Cohousing-L Mailing List: Fwd: Help us get "Freedomland" to the Midwest!

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

David Mandel <dlmandel [at] gmail.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------

Friends:

The message I'm forwarding below is ostensibly unrelated to cohousing, but
bear with me, because it's not necessarily. Read and think about becoming a
host community for a day or two.

Next month will mark the 13th annual show in Sacramento by the San
Francisco Mime Troupe, and some of the credit for making it possible
logistically and financially goes to Southside Park Cohousing. Not only
that, it's fun.

In 2004 I responded to a message from the troupe (I was already a longtime
fan and on their list) asking about a good outdoor locale to present their
free show in Sacramento. They had received a grant for the venture (we're
90 miles up I-80 from SF).

I immediately answered, suggesting our local park, and asking if there were
other ways our community might help. The rest is now history. Each year
since:

   - We and our cohousing neighbors provide spare bedrooms for them (about
   a dozen people) for one or sometimes two nights on a weekend. With
   Sacramento as an anchor, they now usually also have two other performances
   on the trip up -- Nevada City and Davis.
   - We feed them. The schedule varies. There have been late night arrival
   snacks and always at least a dinner and a breakfast, which double as common
   meals. We usually commandeer a couple of red wagons and roll a pre-show
   meal two blocks over the park, then offer more of the same in the common
   house. The community absorbs the modest extra cost of feeding the guests.
   - We plaster neighborhood coffee shops and other businesses with posters
   they send us before the show, and sometimes help distribute fliers at
   events.
   - We pick up their permit during the week from the city parks department.
   - We recruit some of our older kids and others to help them set up and
   take down the stage, sound equipment, etc.
   - One year when they performed in our park on Saturday and Sunday, a few
   of us camped out there to guard the equipment.
   - Late night games and other fun can happen, especially if you have a
   homey common house.

Best of all, we get to see a great show and hang with the actors and crew.
Do check out the trailer below (you'll quickly see they're "not *that* kind
of mime"). And be forewarned it's highly political. Note the red stars.
Kids love the music and raucous melodrama even if they don't understand
enough to be indoctrinated.

I'm open to questions, but you can find out more about their technical
needs and contact them directly via the links below. As I see it, a
supportive cohousing community with a workable theater nearby (outdoors is
too dicey outside of the West Coast summer, I reckon) could work really
well for them, and you.

David Mandel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SFMT Collective and Staff <info [at] sfmt.org>
Date: Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 2:17 PM
Subject: Help us get "Freedomland" to the Midwest!

Dear Fellow Citizens,

We are asking for your help to bring the SFMT's critically-acclaimed show
about injustice and police violence, *Freedomland, *to communities in the
Midwest and beyond.

*Can you help us do it?*

This violence didn't start with Ferguson and it hasn't ended with Falcon
Heights. Dallas wasn't the answer, but it did repeat  familiar questions;
with a militarized police force, and a fundamental fear of Blackness
hammered into our national consciousness each day, how can we ensure the
safety of our citizens? Can we eradicate the systemic, violent,
institutional racism that has plagued this country since its birth?

For many of us, watching the fear whipped up during the Republican
convention has made us even more concerned for our friends and loved ones,
and even more determined to end the irrational, racially biased training of
our police departments - a training that endangers us all.

*But we cannot take the show on the road without your help.*

Due to a lack of funding the Troupe hasn't been able to tour outside
of California consistently for the past decade. But we feel that at
this time, in this country, this show can have the sort of unifying
impact the Troupe and all of our supporters want.

*And that is why we are making this special appeal to you.*

*We are seeking sponsors and presenters in the East and Midwest *who will
seize this opportunity to provide their communities with an entertaining
and thoughtful experience that will further understanding and promote
justice for all. But even they are strapped for the money it takes to bring
us to their area.

* It costs about $30,000 per week for the Troupe to keep a show on the
road. For touring  Freedomland  we have received a grant from the NEA, and
from the Puffin Foundation, but combined they are not enough. *

* Time is running out on our ability to book the tour, and guarantee to our
friends that we will be able to come back East with the show.   That's why
we are turning to you.   *Last year the cast of *Freedomland* sang  "How
can we live in a world like this?" A year later it is clear that many don't
want to live in a world like this and are rallying to change it. As the
long overdue national dialogue gains momentum, the San Francisco Mime
Troupe wants to help be a motivating force in this necessary shift in our
nation's history.

As we say after the shows in the park, "no donation is too large," and in
this case that is very much the case. We need to raise enough for at least
two weeks of touring. That, combined with the grant money we already have,
will ensure that we can bring the show to the area of Cleveland, Baltimore,
and Washington D.C.

We know that during this election year our politically-active audience has
already been solicited by every cause and candidate under the sun.

But we hope that you can help us get over the finish line, and bring this
amazing, passionate, and important show to some of the communities that
most need to see it.

Thank you.

If you want more information about Freedomland -
http://www.michaelgenesullivan.com/#!freedomland/ixyc0