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Emilie Diouf

Emilie Diouf’s research and teaching reflect her interdisciplinary background in African Literature, African American and African Studies, as well as Women’s and Gender Studies. She is interested in the relationship between narrative, migration, trauma, and human rights, particularly expanding the field of trauma studies to include more substantially the voices of African women refugees. Since…

Los angeles poverty department

LAPD Mission: Founded in 1985 by director-performer-activist John Malpede, Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is a non-profit arts organization, the first performance group in the nation made up principally of homeless people, and the first arts program of any kind for homeless people in Los Angeles. LAPD creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the…

Artistic Ensemble at San Quentin Prison

The Artistic Ensemble is a troupe of 16 diverse men in prison working with 5 outside members. In their explorations to discover how they can reach the public; they also discover more about what it means to be human by connecting with each other. Their creative process is dialogic. Together they explore social inequalities with…

Purkinje’s Vision – Isadora Paz Taboada

Isadora is a Honduran-Argentinian dance artist who studied development, politics and culture. Co-founder of DA escenica, an independent collaborative project and comprehensive performing arts workshop, she promotes collective inquiry through dance and movement research in marginalized neighborhoods of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There, she leads The way back community: raising youth voices, empowering presence and participation through…

Teatro Linea de Sombra

During the Mexe festival in Porto in September 2017 ICAF were introduced to the work of Jorge Vargas from Mexico. Jorge is artistic director of Teatro Linea de Sombra, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary art organisation that has been around since 1993. The company consists of theatre makers, musicians, visual artists, and researchers. Characteristic of their…

APPALSHOP

Appalshop is a U.S. nonprofit cultural arts organization based in the mountainous central Appalachian coalfields of eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia.  Appalshop was founded in late 1969 by Bill Richardson, an architect, and a group of aspiring young artists who secured funding from the Kennedy administration’s War on Poverty program to engage their neighbours in…

Dudley Cocke

Dudley Cocke is artistic director of Roadside Theatre, an ensemble known for touring its original plays to communities across forty-five states and performing in cities from London to Los Angeles. In 2015, Dudley co-directed and co-wrote the book for the bi-lingual off-Broadway musical BETSY!, which he is currently preparing for national touring. His work often…

Forklift Danceworks

Founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Allison Orr, Forklift Danceworks actively engages diverse communities through the creation of unique dance projects featuring all kinds of people. Using the movement that come from daily life as the choreographic starting point and casting community members as the primary performers in these projects, Forklift presents dances in intimate…

Jan Cohen Cruz

Jan Cohen-Cruz (1950–) is an author, teacher, and practitioner of community-based performance art. She is the Founding Editor of Public: A Journal and served as Director of Imagining America from 2007-2012.  Cohen-Cruz writes on the work of performance artists who address social issues. Her trilogy on the topic includes Local Acts: Community Based Performance in the U.S. (Rutgers, 2005), Engaging Performance: Theater as Call…