Here's just a few of the things we've done this year and what we're planning:

Projects of the Artists Network of Refuse & Resist!
October 2002

Inside the Culture of Resistance conversation series. An ongoing series of video-taped interviews with socially conscious artists who have made pioneering contributions in a variety of artistic mediums, including theater, film, visual arts, literature, music, dance and spoken word. The conversations are held in a theater in front of a live audience with a Q&A following the interview. Conversations have been taped with:
Danny Hoch (actor/writer) interviewed by Steven Sapp (actor/writer), and a later interview with Connie Julian (national coordinator of the Artists Network)
Reg E. Gaines (poet/playwright) interviewed by Steven Sapp (actor/writer)
Culture Clash (theater troupe/writers) interviewed by Mari Riddle (musician)
David Riker (filmmaker) interviewed by David Zeiger (filmmaker)
Oscar Brown Jr. (r&b/jazz vocalist/composer) interviewed by Michael Slate (journalist)
Willie Perdomo (poet) interviewed by Guy de Gonzalez (poet)
Universes (theater troupe) interviewed by Sarah Jones (actor/writer)
Arnold Mesches (painter) interviewed by Nina Felshin (curator)

Future interviews are planned with other artists, including:
Sarah Jones (actor/writer) - to be interviewed by Danny Hoch
Randy Weston (jazz pianist/composer) to be interviewed by Professor Robin D.G. Kelley (arts critic/historian)
Naomi Wallace (playwright) interviewer TBA
Steve Earle (musician) interviewer TBA
Boots (hip hop musician from The Coup) to be interviewed by Rakaa Iriscience

The conversations explore the vexing problems that confront artists who are creating - and working to bring to a broad audience - art that resists today's mean-spirited political climate and celebrates the resiliency of the people. The conversations are held in Los Angeles and in New York where the New School (the same theater where Inside the Actors Studio is filmed) hopes to partner with us to do several more interviews. Thereās also interest from broadcasters, a book featuring excerpts from the conversations and photos is being contemplated, and we have already published sections of the interviews on our website.

New CD by Saul Williams. The AN is organizing production, distribution, and radio play for a new 2-track CD created by slam poet and recording artist Saul Williams. Saul is contributing the songs towards building an anti-war movement with the Not In Our Name vision among the next generation. The EP includes the singles "September 12" and "Bloodletting", as well as a recording of Saul reciting the Pledge of Resistance at ArtSpeaks in Los Angeles on May 12, 2002. A commercial release for the EP is planned soon and in the meantime, the AN is getting the CD to radio DJs for airplay across the country. Epitaph Records has contributed the production of CD's for radio (artwork by Mearone), and the AN has developed a website for the project with Saul (www.notinournamemusic.com) which will also feature music on this theme from other recording artists.

Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience. The Artists Network is working with the Not In Our Name Statement group to gather support for this statement which is bringing together the most significant group of artists (along with other public intellectuals) to take a dissenting position on government policies of war and repression since 9/11. Signers include people like Oliver Stone, Gore Vidal, Terry Gilliam, John Edgar Wideman, Susan Sarandon, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. The AN has assisted in getting the statement published as an ad in the New York Times, LA Times, USA Today and other publications beginning September 19, 2002.

Not in Our Name: An Evening of Conscience. On October 3, the Artists Network was instrumental in producing an evening reading at Cooper Union involving the signers of the Statement including Eve Ensler. Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, Oscar Brown Jr., Pete Seeger, Suheir Hammad, Danny Glover, Edward Asner, Jessica Hagedorn and Jojo Gonzalez, Marie Howe and Paul Lisicky, Ellen McLaughlin, Howard Zinn, and Tony Kushner. This event attracted an overflow audience of over 1000 people, and featured readings and performances by the artists, including new works by Eve Ensler, Tony Kushner, Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory. An hour-long program on the evening is available and has been broadcast in November 2002 on Freespeech TV.

ArtSpeaks. An annual concert produced by the Artists Network in Los Angeles. This year's event was the first national anti-war concert in the country. It took place at the Hollywood Palace, and featured Blackalicious, Ozomatli, Dilated Peoples, Mystic, Saul Williams, The Coup, Hassan Hakmoun, Jerry Quickley, East LA Sabor Factory and many others. An hour-long video of the evening is being created for broadcast by AN member David Zeiger (producer/dirctor of the PBS series "Senior Year").

Imagine: Iraq project. An evening of new short plays commissioned by the Artists Network and presented at Cooper Union Great Hall in November 2001. Playwrights included Naomi Wallace (who also co-produced the project), Kia Corthron, Reg E. Gaines, Trevor Griffiths, Culture Clash, Tariq Ali, Betty Shamieh, Robert OāHara, and Harold Pinter. The plays explored connections between the people of Iraq, the Middle East, and the West at a time when world history could well turn on these relationships. Two new plays have been written in the past year for the project; the AN is aiming to get this evening produced professionally in the US and elsewhere as soon as possible.

"Good Morning America". A national art exhibition on a post-911 theme being curated by AN member Nina Felshin. Exhibit will open at Wesleyan University Gallery in Jan 2003, and will travel to other spaces around the country. The exhibit features works by Barbara Kruger, Arnold Mesches, Joseph Brodsky and others.

Artists Network website (www.artistsnetwork.org) is becoming an important resource for many progressive people in the arts. The site features articles and interviews with artists who are pioneering in the creation of a culture of resistance, important events in the arts, exposures of attacks on artists and censorship, exhibition and performance opportunities for progressive artists, and feature pages on dozens of artists. We are working to develop a new section called "Art and Politics" which would present various views from artists and critics on questions such as: the role of art in society, the responsibility of the conscious artist; choosing characters/stories; finding and connecting with oneās audience; addressing the post-911 world through our art and public voices. The site is updated almost daily, and a digest of "What's New" on the site is sent out to our email every 2-3 weeks.