ARTgrove Vol 8 - Dia de Los Muertos 2023

Reposted blog article by Teresa Gutierrez | Nov 3, 2021, |

This is a celebration of the Mexican traditional cultural holiday Dia de Los Muertos, where we honor our dearly departed with altars displaying photos and all of their favorite items, along with a cultural Azteca blessing and festivities.

 “Dia de Los Muertos,” a first-of-its-kind cultural creative event put on by ARTners nonprofit in Elk Grove, CA, and sponsored by the City of Elk Grove, Elk Grove Arts Commission, Elk Grove Diversity and Inclusion Commission, and SMUD. The event occurred at Old Town Plaza in Old Elk Grove. The event was well accepted, with approximately 1000 attended on October 29, 2023. We received so much gratitude from the community, thanking ARTners for contributing to our community culturally and creatively. The artwork was reviewed and received many compliments. Also, the vendors, performers, and DJ received many compliments.

Meaning: Dia De Los Muertos is a Mexican traditional holiday that has evolved from Indigenous rituals, and throughout the centuries, it has been infused with religion and regional traditions. It is currently observed in Mexico, the United States, and globally. 

How we celebrate: Families build “altares” (altars) to welcome the spirits of our loved ones back to the earthly realm, providing “ofrendas” (offerings) such as fragrant marigolds and incense,  Pan de Muerto, and objects they enjoyed while living among us. Also, “Calaveras and calacas” were placed on altars to represent those who passed. 

 

Latino Center of Art & Culture Presents City of Altars

Introducing some of the lead artists for City of Altars. These are the incredible people responsible for teaching the beautiful art of making an altar, and here's a little about them.

Stan Padilla is a multimedia artist, indigenous educator, and cultural activist.

Alpha Bruton is an artist/curator/ research and development consultant for the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum. My current work examines cultural signs and symbols and their use of interpretation. 

J. Andrea Amezcua Porras / yAyA;  is an IndigeQueer 2Spirit Chicana de Coahuiltecan decent. yAyA is an Interdisciplinary artist, curator & producer. They create performance work as storytellers, poets, actors, and directors. 

Luis Ramon Campos Garcia (Lurac) is a multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, cultural worker, educator, and migrant from Mexico City who is interested in cultural diversity and how it can enrich the human experience. Mr. Campos Garcia studied at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México before coming to Sacramento and earning his B.A. in Studio Art at CSUS. 

As a Chicano of Teenek, Otomi, and Lipan Apache descent, Jesus has dedicated his life to learning the traditional medicine of his community while utilizing art as a tool for healing. Jesus is an LMFT working in the Sacramento region with survivors of various traumas. 

Shonna McDaniels is the Founder and Director of the Sojourner Truth Art Museum (founded in 1996). McDaniels is a professional artist/teacher/muralist and community activist. She has an extensive background in art instruction and mural design. She has studied under some of the finest professors in the Los Rios Community College network and master artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Soy danzante por amor. My name is Natalia Itzali Serrato and I am an Aztec Dancer with Grupo Telpochkalli de Sacramento. La cultura cura.

Make sure you're following Sol Collective, Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer, The Washington Neighborhood Center, and the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum so you can sign up for these workshops!

#latinoart #latinocenter #cityofaltars #dayofthedead #Diadelosmuertos #exploresacramento #sacramento365 #altarmaking #sacramentoartists

"Kwanzaa Festival of Life, Community, and Culture."

 A message from Shonna McDaniel's Executive Director of SOJO Museum invites community altar makers to participate in the "City of Altars." 

Kwanzaa is Celebrated December 26 -January 1 - Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum will host a workshop on Tuesday, December 26, with the installation of Kwanzaa Altars and judging will happen on December 29, during the "Kwanzaa Festival of Life, Community, and Culture." 

The Kwanzaa Festival of Life, Community, and Culture is a week-long celebration that honors the achievements of the Black community and provides support. It occurs from December 26 to January 1 at the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum.

On Friday, December 29, the festival is dedicated to Ujamaa, "Cooperative Economics," which is celebrated at the Florin Business Complex. Over 100 African-American businesses and vendors participated in this event.

On Saturday, December 30, there will be a celebration at the African Marketplace. Celebrating Nia (Purpose) is to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

On December 31, Kuumba will be celebrated with various creative arts projects and performances catering to the youth.

(This falls on a Sunday, but most activities will happen on Saturday; TBD ceremonies will happen.)

