Support The Sanctuary for Independent Media! Please make a secure online financial contribution! If you prefer to send a check or money order, make it payable to "The Sanctuary for Independent Media" and mail it to us at:
PO Box 35
Troy NY 12181
Thanks!
The bulk of our support comes from volunteer labor plus hundreds of small (and some large) individual donations. Thank you! We also receive contributions from these organizations:
The New York State Music Fund
The Stewart's Foundation
The Sanctuary for Independent Media, closed by the City of Troy on March 11 in an action currently under investigation by the New York Civil Liberties Union, re-opened on Saturday, April 26, 2008 with a celebration featuring the
inauguration of a major traveling art exhibit, "An Atlas of Radical Cartography," at 6 PM, followed at 8 PM by the Capital Region premiere of noted New York City-based jazz vocalist Fay Victor and her ensemble.
The Sanctuary for Independent Media was shut down by City of Troy code enforcement officers the day after Robert Mirch, head of the Department of Public Works, led a March 10 public protest against an anti-war art exhibit featuring visiting Iraqi-American digital artist Wafaa Bilal. Mirch supervises code enforcement in the City of Troy, serves as the Republican majority leader in the Rensselaer County Legislature, and works as a constituent representative for Republican majority leader NY State Senator Joseph Bruno. The New York Civil Liberties Union is investigating the circumstances surrounding the City's action, which resulted in the suppression of the artist's constitutional rights to express himself, the right of The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present his work, and the rights of citizens of Troy and elsewhere to experience it. A 22-minute documentary on the controversy, produced by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Center, is available online.
"The record clearly shows that we have and have had an excellent relationship with the professional staff in the Bureau of Code Enforcement and that we have been in constant communication with them during the renovation of our 108 year-old building," said Sanctuary spokeperson Steve Pierce. "City officials used code enforcement as a weapon to silence the artist and shut us down, simply because they disagreed with what was being said. They are forcing dedicated employees to choose between doing their jobs and keeping their jobs."
"We're pleased to be re-opening. It will have been two months of almost constant stress. While we've been working on our own building, we've had to program our scheduled projects at Sanctuaries-in-exile around the area including Christ Church, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, and AME Zion Church. It took a lot of courage for these organizations to step forward to help us under these circumstances, and we won't forget it.
"It's been weeks of non-stop fundraising, construction and crisis management. We really appreciate the volunteer and financial support we've received from folks throughout the Capital Region and around the country. People were horrified by the actions of Troy's city officials--it's transparently obvious to anyone who looks closely at the situation that we were the targets of a politically-motivated effort to shut us down."
The art show "An Atlas of Radical Cartography" features a collection of maps and essays about social issues from globalization to garbage; surveillance to extraordinary rendition; statelessness to visibility; deportation to migration. The show is a traveling exhibition of artists working with radical cartography--a practice that uses maps and mapping to promote social change. Curated by Lize Mogel and Alexis Bhagat, the exhibition is being mounted coast-to-coast featuring ten artists from around the world.
The local premiere of the Fay Victor Ensemble is part of an ongoing series showcasing cutting-edge talents in contemporary jazz. New York-based vocalist/composer Fay Victor recently followed up her well-received 2004 live CD, "Lazy Old Sun" (Greene Avenue Music), with "Cartwheels Through The Cosmos"--her fifth recording as a leader and first for the ArtistShare label. She will be appearing with her working quartet, the Fay Victor Ensemble, featuring guitarist Anders Nilsson, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Michael “TA” Thompson.
According to Jazz critic/author Bill Milkowski, “As boldly inventive as she is bewitching, vocalist Fay Victor is a compelling presence on any bandstand. A fearless improviser, accomplished songwriter and provocative lyricist... Fay’s verse is free flowing, extremely vivid and thought provoking in the tradition of poets like Jayne Cortez, Sonia Sanchez... Her lyrics on pieces like "Stray Dogs," "Exchange Rate," "Pillow On My Ear" and "Earth" are particularly potent and stand on their own as evocative poetry apart from the music that the words are so skillfully wedded to. This time out, Fay and company take it up a notch or two.”
Volunteer labor and hundreds of individual contributions make The Sanctuary for Independent Media possible. The appearance of the Fay Victor Ensemble was supported in part by the NY State Council on the Arts and the NY State Music Fund.
The Sanctuary for Independent Media is a telecommunications production facility dedicated to community media arts, located in an historic former church in north Troy, NY. The Sanctuary hosts screening, production and performance facilities, training in media production and a meeting space for artists, activists and independent media makers of all kinds.
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"An Atlas of Radical Cartography" website:
http://www.an-atlas.com/
Fay Victor Ensemble website:
http://www.fayvictor.com/
