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The MAPL program contacts a number of outstanding leaders in advocacy and politics to ask them to agree to be part of MAPL's pool of community faculty. The guest speakers involved in the Summer 2007 sessions are below:
Sheila Smith of the Minnesota Citizens for the Arts presented to MAPL 5308, The Impact of Art on Social Change, on Tuesday, July 24.
Sheila M. Smith has been Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts since 1996. She also recently served as a Public Policy Consultant for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and is part of MCN's Public Policy Cabinet. Before joining MCA, Smith served as staff at the Minnesota State Senate and lobbied local governments for Continental Airlines in Houston, TX. Smith serves as Chair of the State Arts Action League, part of Americans for the Arts. Appointed by the Governor in 2002 to the Capitol Area Architectural Planning Board, she is also Chair of the Friends of the Minnesota State Capitol, advocating to preserve the state’s most important historic building. She received a Master's degree in Arts Administration from St. Mary's University and has a B.A. in Shakespeare from St. Olaf College. She also teaches and lectures, both statewide and nationally, about the arts, grassroots advocacy, and other issues. She is a frequent visitor to Duluth because she has a cabin in the woods near the North Shore, and has recently taken up Norwegian wood carving.
Dr. Judi Jennings presented to MAPL 5308, The Impact of Art on Social Change, as a community faculty team member on Thursday, 7/26/07.Judi Jennings entered this world as a “baby boomer,” born November 2, 1947, in Lexington, Kentucky. Her father worked as a used car salesman, and her mother, hailed from the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky. Her parents divorced early, so, growing up, Judi witnessed the struggles of her single Mom from Appalachia striving to support the two of them. From this experience, Judi learned to respect all mothers, work hard, value education, and fight anyone who said anything bad about eastern Kentucky.
With the encouragement of her Mom, who never had a chance to go to college, Judi earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in British History from the University of Kentucky. Her grandmother always believed that since Judi stayed in college so long she must have been a very slow learner.
Judi taught for six years at Union College, a liberal arts college in Barbourville, in the Appalachian part of Kentucky. During this time, Judi learned that her great grandmother came from Emmanuel Hollow, nearby. Seeking to connect with her own roots and those of her students, Judi developed new courses in Appalachian History and Culture, as well as teaching American and European History. She left Union College in 1981, the year she received tenure, when both her parents died while still in their 50s.
After taking some time off to think about what really matters in life, Judi worked for four years at the Kentucky Humanities Council, a state agency of the National Endowment for the Humanities. KHC supports public programs for out of school adults in history and other humanities areas.
In 1987, Judi went to work at Appalshop, a media arts and education center in eastern Kentucky dedicated to combating stereotypes about Appalachians and advancing social justice for rural people. Judi served as the chief fundraiser for a $1.2 million dollar endowment campaign and traveled extensively to raise funds across the U.S. She also served as a humanities advisor on several Appalshop films and videos.
Having successfully completed the fundraising campaign at Appalshop, in 1991 Judi moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to become the founding director of the Women’s Center at the University of Louisville. Under her leadership, the Women’s Center developed a mission statement embracing education, advocacy, and equality and expanded its staff and budget. Judi resumed her academic research, and in 1998 published her first full-length historical study, The Business of Abolishing the British Slave Trade, 1783-1807.
That same year Judi became the Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, a private fund which supports feminist artists living in the state whose work furthers positive social change. This is the position she still holds today.
During this time, too, Judi served as co-producer for an award-winning Appalshop film, directed by Elizabeth Barret, called Stranger With A Camera, exploring the murder of a Canadian filmmaker in eastern Kentucky in 1967. Working on this film brought Judi faced to face with historic and contemporary stereotypes about Appalachians and the long lasting consequences of this murder.
Judi remained active as a historical researcher and writer and recently published her second book entitled Gender, Religion, and Radicalism in the Long Eighteenth Century.
Sandra Menefee Taylor, Visual Artist, presented to MAPL 5308, The Impact of Art on Social Change, on Tuesday, July 10.
Sandra Menefee Taylor is a visual artist using several media to realize the work. She has created artist's books, videos, sculptures, paintings, and large mixed media installations. She often collaborates with other artists and community members in the creation of her work, which has been shown locally and nationally.
Many of her projects invite the audience to contribute their own memory, experience, and reflection, which she incorporates in sculptural installations that connect the audience back to themselves and their own authentic wisdom.
Her works intent is twofold, one to lend the skills of an artist to do honor to undervalued sources of wisdom, which some call “art in the public interest”. Secondly to better understand the pride and pitfalls of new ways of collaboration.
The recipient of several grants and residencies, she has lectured at Grinnell College, New York University, the College of Saint Catherine, and the University of Minnesota.
Habitat Production, July 11, 7-9pm, UMD-Rafters
Performance of Rachel Johnson's "Habitat" for students of MAPL 5308 Impact of Art on Social Change and the Duluth Community at 7pm on Wednesday, July 11, at UMD in The Rafters. This is a powerful drama based on interviews with those experiencing homelessness.
Director Cheryl Skafte and the cast discussed this hour-long drama with the audience following the performance.