In a New York Times op-ed published over the weekend, Al Gore writes:

Winston Churchill is widely quoted as having said, “Sometimes doing your best is not good enough.  Sometimes you must do what is required.”  Now is that time.  Public officials must rise to this challenge by doing what is required; and the public must demand that they do so–or must replace them.

The challenge that he refers to, of course, is climate change.  And the time IS now.  Please write your representatives at the federal, state, and local level and let them know how personal this issue is to you.  Please don’t be discouraged by the enormity of what is in front of us all.  Let’s think about what we can do as individuals to have a positive impact.  Talk about it with friends and share ideas with each other.  Heck, share ideas with us–we’ll post ‘em!  As one of the leading emitters of GHGs, the world is looking to the United States to be a leader in finding a solution.  Let’s put the positive back in leader and get started!

Here’s a link to Mr. Gore’s full piece:

We Can’t Wish Climate Change Away

Carrie E. Thompson

A Guest Blog Entry by Agnes Gajdics, EMLA, Hungary

Being curious about other legal systems and cultures, and dedicated to protection of the environment, you can imagine my thrill when I learned I’d received a fellowship from the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), funded by the Trust for Mutual Understanding.

This is my first time in the U.S. and it is nearly time to return home to Budapest!

During my ten-week fellowship at ELAW’s office in Eugene, Oregon, I have taken an intensive English course at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute. The program has enhanced my academic writing and enriched my vocabulary. My fellow students are from 24 countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, and Brazil. I also sit in on environmental law classes at the University of Oregon School of Law.

I have worked as an attorney at the Environmental Management and Law Association in Hungary (EMLA) for one year. EMLA was established by Hungarian and American charter members. We are a nonprofit non-governmental organization that advances the rule of law and promotes sustainable environmental management. We cooperate with many international organizations, including the World Resources Institute’s The Access Initiative (TAI).

Here in Eugene, I meet weekly with ELAW staff, learn new approaches for my cases, and conduct legal research.  I also share insight into Hungarian environmental legislation and jurisdiction with my colleagues.

I have learned about American culture, history, and explored some of Oregon’s most beautiful natural areas–the Cascade Mountains, deep-blue Odell Lake, and the Oregon Coast’s lighthouses and bright sunshine.

Last week I was a panel participant at the University of Oregon’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.  I met environmental lawyers from all over the world, exchanged views, and built partnerships for future cooperation.

EMLA welcomes requests for information from researchers in the U.S. who are interested in environmental law and environmental democracy in Hungary.  Together we can make the world a more just and beautiful place.

Agnes Gajdics, EMLA, Hungary

In the Cascade Mountains

For additional information about:

• Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide: www.elaw.org
• Environmental Management and Law Association: www.emla.hu/englishsite/index.shtml
• Public Interest Environmental Law Conference: www.pielc.org

12:08 East of Bucharest, a film by Corneliu Porumboiu, will be screened on February 26th at 7:30pm with a special guest introduction by A. O. Scott of the New York Times.

This screening will be presented as part of the symposium, After Communism: Achievement and Disillusionment Since 1989

Friday, 26 February 2010, 2:00-9:00pm

Saturday, 27 February 2010, 2:00-7:00pm

Location: President’s Room, Faculty House, Columbia University

The symposium brings together scholars, politicians, dissidents, and writers from both sides of the Atlantic to assess the global meaning of the revolutions of 1989 for Central and Eastern Europe and the world. Panels will explore the demise of communism, the nature of post communism, the legacy of dissent, the promise of democracy in the region, and the creation of narratives about the communist past. Participants include Adam Michnik, Alfred Gusenbauer, Archie Brown, Benjamin Barber, Elzbieta Matynia, Erhard Busek, Horia-Roman Patapievici, Ira Katznelson, Katherine Verdery, Stephen Kotkin, Stephen Sestanovich, and Valdimir Tismaneanu among others.

The symposium is presented by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in association with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, and Austrian Cultural Forum as part of Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe, a performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009-March 2010.

Click here for the Conference Program.

Registration for this event is required.  Click here for reservations.

