Tom Block Sparks Arts Activists

Theatre Times Editor Marcina Zaccaria asks Tom Block about what’s it’s like to be in the 7th year of The International Human Rights Art Festival. 

 

MARCINA ZACCARIA: What drew you to become an Artist and an Executive Director?

TOM BLOCK: I started out as a visual artist 35 years ago. I would say that I was just passionately drawn to the practice, and once I started painting, I just felt there was nothing else I could do.

As I began my career, I was not enamored of the idea of art for art’s sake.  There was a lot of contemporary art – I thought it was in the realm of obscure meaningless –  and I was very drawn to more interacting with  the social and political issues of the world, and then I began to move my work in that direction.  The very first major activist project they did in the early 2000s was called the Human Rights Painting Project where I worked with Amnesty International.  I painted prisoners of conscience around the world, and we have had political co-sponsors – we showed non-traditional spaces.

I split the proceeds with Amnesty.  We would have non-art activists and governmental speakers at the openings, and it kind of really opened my eyes to the power of this combination of our social and political leaders, and non-art activists.  It brought a lot of energy and attention to the work, but also, through that work I met a lot of activist artists, and they seem to be kind of siloed in their own communities . . .  their audience was the usual suspects . . .

After doing that my own activist work for about a decade, I got it in my mind to produce a very large festival with Amnesty International called the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival.  Then, we did that outside of DC in 40 venues.  There’s 500 artists from around the world over a weekend.  We did about 200 different events.  It was a vast undertaking, and it was very it was very powerful,  artistically.

I moved to New York, and I wanted to revivify this because I wanted to try it up here because I thought there was such incredible artistic energy.

I met Ellie down at Dixon Place, and she was very supportive of my other projects, and then I asked her if I could produce the first iteration of this Human Rights Art Festival.  Then, in March of 2017, we put it up for a weekend.  That project went very well.  It went so well that a guy that ran The Culture Project.  I don’t know if you’ve heard of him.  His name is  Allan Buchman.  He asked me to co–produce an event at Saint Mary Church on Grand Street in Manhattan in October of 2017.  We were not yet an organization and I put together a program including trans-singer named Maybe Burke and an LGBTQIA improv group called “Thank you for Coming Out”.

Kathleen Turner was presenting a monologue, and then some other acts, and three days before we were going to go up at St. Mary Church, Cardinal Timothy Dolan withdrew the offer.  He banned us because of our trans and LGBTQ content, and then, we moved and opened the same time into the Episcopal Church.

 

 

The New York Times and Crain’s Business and Gay City News and a whole host of publications covered that whole experience of being banned.  The Dramatists Guild helped us to find another venue at Saint Ann’s Church where St. Ann’s Warehouse actually was founded.  So, after those two events and a very strong opening in March, and then a much stronger experience in October, we decided to incorporate and become a nonprofit and make this an ongoing event, because it just seemed like it was doing important work.

MZ: You have assembled an enormous amount of dance professionals, performance artists, playwrights, and spoken word artists.  Over the years, what has it been like to see such a range of artists over many disciplines?

TB: They’re all unified with this same desire which is really what’s so interesting regardless of what media or what their voice is their desires to use their art to address social issues and to further the cause of those Human Rights and Social Justice.  We’re getting better known and receiving more grants we are now connected with an international community through our publishing arm.  We have three offices in Africa, and what you’re seeing is the exact same kind of energy and desire to use the work to fearlessly fight for Human Rights and Social Justice.

MZ: For me, personally, I am choosing to attend the piece about Climate Change.  How are you defining Climate Change, and how have you aligned with artists who are passionate about this topic?

TB: As you can see in general, we highlight a variety of different topics, and then, we connect people within one performance block.  We might be the only country in the world where one of the major parties doesn’t acknowledge that Climate Change is happening. . . .

Last year, we had a piece in Climate Change where humanity was arguing with God about another chance, and these were personified.  You know, the God was an African American woman and Humanity was a White Man, and he was like no you have to give me another chance.  I messed up.  I’m sorry.  We want to take the widest angle possible on all these issues, so it’s anything that can talk about these issues in a personal, novel, fresh, creative, and, you know, artistically powerful manner . . .

We don’t have any ideology, per se, we’re just trying to give people a platform and let them tell their story in their voice.

MZ: I want to ask a follow up here about oppositional alignment, and how you’re coordinating that in our in our current moment.  I want to hear more about alignment.  How have you aligned with these artists?

TB: I have three offices in Africa.  One is in Zimbabwe.  One is in Cameroon, and one is in Nigeria.  The directors of each of those offices is a passionate, and well-known African activists.

In those cases, those are three writers who are re deeply embedded in the African community and you might call them African social artistic influencers through their own social media work, so they know we have a very clear value system which is beauty as a fundamental creative value – no minimalist or conceptual work.

We believe the beauty is the way you reach the viewer – sincerity and vulnerability and presentation so these are stories told from one person’s point of view.  It is not that  someone writing about how bad or evil a certain government is or certain person is –  it’s about their experience, perhaps,  with that person.  A celebration of diversity which means we don’t have to look for diversity – we’re so naturally and organically diverse, but we just celebrate the fact that everybody is so different, and yet, we’re all connecting our artists are all connecting in the same place of the spirit and create sympathy and then opening doorways of engagement, which means no anger, no finger pointing which can be problematic.

