Autumn 2009 • HUM 595B • 1 credit, C/NC
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Seattle Fandango Project: Community Activism Through Art

Shannon Dudley (Music)
Roberto Gonzales (Social Work)

Friday, October 2, 3:30-4:30pm
Friday, October 9, 3:30-5:30pm
Friday, November 6, 3:30-5:30pm
Communications 226
Registrar - Time Schedule

Students in this seminar will participate in, document, and help shape the University of Washington’s involvement in the Seattle Fandango Project (SFP), dedicated to community building through participatory music and dance. SFP takes as its original model the fandango celebration of Veracruz, Mexico, in which music, singing, and dancing are used to generate a spirit of convivencia—living/being together—that helps build communication and trust. Since the 1990s, musicians and community organizers in Veracruz and California have expanded the scope of convivencia to build a transnational network of artists and community workers through what has become known as Fandango Sin Fronteras. SFP seeks to draw upon this network and its community-building practices to work for social justice and forge relationships between diverse institutions, communities, and individuals in Washington State.

Seminar participants will attend music/dance workshops and discussions at various community sites during an October residency by the Son de Madera ensemble from Veracruz and will help generate documentation of the project through a variety of methods (observation and description, interviewing, video and audio recording, etc.). Readings will include theoretical considerations of music and social relations, history of the fandango movement, and information about specific social justice projects that seminar participants will learn about and engage with. Seminar activity will be concentrated at the beginning of the quarter, but SFP will continue throughout the 2009-10 academic year and beyond, with the hope that the seminar will lead to sustained involvement by UW students who have an interest in community work through the arts. Student documentation of SFP will also contribute to a digital archive of Northwest music that is being built by the American Music Partnership of Seattle (a collaboration between UW, KEXP radio, and the Experience Music Project).

Students will also be expected to attend a certain number of SFP workshops and events, with some choice and flexibility of schedule.

Concerts:

EMP|SFM All Access Night presents Son De Madera
Thursday, October 1, 2009 ~ 5-8pm
Experience Music Project, 325 5th Avenue N

Final Concert and Fandango
Friday, October 30, 2009 ~ 8pm-2am
The Vera Project, Seattle Center

Discussions and Demonstrations:

Encuentro with Son De Madera, Martha Gonzalez (Women Studies, Quetzal), and Francisco Orozco (Ethnomusicology)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 ~ 7-10pm
Ethnic Cultural Center Theater, 3931 Brooklyn Avenue NE

Son De Madera class visit to Music and American Cultures, MUSIC/AES 446
Monday, October 12, 2009 ~ 1:30-3pm
Music, Brechemin Auditorium

Panel Discussion: Alma en la Tarima/Soul Dancing with Rubi Oseguera Rueda (Son De Madera), Carolina Sarmiento (Son
Del Centro, Santa Ana CA), Martha Gonzalez (Women Studies, Quetzal)
Thursday, October 29, 2009 ~ 7-9pm
Communications 120

Site-based Son Jarocho Workshops with Son de Madera:

University of Washington
Mondays, 6-8pm
September 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26
Music 313

El Centro De La Raza
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 4-6pm
September 22, 24, 29, October 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29
2524 16th Avenue S

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
Wednesdays 3:30-5:30, September 30, 7, 14, 21, 28
Saturdays, 11-2pm, October 3, 10, 17, 24