The Likhachev Foundation (St. Petersburg, Russia) together with the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg and the Fund of the First Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin (Moscow, Russia) announces competition for two-week cultural fellowships in St. Petersburg, Russia, from August 23 until September 5, 2010 for American professionals in the field of arts and culture who are working on projects related to Russian culture.  Airfare and accommodation in St. Petersburg will be covered by the organizers.

The Likhachev Foundation will accept applications from professionals in the field of culture and history or arts from the USA who are currently working on creative projects related to Russian culture or history.  Commend of the Russian language is very helpful but not required.  Students are not eligible.

The creative project could be a museum exhibition, a theater performance, a film, photo exhibition, preparation of fiction or research books, etc. related to Russian culture or history.  The creative project should be conceived in the USA for a broad American audience.  Residence in Russia should serve as an important stage in the realization in the applicant’s cultural project.

The Likhachev Foundation will prepare individual programs for the fellows according to their project’s specifics.  These programs will include meetings with Russian colleagues, possibilities to work at St. Petersburg museums, libraries, archives, and other organizations.

Then two-week fellowships will be organized from August 23 through September 5, 2010 in St. Petersburg.

Deadline for submitted applications is April 12, 2010.  Applicants will be notified of the review panel decision by May 5, 2010.

Application should include:

1. CV (including information on Russian language skills, previous creative projects related to Russia and previous visits to Russia.)

2. A 3 page description of the creative project.  It should contain, in particular, a paragraph on how a residency in St. Petersburg will benefit the applicant’s creative project and which cultural organizations in St. Petersburg the applicant would like to work with.

**Please e-mail your application in Russian (preferably) or English to the competition coordinator, Ms. Elena vitenberg, at vitenberg@lfond.spb.ru with the subject line “application for the fellowship.”**

Since its establishment in 2003, Unsound Festival has brought a bold and uniquely modern program of music to Krakow.  With seven festivals in their native city under their belt (and outpost events further east in cities like Minsk), Unsound is now coming west to New York for their first ever North American edition.  Taking place over the course of ten days, Unsound New York’s mission is to forge new links between music genres, generations, and artistic practices.  Please join us for Unsound Festival New York’s kick-off event at 8:30pm on February 4th at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.

The driving force in assembling the New York program has been Unsound Festival’s commitment to forms of music and sound art that involve experimentation and risk.  Unsound has made a worldwide reputation by breaking new ground while dealing with vibrant electronic, experimental, independent, post-classical, and club music scenes from around the world.  In addition to performances and screenings at venues throughout the city, an essential part of Unsound New York’s programming is a series of panels and workshops aimed at creating a context of discussion and music and sound cultures.

One of the cornerstones of the festival is Eastern Promises, a substantial undertaking in the New York program that features a wide range of musicians from east of Berlin that have long been ignored in North America.  An exciting roster of artists from Belarus, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine have been assembled to perform in the festival’s first New York edition, and TMU support was awarded to help with travel expenses of Unsound’s Central and Eastern European participants.  Confirmed as part of Eastern Promises are techno artists Jacek Sienkiewicz (Poland), Petre Inspirescu (Romania), and Martin Czubala (Poland), minimalist composer Jacaszek (Poland), experimentalist Zavoloka (Ukraine), bass mutator TRG (Romania), new music ensemble Kwartludium (Poland), dub electronic artist Pavel Ambiont (Belarus), drone specialist Zenial (Poland), and a special exhibition of historical Polish Soundcards.

Please visit the Unsound Festival New York website here for a full list of programming and additional information.

