Conference Sessions
Every year, Tamizdat provides educational sessions at international professional events and conferences. Covering topics including U.S. artist mobility, cultural exchange and diversity, and strategies for mobility advocacy, Tamizdat’s staff and affiliates have presented at SXSW (TX), CMJ (NY), Nyege Nyege (UG), WOMEX (ES, DK, GR, PL, UK, FI), Folk Alliance International (KS), Arts Midwest, (MN), APAP (NY), MU:KON (KR), RHI (PT), Arts Live International (SA), Ireland Music Week (IR), The Great Escape (UK), M4Music (CH), YouBloom (IR), Swn (UK), MaMA (FR), ArtsLink Assembly (NY), ISPA (NY), Reeperbahn (DE), MICC (CA), Circulart (CO), Alliance of Artist Communities (MN), Music Imbrizo (SA), HWCH (IR), IndieWeek (NY), Western Arts Alliance (LA), Mundial Montreal (CA), NXNE (CA), Grantmakers in the Arts (CO), The Edinburgh Fringe (UK), Palestine Music Expo (PN), Output Belfast (UK), NY Winter Jazz (NY), FimPro (MX), Breakout West (CA), AILA Annual Conference (SF), AILA Rome District Chapter Fall Conference (UK), Halifax Pop Explosion (CA), TIMM (JP), Amsterdam Dance Event (NL), Manitoba Music (CA), Eurosonic (NL), Going Global (NZ), and Bigsound (AU). Click here for upcoming events and next sessions.
Professional Outreach
Every year, Tamizdat provides educational, webinars, Q&As, and sessions for the members and constituents of arts organizations. Covering topics including U.S. artist mobility, cultural exchange and diversity, and strategies for mobility advocacy, Tamizdat’s staff and affiliates have presented for numerous organizations, including the The Baxter Theater (SA), Canadian Federation of Musicians (CA), Zone Franche (FR), Kultuutloket (BE), DanceInfo/CircusInfo Finland (FI), Columbia University (NY), The Bat Centre (SA), Music First Contact/IMRO (IE), DutchCulture (NL), MusicFinland (FI), ArtsComm (NY), New York Foundation for the Arts (NY), Music Norway, (NO) Creative NZ (NZ) The Equity Foundation (AU) Scottish Music Industry Association (UK) The Scottish Musicians Union (UK) International Bluegrass Music Association (US), APAP (US), and Folk Alliance International (US). Click here for upcoming events and next sessions.
Artist Mobility Forum
Tamizdat hosts a spirited email-based forum where international cultural mobility stakeholders share news, best practices, and their experiences related to international artist mobility. To join this email-based platform, please contact mars@tamizdat.org.
Theater and Resistance
In January 2017, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Theatre Without Borders, The H.E.AT. Collective and Tamizdat joined forces to present a timely community conversation exploring the challenges and power of progressive activist theater, the Theatre & Resistance symposium[LINK] . The symposium was a platform for sharing ideas and resources, at a cultural moment when many in the arts were seeking ways to bring activism into their work. The symposium sought to inform, empower, recharge, facilitate, and inspire. A selection of resistant theatre projects from around the world presented their work as examples; leading activist artists discussed their challenges and successes; practitioners presented on diversity, climate and sustainability, artist rights, artist mobility, and producing. Speakers and panelists include: Chen Alon, Iman Aoun, Chantal Bilodeau, Emilya Cachapero, Matthew Covey, David J. Diamond, Lilly Fellman, Catherine Filloux, Derek Goldman, Sanjoy and Sima Ganguly, Sue Hamilton, Frank Hentschker, Souliman Khatib, Julia Levine, Jessica Litwak, Jonathan Meth, Dijana Milosevic, Issa Nyaphaga, Deepa Purohit, Martha Redbone, Ari Roth, Katy Rubin, Nisha Sajnani, Saviana Stanescu, Julie Trebault, Nia Witherspoon, and Mia Yoo.
ContraBanned
This March 2017 symposium and showcase at SXSW was a rapid-response to President Trump’s Travel Ban. On Friday, January 27th, 2017, the White House issued an Executive Order banning entry to the U.S. for ninety days to the citizens of seven Muslim majority countries—Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen—and banning entry to Syrian refugees indefinitely. ContraBanned provided a forum for artists from the banned countries to speak about their experiences and perform their music, and leveraged SXSW’s media opportunities to rewrite the dominant media narratives about refugees, immigrants, and the citizens and diaspora of Muslim majority countries. Artists included Emmanuel Jal (Sudan/Canada), Dena El Saffar (Iraq/US), Bassel and the Supernaturals (Syria/US), Mamak Khadem (Iran/US), Mohsen Namjoo (Iran/US), Faarrow (Somalia/Canada), Kayem (Libya/US), DJ Meddi (Libya/US), and was EMCEE’d by Azhar Usman. Artist details and list of press at ContraBanned.org