Profiles - Artists, Organizations, and Projects

The Gabriella Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was established in 1999 in memory of Gabriella Axelrad, a thirteen-year-old who loved to dance. The organization’s mission is to transform the lives of underserved youth in Los Angeles through high-quality dance instruction.

Exit 12 Dance Company focuses on nonverbal communication to bridge communities and healing through creative expression and has choreographed several productions about the issues faced by service members and their families. Roman Baca, a professional ballet dancer, put his dance career aside and enlisted in the Marines in 2000. He was deployed to Fallujah in 2005 and by the time his tour was over, he thought he would not dance again. In a February 2013 Village Voice feature story, Baca described the anxiety, anger, and depression he experienced upon his return home.

Face Up: Telling Stories of Community Life, a collaborative public art project in Durham, North Carolina, engaged more than 1,500 people in a series of events hosted between 2007 and 2009 that fostered new connections and dialogue, expanded awareness of local history, and resulted in the creation of fourteen permanent public murals.

In its four-and-a-half year Faith-Based Theater Cycle, Cornerstone Theater Company created original community-based plays in collaboration with faith-based institutions and inter-faith communities. The project explored how faith both unites and divides American society through experimentation with a variety of dialogue approaches that gave congregation members and others who attended the plays a chance to reflect on the issues and questions that rose from them.

Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) is based in the United Kingdom, but exists to ensure that all musicians gain more control of their music and a fairer share of the profits generated in the digital age. FAC's goals are for Fairness, artists receiving a fair deal, Transparency, artists knowing what happens with their work, and Equality, artists treated as equal partners in the business deals that involve them. FAC accomplishes these goals by guiding artists, negotiating with companies and organizing events. This profile courtesy of Air Traffic Control.

Feral Arts is a cultural development company working in digital media. We work with communities and other partners to make better use of their cultural assets--stories, histories, networks--enhancing their creativity and sustainability. Feral Arts has developed a unique approach, combining long-term partnerships with a focus on research and innovation in new technologies. In our program, Story Telling in the Public Interest, stories are valuable, often untapped community assets, and the building blocks of culture, identity and knowledge.

Everyone has a story. Every city has a history. In the spirit of community building, the Herberger College of Fine Arts Community Partnerships Office will launch its Finding Phoenix project this summer. Community members are invited to come to the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix on June 26 to share stories about the former George Washington Carver High School and its place in the history of the Phoenix community.

Fire This Time Fund (FTT) is a five year old, all volunteer organized, independent giving circle. The group supports small-scale, creative social change projects initiated by local artists, educators and organizers who weave an analysis of racial, economic, social, environmental, or gender justice into their work.

The documentary Food, Inc. lifts the veil on America’s highly mechanized, corporate-controlled food industry, revealing a system that is an increasing threat to the health of consumers, the safety of workers, and the future of the environment. Active Voice, together with Participant Media, ran the Ingredients for Change Campaign, a year-long initiative consisting of a series of community engagement screenings and discussions.