Foundry Dialogues -- free and open to the public -- explore the matrix of ideas and social practices that shape our everyday lives and the world in which we live them.  While panels and talkbacks are often convened after a performance, Foundry Dialogues are stand-alone programs that sometimes generate new commissions, function as research sites for commissioned artists, and gather new audiences for theatre works inspired by them.  The Foundry has been hosting annual Dialogue Series since our inception as a way to bring artists more squarely into some of the "big" questions that are being formulated around hwo the world works and doesn't, and how it might work better. 

 

2012 Series: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

There are individuals and communities around the world who have stopped waiting for the systems around them to change, who are engaged in alternative practices and systems right now - in economics, safety, media and communications, politics and more.  For our Foundry Dialogue Series this year, THIS IS HOW WE DO IT brings together some of the leading innovators from around the globe - people who are redefining nothing less than how the world works and how we relate to each other.  We invite you to join us for their practicical and poetic show & tell presentations to find out of how the world is already working in radically different ways.

Opening Plenary:  MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE (Transcript & Video) 

featuring
Grace Lee Boggs: One of the great philosophers and political visionaries of our time. Boggs has been a part of almost every major movement in the United States over the last 75 years; she's 96, intellectually ageless and still going strong.
Nelson Johnson: Executive Director of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, North Carolina and a leader of the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Project, the first of its kind in the US.
Andrea Smith: Longtime anti-violence and Native American activist and scholar, Smith is a proponent and innovator of new political practices. She currently teaches in media and cultural studies at UC, Riverside.  
Moderated by Amy Goodman: Host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,000 public television and radio stations in North America.


ANOTHER POLITICS (Text of Mzwakhe's Speech & Video)

Guest Presenters              

Mzwakhe Mdlalose, President of the South African Shackdwellers’ Movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo)

Rafael Litvin Villas Bôas, a coordinator of Brazil’s Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento Sem Terra)

Local Respondents         

Erik Ehn, Playwright

Raquel Lavina, Program Director at Social Justice Leadership

Maria Mercado, member of Movement for Justice in El Barrio

Michael Premo, Co-creator of Housing is a Human Right and member of Organizing for Occupation

 
 

ANOTHER MEDIA (Video)
Guest Presenters              

Claudia Acuña, Founding Member of La Vaca communications cooperative in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Diana Nucera, Program Director at Allied Media Projects in Detroit

Local Respondents        

Marisa Jahn, Executive & Creative Director at People’s Production House

Morgan Jenness, Cultural Occupier, Abrams Artists Agency

Alyssa Katz, Editor of The New York World

 
 

ANOTHER SAFETY (Video)
Guest Presenters

Joyce and Nelson Johnson presenting on the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Process

Mimi Kim, Founder of Creative Interventions in Oakland    

Local Respondents

Marcus Gardley, Poet-Playwright

Jill Williams, Truth Commission Consultant and Occupy Faith Organizer

YaliniDream*, Collective Member of Safe OUTside the System

 

 

ANOTHER ECONOMY (Daniel's Slideshow & Video)

Guest  Presenters              

Michael Peck, US representative for the Mondragón federation of workers' cooperatives in the Basque Country

Daniel Tygel, former Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Forum for the Solidarity Economy

Local Respondents

Carmen Piñeiro, Sustainable Communities Organizer at Community Voices Heard

Carne Ross, Executive Director of Independent Diplomat and member of the Occupy Wall Street Alternative Banking Working Group

Juan Carlos Ruiz, Communications Coordinator at Green Worker Cooperatives

If you would like to connect with any of the presenters and respondents, many of them have provided their contact information here

In addition to the opening night transcript and videos of all dialogues check out the TIHWDI Tumblr!

 
 

2010 Series:  THIS IS MY CITY/ESTA ES MI CIUDAD 

5 events curated & hosted by 5 teams of artists and social justice organizations

CLASS OF 2010 / clase de 2010   

curated by Right to the City + Director, Melanie Joseph 
Middle class, lower middle class, upper middle class, working class, what class are you in? Who is Obama addressing in his agenda for middle class families? What are some alternative ways to consider our standards for living in this century? Join us for a discussion of class in the 21st century. /Clase media, clase media baja, clase media alta, clase obrera--¿en cuál clase social esta usted? ¿A quién se refiere Obama cuando habla de su agenda para familias de clase media? ¿Cuáles son algunas de las maneras alternativas que podemos considerar nuestro nivel de vida en este siglo? Únase con nosotros en una discusión de clase social en el Siglo XXI.

INVISIBLE WOMEN – RISE / mujeres invisibles–superan

Domestic Workers United + Playwright, Lisa Ramirez

A dance theatre piece exploring themes of migration as well as isolation and injustices in the work place (premiering at a town hall event for domestic workers' rights.)/ Una obra de baile y teatro explorando los temas de migración también como el aislamiento y injusticia en el lugar de trabajo (estrenando en una junta popular para los derechos de trabajadoras de casa.)

