2011 reflection from the directors

What a year.

Last winter WE announced that 2011 would be a year dedicated to organizational development.  We Players is now incorporated! We have a Board of Directors; we’re working on our strategic plan; and we are awaiting the IRS’ decision for our non-profit status (we expect confirmation this winter). 

You might think that’s a lot for a small arts organization (especially one mostly run on volunteer labor) to do in a year’s time.  But we can’t help being inspired by the landscapes and stories of our region and our world, nor stop the flow of creativity.  So… we also did much much more.

We Players fulfilled the mission of our three year residency on Alcatraz (i.e. provoking thought and stimulating conversation about justice, incarceration, isolation and redemption), with a series of four art exhibitions, a youth conference, and our culminating event – the weekend-long Alcatraz Symposium on Justice & Freedom.  We created and presented a new performance in the Cell House, hosted inspirational panel discussions, presented new visual art by our collaborators, held meaningful ceremony, taught workshops at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center, and presented a fabulous collection of inmate-produced visual artwork in collaboration with the William James Association.

We had a remarkably successful run of The Odyssey aboard Alma this fall.  It was an honor to play on such a gorgeous vessel and a blessing to build friendships with her stellar crew.  

To those of you who sailed with us on Alma or joined us on Alcatraz in 2011 – please send us your photos! We’d love to see ourselves in golden suits, rowing the air, or drapped over cell house railings! The actors request that you do not post your photos or videos on public sites. Thank you for honoring this request.  

Most heartening of all, our volunteer support is stronger than ever.  We have lists of superstars, willing to help with everything from registration, to hospitality, to technical design, errands, cooking, and more!  And several project collaborators from recent years are stepping up and signing on to help with company operations, taking tasks off our plates and improving the strength of our company, while supportting everyone’s creativity.

We look forward to 2012 with enhanced capacity for making innovative, site specific art, in partnership with the stewards of our local park resources and this ever-expanding creative community.  Our island-wide Odysseyon Angel Island in the spring and Macbeth at Fort Point next fall will bring innumerable opportunities and challenges; visit any of the pages under our support tab to get involved and play your part.

Onward! 

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Ava & Lauren

Visit a body of water.   Sit nearby and listen, smell, see what the water is telling you. Dip in a toe, dunk your head (or your whole body), cross the water. Tell us about the experience.

What is the scariest monster you’ve ever encountered?  It can be from a dream, movie, novel, comic book, work of art, imagination, anywhere!  Describe it’s presence.  What made the monster scary?

Prison University Project at TED Talks

From our friends from the Prison University Project, based at San Quentin.

Below is the link to a wonderful TED Talk by Damon Horowitz, PUP volunteer, about teaching philosophy at San Quentin. It’s just under 4 minutes long:

http://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz_philosophy_in_prison.html

Prison University Project
Patten University at San Quentin, Director
Post Office Box 492
San Quentin, California 94964
www.prisonuniversityproject.org

Alcatraz Symposium

thank you for joining WE on The Rock this past weekend.

The Alcatraz Symposium on Justice & Freedom was a fitting closure to We Players’ three year residency in partnership with the National Park Service.

I witnessed inspiring creativity, deep emotion, meaningful conversation, cross-pollination of communities, and the forging of new relationships.

Please share your stories from the weekend here!