January 1, Imani, is our day of faith. A special ceremony will be held to bring a close to our week-long celebration of life and a closing reception for the City of Altar Installation, a Day of Rest.

 Along with the Seven Principles(Nguzo Saba) and the seven days of Kwanzaa, seven symbols ortable implements are used to celebrate the holiday. These seven items are arraigned in an area set up as a 

Kwanzaa altar or table in the home.

The seven symbols of Kwanzaa are:

Mkeka (m-KAY-kah): The Mat

A mat is woven of fabric, raffia, or even paper. The Mkeka is essential because the other holiday implements rest upon it.

Symbolizes the experiences, culture, achievements, and sacrifices of our ancestors upon which our lives are built.

Kikombe cha Umoja (kee-KOHM-bay cha oo-MOH-jah): The Unity Cup

Representing family and community unity. When the Unity cup is filled with water, juice, or wine, a little bit is poured out as a reminder and respect for our ancestors. The cup is then passed around and shared with those gathered, each taking a sip.

Mazao (mah-ZAH-oh): The Crops

The fruits and vegetables that are the result of the harvest. Bananas, mangoes, peaches, plantains, oranges, or whatever might be the family favorites. The Mazao are placed on the Mkeka and are shared and eaten to honor the work of the people it took to grow them.

Kinara (kee-NAH-rah): The Candleholder

The Kinara holds the seven candles representing our African ancestors that symbolize the Nguzo Saba. The Kinara is placed on the Mkeka and holds the Mishumaa Saba (the seven candles).

Mishumaa Saba(mee-shoo-MAH SAH-ba): The Seven Candles

Seven candles representing the seven principles of Nguzo Saba are placed in the Kwanzaa Kinara. The colors of the candles are red, green, and black, which are the colors of the Bendera (or African Flag).

Muhindi (moo-HEEN-dee): The Corn

Represents the children (and future) of the family. One suke (ear) of corn is placed on the Mkeka for each child. If no children are in the family, one suke is still placed on the Mkeka to symbolize the community's children.

The Muhindi also represent the Native Americans, the land's first inhabitants. Without whom, there would be no corn, also known as Maize. It is used to acknowledge and respect their contribution to the culture and ancestors of African Americans.

Note: A single ear of corn can also be known as Vibunzi. Indian Corn is sometimes used.

Zawadi (zah-WAH-dee): Gifts

Kwanzaa gifts are given to children that will make them better people. The gifts should always include a book, video, or other educational item to educate and inform the child. There should also be a gift known as a "heritage symbol." Something to remind the child of the glory of the past and the promise of the future.

Since Kwanzaa is a relatively new holiday, you, your family, and your community can use great creativity to observe Kwanzaa. The area in your home where you set up the Kwanzaa altar or table can be decorated in the same spirit as other holidays. Create posters and banners to hang on the walls, and add African sculptures or other artwork to the display. Many crafts and decorations can be created by the children of the home to be used in your Kwanzaa display.

The City of Altars, Capital Region Creative Corps, and City of Sacramento Office of Innovation & Economic Development partly fund this project.  

The Latino Center of Art & Culture announces the “City of Altars.”

 www.thelatinocenter.org

We are excited to announce our partnership with our sister organizations for the program called "City of Altars." Thanks to support from the City of Sacramento's (@saccityarts) Capital Region Creative Corps Program with funding from the California Arts Council (@calartscouncil), the City of Altars consists of a collaboration between five leading arts organizations in the Sacramento and Woodland communities, including Latino Center of Art and Culture, Sol Collective, Taller Arte Nuevo Amanecer, Washington Neighborhood Center, and Sojourner Truth Museum African Heritage Museum.

Together, we will activate our spaces throughout the fall of 2023 to honor our respective customs relating to Día de los Muertos and Kwanzaa. Collectively, we will shine a light on the issues that most impact our communities through the sacred practice of altar-making. Community members will be invited to create altars through workshops and will be encouraged to exhibit at our annual events.

Follow each of us to stay informed about this exciting project.

@Sac_LCAC

@Solcollective

@tanawoodland

@thecenter916

@sojomuseum

#cityofaltars #diadelosmuertos #kwanzaa #sacramento #woodland #arts #culture

#Sacramento365 #dayofthedead #cityofaltars

Capital Region Creative Corps Grant

What: City of Altars, a program by the Latino Center of Art and Culture

When: 2023-2024, a bulk of the activities will take place from September to December 2023

Where: multiple sites throughout the region.