SEX IN THE CITY – THE FLIP SIDE / sexo en la ciudad – el otro lado
Urban Justice Center + Director, Lear de Bessonet & Playwright, Lucy Thurber

A series of short scenes in which LGBTQQ youth of color share a unique perspectives on policing of gender and sex in New York City, offering a glimpse into lives frequently unseen and unimagined, characterized by resistance, resilience, strength and survival./ Una serie de escenas cortas en cual jóvenes de color LGBTQ comparten perspectivas únicas sobre la vigilancia de genero y sexo en la cuidad de Nueva York, que ofrecen un vislumbre en vidas que con frecuencia son ocultadas e impensables, caracterizadas por resistencia, persistencia, fuerza y supervivencia.

MORE THAN A NUMBER / mas que un numero
Center for Immigrant Families + Playwright, Sung Rno & Director, Debbie Saivetz

A community theatrical dialogue exploring the impacts of high stakes testing in NY public schools on students, families and communities/ Un diálogo teatral explorando el impacto de exámenes definitivos sobre estudiantes, familias y comunidades de las escuelas publicas de NY.


FOOD FIGHT / pelea de comida
Families United for Racial & Economic Equality + Playwright, Erik Ehn

Food, Fellowship, Focus. Mindfulness and a meal highlighting Families' United for Racial and Economic Equality's work on gentrification and food access./ Comida, Compañerismo, Enfoqué. Conciencia y una comida esta destacando el trabajo de Familias Unidas Para Igualdad Racial y Económica sobre el desplazamiento y acceso a comida.

2009 Series:  OUT OF THE GLOBAL CITY: An uncommon dialogue series

Co-hosted with The Nation Institute and The Center for Place, Culture and Politics.

Over the past decades, New York City - alongside London, Tokyo and an increasing number of urban centers around the world - has emerged as a global city, a geographic node where movie on line global finance is organized, concentrated, re-dispersed, and circulated. Decisions made in these metropolitan centers impact the lives of countless people across the world. As the recent economic upheaval illustrates, this is simultaneously a powerful and vulnerable reality. In New York, we bear witness to the ways in which the basic elements of our livelihood - from work to housing to education to heath care - are increasingly shaped by the needs of global finance that put profits before people.  Events, speakers and sound clips below.

Public Education:  What is the future of public education in NYC?  Will our schools, which represent the last remaining universal public good in the US, remain public?

Speakers: 

Luci Dania Mejia, Ujju Aggarwal, Center for Immigrant Families
Harmony Goldberg, Scholar/Activist
Edwin Mayorga, New York Collective of Radical Educators
Nilaja Sun, artist
Una Osato, artist                         Sound Clips:

Nilaja Sun: listen
Representatives from the center of immigrant families: listen
Q&A with Participants and Audience: listen

 

Health Care in The Global City:  How will the fiscal crisis and budget cuts impact health care in NYC?  What kind of universal health care is on the horizon?

Speakers: 

Jacoby Ballard, 3rd Root Health Collective
Maria Angela Soto, MPH, Founder, CHCC Open-it Clinic
Maryse Mitchell Brody, Rock Dove Collective
Soniya Munshi, Doctoral Student, CUNY Graduate Center
Trudy Lieberman, Journalist, Dir. of Health & Medicine Reporting Program at The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

Sound Clips:
Nation Reporter Trudy Lieberman: listen
'OPEN-IT' Clinic Founder, Maria Angela Soto: listen
3rd Root Health Collective Member, Jacoby Ballard: listen
Rock Dove Collective Member, Maryse Mitchell Brody: listen
AUDIENCE Q+A: listen

Work and Labor:  Who makes New York City run - and for whom? What is "work" in the global city?

       Speakers:  David Harvey, Director, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center

      Ai-jen Poo and Lois Newland, Domestic Workers United
      Esther Kaplan, Journalist, The Nation Institute
      Max Fraser, Journalist, The Nation Institute
      Jeff Mansfield and William Cerf, Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York
      Victoriana Navarro and Jennifer Arieta, VAMOS Unidos

Housing/Gentrification:  Starbucks, Starbucks everywhere but not a drop to drink.  Now that everyone's neighborhood has been impacted by gentrification, what's next?        Co-Hosted with the Maysles Ciniman and the Left Forum

Films: REZONING HARLEM & SOME PLACE LIKE HOME

Speakers: 

Amanda Alexander, Journalist
Caron Atlas, Director, Pratt Center for Community Development, Arts and Community Change Program
Monique Washington, Coalition to Save Harlem
Joy Chatel , FUREE
Natasha Florentino & Tamara Gubernat, Directors of REZONING HARLEM
Steve Cosson, artist-The Civilians

The Safe City:  Safe for whom?

Speakers:
Andrea Ritchie, Human Rights Attorney, Sex Workers Project
Desiree Marshall, Founder, FIERCE
Hasan Elahi, artist
Sara Garland, journalist

Shape/Shaped? SIn a city that has long catered to the needs of global capital, what openings does the current fiscal crisis present for the re-shaping of NYC in ways that meet the needs of all the people who live here?

Speakers: 

Adriana Valdez Young, Chez Bushwick
Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark, broadcast journalist
Carl Lipscombe, Right to the City
Virginia Louloudes, Executive Director, The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York