The Polish company Theatre of the Eighth Day performs its landmark Wormwood at the Abrons Arts Center in November 2009. Photo courtesy of Theatre of the Eighth Day.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, the Performing Revolution festival is in full swing, with over 25 exhibitions, performances, concerts, screenings, readings, and symposia being presented at a cross-section of New York City cultural organizations through March 2010.  The festival explores the role the performing arts played in the 1989 revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and is the brainchild of Karen Burke, assistant chief in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and Jacqueline Davis, the Library’s executive director.  To learn more about the festival, check out the video below:

Revolutionary Voices Video

Here are highlights of current and upcoming festival events:

• Revolutionary Voices: Performing Arts in Central & Eastern Europe in the 1980s Through March 20 Co-curated by Karen Burke and Aniko Szucs, Revolutionary Voices is an exhibition focusing on theater, music, and dance and how artists resisted and questioned totalitarian regimes (at Vincent Astor Gallery, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street)
• Poland in the 1980s: Searching for Revolution in Dance January 7-February 14 A six-week multimedia exhibition documenting Polish dance through historical video, film, and photography.  Curated by Jacek Luminski, founder and executive director of Silesian Dance Theatre (at Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, 2nd Floor, enter on Chambers Street)
• Polish Dance in the 1980s: Silence or Revolution? January 12-14 Three panel discussions exploring Poland’s revolution in dance during the late 20th century.  With international theater and dance critics, historians, scholars, and artists (at Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, 2nd Floor, enter on Chambers Street)
• Gyor National Ballet from Hungary January 26-31 One of Europe’s oldest and most respected contemporary ballet companies presents the U.S. premieres of Rite of Spring, choreographed by Atilla Kun, and Petrushka, choreographed by Dmitrij Simkin  (at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street)
• Quartet v4.0 February 24-28 New York-based theater company WaxFactory presents a multimedia sci-fi production of Heiner Muller’s work, with colleagues from Croatia, Slovenia, and Poland (at Abrons Arts Center, Henry Street Settlement, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street)
• Revolution! March 4-21 The Czech-American Marionette Theatre presents an overview of revolutions through the ages with guest artists from the Czech Republic (at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, between 9th and 10th Streets)
• The Gilded Red Cage, Parts 1 and 2 March 13-14 (at LaMaMa E.T.C., 74A East 4th Street) and March 17 & 21 (at The Tank, 354 West 34th Street) Slovakia’s BaPoDi (Banovce Underground Theatre) brings Silvester Lavrik’s original production to New York, accompanied by an exhibition of Radek Jahudka’s photographs

For additional information about the festival, go to http://performingrevolution.org/about

By John Freedman

I had every reason to believe I knew what I was in for when I arrived from Moscow with Russian playwright Olga Mukhina at BWI airport on December 1.

You see, I am the Russia Director for New Russian Drama: Voices in a Shifting Age, a project developed by Philip Arnoult’s Center for International Theatre Development and the Towson University Department of Theatre Arts in order to introduce the American theater community to the riches of contemporary Russian drama. This means that I have been a participant in just about every large and small decision made within the project over the last three years. This lulled me into believing there was nothing I didn’t know.

Actually, what I didn’t know is that I didn’t have a clue.

But let’s get to first things first.

Olga Mukhina, one of the most distinctive playwrights on the planet, and one of my favorite human beings, was born December 1, 1970. How’s that for a coincidence? So, as we waited at JFK for our connecting flight to Baltimore, we celebrated Olga’s thrilling 39^th at Chili’s in the Delta concourse with fajitas (Olga), a mushroom burger (me) and two Tropical Margaritas. Whoopee!

When Cat Hagner, a grad student at Towson University’s Department of Theatre Arts, picked us up at BWI, the first thing she said was, “Happy Birthday, Olga!” Throughout the coming week, more greetings, gifts and bouquets were tendered. Robyn Quick is renowned at Towson for her goodwill and astonishing labor ethic as the resident dramaturg, but she’s also famous for being the partner of one of Baltimore’s finest photographers and greatest cooks: Robyn’s partner Joe baked Olga a cake that she savored all week long. I believe it was Jay Herzog, the department chair, who saw to it that Olga was outfitted with a set of felt reindeer antlers from beneath which she could watch the Baltimore city Christmas parade, a certifiably insane event that we all took in from a porch belonging to playwright and Towson faculty member David M. White.

In short, Olga’s birthday, stretched out over a week, was a smashing success.

Olga and I did not, however, come to Towson, and later to the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY, on a birthday tour. We were there at the invitation of Philip Arnoult and Towson University to take part in one of the biggest weeks of the New Russian Drama: Voices in a Shifting Age project.

