Mark your calendars!

Here's what's on my plate right now---I have started working with Shawna on a marketing plan for So Percussion's performance at DiverseWorks next year. I am very excited to be entrusted with such a project, which I know will double as a great opportunity to learn more about the world of PR.

I had never heard of So Percussion until a few weeks ago, but after reading up on them via their website, I must say I am quite intrigued. Below I posted a video from a past performance to give everyone an idea of what the So Percussion experience is all about.

-Kerry the intern

Day 3 - Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest

Due to inclement weather, Culture Collision has been canceled. And while the rain may have washed out the gathering at Bayou Bend, it hasn’t stopped our Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest... just changed it a little. Instead of coming by the DiverseWorks booth at Culture Collision to record your piece, please submit your piece to the Web (YouTube, blogger, whatever) and send a link to tracey@diverseworks.org. Be sure to put “Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest” in the subject of the e-mail. We have also extended the contest to Saturday, Oct. 24.

So take those great video ideas you were gonna bring on Tuesday, record ‘em and post ‘em on the Interweb and send a link to tracey@diverseworks.org for your chance to win a DiverseWorks goodie bag and a gift certificate for Correlli's !

--Tracey

Day 2- Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest

We really want you to come to Culture Collision on Tuesday, October 16th at Bayou Bend Collection & Gardens! The DiverseWorks staff has created 3 more videos to inspire you to come to our table and compete in Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest. The winner of the contest will be announced on October 22nd and will receive a gift certificate to Correlli's and a DiverseWorks goodie bag.











Shawna

p.s. Please make sure to come to Je me laver, Je regarde moi-même tomorrow at DiverseWorks! Rachel Cook has invited an amazing group of local and regional artists to discuss the use of self in video/performance work. Jenny Schlief, Erick Michaud and Robert Boland will be here! It starts at 11am. Audience participation is welcomed!

Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest

Inspired by our current exhibition, "Now that I'm by myself," she says, "I'm not by myself, which is good," DiverseWorks is hosting a contest for Culture Collision on Tuesday, October 13th from 6-8pm at the Bayou Bend Garden and Collections.

We are inviting people at Culture Collision to come and shoot a short video with our FLIP video cameras!

The Rules for the contest
*You have to be in the video by yourself
*Your video can be no longer than a minute

The winner of "Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest" will be selected by the DiverseWorks staff. The winner will be announced on October 22, 2009. Winning entry will be announced through the DiverseWorks website, email and blog.

Winner of "Now That I'm by Myself... I'm in a Video by Myself Contest" will receive a gift certificate to Correlli's and a DiverseWorks goodie bag.

Some of the DiverseWorks staff have created videos to inspire YOU to come to Culture Collision. Check them out....





Shawna

A Disaster Begins

Volunteers helping us with the installation of "Now That I'm By Myself..."

A Disaster Begins
We had our premiere performance of the 09-10 season this weekend! The piece, A Disaster Begins, dealt w/ a turn of the century writer's reaction to the hurricane that destroyed Galveston TX in 1900. The one-act/one woman play is rich in subtext, which addresses the upheaval in her personal life among other topics. Veanne Cox's acting was fantastic as she took the audience through this comical tragedy.

I am so glad we haven't had any hurricanes this season!!

We have lots coming up in the next few weeks and I'm recovering from my own disaster (stupid broken arm!!), so I'm going to need your help! This week I need painters to prep. The theatre for our next performance is Heaven, which runs Oct. 16 and 17th. And, Starting on Oct. 27th we begin the strike of "Now that I'm By Myself…"in the main gallery to make way for our next show, Third Ward is My Harlem, by Tierney Malone. So if you are available anytime in late Oct. to early Nov. let me know!

Contact Jon at: jread@diverseworks.org
Or call 713-223-8346

Just call me, grasshopper

Hello! My name is Kerry, and I am interning at DiverseWorks through the fall/winter. I am a student at the University of Houston- Downtown, earning my degree in Communications (and graduating this fall, FINALLY!). A few semesters ago, I took a Public Relations writing class and thought, "Hey, this could be for me!". My internship at DiverseWorks will definitely help me figure that out since I am working closely with the awesome Shawna Forney, the Public Relations & Marketing Manager for this wonderful organization.

Before I even started my internship Shawna drafted an itinerary, and I am very excited about all the things she has planned for me. I feel through my internship at DiverseWorks, I will attain a remarkable understanding of PR and how vital it is to an organization's success. In return, I hope that I prove to be a useful asset to DiverseWorks, and if I want to do that, I guess I better start by making Shawna happy and up my tweets on Twitter!!

So far, I have learned how essential it is for a non-profit such as DiverseWorks to get as much press coverage as possible, for it is key in sustaining their role within the art community, as well as their importance to the art community. I have also received a much needed tutorial in Photoshop and just recently, I overcame my fear of the paper cutter! Progress!

I am looking forward to the next few months and feel so lucky that I found an internship that will give me real hands-on experience, as well allow me to work with some really great people!

-Kerry Evans

(aka @brambleon)

Today's Weather: 73 degrees, Sunny. Outlook: Grim.

The Yes Men aren't known for subtlety. Case in point: this past Monday's spectacle involving the release of a "special edition" of the New York Post, distributed throughout Manhattan and online, focusing on the effects of climate change. Intended as a call to action, the elaborate (and very convincing) publication was accompanied by a group action in which co-conspirators donned absurd, climate controlled, inflatable suits, aptly named SurvivaBalls, for a "product demo" in the East River. This stunt, scheduled one day before the start of a United Nations joint session expected to focus heavily on climate change, landed yes man Andy Bichlbaum in jail.

It's an interesting time to be an artist in the United States. Coincidentally, this latest bit of performance art by The Yes Men just so happened to occur when the right vs. left cultural divide seems to be growing again. Could it be that the culture wars are heating up? I thought we were past all that but if you've been trolling the newsfeeds this week you might have noticed that everyone from relatively obscure bloggers to Sean Hannity to Glenn Beck seems to be sniffing around for some evidence of a national propaganda campaign orchestrated by the NEA in support of a radical left agenda. Insert eyeroll here.

Still, it's worth noting that The Yes Men seem to be in full recruitment mode. This Saturday in Liverpool they'll be taking their progressive training, brainwashing and indoctrination program (wink wink) across the pond as part of the Abandon Normal Devices festival. The workshop, "How to be a Yes Man," promises to expose the tricks of the political artist/activist trade as practiced by some of the boldest, brashest, wittiest, funniest, and most effective hellraisers the art world has ever seen. SIGN ME UP! Let's hope Andy is out of jail by then. Let's also hope I don't end up on some crazy watch list for attending something so, well, subversive.

DiverseWorks audiences may remember The Yes Men as part of Thought Crimes: The Art of Subversion, presented in the main gallery in 2005. They'll be returning to DiverseWorks in April for the retrospective exhibition Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism With The Yes Men. That is...if they can stay out of trouble that long.

Diane Barber
Co-Executive Director/Visual Arts Curator