Overview: The Latino Center of Art and Culture was granted $117,000 through a Capital Region

Creative Corps grant. The grant's scope allows us to bring in organizational partners to strengthen our programs around Día de los Muertos. The goal is to work alongside sister organizations that will host social justice-driven workshops while co-creating altars alongside members from their organization and the community. 

These sister organizations would also select lead altaristas and artists (5-7 total) who would develop their own cohorts of about 10-15 emerging artists. The goal is to leverage the altar, a sacred artistic practice, as the medium through which our community members share the issues that impact our collective communities.

Kwanzaa is Celebrated December 26th -January 1st - Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum will host a workshop on Tuesday, December 26th, with the installation of Kwanzaa Altars and judging will happen on December 29th, during the "Kwanzaa Festival of Life, Community, and Culture." 

The Kwanzaa Festival of Life, Community, and Culture is a week-long celebration that honors the achievements of the Black community and provides support. It occurs from December 26 to January 1 at the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum.

On Friday, December 29th, the festival is dedicated to Ujamaa, "Cooperative Economics," which is celebrated at the Florin Business Complex. Over 100 African-American businesses and vendors participated in this event.

On Saturday, December 30th, there will be a celebration at the African Marketplace. Celebrating Nia (Purpose) is to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

On December 31, Kuumba will be celebrated with various creative arts projects and performances catering to the youth. (This falls on a Sunday but most activities will happen on Saturday, TBD ceremonies will happen)

January 1, Imani, is our day of faith. A special ceremony will be held to bring a close to our week-long celebration of life and a closing reception for the City of Altar Installation, a Day of Rest.

Caryl Henry Alexander "Limitless" Altar Installations

Caryl Henry Alexander "Limitless" Altar Installations

The focal point of "Limitless" - Grandmother's tree- Caryl approached the project using the guidance of the trees, to guide her, give her the direction.

“THE AFRICAN MEETING HOUSE: A LIVING ANCESTOR”

 by Regie Gibson

“The African Meeting House: A Living Ancestor”

The African Meeting House, a National Trust Historic Site in Boston, was built in 1806 and is the oldest existing Black church building in the country built primarily by Black artisans. It served as a religious and educational center, a gathering place for social and political self-expression, and a sanctuary. Watch award-winning poet Regie Gibson explain the significance of the space to those who sought refuge behind its doors.

By Femi Lewis

Updated August 31, 2018

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, also called AME Church, was established by the Reverend Richard Allen in 1816. Allen founded the denomination in Philadelphia to unite African American Methodist churches in the North. These congregations wanted to be free from White Methodists who historically had not allowed African Americans to worship in desegregated pews.

 As the founder of the AME Church, Allen was consecrated as its first bishop. The AME Church is a unique denomination in the Wesleyan tradition--it is the only religion in the western hemisphere to develop from the sociological needs of its members. It is also the first African American denomination in the United States.

"God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Brother" —David Alexander Payne

Organizational Mission:

Since its establishment in 1816, the AME Church has worked to minister to the needs--spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, and environmental--of people. Using liberation theology, the AME seeks to help those in need by preaching the gospel of Christ, providing food for the hungry, providing homes, encouraging those who have fallen on hard times as well as economic advancement, and providing employment opportunities to those in need.

The Ceremonial Circle Blessing "THE PASSING OF THE FLAMES"

 The Tarble Art Center is a wonderful location to find my true center. I began my personal journey in linking fragments of the past, connecting sketchy memories of the two women that have shaped my path, and are propelling me on to the next plateau of my artistic explorations. Sallie Alpha Betta, mother of Thomas Bruton my father,  and Crecy Ivory mother of Lois Lorraine my mother.

 On the property of Anita P. Lowe Auburn CA-

The question is how to reconstruct this outdoor installation, into an indoor gallery?

Construction – The purification ceremonies are generally built with great care, and with respect for the environment and for the materials being used. Many traditions construct the purification ceremonies in complete silence, some have a drum playing while they build, and other traditions have the builders fast during construction.

Artist Assistant, Master’s candidate Shawn Fairchild, contributed misfired ceramics from his studio, to repurpose in the creation of the “passing of the flames”.

Placement and orientation of the structure within its environment are often considered to facilitate the ceremony's connection with the spirit world, as well as practical considerations of usage. We began building by finding the center of the gallery, 9’ 4 ½ ‘ from the wall.

