally inclined friend\, look no further.“ \n\n\n\n\nI.D. Magazine \n\n\n\n\n“It will change the way you think about [Image] consumerism and the industrial infrastructure that supports it.“ \n\n\n\n\nWorldFest International Film and Video Festival \n\n\n\nGold Award – Interactive Educational / Adult CategorySilver Award – Ecology / Environment / Conservation Category \n\n\n\nDr. Nicholas J. Smith-Sebasto \n\n\n\n\n“When I experienced Witness to the Future\, I was left literally NUMB. My initial impression was one of complete shock. Branda has created something that appears to be truly revolutionary. Those interested in the Environmental must be made aware of her production and more important\, must be trained in how to use it.” (National Association of Environmental Educators) \n\n\n\n\nPacifica Network & Democracy Now!Segment about “Witness to the Future\,” December 29\, 1997 \n\n\n\nAbout the Filmmaker \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBranda Miller is a media artist and educator\, dedicated to art\, ecology and community interdisciplinary arts. She is the Arts and Education Coordinator at The Sanctuary for Independent Media\, where she has developed numerous media literacy/community arts/youth media and creative place-making projects. She is a Professor of Media Arts at Rensselaer\, teaching courses in documentary\, art\, community and technology\, and independent art production.  Miller is an Emmy award-winning editor who worked in the media industry of L.A. and N.Y.C.\, and whose media art works have been screened\, exhibited and broadcast nationally and internationally. Branda Miller has three decades of experience in participatory design and praxis\, and a history of transdisciplinary collaborations created to stimulate cultural animation\, build community\, and create dialogue around freedom of expression and environmental justice. \n\n\n\nAbout the Producer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRobin Oppenheimer is a Seattle-based internationally recognized media arts historian\, curator\, educator\, and scholar who has worked in the field since 1980. She was Executive Director of media arts centers in Atlanta (IMAGE Film/Video 1984-89) and Seattle (911 Media Arts 1989-95). Earning a PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in 2011\, she was a Lecturer at the University of Washington Bothell (2008-2015) and adjunct faculty at Cornish College of the Arts (2014-16). Recent projects include working as a media arts historian/writer for Google’s Artist and Machine Intelligence group in Seattle https://ami.withgoogle.com/ . Her areas of research include media arts histories\, with an emphasis on 1960s collaborative art & technology projects (light shows\, E.A.T.)\, participatory media\, and media activism. URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/witness-to-the-future-25th-anniversary-screening/ CATEGORIES:Community Event,Screening ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/miller_witness_xl.jpg LOCATION:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/witness-to-the-future-25th-anniversary-screening/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210502T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210502T203000 DTSTAMP:20230213T195207Z CREATED:20210428T221835Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T195207Z UID:10001213-1619982000-1619987400@www.mediasanctuary.org SUMMARY:Community Investment\, Not Community Police DESCRIPTION:This event is past – but you can watch the town hall on YouTube or below! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDid you know the City of Troy is voting next Thursday to expand the police force by six additional officers?\n\n\n\nJoin a coalition of groups from Troy in a Town Hall on Sunday\, May 2\, 2021 as we discuss recent actions by the City of Troy around policing. This gathering is being convened at the last minute as the City Council Finance Committee pushes forward to hire an additional SIX police officers to the Troy Police Department. The proposal passed in this Committee with a 5-2 vote and the full City Council vote will take place on Thursday\, May 6\, 2021. \n\n\n\nCo-sponsored by Troy Coalition of Black Leaders\, NAACP Troy Branch\, YWCA of the Greater Capital Region\, The Justice Center of Rensselaer County\, Equality for Troy\, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. \n\n\n\n\nRegister\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\nJerry Ford (Troy Coalition of Black Leaders)\n\n\n\nRenee Powell (NAACP Troy Branch)\n\n\n\nWillie Terry  (Coalition of Black Trade Unionists)\n\n\n\nDiamond Owens (Community Youth)\n\n\n\nStarletta Smith (Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative)\n\n\n\nTasheca Medina (Equality for Troy)\n\n\n\nJessica Ashley (The Justice Center for Rensselaer County)\n\n\n\nDeanna Ultimo Swenson (North Central resident)\n\n\n\n\nBackground\n\n\n\nRecently\, the City of Troy\, like most municipalities across the State of New York\, held a series of discussions on the topic of policing. Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 203\, issued in June of 2020\, required municipalities with police forces to examine the policies and procedures of their police department and make recommendations for future changes to address police violence\, biased policing\, and systemic racism. The measure stated its intention was to provide transparency and build trust\, urging localities to hold listening sessions and meetings with community members. \n\n\n\nMayor Madden did not announce the creation or intentions of the Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative until the end of January 2021. There were nine highly controlled meetings held in February with very little open community participation—the city made little effort to inform residents about the meeting or how to get involved. \n\n\n\nOnce the report was drafted\, in early March\, Black leaders throughout the city expressed their dismay and loss of trust in the city about this process. This included all four Black PRRC committee members (Starletta Smith\, Executive Director\, YWCA of the Greater Capital Region\, Inc. and Renée Powell\, President of the NAACP\, Troy\, NY Branch\, Pastor Justin Relf of Rhema Revealed Ministries\, and Stacey Howard of Troy’s Police Objective Review Board). They released a statement decrying the report and saying that they felt “tokenized throughout this process.” \n\n\n\nSo why this\, why now? \n\n\n\nAs critiques of policing grow across the country and calls for reallocating funds to expand or create new entities to respond to mental health calls\, domestic disputes\, traffic stops\, and more\, Troy is swiftly pushing forward to increase the police budget and add more police to the force. Again\, with very little time for dialogue and discussion with community members and community leaders. \n\n\n\nWhile the City of Troy\, Mayor Madden\, and the Troy City Council avoid input from community members\, we are making space for dialogue and discussion. We know that with more investment in social services and community support\, communities can better look out for each other and construct the means through which to survive and thrive.In what ways can we call for structural investment to address the history of deliberate marginalization and segregation? How can we invest in our under-funded\, under-served\, structurally marginalized Black and brown communities? \n\n\n\nWhile Mayor Patrick Madden told the Times Union\, “People want police officers out in the neighborhood. They want police officers to know them. They want to know their police officers.” Given the lack of space for open dialogue and discussion\, we don’t know who the Mayor is referring to. \n\n\n\nWe are convening to address the lack of dialogue\, alternatives to policing\, alternatives to more police and a bigger police budget as an answer\, and calls to invest in our neighborhoods and communities! \n\n\n\nJoin us. Listen. Share your thoughts. \n\n\n\n\nWhat should Troy be investing in?\n\n\n\nWhy increase an already large police budget?\n\n\n\nThe problems of policing in Troy.\n\n\n\nWhat are alternatives to hiring “community” police officers?\n\n\n\nLocal leaders will discuss their opinions and visions for Troy\n\n\n\nWhat are strategies for moving forward?\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nYou can listen to Renée Powell and Starletta Smith share more about their experience on the City of Troy’s Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative committee with Hudson Mohawk Magazine producer\, Elizabeth Press: URL:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/community-investment-not-community-police/ CATEGORIES:Community Event,Panel Discussion ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TroyPoliceDepartment-CopBlock.jpg LOCATION:https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/community-investment-not-community-police/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR