UPDATE
Hello all!
After almost a month, we have received dozens of submissions--but Taryn and I could use your help to reach more eyes.
For our proposed anthology--about singular art experiences/performances/encounters that have changed how people both see and exist in the world--we are reaching far and wide and deep. We'd love contributions from writers, dancers, artists, but also friends (scientists, lawyers, doctors, yogis, students) who know the worth of art... whose lives have been altered by it.
Please help us.
The full call is below.
You might never have written an essay like this before (we haven't seen many around). That’s okay with us. We are looking for a wide range of voices from citizens of all walks of life. The only qualification needed is an experience with art that changed you. If you lack the time to write but know others who might be inspired by this call: please forward this site to friends AND/OR link to our facebook/instagram page in your social media. You can help us expand the scope of this project greatly. We want a wide range of (perhaps) unexpected voices writing about art beyond the writer's personal expertise or training.
We are convinced that this is sorely needed: a passionate accounting of art's impact across borders of all kinds (especially the border between self and other). We are reaching across one such border right now... please reach back in any way that seems right.
I’ve been an editor of an online review journal (thINKing DANCE) for the past five years, and in that capacity (and in my day job as a writing professor) have learned to shepherd strong ideas into stronger writing. Taryn and I are committed to spending the time needed with our contributors (of all backgrounds) to find all the stories entrusted to us (by dancers, scientists, politicians, lawyers, sculptors, etc.) their best means of expression. We are also eager for stories from the margins... how art affects lives that other cultural forces can alienate.
Please send us your story by May 31st, and please (if you could) share our call throughout your networks. We want to create the kind of democratically-sourced and moving testimony that we can put in the hands of policy-makers and administrators at all of our institutions to say to them “Art doesn’t just matter: it *is* matter. It changes lives.”
And then convince them.
With gratitude,
Kirsten Kaschock and Taryn Kaschock Russell