Chelsea gallery surveys post-Fukushima theme of Japanese artists

On View | Japanese Artists Respond to Fukushima
by Sylvia Rupani-Smith, The New York Times, June 26, 2014

Haruki Murakami opposes Japan's nuclear policy

Novelist Murakami slams nuclear policy
The Japan Times, June 11, 2011

La MaMa loves Japan

On Monday, April 25 (7:30pm), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club will present A Prayer For Japan, to benefit relief efforts in Japan.

Click here for complete program details.

Free admission.
Reservations not required.

In the La MaMa tradition, the hat will be passed to help support Japan’s relief efforts. All donations from the evening will go to Make The Heaven, a Japanese NGO in Japan working with the Japan Me group, a non-profit organization that is providing ongoing relief for victims in the area of Ishinomaki. Japan Me transports supplies to the disaster area and delivers these needed supplies directly to victims. In addition, the group places victims with volunteers across the country; and transports aid workers to the affected areas for rescue missions.

La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street, 2nd Floor (between Bowery and Second Avenue), Manhattan
(directions)

Joffrey School benefit for Japan and New Zealand

The Joffrey Ballet School presents two performances of dance, music and film to benefit the victims of the earthquakes of Japan and New Zealand.

Saturday, April 16 (8pm)
Sunday, April 17 (7pm)

Suggested Donation: $10
Reservations/Information: the Joffrey Ballet School, 212-254-8520

The evenings will feature:

• dancers from the Joffrey Ballet School Choreographic Workshop

• animation by Lev Polyakov

• new music by Allan Greene

• live music by Joshua Davis, PJ Robers, Juliana Boehm, Miho Nozawa and others

Charitable contributions will be evenly distributed between the Japan Society and the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Joffrey Ballet School
434 Avenue of the Americas (at 9th Street), Manhattan
(directions)

"Atomic Samurai"

Jackie Sheeler's "Atomic Samurai"

A WordRock video about energy consumption & nuclear reactors. Inspired by the workers at Fukushima, who are knowingly forfeiting their lives in order to protect the lives of others. I bow to you all. --Jackie Sheeler

In Summation, a benefit for Japan

Summation Dance Company invites you to a humanitarian benefit for Japan with all proceeds going to Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund.

Saturday, April 9, 8pm

Featuring a special performance of Keep Your Feathers Dry and a guest appearance by musician Kelli Scarr

NYU Tisch School of the Arts (5th Floor Theatre)
111 Second Avenue (between Bowery and 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(directions)

For ticket information, click here.

Learn more about Summation Dance Company here.

Japan Society's Concert for Japan

CONCERT FOR JAPAN

Saturday, April 9 (11am to 11pm)

at Japan Society

Japan Society presents a 12 hour concert benefiting organizations that directly help people affected by the earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan. With dozens of music acts and performances throughout the day, confirmed performers for the 6-8 pm gala block, organized by John Zorn, include Philip Glass; Hal Willner; Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Zorn; Ryuichi Sakamoto; and Bill Laswell and gigi band.

Special activities will be available for all ages, from making paper cranes and washi lanterns for good luck, to basic Japanese language classes, to unlimited access to Bye Bye Kitty!!!.

100% of the admission sales from this event will go to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.

Food and drink will be available for purchase.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), Manhattan
(directions)

Saving the art of Haiti

Cultural Rescue
Public and private U.S. sources unite to help Haiti's art community recover from the earthquake
by Stevenson Swanson, ARTnews, September 2010

Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts: with love for Haiti

An announcement from writer Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts 

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Some of you know that I'd planned to go to Haiti in January 2010 to begin research for my next book. Slow-to-arrive funds delayed the trip, then the earthquake happened.

In the immediate aftermath, horrified at the disaster, the idea of writing a book seemed besides the point, to put it mildly. The old question put forth by Hölderlin summarized the feeling: "And what are poets for in a desolate time?"

Here is one attempt at an answer. Along with a small army of folks in two cities, I'm coordinating fundraisers to benefit two grassroots organizations that have been doing important work in Haiti since long before the earthquake and with whom I'd hoped to work during my research. SOIL Haiti focuses on ecological sanitation, working alongside communities to create composting toilets that remove dangerous pathogens from the water supply and provide

nutrient rich compost to farmers. Since the earthquake, SOIL Haiti has been working in Port-au-Prince along with OXFAM and the Haitian government to implement environmentally sound sanitation strategies urgently needed to serve the 1 million+ people living in tent cities since the disaster.

Seeds for Haiti works in concert with Mouvman Peyizan Papay (Peasant Movement of Papay), to support farmers in Haiti's Central Plateau in achieving social justice and asserting food sovereignty. With the reverse migration from the city back to the countryside since the earthquake, their work is even more urgent. Recently farmers of MPP made headlines when they promised to burn any seeds donated by Monsanto, a gift-horse of seeds that will not

reproduce and are laced with pesticides, thus subjecting farmers already facing a state of emergency to the vicious cycle of industrial agriculture.

This July in New Orleans (where I'm living at the moment instead of traveling in Haiti) and in Harlem, we'll raise voices, funds and spirits with a marathon bilingual reading of "Cahier d'un retour au pays natal" ("Notebook of a Return to My Native Land") the epic work by Martinican poet and statesman Aimé Césaire. Césaire was one who had an answer for Hölderlin. Some of you were there in 2008 for the inaugural public reading of this poem, co-produced with Brent Edwards, as an anti-colonial Bastille Day celebration to honor the recent passing of Césaire. If you were there, you remember the magic raised

up by 11 men and women reading in French and English, a literary

reading-as-ritual that we did not dream of or even know was possible.

If you live in New Orleans (or have people in New Orleans) the date to save is Saturday, July 10. We'll gather at GRIS GRIS LAB, a wonderful art/healing/ community center.

If you live in New York City (or have people in NYC), the date to save is Thursday, July 15. The fantastic Harlem Afrobeat bar THE SHRINE has agreed to open their wonderful space to us for a second round.

Many people have already joined in to make these benefit readings a reality. I hope you'll come gather round the fire of Césaire's poetry in the name of rebuilding Haiti.

Please spread the word. Full details to come. Stay tuned for updates on Facebook at:

TheFreedwomensBureau

with lots of good wishes,

Sharifa

Conserving quake-damaged art

Conservators Aid Art Rescue Effort in Haiti

by Kate Taylor, The New York Times, May 10, 2010

Celebrate Haiti. Stand with Haiti.

A Celebration of Haitian Culture: Benefit for Earthquake Relief 

Sunday, March 14, 6:30PM

Please join the Poetry Project, Danspace Project, Ontological-Hysteric Theater and St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery for a celebration of Haitian culture. All proceeds from the evening will be donated to Partners in Health: Stand With Haiti.

Tickets are now available, and will be available at the door.

Sliding scale admission: $20-$75 General Audience

Reserved Seating: $75-100

Readings by Amiri and Amina Baraka and Denizé Lauture!

Performance by master Haitian drummer Bonga!

Performance by John Zorn!

More performers to be announced soon!

Location: 

St. Mark’s Church, Sanctuary

131 East 10th Street (2nd Avenue)

Manhattan

Information

Towards a new song

Haitian Singer and His Guitar Fight Urge to Weep

by Simon Romero, The New York Times, March 4, 2010

Higher education disrupted by Haiti earthquake

Education Was Also Leveled by Quake in Haiti
by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, February 13, 2010

Meet DJARARA: Brooklyn's own Haitian rara band

The Other Side of the Water is a documentary on DJARARA--a Brooklyn-based rara band--directed by Jeremy Robins and co-produced by Robins with Magali (Magi) Damas.

The Other Side of the Water follows a group of young immigrants who take an ancient music from the hills of Haiti and reinvent it on the streets of Brooklyn. The journey of this unlikely band offers a unique insight into the Haitian-American experience -- a rare glimpse into a world of music, spirituality, and cultural activism.

Read more and watch a trailer and clips here.

Grieving the cultural losses in Haiti

Cultural Riches Turn to Rubble in Haiti Quake
by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, January 23, 2010

*****
There really is no reason that Haitians should apologize for mourning the loss of their cultural legacy in this tragic event. The cultural legacy of a people speaks most eloquently about who they truly are and about their history, meaning and contribution to the family of humanity. These losses are grievous, indeed–for individual artists, for the Haitian nation and for the world.

Helping the people of Haiti

There are many online sources of information about how you can help the people of Haiti. Be cautious, though, because the inevitable scams have also quickly emerged.

Here are some lists of reputable humanitarian organizations:

Haiti Disaster Relief: How to Contribute (New York Times)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-relief-h_n_421014.html (Huffington Post)

How and where to donate to Haiti (and avoid scams) (Lifehacker)

Please keep in mind my personal favorite, Doctors Without Borders, whose facilities in Haiti were devastated in the earthquake. They do excellent work and will need much help to get continue serving the people.

Thank you.

Eva