Groundwater Arts Launches New Mission & Programming

Groundwater Arts has revealed its new mission and programming. Following the departure of co-founders Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) and Anna Lathrop in 2022, Groundwater Arts has entered a radical era focused on exciting partnerships, on-the-ground community building, and field-wide transformation.

The five year old organization's new mission reads:

Groundwater Arts braids together new ideas, living knowledge, and immediate strategies to bring the arts and culture field to the decolonized and climate-just future faster. Like mangrove tree roots, we are adaptable, committed to protecting frontline communities, and ready to face the biggest challenges of our time.

In line with its latest mission, beginning this summer, Groundwater Arts will offer: fresh workshops, their first arts publication focused on decolonization, and a translocal creative meetup series in Baltimore, MD and Providence, RI. The organization has also begun offering specialized partnerships with arts organizations seeking to decompose and transform their relationships with artists, communities, and the lands they inhabit.

"Societal and field-wide narratives speak of crisis and collapse within the arts sector," says Annalisa Dias, "But Groundwater Arts offers an alternative vision of abundance and interconnectedness. We believe it's up to artists and storytellers to re-story the future."

To date, Groundwater Arts' work has reached over 20,000 individuals through a combination of community organizing (Green New Theater principles document), consulting (workshops, conferences, and more), and creative practice (Celebrating Native Joy project in South Dakota). With lead funding from the Mellon Foundation, Groundwater Arts will offer opportunities for learning, artistic development, and institutional transformation.

"In this era, we're focused on making radical change with access points to this work for every person at any stage of their career and journey of understanding," says Tara Moses, "We invite you to be part of it!"

GROUNDWATER ARTS PROGRAMMING

Fresh Workshops

July 2024

Back by popular demand, Groundwater Arts will offer another series of its highly successful virtual workshops "Decolonizing Theater Basics," "Decolonizing Theater in Practice," and "Consensus Decision Making." These workshops have engaged over 1,000 artists and arts leaders in the last 5 years. One previous participant shared, "This workshop was fantastic! Led with warmth and openness it was accessible and eye-opening and left me encouraged to continue the work of learning how to decolonize both the industry as a whole and my own personal work and life."

Learn more and register here for July workshops:

Decolonizing Theater Basics: https://events.humanitix.com/decolonizing-theater-basics

Decolonizing Theater in Practice: https://events.humanitix.com/decolonizing-theater-in-practice

Consensus Decision Making: https://events.humanitix.com/consensus-decision-making-with-groundwater-arts

August 2024

"Decolonizing Theater Futures" is a brand new virtual workshop that builds on knowledge from Groundwater Arts' highly successful "Decolonizing Theater Basics" and "Decolonizing Theater in Practice" workshops. Participants will generate both individual and collective visions of a more just future and leave with a concrete set of actions they can take to build a more just world now.

Learn more and register here for August workshops:

https://events.humanitix.com/decolonizing-theater-futures

Start with the Ground: a journal on decolonization

Start with the Ground will be the first publication by Groundwater Arts featuring an array of articles, creative offerings, transcribed roundtable discussions, worksheets, and prompts all centered in decolonization. The journal will be released later this year and will be available in print and digital download.

FLOW: a Groundwater Arts creative meetup series

Beginning in late summer 2024, Groundwater Arts will host two pilot creative meetup gatherings in Baltimore, MD and Providence, RI. Artists will connect over shared values of climate justice, racial justice, and decolonization while cross-pollinating between the two regions. FLOW: Baltimore will focus on the generation of new works through community support and accountability, and FLOW: Providence will focus on conversation and shared learning. The program is free for artists and food will be provided. Registration forms will drop in late summer 2024.

Thought Partnership

Starting in summer 2024, Groundwater Arts will offer accompaniment, thought partnership, and boots-on-the-ground additive staffing to performing arts organizations, university departments, and other community organizations in moments of transformation. Groundwater Arts has recently developed partnerships and relationships with multiple organizations throughout the east coast, including a coalition of funders and arts organizations building a safety net for artists in times of disaster and a theater building out its climate resilience plan. Groundwater Arts is currently accepting inquiries for additional organizations who want support in taking the next step towards a more just future.

Interested artists, theaters, and community members should follow Groundwater Arts on social media and learn more on their website at www.groundwaterarts.com.

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