"Building Community Through Art and Action" is the motto of Burners Without Borders, a community-led, grassroots group that spontaneously formed after Burning Man in 2005. BWB addresses "gaping needs where existing cultural and societal systems are failing." Following Burning Man, an annual freewheeling arts festival in the Nevada desert, several participantinf artists headed into the Hurricane Katrina disaster area to help rebuild devastated communities. Over eight months, BWB volunteers gifted over $1 million dollars worth of reconstruction and debris removal to Mississippi residents. The BWB Web site is a gathering place for BWB groups across the U.S. and worldwide who are working at homebuilding, environmental cleanup, recycling, solar energy and relief for victims of floods, fires and earthquakes from Iowa to Peru. BWB is supported by donations through Burning Man's nonprofit, the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

The Project for Public Spaces has announced three interesting fall training seminars in the skills of placemaking. "Streets as Places," September 15-16, 2008, will introduce participants to new ways of thinking about streets as public spaces and how placemaking can be used to build great streets and great communities. "How to Turn a Place Around," September 25-26, explores the principles of making places through the close examination of two contrasting neighborhoods, walking tours, presentations, case studies and a Place Game. "How to Create Successful Markets," October 17-18, is a course on public and farmers markets where participants learn about the four crucial elements to success: the right mix of vendors and products; a strong sense of place; solid economic and operational underpinnings; and a firm commitment to the surrounding community. All take place in New York City.

CAN writer Bill Cleveland is the keynote speaker at "Art and Civic Engagement," the Alliance of Artists Communities' 18th annual conference, November 12-15, 2008. The Seattle conference will explore "what it means as an artist-centered organization to be a full participant in civic life, engaging in the global community, supporting artists working in social justice and public or community art, and integrating support for artists, creativity and innovation into public policy." Cleveland is the author of "Art and Upheaval" and director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community. Richard Andrews, director of Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington and director of the visual arts program at the National Endowment for the Arts, is also a keynoter. The Alliance is a membership organization for the field of artist communities and residencies, with 250 members worldwide.

The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) has released the 2007-08 searchable AEP Arts Education State Policy Database with the latest on state policies and practices. John Abodeely, on the Arts Education Listserv (7/21/08) says database provides state-by-state summaries on the following eight policy topics: arts-education mandates, arts-education state standards, arts-education assessment requirements, arts requirements for high-school graduation, arts requirements for college admissions, licensure requirements for nonarts teachers, licensure requirements for arts teachers, and continuing-education requirements for arts teachers. Users can generate and print individual state profiles, customized state comparisons of specific arts-education policies, or compile 50-state reports. Also, the database provides users with links they can follow to get additional information about each state.

Marygrove College’s Institute for Arts Infused Education offers a summer intensive that focuses on the methodology and pedagogy of integrating arts across the curriculum. The intensive, August 12-13, 2008, offers professional training for artists, principals and in-service and pre-service teachers and professional development for those interested in and/or working in the field. The programs includes "Comparatives, Superlatives, Pronouns, Adjectives and Gerunds Oh My! Using Creative Writing, Song Writing and Poetry," "What’s My Shape? Geometry Using Dance and Drama," "Re-imagining The Book Report—Comic Book Production," "Understanding History and Economics Through Music" and workshops on brain-based education and the multiple intelligences as well as programs by the Wolftrap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and Michigan Opera Theatre. Participants are eligible to earn .6 SBCEUs per day. Registration deadline for the training, in Detroit, is August 1.

August 1, 2008, is the deadline for session proposals for the 2009 Americans for the Arts convention, themed "Renewable Resources: The Arts in Sustainable Communities." The convention, set for Seattle, Wash., June 17-20, will explore how creative communities grow and prosper in concert with technology, the economy and the environment. The convention is organized into nine concurrent program tracks: Arts Education, Civic Engagement, Economic Development, Leadership, Career 360, Preserving Diverse Cultures, Private Sector, Public Advocacy and Public Art. More than 75 sessions will be presented over the course of of three days during the convention. Sessions that fit in more than one track are welcome and may be presented jointly to a larger audience. Each session should respond both to the program track in which it is presented, as well as the 2009 theme of renewable resources.

It's festival time in Blue Lake, California, home to Dell'Arte International. The 30th Annual Humboldt Folklife Festival happens in Blue Lake July 19-26, encompassing the Annie & Mary Fiddle Festival and Blue Lake Pageant, July 20, and the All Day Festival, July 26. The Pageant is described as "an-only-at-Dell'Arte spectacle as hundreds of dancers, musicians, giant puppets and masked participants take to the streets of Blue Lake in a spirit of energy and creativity that must be experienced to be believed." It's all surrounded by Dell'Arte's annual Mad River Festival, which kicked off June 20 when Tim Robbins and the Actors' Gang received the Prize of Hope, presented each year by the Danish Institute for Popular Theatre to theaters and individuals who have fought for human hope "in a daring, loving, vulgar, sincere, serious, and poetic manner."

Today CAN brings you a review of Bill Cleveland's new book, "Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines," from New Village Press. The book is a collection of narratives about artists working with communities during conflict and war -- in Northern Ireland, Cambodia, South Africa, the United States, Australia and the former Yugoslavia. Craig Zelizer, who teaches in the M.A. in Conflict Resolution program in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and wrote for CAN about art and peacebuilding, describes the new book as "an inspiring collection of powerful narratives about the work of community-based artists resisting oppressive regimes, building community in divided societies, challenging economic and racial discrimination, and rescuing culture on the verge of extinction." Calling it "an ideal text for use by students, professors, community arts practitioners, donors and policymakers," he says one of the book’s greatest strengths is "the clarity with which Cleveland presents the experiences and voices of the artists," but he laments the absence of a concluding chapter. Zelizer then takes the initiative to draw from Cleveland's narratives some lessons about community arts in conflicted societies.