Wednesday Lemonade June 17, 2020 Welcome back to Wednesday Lemonade, a community newsletter focused on keeping VCCA Fellows, staff, and supporters connected. All of us have been shaken by the events of the last several weeks, and many of us have been prompted to look closely at ourselves and our organizations. Below we share a message from President of the VCCA Board of Directors Quinn Feldmann Graeff and Executive Director Kevin O'Halloran. Also in today's newsletter, you'll find updates on our most recent and upcoming events in the VCCA Fireplace Series. We reopen our call for messages from Fellows. And we share anti-racism resources and a free online training for Psychological First Aid. Thanks for reading.

statement

From VCCA's Board President and Executive Director

"At the end of May, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the events that followed turned our collective focus toward an unforgivable history of systemic violence, oppression, injustice, and inequality. Since that time, many arts organizations have put forth statements of solidarity. VCCA has been slow to put out its own public statement. We admit it’s a struggle to find words and actions that feel adequate and worth broadcasting. But we do want you to know where we stand and where we are heading."

Read the full statement on our website.

fireplace series

Last Week Thanks to writer and Fellows Council member David Ebenbach for hosting Felicia van Bork and Carlos Sirah in last Thursday's Fireplace Series event. You can re-watch the event on Facebook or on YouTube . Felicia showed us images of her artwork currently "locked up" in two big exhibitions. Carlos read from his new book The High Alive: An Epic Hoodoo Diptych available from The 3rd Thing.

Next Week The next guest artists in our Fireplace Series will be musician/composer Caroline Keys and poet/writer Lauren Russell . Lauren is a two-time VCCA Fellow whose latest book Descent was published June 2, 2020, by Tarpaulin Sky Press. Lauren says the final fact check for the book was done at VCCA in summer 2019. Caroline is a four-time Fellow. One of her residencies was funded through VCCA's Montana Fellowship. Caroline's Missoula, Montana-based band, Junior, recently released a music video and single for their album " Warm Buildings ," available for pre-order. Our host will be novelist and Fellows Council member Christina Chiu , who you might recognize as the author of Beauty from our very first event in this series.

As we continue to build out our schedule of events, we're seeking more visual artists and composers to welcome into the mix. Preference will be given to those with upcoming release dates (especially after Aug. 1) affected by the pandemic. Please email Steven Petrow if you're interested.

fellow messages

After a brief pause, we're eager to resume sharing messages from Fellows as a regular feature of this newsletter. We have a backlog of messages from artists sharing reports from quarantine, but we also welcome a new wave of responses. Please fill out this form to submit a message . This is a way to tell the VCCA Fellows community about how you're navigating these times as an artist and human. Thanks to those of you who have contributed to our Second Line: Finding a Way Through Grief  topic page in Virtual VCCA , created as a focused forum for grappling with the overabundance of grief in our wounded country. We encourage you to continue to use this space as a place to engage with fellow artists toward action and change.

from virtual vcca

Fellow Events Thanks to Dolores Johnson for posting about her book talk coming up tonight on the   Events page in Virtual VCCA. "Say I'm Dead" Book Talk Wed., June 17, 7 p.m. ET "Tonight! Join my virtual presentation of this memoir of race, secrets and love. Let's talk about race in America." Join here.

Virtual VCCA members can add their own upcoming events using the + button in the upper righthand corner.

resources

Anti-Racism Resources This list of resources comes to you from the Alliance of Artist Communities, of which VCCA is a founding member: https://www.artistcommunities.org/covid-19#Anti-racism

Psychological First Aid: Supporting Yourself and Others During COVID-19

This is a free online training from the American Red Cross. From the sign-up page : " The uncertainty associated with a global health crisis like COVID-19 challenges everyone's ability to cope. This course will help you to build resilience and support yourself and others through this crisis by reviewing basic principles of providing psychological first aid, including how to recognize and manage stress in yourself and in others and how to lend support to family members, friends and coworkers during and following the COVID-19 outbreak."

standing invitations

Wachtmeister Award We are now accepting applications for the Wachtmeister Award. The 2021 award will go to an established visual artist working in any discipline or in a cross-disciplinary way who has never been in residence at VCCA. Please share this opportunity widely with prominent visual artists who you think would benefit from uninterrupted time and space at VCCA.

VCCA Fellows Bookshop Support new work by VCCA Fellows whose book launches, readings, signings, tours, and other events have been canceled or postponed due to the pandemic. Submit this form to request your book be added . We're using Bookshop as the platform for this listing, but we encourage you to do your actual shopping from publishers and local bookstores, especially Black Owned Bookstores in the United States (list from the African American Literature Book Club).

Playlist Project Two composers on the VCCA Fellows Council — Judith Shatin and Shawn Qaissaunee — have initiated a project to create playlists featuring the music of composers who are part of the VCCA community. Composer-Fellows are invited to  submit an agreement form with a suggestion of one piece  that's available on streaming media (e.g., Spotify, YouTube, etc.).

🧡 Stay safe, and be well.

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