Gallery5 is looking for the following for our upcoming season of exhibitions.

-The Carnival of 5 Fires, is looking for Carnival, Vaudville, Freakish, Dark, Disgusting, Surreal and downright Wicked 2 and 3d art for their upcoming exhibition. The last call for submissions is September 4th, so hurry up!!

-The Richmond Zine Festival is coming to Gallery5 this November! The tables are almost full, but our walls are not. We are looking for artists for this upcoming festival. Artist's works must be zine-influenced. (meaning the artist must be associated or contributed to zine or zine-making) We are also looking for artists that are actively involved in the DIY movement.

-We have a new gallery in our in-house store. It is a new, beautiful and large showcase space for solo or small group craft-based exhibitions. We are looking for unique and innovative crafts and small art.

Please send all submission to visual@gallery5arts.org
If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 804 644 0005.

After talking to a few colleagues and family members, I realized that it is imperative to open a dialogue with the representatives of Centerstage. I have been considering the most appropriate way to approach Centerstage to discuss how they plan to effectively collaborate with our local grassroots arts community and how we can hold them accountable for doing so. I need your help!.

As they mentioned in response to Don Harrison's 20 Questions for Centerstage, "CenterStage will continue to look for ways to partner with the local arts community to promote a vibrant arts and nightlife downtown, and we encourage input on these efforts."

I would be interested to learn what they mean by "collaboration" (and I will not automatically assume that they got that word mixed up with "capitalizing") and what restrictions/guidelines will be set for them to do so. Will they only support "grassroots" initiatives that can showcase their organization in a marketable way? "CenterStage also was a major sponsor of the Broad Appétit event last year and this year, is a partner in the 2009 Folk Festival and both the 2008 and 2009 InLight celebration." ....Or do they truly have plans to engage themselves in their surrounding artistic grassroots community?

If so, then how?

As much as we despise the bureaucracy and misrepresentation behind Centerstage, they are undoubtedly here to stay and we have no choice but (if we chose to remain in the City of Richmond) to support them. (As if we had a choice, and if we did, my taxpaying money's would not be going for another arts organization with no plan of making the future of Richmond's creative community flourish and sustainable).

For example: I would assume that since Centerstage had no original programming for their arts education (and seem to have been more interested in pulling already-established and funded organization's into their space to fill those empty gaps), then it would be beneficial for our area educational arts organization's to figure out an appropriate way to join their efforts. Unfortunately, this joining is necessary for the sustainability of our arts programs, especially now since they do not have the same opportunity to local city and community funding as they once had. (I wonder where it all went?)

Isn't it funny that the movers and shakers involved in the planning of Centerstage all have very close and personal ties to our city and community arts funding and have the authority to decide where and how the arts funding will be allocated? Isn't Centerstage such a cute pet-project for our city elite? (Do a little research on this, you will be very amused at the convenient relationships existing within the deciding committees for our community arts funding).

Now that our community funding is tied up in this pet-project for a very long time, and if we want to remain active participants within our artistic community, then we must figure out what is necessary to build this relationship that will not only help our local organizations reap some of the benefits that would have been earned by our blood, sweat and tears, but to hold Centerstage accountable for their promises made to our community.

Please help in creating these questions for Centerstage and build that necessary dialogue. Hopefully, we can better educate ourselves on what appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that our cultural future is solid, honest and accountable.

I will start this:

1. Centerstage, do you currently have or plan to create a committee that will collaborate with surrounding arts organizations?

2. What is your criteria for working with and accepting idea and program proposals from the local arts organizations/groups? If you do not have a set criteria, (which I doubt that you do), who will be responsible for creating it?

3. How do you plan to financially support the First Friday initiative? How to you plan to physically support the First Friday initiative?

4.Since there is still no Centerstage Director, how will you insure the credibility, accountability and overall productivity of your programs? Who will be responsible for overseeing that the use of public funds will be allocated to programs that are not only beneficial, innovative and engaging for our artistic community, but are vital and accessible for our low-income/general population that will help to strengthen them during these economic times?

5. What types of educational programming to you have in order? What school systems, after-school programs, homes, groups, and arts programs are you currently planning to partner with or are interested in partnering with? How do you plan to assist our low-income families and inner-city school children? How much time does your building schedule allocate for educational arts programming?

