SEEDS Festival Call 2009 deadline December 20th

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SEEDS Festival
Somatic Experiments in Earth, Dance, + Science
June 14 - 28th 2009
Earthdance • Plainfield, Massachusetts
www.earthdance.net/seedsfest
http://seedsfestival.ning.com


SEEDS Festival (Somatic Experiments in Earth, Dance, + Science) is a unique interdisciplinary summer festival dedicated to arts and ecology. SEEDS Festival cultivates innovative practices – the integration of stewarding the environment while developing artistically. The two weeks will feature workshops, collaborative design projects, panel discussions, live performances, films, and interdisciplinary investigations. This year’s format: Week One: A week of workshops, and a two-track weekend of eco-soma-regional research, & social experiments into CI. Week Two: Interdisciplinary investigations. The Festival will culminate in a public community day presenting findings and sharing in practice with the public. SEEDS Festival embodies the connections between green, movement, exploration, justice, interconnectivity, reflection, art, science, sacred, all. By planting seeds, we expect new growth in our ecology.

This year, the Festival will focus on potentiality - in this year of potential political change & community organizing, we invite this phenomenon into our interdisciplinary investigations.

You are welcome to attend the full two weeks of SEEDS, to experience the integrative nature of this project. You can attend the whole event or a portion – either way, you will be a part of this creative thread. See our website for the many ways to participate.

Earthdance is an artist-run residential retreat center and an international arts organization. Through a broad spectrum of activities and programs, Earthdance cultivates the art of improvisation, dance, collaboration, and ecological understanding. Located in Pioneer Valley, Western Massachusetts, Earthdance features two beautiful dance studios, farmhouse, comfortable dorm accommodations, delicious cuisine, wood-stove sauna, spring-fed swimming quarry, and 100 acres of outdoor bounty.

FESTIVAL CALL
SPREADING SEEDS: DEADLINE December 20th

SEEDS Festival is a locus for an interaction of ideas and will benefit from projects beyond the scope of our curatorial imagination. For this reason, we invite you to propose and participate in the following projects:

Single Workshops
We welcome a limited number of single three-hour workshops within the container of SEEDS. These will take place during the weekend of June 19-21.

Track 1: Green/Body/Local
Accepting proposals for workshops with a focus on the environment, ecology, sustainability, or social justice that include a movement/somatics/body practice component. Collaborations between ecologists/environmentalists/social ecologists and movement/somatics specialists encouraged—create something new especially for the festival workshop. Applications including an element from the broader local area—Western Massachusetts/Southern Vermont/New York State—a plus, but all considered.

Track 2: Contact Improvisation, the Social Experiment Continues
CI, described as "confronting comfort culture" and "a political shock absorber," has more recently been called out for its lack of racial diversity. Where is the social experiment at today? Accepting proposals for 3-hour workshops that illuminate the power of the body in movement to question our social conventions/compositions/hierarchies through the practice of CI.

Interdisciplinary investigations June 22-28th
We invite expressions of interest from individuals who would like to participate in a weeklong residency during the SEEDS Festival. This call is open to artists, activists, and scientists in residence who will investigate new research in collaboration with other participants within a facilitated process. Participants are encouraged to attend the whole festival and share their projects/presentations/performances generated throughout the week and on the public day of the festival, June 27th. Collaborative teams are welcome to apply.

Presentation or Panel Discussion
Propose an entire panel or an individual presentation. The panels will be curated based on themes that emerge and ideas submitted. These presentations would take place in the evenings, or during the public weekend events of the festival.
Some examples of topics from 2008:
• Building Sustainable Spaces for Performance
• Advancing Anti-Racism in the 21st Century
• Art + Science panel
• Ecomoves: Youth Activism, Ecology + Somatics

Performances
Propose a performance on a SEEDS related theme. Performances will be interspersed throughout the festival with both daytime and evening slots available and could take place outdoors or in the studio theater space.

Video and Film
The Festival will host two evenings of video showings, ranging from dance videos that relate to the environment to scientific/ecological/historical materials that will enrich the Festival dialogue at SEEDS. Please send us submissions of any length.

Resource Library.
Earthdance will host a resource space throughout the SEEDS Festival. The space will grow through the findings of the festival. Please send us materials and references that you think will enrich the space.

Web Links, Community-Based Group Associations. We will be gathering links and connections with local and global organizations up through the festival. These will be posted on our website and also available in our reference library. Please send us any information about groups we can connect with to enrich the festival conversation.

Archival Support. We are looking for people to creatively support the festival through archiving. Particularly, we are looking for people to help with their skills as videographers, video editors, writers, web-based technicians, and scribes. If you have experience in these areas, please contact us through the application below

Financial Support. We are seeking financial support for the various projects and the festival as a whole. We welcome donations and are grateful to receive resources. You can sponsor someone from your community or someone beyond your scope to participate in the festival. If you are interested in offering support, please contact at Earthdance: [phone] ext.6, or [e-mail].