Olga’s play, “Tanya-Tanya,” in a new adaptation by American playwright Kate Moira Ryan, opened its run December 4 in Towson’s Studio Theatre. (You can see a web column I posted about that on the site of The Moscow Times). David White’s workshop production of my translation of Yury Klavdiev’s “I Am the Machine Gunner” opened the same day in Towson’s Marder Theatre. I knew that during the week I would attend two readings of my translation of Yaroslava Pulinovich’s one-woman monologues, “Natasha’s Dream” and “I Won,” but I had no idea I would have the chance to attend a reading of David White’s brilliant new translation/adaptation of Klavdiev’s “Martial Arts.”

That was only the beginning of the surprises, however. I may never have experienced a week richer in events and surprises than that of December 1 to 8, 2009.

Olga quite naturally stuck close to “Tanya-Tanya,” as directed by Fulbright scholar and artist Yury Urnov, attending rehearsals, run-throughs or performances every day. I, on the other hand, felt as though I was being moved by the hand of the theater god, and I went everywhere s/he wanted me to.

There was a rehearsal and a run-through of “I Am the Machine Gunner.” There was the scintillating reading of “Martial Arts,” which had Philip Arnoult and Martha Coigney spouting superlatives. There was a showing of etudes by the current crop of students from Double Edge Theatre, who were visiting from their home at the Farm in Ashfield, MA. There were strategy sessions concerning “Martial Arts,” the Pulinovich monologues, “I Am the Machine-Gunner” and “Tanya-Tanya” with the directors of all – Stephen Nunns, Yury Urnov and David White. There was a trip to Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore, which will be producing Juanita Rockwell’s new translation of “Playing Dead” by the Presnyakov brothers in February and March. There were meetings with Arnoult, Nunns, Urnov and Peter Van Heerden, a performance artist from South Africa, about a possible three-nation project that could keep us all very busy for a very long time. There were interviews with Olga during which journalists required my services as an interpreter. There were after-show talk-backs and morning discussions attended by visitors from up and down the Eastern seaboard.

I even had an impromptu 10-minute tete-a-tete with Peter Wray, who is scheduled to direct my translation of Vyacheslav Durnenkov’s “Frozen in Time” in May. It happened in the empty hall of the Marder following the last performance of “I Am the Machine Gunner.”

I admitted to Peter that, although I have had over a dozen of my translations performed in the U.S., Canada and Australia, I never once had been present to see a performance. It was a revelation for me. When I work on the text at home in Moscow on my trusty computer I always feel as though the play becomes “mine” as it makes the transition to English – I choose every word, I decide where to put every comma, every period and every dash. But when I sat in the second row and watched James Knight perform “my” text – all I could think was: “Yury Klavdiev! Wow!” It was as though I had absolutely nothing to do with the whole thing. It was a beautiful and surprising experience.

And there was more. Much more. I don’t remember it all. I didn’t keep track. I didn’t have time. All I ever did was ask Robyn Quick, “Where do I go next?” and she’d point and give me a little shove.

The upshot?

The New Russian Drama: Voices in a Shifting Age project is running on all cylinders. But what must be understood is that this program extends over the course of an entire season. I was just there for one wild and woolly week. Still to come are readings, workshops and productions of plays by Pulinovich, the Presnyakovs, Durnenkov, Klavdiev and Maksym Kurochkin. Check out the schedule and be there if you can. This is a wonderful opportunity to become acquainted with some of the most unique and talented people writing plays in the world today.

If you are interested in theater, you are definitely interested in hearing what these writers have to say.

And if Baltimore is too far from where you live, look for us in other cities, too. Maksym Kurochkin and I will be at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the Humana Festival in Louisville, and CUNY in the second half of March, 2010. Kurochkin, Klavdiev, Mukhina and Durnenkov will accompany me to CUNY again, another of our homes away from home, in May. We also plan to be in attendance at the LMDA conference in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and the TCG conference in Chicago.

We are bringing contemporary Russian drama to you, no matter where you are. I heartily encourage you to listen to what it has to say. I also urge everyone to join in on my enthusiastic “Thank You!” to the Trust for Mutual Understanding. None of this could have happened without the extraordinary, generous support of TMU.