6. Do you have plans to create a volunteer program that will help to assist with downtown arts-related festivals, events and programs and be a data-base for area non-profits? Do you have plans for student involvement (grade school, high school and college/universities)? If so, then how?

7. Do you plan to work with non-profits and arts organizations on programs outside of the Centerstage complex? (This does not include event sponsorship and marketing campaigns.)

8. How do you envision the relationship between Parks and Recreation and Centerstage? Financially, do you know how the city plans to allocate funds to this joint effort, or relationships like these?

9. Do you have a vision as to the type of businesses to be brought into the downtown Broad/Grace St area?

10. Who is currently responsible for deciding what diverse visual and performing arts will be brought to Centerstage?

Please comment with additional questions as you see fit.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to the bandanas made for Repressed IV: May Day, we have decided to reprint another run of 100. The new bandanas will be hemmed, hand-printed with black ink on red fabric. They will be available at Gallery5 starting this Wednesday, May 27th from 11AM-6:30PM for a suggested donation of $4-10. All proceeds will benefit Gallery5 and There Once Was A Rebellion to continue to hold collaborative exhibitions and extend their mission each year. Your response to these exhibitions, projects and campaigns drive our volunteers to continue their efforts in organizing and executing this form of public art.  Please stop by the gallery this Wednesday, Thursday or Friday from 11AM - 6:30PM. For all other hours or questions about reserving a May Day bandana, please email gallery5@gallery5arts.org or call us at 804 644 0005

Thank you for your support.

Gallery5 and T.O.W.A.R

Tuesday, April 28th

Live Demonstrations, Performances and Workshops

 

Microcosm Tour 2009!!! Microcosm Publishing is heading out on tour! This time around we're sending some of our authors and artists to teach you a little somethin' (and hopefully entertain you in the meantime!)  

First off, though in no particular lineup order, Do-It-Yourself Screenprinting author John Isaacson will show you the ins and outs of turning your bedroom into a full-on DIY t-shirt factory. Says his tour-mate and Microcosm founder Joe Biel, "If there were awards for niceness, John would be in the top three. He teaches writing programs when he's not busy teaching silkscreening workshops. He'll be bringing his skills and knowledge to your town and showing even the experts a thing or two."

 

Then we got Moe Bowstern, author of the extra rad zine series Xtra Tuf, who will show you some sailors' knots and teach you a few sea chanteys. Moe's zines tell the story of her life as a woman in the male-dominated commerical fishing industry and are high adventure no matter how you shake it. She's also a real sweetheart!

 

Next there's Microcosm founder Joe Biel who will screen his latest documentary If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk: 14 Years of Plan It X. You may know Joe from the celebrated zine Perfect Mixtape Segue, of which his latest issue just came out. Joe is also the co-author of the recently released zine-making how-to book Make a Zine and the dude who brought you the excellent zine-makin' "talk-umentary" $100 and a T-Shirt. He's a great guy and wears a lot of green and orange.

 

Also on the lineup we got Shelley Jackson, co-author of the Chainbreaker book and zine. Joe Biel had the following to say about the wonderful Miss Jackson: "The first time I visited New Orleans, I knew no one except for a polite GK Darby who kept insisting that I should come. Shelley offered to put up two strangers in her cute little shotgun home and we became closer over years. She's been a bike mechanic for longer than I've known her and wrote down her thoughts on the matter with her friend Ethan in her Chainbreaker book. She's going to teach you how to fix yer bike."

 

Last but not least--or, really, last--the incredibly awesome traveling vegan chef Joshua Ploeg will prepare some mind-blowing cuisine from his hot-off-the-press debut cookbook In Search of the Lost Taste. Joshua is also known as Joshua Plague, member of such kick-ass punk bands as Behead the Prophet, the Mulketeo Fairies, and, his latest outfit, Warm Springs. You haven't lived until you've had Joshua's cooking, for reals!

  Come on down and hang out with us!    7PM    ONLY $3!!!!

ALL Proceeds to Benefit Gallery5. www.naturalscienceproductions.com

.. ..

