Let's Talk About It!

705 Front Street,Santa Cruz CA 95060

23 July, 2022

Description

DATE & TIME: Saturday, July 23, 2 - 6 pmLOCATION:Santa Cruz Museum of Art & HistoryFEATURING:1:1 Conversations with people with different identitiesSocial Fabric Interactive ArtListening StationsCurious Scroll with Andrew PurchinUn/Seen Identities ProjectInterested in volunteering to help us put this event on? Please contact Alaya Vautier at [email protected] clic aquí para obtener información en españolThe United States is becoming more and more polarized, socially and politically. These divisions show up in our own community as well, with sharp divides on both sides of issues such as politics, housing, gun laws, attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community, etc. As in many other places, people tend to stay in their bubbles, only interacting with like-minded people. What if you left your bubble and met someone new?The overarching idea of this event is that it is difficult to see someone as "other" when you have had an opportunity to connect with them as a human being, therefore through simple conversations, deep divisions can begin to be healed. What would it be like to have conversations across differences that foster empathy and understanding? "Let's Talk About It" is modeled after similar initiatives in which participants (the public) can request to have a conversation for 30 minutes with someone who identifies in a particular way. Dialogue partners cover a wide range of identities and experiences. They could be people who deal with alcoholism, housing insecurity, and mental illness. They could be immigrants, refugees, transgender or non-binary, or formerly incarcerated. People of misunderstood and marginalized religious identities are also included, as well as police officers, activists, and people experiencing homelessness. HOW DOES IT WORK?Participants are welcome to ask any questions they want (as long as they’re respectful), and the dialogue partners openly and honestly answer those questions without judgment. These dialogue partners represent a stigmatized or misunderstood group in the community and based on their personal experiences can answer questions from participants to help challenge what is being said/told/understood about a given topic. The overarching idea is that it is difficult to see someone as "other" when you have had an opportunity to connect with them as a human being, therefore through these simple conversations, deep divisions can begin to be healed. We will be using the MAH atrium for the interactive art and the garden courtyard at the museum for the conversations. Participants would be oriented and matched with conversation partners at a station in the atrium. In addition, we will be having a Listening Circle and Listening Stations for participants to process their experience after the conversations or simply walk up and engage with a listener. Plus an INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY ART PROJECTWe are incorporating art into the event and envision a tapestry where participants can write some of their identities on pieces of cloth and then can weave them into a tapestry, the "social fabric," as it were. Local artist Andrew Purchin will be there with his "Curious Scroll" where people have conversations about differences while painting together on a large scroll. Plus an INTERACTIVE - un/seen identities ACTIVITYWe will also have a table of “un/seen identities” where participants or anyone would be invited to select some of their identities (both obvious ones and ones that are more hidden) from an array of stickers and put the stickers on their shirts so that the dialogue partners could also have an idea of the participants’ identities, which might prompt interesting mutual discussions. And, as we all have intersectional identities, the dialogue partners would be invited to use the stickers to indicate identities beyond the primary one they are representing for the event. Check out the video below to see the program that inspired this event: