We have just MATCHED a $25,000 challenge grant from Linda Zug to help fund our Full time youth employment program. We still need help to expand this program so please read more and donate today!
“I’m not saying you can just wake up one day and your life is going to be great just by you wanting it to be, people need to take action and be able to ask others for help because believe it or not there are so many people willing to help others help themselves. That is what
we are trying to do”. Richie Dinsmore former youth at MW, now Director of Public Art and Advocacy
Today at our weekly staff meeting we took a significant step in looking at specific problems within our organization and began to openly and respectfully talk about them. We are a committed board, leadership, and staff dedicated to including equity training with strategic planning as we more into the next phase of our work.
Emmitt Till, August 28, 1955
Medgar Evers, June 12, 1963
Malcolm X, February 21, 1965
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 4, 1968
Rodney King, March 3, 1991
Amadou Diallo, February 4, 1999
Sean Bell, November 25, 2006
Trayvon Martin, February 26, 2012
Michael Brown, August 9, 2014
Eric Garner, December 30, 2017
Ahmaud Arbery, February 23, 2020
Breonna Taylor, March 13, 2020
George Floyd, May 25, 2020
Tony McDade, May 27, 2020
Rem’mie Fells, June 8, 2020
Riah Milton, June 9, 2020
Rayshard Brooks, June 12, 2020
Oluwatoyin Salau, June 13, 2020
And so many more…named and unnamed
It is time for a long overdue reckoning.
The assault and murder of Black and Brown people by law enforcement, vigilantes and regular citizens, since the first African peoples were brought to this country in chains, is a haunting travesty and legacy that must be acknowledged and truly confronted. The names George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks are the latest victims of an out of control, militarized police force. In 1992 when officers on trial for the beating of Rodney King were acquitted, the subsequent response, almost thirty years ago, did nothing to change the racist policies of stop and frisk or the beating and murdering of Black people, particularly Black men and Black trans women.
As a nation, we revisited all this with Trayvon Martin’s murder at the hands of a civilian. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, this time, the creation of Black Lives Matter and the response they led would have lasting impact. Yet again, George Zimmerman, the murderer of another young black man was acquitted.
MWProductions has always and will always stand with Black Lives Matter and their mission. Our purpose is to use art as a healing threshold to inclusion, true equity and equality. Artist-facilitated social action that encourages difficult dialogues concerning some of the most important and consequential issues of our time will continue to be our guide forward.
Two key events that have forced the conversation are the pandemics of covid and racism. For MWP a way to embrace hope, is to keep the conversation centered on all of our experienced truths. Touched, Alive, Hope is a new multi-media art installation that is intended to bring together many hands and many voices from around the world, fostered by a partnership between Violence Transformed and Medicine Wheel Productions.
Here are a few resources to help navigate the road to building an inclusive and equitable non profit. Click on images for more info.
CALL TO ARTISTS
DAY WITHOUT ART/WORLD AIDS DAY AND NATIONAL BLACK HIV AWARENESS DAY 24 HOUR VIRTUAL VIGILS
ZOOM ROOMS OPEN AT 11:30 PM NOVEMBER 30TH AND 11:30 PM FEB 6TH
For 29 years, Medicine Wheel Productions/SPOKE has been at the intersection of art and healing. Beginning in 1992, we responded to the AIDS/HIV crisis that was ravaging communities in deadly silence and no government response. Every year, for World AIDS Day, on December 1, MWP mounts a 24 hour vigil and art installation for Day With(out) Art where people come to remember and grieve as a community while hundreds of performing artists over the course of the day present prayers, spoken word, dance, music and chanting.
On December 1st, we will kick off programming by running a 24 hour loop stream on MW youtube channel. This footage will consist of MW artists over the last 30 years plus any new contributions from artists within the community. After this date, we will have an artist workshop/online open mic once a week preferably every Wednesday at 6-7pm leading up to National Black HIV Awreness Day on February 7th where we will run a 24 hour loop stream on MW youtube channel, this footage incorporating more clips and pieces focused on health and medical professionals especially African Americans.
CALL TO ARTISTS
please fill out and return this form by December 15th be included in the February 7th vigil!
