The ART&DESIGN for Social Justice Symposium focuses on how the tools and inherent abilities within the areas of art and design can be utilized in addressing issues confronting less advantaged groups within our local communities, states, regions or world. The event is designed to generate synergy, spawn collaborative projects among participants, create new scholarly initiatives, and allow examination of the role that art and design plays in the telling of a broader social narrative. The 2010 Symposium will be held in association with the 15th anniversary of the Kids' Guernica International peace mural project, and will involve workshops, exhibits and events preceeding the actual Symposium. The Call for Papers for the 2010 Symposium can be found at the upper right corner of this website.
The 2009 Symposium was held Monday, January 19, 2009 on the campus of Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. The Call for Papers sought scholarship in all areas of the arts addressing social justice. Symposium attendance came from educators or practitioners from within the fine and performing arts, art education, interior design, architecture and social services. We particularly encouraged participation by graduate and undergraduate students. It is our hope that the Symposium date coinciding with the national Martin Luther King Holiday facilitates attendance by these constituents. Twelve juried papers were selected with participants from over six different states, that highlight aspects of the arts and social justice.
"What a wonderful symposium! Thank you so much for making me, our film, and EMU part of it. I am rather blindly searching for ways to link the art community and the great things it brings to the programs offered in conflict resolution. Attending your symposium and meeting all of the wonderful people who were a part of that program is a step in the right direction. ", Brenda Waugh, conference participant, Center for Justice and Peace, Eastern Mennonite University.
"The entire day opened my eyes to different aspects of design. I realized before that what we do isn't just about mastering aesthetics, but now see it can also enrich many people’s lives, even those with the most basic of needs. Overall the symposium was a positive experience that got me excited about art, design, and helping others with the skills I’ll learn throughout the next few years at Florida State!" Kristin Stivali, FSU graduate student in interior design.
The keynote speaker was EVE BLOSSOM. Ms. Blossom's seventeen years’ experience in early-stage technology firms, international business, nonprofit and social ventures has uniquely qualified her to found Lulan Artisans. After earning her master’s degree in Architecture from Tulane University in 1988, she practiced at Gensler in Los Angeles. While traveling throughout Southeast Asia, she became passionate about the native hand-woven textiles utilizing natural dyes. She recognized that the superb talents of the master weavers were not remunerated due to the lack of distribution for their works. The environmentally sustainable dyeing techniques and the creation of sufficient living wages for the workers became ideals that stayed with her, and eventually motivated her to power her company.
Lulan perfectly merges all of Blossom’s skills: sophisticated design, product development, production, management, and strategic planning, accompanied by her commitment to environmental sustainability and fair trade practices. Drawn to weaving, she sees it as an architectural art form, the warp and weft creating a structure that has functional and aesthetic applications. Lulan is intended to give a louder voice and a wider audience to the talented artists who deserve it.
The Symposium endnote speaker was JOAN D. FROSCH. She is a Professor of Dance and Assistant Director of the School of Theatre and Dance, affiliate faculty of the Centers for African Studies and Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, and consultant for such agencies as the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Professor Frosch is director and producer of a feature documentary on contemporary African choreographers entitled "Movement (R)evolution Africa: a story of an art form in four acts" (2007). "Movement (R)evolution Africa" features such artists and companies as Sello Pesa (South Africa), Jant-Bi (Senegal), Raiz de Polon (Cape Verde), Rary (Madagascar), Béatrice Kombé (Cote d'Ivoire), and Kongo Ba Téria (Burkina Faso), among many others. She is currently producing "Nora Chipaumire: A Physical Biography," commissioned by EMPAC (RPI) and the Capture Foundation (UK) to be filmed in Mozambique.
The full proceedings from the 2009, 2007 and 2006 symposia can be found at the upper right of this website.
The 2009 ART&DESIGN for Social Justice Symposium was sponsored by the Department of Interior Design and the Department of Art Educationand underwritten by the College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance of Florida State University. This symposium is an annual event.
If you have questions about the symposium please contact:
Eric Wiedegreen, Symposium Co-Chair
(FSU Chair of Interior Design)
ewiedegr@fsu.edu
850.644.1436
Dave Gussak, Symposium Co-Chair
(FSU Chair of Art Education)
dgussak@fsu.edu
850.645.5663
Peter Munton, Symposium Coordinator
pmunton@fsu.edu
850.644.1436
Lisa Waxman, Paper and Proceedings Editor
lwaxman@fsu.edu
850.644.8326
Tom Anderson, Kids' Guernica Project Florida Coordinator
tanderson@fsu.edu
850.644.2331
social justice (s
sh
l) adj. (j
s
t
s) n.
"Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others."
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice