Week 3 of Collaboration

This afternoon's meeting with the staff has been canceled. The office is in the middle of an audit right now, which will hopefully be done by today. I'm sensing a bit of disconnect on this whole project from the both of us. We have yet to agree on any ideas, except the cart piece, which we have differences on how to use it.

It's hard to believe 3 weeks have gone by, and I'm starting to get worried about the time line. I'm going to write an email this afternoon to try to clarify, what I think might be the misunderstandings about this project. I think the bottom line is the clinic is too limited on time and resources to really deal with anything else, and I'm just new at this whole process.

The clinic is also holding a fundraiser tonight at a local restaurant. I'll be going to attend and show my support for the clinic, but strictly as a neighborhood and stake holder. I have to say that I do feel that the clinic may have wanted me to volunteer for this event, but I have to remember what my role in this project is an artist with my own specific projects.

Performance Sketch

On Thursday I performed a sketch of the "Health Care a'la Cart" performance during the Otis Health Care fair. I was outside for an hour, most of which was positioned in a fixed location next to other 'vendors'. I created a price list of items I was selling and talked to people about the project and the organization I was working with.

Here is the list I used:

Health Care A La Cart – Pricelist
All proceeds go to a local free health clinic. My political views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the health clinic I am partnering with.

Bandages------------------------------------------$1
Alcohol Wipes------------------------------------$1
Sprain Wrap--------------------------------------$3
Sm. First Aide Kit--------------------------------$3
Apples----------------------------------------------$1
Package of Emergen-C--------------------------$1
Wheat Grass Seeds------------------------------1bag/$1
Scalpel---------------------------------------------Out of Stock
Average Family Policy offered by employer--------$13,375/yr.
US Health Care (ranked 37th by WHO) --------------15.5% of GDP
France’s Health Care (ranked 1tst by WHO)-------------11% of GDP
Japan’s Health Care(ranked 10h by WHO) -----------8% of GDP
Germany’s Health Care(ranked 25h by WHO) -----10.5% of GDP
CEO of UnitedHealth salary----------------------$9,474,880
Local Representative’s Contact Info.------------Free

Production Studio - Class #8

Today in class class we decided that the fundaraising was not financially beneficial for the amount of time we were putting in. The fundraising event we held on Saturday at 18th Street Gallery was a success in terms of networking, but we didn't make much money. This lead to the outcome we voting on today: fundraising within our projects in more specific ways, and including this in the gallery exhibit.

During Bob's lecture in class, he discussed how unique his LACMAlab project was, specifically because it was at a non-contemporary museum. He also curated the show to include all ages, which came out of the idea that kids learn best when engaged with their parents. He discussed several shows he curated like this, showing examples.

One main point out of his lecture, was the following question:
Can our projects motivate people, which is different from just informing?

Week 2 of Collaboration - Politics

Today I had my first run in with maintaining autonomy as artist. While I am aware of what that means to me, I found myself in a conversation with the director of my CBO saying "...and as a volunteer .... I'll have check with my lawyer about our political position on that." And that's when I knew I must have miss communicated something about this partnership. I now need to figure out how to better explain the partnership I am creating between organization and artist.

I'm feeling a little pressured to begin the projects and get things rolling (only 9 weeks left); however, I think it will take at least another week or two of conversations to get to a common goal secured. I am hoping to arrange a meeting with the whole staff, as they will be my community, and as to have feed back from more people. I look forward to hearing the needs of the doctors and staff, and sharing my ideas with them.

First Funding Efforts

On a Friday night we gathered together as a class to make sugar skulls at the 18th Street Studio. These skulls will be sold at a gallery event at 18th Street studio.