Rituals and traditions associated with sweating vary regionally and culturally. Ceremonies often include traditional prayers and songs. In some cultures drumming and offerings to the spirit world may be part of the ceremony, or a sweat ceremony may be a part of another, longer ceremony.   wanted an atmosphere of Zen, during the construction, students needed to feel, and play, with the paper, clay, slip, cracked pots, fabric.

 Undergraduate- Garrett Goben- Studio Drawing

Orientation – The door may face a sacred fire. The cardinal directions may have symbolism in the culture that is holding the purification ceremonies. The structure may be oriented within its environment for a specific purpose. 

The purpose here is to recreate the "THE PASSING OF THE FLAMES".

To transfer or bestow one's role, position, responsibilities, etc., to someone else. 

My grandmother is unable to stand long enough to cook such a large meal, so she's passing the torch to us to make Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Artist Assistant, Master’s candidate Shawn Fairchild
Undergraduate- Garrett Goben- Studio Drawing
Stephanie Aarons (music major)

Grandmother’s Circle -Tarble Art ECenter

Tarble Art Museum

 2010 Ninth Street on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois

Nov. 9 - Dec. 15, eGallery

Grandmother’s Circle -

A Tribute to Crecy's People and to Sallie Alpha:

 An Installation by Alpha Bruton

Alpha Bruton’s installation is a simulation of a ceremonial purification circle, in which objects and images are selected to “serve as cultural mirrors and the sites in which they are situated serve as part of a broader cultural commentary.” The artist has examined cultural signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. She believes that objects in the public sphere serve to communicate and reinforce certain cultural narratives, hierarchies, and social mythologies.

A painter and an installation artist, Bruton synthesizes aspects of theater, sculpture, and other two-dimensional forms. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues internationally, Berlin, Canada, Mexico, Chicago, New Jersey, Baltimore,  in California (Auburn, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento).

Guest artists, contributors to the installation, Caryl HenryAlexander, LA Happy Hyder, Talver Germany Miller, Antia P. Lowe, J. Andreas Porras., Myths Stories, and Living Tradition with the Visual Arts Development Project in Auburn California.

Bruton is the Tarble Arts Center’s 2013 Arts-In-Education artist-in-residence and will be in residence at four area schools between Nov. 11 through Dec. 13. The residency is funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, by participating schools, the Coles County Arts Council, and Tarble membership contributions. The Tarble Arts Center, a division of the College of Arts & Humanities, is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Diana Bruton, telling our story of eight generations of the "Crecy, Sallie" women, a research project that has taken a decade of compiling for a publication.

Jose Montoya, Artist, Activist , Musician, Sacramento Poet

Reposted: Original Article By Bill Lindelof and Stephen Magagnini Published: Thursday, Sep. 26, 2013 - 6:09 pm

Jose Montoya, Sacramento poet, and artist

 

Jose Montoya, a nationally known artist, poet, and musician, has died. Montoya, an art professor at Sacramento State for 27 years, was a co-founder of the Royal Chicano Air Force, an influential Chicano political artists group. Montoya died Wednesday at the age of 81.

Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna, whose father, the late Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr. knew Montoya well, said that the Sacramento community had lost a gentle soul with an extraordinarily creative mind.

 

“He was someone who could use spoken word to conjure poignant imagery and promote a healthy contemplative state,” said Serna. “His poems gave us pause to reconsider our individual and cultural condition.”

Montoya was born in Escobosa, New Mexico, and grew up in central California. He worked with labor leader Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.

He was Sacramento’s third poet laureate, named to the post by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission in 2002. He is the author of collections of poetry such as the acclaimed “In Formation: 20 Years of Joda.”

In interviews, Montoya said he learned arts from his mother, whose own artistic endeavors involved decorating church interiors. He also was the founder of Sacramento State’s Barrio Arts program.

Jose Montoya, one of the original members of the Royal Chicano Air Force, retouches the mural he and several other artists painted in 1977 at Southside Park. Montoya and the artists have been working on the mural, which has been vandalized, for more than two weeks. Monday, August 20, 2001, Sacramento, Calif.


THE SACRAMENTO BEE

blindelof@sacbee.com

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/26/5771355/jose-montoya-1932-2013.html#storylink=cpy

 

Words of Thankfulness Talver Germany

Talver Germany Miller Executive Director of Visual Arts Development Program

I would like to take this time to thank Caryl Henry Alexander, Happy Hyder, and others who gave their energy, imagination, and inspiration in the development of a permanent Labyrinth that provided a wonderful experience of joy that radiated in walking the Labyrinth.

Also, thank our guest speaker, Ms. Diana Bruton, for her knowledge, awareness, and love. Diana took us on a historical family journey.

 

Alpha Bruton, Diana Bruton, Ondrea Walker

As the ceremony begins, firekeepers light the flames of the pit.

And thank you to our welcomed guest and other participants who created symbolic sculpture and painting pieces that were gifts from the heart. Finally, and most important and not to be forgotten, thank you to our host Anita Posey Lowe. She graciously opened her lovely home and glorious, beautiful land where we all enjoyed experiencing her flowers' dirt, leaves, trees, and petals.

 

I can say we will long remember the experience. Thank you to our Executive Director of the Visual Arts Program and Phantom Gallery Chicago Network, Ms. Alpha Bruton, who had a vision and a desire to develop a structural Alter of creativity and dedication to Michelle Walker, who is no longer with us.

 Alpha encouraged each of the guests and participants to think about life treasures within our hearts and see and experience them out in the open to understand their richness; coupled with YaYa, who blessed the Alter and encouraged all to clear our minds and hearts to realize our true purpose to love self and others.

Overall this was indeed a life-changing event. Thank you to all.

Talver Germany Miller Yaya preparing the drapes for the altars.

 

 

Creation of Living Land Trust for Outdoor Altar Installations- a Continuum

Visual Arts Development Project- "the Land" Rituals and traditions a two-week artist in residency

May 13 – May 25 in Placer County.

The VADP will be the first collaborating organization to partner with the MAP Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions to establish a series of land trusts that serve as networks for Altar training and research. "The Land" will serve as a living experiment for sustainable practices and an incubator for personal and collective transformation.

Anita Posey-Lowe lives on three and a half archers in Placer County, where she has a potter's studio, with several areas on her property for pit firing. She has whole-heartedly loaned the use of her land to The Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions to expand its outreach program of workshops and outdoor altar installations and to build a permanent structure that will be left on her land in the area we have proposed to erect the outdoor Altar.

The artist has proposed that the panels and other installation elements be a temporary installation that will be deconstructed by the resident artist at the end of the exhibition. The residency will be a series of workshops, intensive structure construction, clearing of the land for ceremonies, artists constructing individual elements of the sculpture, independent studio, time for creative conversation, and libations.

Visual Arts Development Project - Faculty 

Alpha Bruton, Talver Germany-Miller, Anita Posey-Lowe, Andrea Porras (Yaya)

The primary focus areas for this project are:

• Artist in Residency Projects
• Creating markers for temporary installation
• Land Trust for Small Museum
• Research for permanent markers

2013 TRAINING SCHEDULE

March 23 – 25: Weekend Retreat Visual Arts Development Project,

March 30: De-installation Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions.

April 1 – 30: Invitation to guest artists, facilitators, and registration

May 11-12: North Auburn Studio's Tour Mother's Day Weekend

May 13 – 25: Building Living Sculpture Installation- Guest Artist and Preparatory

May 17 – 19: Weekend Retreat Workshop and Studio Intensive

May 18: Ceremony Begins

May 20 – 24: Installations, murals, and layering of the shell

May 25 Community Celebration

MAP - Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions

Envisioned to evoke the transformative value of historical and contemporary cultural traditions, MAP's Gallery uses the power of myth, stories, and imagination to give voice to the universality of cultural traditions.

The gallery is an outreach program of the Metropolitan Arts Partnership ("MAP ") and is designed to provide a more significant regional presence. The Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions will soon include a companion lecture, workshop, and conference series.

The primary programs of MAP are its workplace giving Arts Fund; the management of the local federal workplace offering program, the Combined Federal Campaign; and the gallery outreach program, which was at the Arts Building in downtown Auburn from 2006 – 2013.

The mission of the Metropolitan Arts Partnership is to support arts education and outreach programs for children and youth in schools, performance venues, and neighborhood centers provided by our members' agencies. MAP members are all certified nonprofit arts organizations based in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, or Yuba Counties.

From 2006 until its closing in March of 2013, the MAP Gallery consisted of temporary installations curated by Founder and Executive Director Michelle Walker, the Artistic Director of the Gallery and Founder of the International Society of Altar Making. In addition, she has facilitated Altar Doing workshops since 1980. Michelle drew from her New Orleans ancestry and interests in Ndebele, Hopi, Bon Po, Tibetan Tantric, and Kundalini philosophies and practices; she integrated those elements into her personal altars and Altar Making over the years.

