Ready, set, propose

On Friday I drafted a flyer calling for artists and performers, as well as the submission form for art and performance projects. I only got feedback from one of the minion, so I will review both again today and send out to the world tomorrow. Actually I already made some changes to the flyer and will look at the form in a few minutes.

There's a lot of work to do with this festival, but it's like pulling teeth to get feedback and assistance. This quarter has been busy and I know that everyone is overcommitted. I'm hoping once I have some of the artistic stuff done and the word starts to spread, I will get a few more people to assist with organization and logistics and then I can do that thing that I'm not so good at - delegate.

I wonder why I have not spent much time on my thesis this quarter...

Mo Money, fingers crossed

So, on Thursday the ball started rolling and my Sunday it became a huge fireball. In my conversation with Bob Bowen he mentioned the Arts Competition grant from the City of Davis. The folks at the Pence told me about it weeks ago, but I really didn't think I needed it. However, now that we are taking over downtown Davis, I realized both the potential and all of the costs involved.

I got together with one of my fellow acting MFAs, Amy Cole, on Sunday for brunch at Little Prague. I had done a bit of work on the application on Saturday, but we talked through the budget and scope of the project. Amy has quite a bit of experience with grant writing and I have to say that I never would have been able to do it without her. What I have been learning at grad school most of all, is how to articulate what I do and why it is important. After a few more hours of reworking and fleshing out of ideas on Sunday, I sent it to Tim Orr, yet another classmate in my program to do a little proofreading. He caught all of my colloquial shit and forced me to take out anything that would set a red flag for the panel. Tim has a bunch of administrative experience in both theatre and dance and his comments were specific and professional. I do have to say that I am a good editor and proofreader, but it's just like cleaning and organizing -- I'm always better with someone else's stuff.

What I realized on Friday however, was that I needed resumes from all of the lead artists and quite a few letters of recommendation. I am not going to lie - that was the scramble part of the process. Due to the short time to get the proposal in, I had to do quite a bit of legwork, but it's done and in and I did in fact kiss the packet of application copies as I put in in the box on the front desk of the Pence Gallery.

I cannot wait to really start digging in and get all Dada artistic. That will certainly inspire all of this organization and administration.

Dadaists Untie!

Dada Takes Over

So, I found out this week that the Davis Arts Center is no longer available to rent in May 2009 for our little adventure. I was slightly bummed, but realized that we were only taking the easy way out by keeping the Dada Cabaret so contained. I had a great phone conversation with Bob Bowen in the City of Davis on Thursday and he never said no. I am not sure why I thought he may. he gave me great ideas and people who I need to contact and encouragement in getting city funds.

Our meeting yesterday was nothing less than spirited. Josh spoke in excited tones and Sarah was super vocal. We made plans of treasure maps, exploring the nooks and crannies of our little cowtown and getting all dada.

I am in the process of getting additional funding from the participating UCD humanities departments and I will be going to the Davis ArtsWalk tonight to start getting my name out there and preaching the Dada gospel.

It's going to be a lot of work, but I am very excited about the journey. Here's to a Saturday in May and a little gypsy dinner to follow the mayhem.

p.s.

I just came across a line in Tzara's Dada Manifesto that perhaps complements the questions I put forth in the previous post:

Beware of forgeries!

Imitators of DADA want to present DADA in an artistic form which it has never had

last meeting's exercise

I think it's peculiar what can evolve from the awareness that one is being filmed. I wonder if our actions would have been different had we not had a camera to consciously or subconsciously perform for.

I also am thinking about what it was like to deliberately follow direction stating, "We will all do Dada things now, and here are the parameters under which they'll take place." Is an academic discussion of Dada sort of Dada in itself, seeing as how Dada founders believed everything to be absurd or incomprehensible?

If we "put on" a Dada event, are we contradicting what Dada is, fundamentally? Would our performance be just that--a facsimile or representation of Dada, instead of the "real thing"?