Philip Arnoult and John Freedman in Moscow imagine the future New Russian Drama: Voices in a Shifting Age project. Photo by Ken Reynolds.

Director Stephen Nunns and actors Julia Smith and Sarah Lloyd, who will perform plays by Yaroslava Pulinovich at Towson in February. Photo by John Freedman.

Olga Mukhina and Yury Urnov following the premiere of "Tanya-Tanya" at Towson, as Robyn Quick waits in the background. Photo by John Freedman.

Olga Mukhina (center) with actors Autumn Dornfeld and Carolyn Baeumler, who participated in readings from "Tanya-Tanya" at the Segal Center at CUNY. Photo by John Freedman.

Established in 2003, the Unsound Festival has quickly become one of the most adventurous and risk-taking music events in Poland.  The most recent festival occurred this past October and included a showcase of the eclectic record label Bedroom Community, the Bass Mutations event featuring some of the most respected names in dubstep, and the Experimental Tendencies evening, featuring American independent artist Grouper and a German-Polish collaboration called Solid State Transmitters. TMU supported American participation in the festival.

While maintaining its headquarters in Krakow, Unsound has also presented concerts, workshops, screenings, and panels as part of a traveling series in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine.  In February 2010, TMU will support the travel of electronic music artists from Belarus, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, to New York City when the Unsound Festival will make its North American premiere.

Andy Battaglia, a staff writer for the Onion’s A.V. Club, attended the festival in Krakow and wrote a detailed article, “Live Report: Krakow’s Unsound Festival.”

Les Gilman, executive director of the Ruby Habitat Foundation, talks with the delegation about grazing and erosion control.

The Venerable Baasansuren Khandsuren, Da Lama at Erdenezuu Monastery, and Steve Foltz, director of horticuture at the Cincinnati Zoo, review soil samples and greenhouse techniques. Baasaa is constructing a greenhouse at the monastery in an effort to interest the young monks in reforestation and organic produce.

The Venerable Byambajav Khunkhur, Da Lama of Gandan Monastery, pets a giraffe--one of the many direct experiences the delegation had with wildlife.

(All photos courtesy of The Tributary Fund.)

In June 2009, I traveled to Wroclaw, Poland, to attend The World as a Place of Truth international theatre festival (as part of the UNESCO declared Grotwoski Year 2009) at the invitation of Arden2’s Director, Joanna Klass.  While there, I was graciously adopted by the various members of Arden2’s U.S. Artists Initiative, a project partially supported by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, which brought roughly seventy American theater professionals to the festival to attend performances and participate in facilitated dicsuccions on theatremaking, internationalism, and Grotwoski’s legacy.  Participants saw performances by ten world-renowned theater directors, including: Eugenio Barba, Pina Bausch, Peter Brook, Krystian Lupa, Richard Schechner, Tadashi Suzuki, and Krzysztof Warlikowski, as well as performances from ensemble companies from across Central and Eastern Europe.  It must be said that many of the US Artists participants saw Pina Bausch’s company perform their piece, NEFES, on the eve of the great choreographer’s death–a tragic and incredibly moving experience, from what I was told.

For many, this was the first time traveling to a former Communist territory, and, for a few, this was their first time traveling abroad.  Some participants were very familiar with the theatrical culture of Poland while others knew very little about theatical life in Eastern Europe.  However, Jerzy Grotowski served as a common point of interest: all of the Americans were familiar with Grotowski’s work and legacy, and many of them were admirers and, in some cases, artistic descendants.  This variety of life and artistic experience within the participants combined with the newness of navigating the streets of Wroclaw, the intensity of the festival schedule, and the differing and often times contradictory vocabulary of the performances and directorial styles created much fodder for heated artistic and philosphical debate.  This sharing of opinions and ideas and, in some cases, the sowing of seeds for future collaborations was, I believe, the main idea behind bringing this diverse group of professionals together: to expose them to new ways of thinking about work, about the artist’s role in society, and to put them outside of their own cultural context…

Richard Schechner and Joanna Klass

Barbara Lanciers, TMU