Co-curator Andrea "YaYa" Porras is an artist and assistant to the Map Gallery, where she was mentored and guided by master artist/Altar Maker Michelle Walker. YaYa, in her own right, has studied the traditions of her ancestry; she is an Aztecan dancer, African-modern dancer, actress, poet, and altar artist from Sacramento, California.

Gallery-Assistant Ondrea Walker is an artist apprentice trained in concept development and installation by the International Society of Altar Making. She attended the San Francisco Art Academy, where her concentration was photography, photo documentary, and photojournalism.

PROPOSED INSTALLATION "the Land" Rituals and traditions Purification Ceremony Rituals and practices associated with sweating vary regionally and culturally. Ceremonies often include traditional prayers and songs. In addition, in some cultures drumming and offerings to the spirit world may be part of the ceremony, or a sweat lodge ceremony may be a part of another, more extended tradition.
Some standard practices and key elements associated with purification ceremonies include:

• Training - Most cultures holding ceremonial sweats require that someone undergo intensive training for many years to be allowed to lead a purification ceremony. One of the requirements is that the leader can pray and communicate fluently in the indigenous language of that culture and understand how to conduct the ceremony safely. This leadership role is granted by the Elders of the community, not self-designated.

• Orientation – The door may face a sacred fire. The cardinal directions may have symbolism in the culture holding the purification ceremonies. The structure may be oriented within its environment for a specific purpose. Placement and orientation of the system within its territory are often considered to facilitate the ceremony's connection with the spirit world and practical usage considerations.

• Construction – The purification ceremonies are generally built with great care and respect for the environment and materials used. Many traditions construct the purification ceremonies in complete silence, some have a drum playing while they build, and others have the builders fast during construction.

• Support – In many traditions, one or more persons will remain outside the structure to protect the ceremony, assist the participants, and aid purification ceremony etiquette. Sometimes they will tend the fire and place the hot stones if a system uses stones, though usually done by a designated fire keeper.

Proposed Project-

Creation of Living Land Trust for Outdoor Altar Installations- a Continuum: MAP - Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions- Breathing Life into the Gallery 2013. "The Land" will serve as a living experiment for sustainable practices and an incubator for personal and collective transformation.

The initiative for community land trust was known as the Bhoodan or Land Gift movement in the 1950s and 1960s. It gathered people together and asked those with more land than needed to give their poorer sisters and brothers a portion of it. Many of India's leaders participated in these walks from village to village.[i]

 Seeing this, Vinoba altered the Boodan system to a Gramdan or Village gift system. All donated land was subsequently held by the village itself. The town would then lease the land to those capable of working it. The lease expires if the land is unused. The Gramdan movement inspired a series of regional village land trusts that anticipated Community Land Trusts in the United States.

The first organization labeled with the term 'community land trust' in the U.S., called New Communities, Inc., was founded to help African-American farmers in the rural South access farmland and work it with security.

A precursor to this was the Celo Community in North Carolina, founded in 1937 by Arthur Ernest Morgan.

New communities: Robert Swann worked with Slater King, president of the Albany Movement and a cousin of Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles Sherrod, an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and individuals from other southern civil rights organizations in the South to develop New Communities, Inc., "a nonprofit organization to hold land in perpetual trust for the permanent use of rural communities." [ii]

There are currently over 250 community land trusts in the United States. Fledgling CLT movements are also underway in England, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Kenya, and New Zealand. In 2006, a national association was established in the United States to provide assistance and support for CLTs: the National Community Land Trust Network.[iii]

Sustainability

 I am interested in developing a "Community Land Trusts and Art Place Making to expand the MAP Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Traditions in the acquisition of land ownership to capture the value of a public investment for long-term community benefit. Instead of leasing or renting gallery spaces for exhibition, the gallery would become landowners.

Conservation Land Trust: A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisition or by its stewardship of such land or easements.

 Putting real estate assets into a land trust allows the owner to avoid probate and save on estate taxes when the property passes to heirs. It will also protect the property from liens and judgments that might be brought against an owner. For partners and tenants in common, each owner is insulated from decisions. With a land trust, an owner can privately transfer their beneficial interest in the faith (the actual ownership) without being reported to any governmental agencies. Lastly, a person's property ownership remains confidential with a land trust and does not appear in any county recorder's office or publicly accessible resource.

In particular, Community land trusts attempt to meet the needs of residents least served by the prevailing land market. Community land trusts help communities gain control over local land use and reduce absentee ownership, provide affordable housing for lower-income residents in the community, promote resident ownership and control of housing, keep housing affordable for future residents, and build a strong base for community action.