For more info on any these events, visit our website at www.gallery5arts.org

.. .. Friday, March 27th Come out and support Gallery5 and dance the night away at the "Benefit Sock Hop". The organizers behind this event have been kind enough to create a benefit on our behalf. Featuring Musical Guests: Hot Lava The Great White Jenkins The Sad Cobras The Color Kittens 8PM $5 "The Cost of Living" Reflections of an Economic Crisis.     Curated by Chanae Owens.   On display until March 27th.  What does the cost of living mean to us? What do the words "Economic Crisis" actually mean in relation to our daily lives, habits, and spending? How is its effect consequently mirrored in our current world view? The Cost of Living: Reflections of an Economic Crisis aims to showcase a cross-section of artists, local and abroad, to take a critical look at the 'economic fallout'- its media coinage, its global effect in the political sphere, and its effect on us in our daily lives.  .. .. Saturday, March 14th Sugar Shack Burlesque Presents: "In the Flesh: A Cole Porter Tribute" 7PM $12 Friday, March 13th A Benefit for Breast Cancer "Concert for the Climb" Sponsored by WRIR 97.3 7PM $10 Saturday, March 28th Brice Woodall & the Positrons w/ special guest The Orioles. 8PM $5 Thursday, March 19th The Nahuatl End the Hunger Poetry Slam Series presents the #5 ranked poet in the world, Joshua Bennet. 7PM $5 Thursday, March 2th  DD/MM/YYYY Antlers SnackTruck 7PM $7 Wednesday, March 25th Haustalk Presents: Design Literacy for Children 7PM FREE    Phone: 804 644 0005 200 West Marshall St. Richmond, VA 23220  Click Here To Visit Our Website Online! - Forward this message to a friend

Tuesday, March 10th
Free Film Showing and Potluck
Brought to you by the Lucent Phoenix
Come, enjoy a potluck dinner at 6:00 and the movie at 7:00
FREE!

FLOW: How did a handful of corporations steal our water?
A film by: Irena Salina
www.flowthefilm.com

"An astonishingly wide-ranging film. An informed and heartfelt examination of the tug of war between public health and private interests." - New York Times

"Lively and engaging...Smartly Done" - Los Angeles Times

Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.

Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?"

Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

6PM Potluck 7PM Film Showing FREE to attend.

Repressed IV: May Day
Exhibition: May 1st, 2009
Submission Deadline: March 20th, 2009

A Socially Conscious Exhibition
This year’s theme: Workers Rights

This coming Repressed IV is more specific in content so we are releasing our call for entries a little sooner to give everyone a little extra time to make some new work!

The packet with entry requirements and show description is available by
http://www.thereoncewasarebellion.org/uploads/repressedivcallpacket.pdf

Images from past shows may be found in the actions section of
http://thereoncewasarebellion.org/index.php?page=actions


SHOW DESCRIPTION:
May 1st, International Worker's Day, celebrates an ongoing, worldwide workers' struggle. Originally, the international holiday was in remembrance of the 1880's fight for an eight hour work day during a time when workers were forced to work inhumanly long hours. Nationally, we fail to recognize this holiday, which marks the famous strikes for the right to a reasonable work day by an estimated 500,000 workers. The nationally spread strikes originated in Chicago.

The resilient Chicago workers' rights leaders: Parsons, Spies, Fischer, and Engel, were executed by the United States Government in response to a bomb being thrown at a rally on May 3rd. The rally was in retaliation to acts of police brutality, leading to the deaths of six workers and several wounded during the Chicago May 1st strikes. Their lives are celebrated through International Worker's Day.

This struggle is still relevant today with issues such as: migrant workers' rights, women's equal pay for equal work, sweatshop labor, economic hit men, economic imperialism and outsourcing. People travel to places far from home and their comfort zone to show solidarity with an international struggle for the right to be treated humanly in a collapsing system. We invite all artists who are involved in this struggle to exhibit your work in our upcoming exhibition, Repressed IV: May Day.

All of the galleries in Richmond's Downtown Arts District present special exhibits on the first Friday of every month.  Next May's  First Fridays Art Walk happens to be on May Day. So in light of this fortuitous  coincidence our May exhibition will be a celebration of workers' rights through art, education and action!