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 Making Exact Change |
Making Exact Change
Part Two: Case Studies Isangmahal Arts Kollective
Basic Facts
Snapshot Isangmahal has been such a driving force in my life growing up. My whole adolescence from 15 on has been shaped by it. It has been a mighty river that has helped me find my direction. 1 was 15 when I joined… I had a couple of friends who were in with the group because they had older brothers and sisters who were involved. They were college-age folks. I was 15, I was in HS. I didn’t really associate with them. But word started to trickle down at the HS back in 98 that older brown folk were doing stuff in the community and we should go check it out. There was nothing in the community that existed like Isangmahal. It was revolutionary. So, I went to a show. It was my very first open-mike experience. I got up in the middle of a feature set because I didn’t know what was going on. Somebody elbowed me and told me to go up on stage and read. I don’t remember who it was. Anyway I thought people just kind of chose when they wanted to go up because I was not there at the beginning for the introduction. And I was like alright. So I went up in the middle of the set. Afterward Jojo came up to me and validated my work. He said what you had to say was important to me and please come back. That was it for me. When you are 15 you don’t have that support everywhere. So, that’s why we take such care of young people at Isangmahal because young people need to be validated. —Angela, Isangmahal member, 2004[1]
Description History The Isangmahal (“one love”) arts “kollective” was created in 1997 when a small group of Seattle-based Filipino-American writers and artists recognized the need for an artistic outlet for themselves and others in the margins. Partnering with the Northwest Asian American Theatre, they began with small events, providing an open mike and a supportive audience for fellow Filipino poets and performers. At their first open-mike event, the 15 poets who showed up made up the audience as well. But they persevered and at each event more and more people showed up. Nine years later the all-volunteer organization continues to produce monthly events that provide a safe, nonjudgmental performing venue for spoken word, music and dance. During that time the kollective’s membership has grown to include over 30 poets, musicians, visual artists, dancers, actors, DJs and videographers. Isangmahal operates as a family. New members are invited by existing members to join. Joining means taking a role in helping to organize events and maintain the organization, which is all volunteer. They are not a nonprofit and do not receive funding from any outside source. Ticket receipts from their events pay for facilities rental. No one receives compensation for work with the organization. They have two formats for events. The first and most important is the open mike. It is the core of their work. Anybody can sign up and perform their poetry, music, dance — anything. Even visual artists share their work on stage. The collective’s aim has been to create a safe and validating place for anyone to come in and share their work The other kind of event, which may or may not happen in conjunction with an open mike, is called a feature set. A feature set has a theme and usually involves a mix of Isangmahal members who have developed and rehearsed a series of pieces. Spoken-word artists and performers are a central element of Isangmahal, “defining and changing their surroundings while wielding the power of the word. Each individual poet maintains and nurtures a unique style of writing and performance, as distinct and diverse as each one of the poet’s personalities. Isangmahal writers are an accomplished group, with artists having been published, produced self-published work and performed as a group and individually across the nation. In addition, groups form within the group to collaborate on multivoice pieces.”[2] Isangmahal poets and musicians have performed at numerous theaters, colleges and universities in Washington state, as well as Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Michigan, Florida and Washington, D.C. The spoken-word artists have performed at Seattle Center’s artsEdge, Seattle Poetry Festivals, Eleventh Hour Productions’ The Rapture Series, local rallies and events in Seattle’s Asian-Pacific-American community. The RAW Gallery & Seattle Central Community College Art Gallery have hosted Isangmahal visual-arts shows and artists have been featured in exhibitions throughout Washington state. In addition, the group has produced and pressed two CD recordings. Mission/Values The vision of the kollective includes understanding that we shall not remain complacent by any means, which signifies the importance of the tasks at hand, which encompass:
Success and Change Goals
—Isangmahal Web site, 2005[4] Defining Success
—Isangmahal Web site, 2005 Critical to Success
Outcomes
Nuts and Bolts Environment Over the last 100 years, hundreds of thousands of Asians have found their way to Seattle in search of employment and opportunity. While this steady stream of immigrants found that their manual-labor jobs often defined their initial social status, they banded together to forge coherent communities and create opportunities for advancement. Despite persistent, often brutal discrimination, strong communities emerged out of struggles to preserve old customs in new places. With an estimated population of over 30,000, the Filipino-American community forms the largest group of Asian Americans in the Seattle area. The Filipino population in the region grows by approximately 1,000 per year. Average per capita income is slightly below the national average, and 75 percent of Filipino households have pooled income from three or more adults working. Many of these households are intergenerational, where grandparents become surrogate parents for young families. An estimated 80 percent of Filipinos in the Northwest are Catholics, some are members of Protestant churches, and others are members of the Aglipay, a church with its origin in the Philippines. Leadership Most of the founding members of Isangmahal are active leaders in the organization. Because Isangmahal is a collective, decisions tend to be made by those who are most active. Although the nonhierarchal organizational structure is very supportive of new initiatives, these efforts are necessarily driven solely by the labor and commitment of individual members. Resources For the most part, Isangmahal operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. Proceeds from concerts and open-mike sessions pay for the rental of the hall and equipment. At various times the collective has produced CDs, chapbooks and other artwork for sale. The proceeds for collectively produced merchandise is given back to the collective account. The proceeds for individual work, (i.e., chapbooks, CDs, etc.) go to the artist. No individual artist in the collective is paid for performance. Isangmahal receives some support from private donors. Chicago’s “I Was Born With 2 Tongues” and “Pacifics” are two important institutional partners that have supported their work. They helped in raising money to send an Isangmahal team of youths to the 2001 National Youth Poetry Slam, Emerging Voices. Governance See Leadership Partnerships Isangmahal considers itself to be in partnership with the entire Filipino community. They focus on maintaining strong relationships with all sectors of this community. This requires interaction with numerous individual leaders and organizations that represent a wide spectrum of attitudes and positions. They want to help the older generations share their histories and stories with younger generations who know very little about those who came before them. Various shows have been dedicated to important historical figures and events in local and national Filipino history. They play the griot role to promote meaning and understanding in the Filipino community. They try to help express the breadth of issues and opinions. They are working with Youth Speaks to create poetry workshops and open-mike experiences for young people. Because most Isangmahal members work regular jobs, many of which are in the human services realm, they have many connections across sectors in the community. Seattle has a very large Filipino community with a vast archive of documentary material that Isangmahal works with. Training Although Isangmahal has no formal training program, its collective and collaborative culture promotes mentoring among its members. Many of the emerging leaders in the organization have worked for years learning the ropes from older members. The supportive open-mike environment also provides a nonthreatening learning venue for young talent rising up in the community.
Constraints Each event is a two- or three-month process. Because nobody has assigned roles, each event requires different members to step up and take responsibility for different functions (artistic direction, stage management, etc.). This organic management style has its benefits and challenges. In Jojo Goan’s words, this ad hoc way of working takes its toll. But the outcome is often extraordinary. They are also struggling with newcomers who do not bring the same level of commitment and energy as the founders
Advice to Funders None offered. [Next: Case Study: Manchester Craftsmen's Guild] [Table of Contents] Notes 1. Dy, Angela, from an interview with William Cleveland, 10/5/2004 |
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