We do not do oppositional activism.  We are vulnerable and sincere, but not oppositional, because that closes doorways.  We want to open doorways of engagement.

MZ: Is dance a type of writing to you, and if so, how?

TB: OK, I love dance.  And you can see that by the fact that we are often overweight by dance in our Festivals.  I’m a painter and I have done blind-contour drawings – that process is when you sit and you only look at what you’re drawing – you do not look at the paper.

I have found through that process to expand my awareness of connectivity, my awareness of really looking at things –  my awareness of how I understand things, and I have found bands to be the physical manifestation of that kind of drawing, like dance, for me, as a drawing come to life.  So, that’s a very personal response, and asked to find that dance has a very strong access to the emotion of the viewers.

Literary work we find in our head, but dance we feel in our bodies.

MZ: Will other organizations that specialize in International Human Rights will show up at the Festival?

TB: We have a growing international group of organizations we work with, mostly around artists at risk.  Because of our growing visibility, I get an e-mail from an artists almost every week from Afghanistan, Morocco, Iran, Nepal, artists who are literally on the run in Uganda.  They need immediate resources and help, so I have been building a series of organizations I can connect them to and get them help.  We don’t yet have the ability ourselves to do direct action grants – that is on our short list of things again, since it is out of bounds of the Festival.  It does explain the kind of connections and organizational relationships that we are building.  In terms of the Festival itself, we are a New York based organization.

We’re working this year with ArteEast, which is an arts and Middle East organization.  For applications, we reach out to them on email, social media, newsletters and what not.  We haven’t made a direct connection, but there might be Human Rights Watch evening or something.  Internationally, we have a growing network, and in New York, we have largely arts organizations that are working with us.

MZ: Tell us what else is involved in your preparations before opening.  It’s December 8th, right?

TB: We’re in the final push here.  We’ll be moving into tech rehearsals.  We do 55 tech rehearsals, so the team is there from 11:00am in the morning till 6:00pm at night, running 30 minute techs all week.

And then, at 7:00pm, they are producing one or two performance blocks.  It will be busy.  They’re getting all their final intake forms and techniques together.  Our Stage Manager will be putting together the transitions.  It’s a pretty tight presentation, and I hope that’s what you’ll see.  Because, it happens in the moment, these are very tight events.

We are connecting to the current political moment, and we haven’t changed our approach, at all.

 

The International Human Rights Art Movement has performances for their 7th Annual International Human Rights Art Festival, the largest human rights art festival in New York City, from December 8-14 at The Tank, located at 312 W 36th Street in New York City.

 

Following is a listing of performances:

Monday, December 8 at 7pm

Ten Minute Play Festival

Featuring Extensions by Karen Campion, MAKING FOOTBALL GREAT AGAIN by Steven Gaynor, Pearls Don’t Grow Perfect by Madeleine Yu-Phelps, Na « Նա » by Lightning House Players, Cain’s Garden by Grayson May, A CALL TO ARMS by Donna Sisco, and The Reenactment by Jesser Horowitz. 73 min

Tuesday, December 9 at 7pm 

Celebration of Women’s Power

Featuring Desire Path by Valkyrie Yao | Residual Altar (VIA), Father, I’m Not a Sinner by Alyssa Borelli, Sundara Natarajam by Arohi Dandawate and the Kritya Ensemble, and The Sad Woman (working title) by Molly Shayna Cohen. 65 min

Wednesday, December 10 at 7pm

Celebration of LGBTQIA+

Featuring By Chance by teatro oscuro, Het Crimes by Leif Larson, Permission by Margaux Pernin/ Map Coalition, and The Body of Christ by Jo Ratnik & Colleen Morgen. 55 min

Wednesday, December 10 at 8:30pm

We Wear the Sky

Curated by WADE Dance

We Wear the Sky is a vibrant celebration of boundless identity, personal freedom, and collective pride. It features choreographic works that explore the limitless spectrum of self-expression, where every individual is invited to wear their identity like the sky—expansive, beautiful, and deeply personal. As the sky connects us all, so too does this evening of movement invite us to honor our truth, stand in community, and reflect the radiant diversity of who we are and who we are becoming. Featuring Redundance by Dylan Richmond and short pieces by Maggie Joy + Corinne Lohner, Jay Beardsley, and Rylan Joenk. 70 min

Thursday, December 11 at 7pm

Celebration of Immigration

Featuring In the same world by VoxArt Lab Productions/ Gaston Leguizamon, Excavating My Family by Malini Singh McDonald from Theatre Beyond Broadway, Token by Dacyl Acevedo and a short dance piece by Groove With Me. 60 min

Thursday, December 11 at 8:30pm

Beneath the Baobab: Seeds of Sankofa

Curated by Taiwo Aloba

Featuring JAJA of OPOBO by Taiwo Aloba + African Theater Troupe, Makinu Ma Kongo by Andoche Loubaki & the Mfouambila Kongo Dance Company, Son of the Soil of Alkebulan by PitsiRa YaMabala, and Mother Tongue by Justin Lokossou. 70 min

Friday, December 12 at 7pm 

Climate Change Action

Featuring Pando (excerpt) by DoubleTake Dance, High Water line by Victoria Z Daily/ Lorenza Bernasconi, Plastick by Henry Alper & Din Klein, and Nature’s Secret by Ongama Mhlontlo. 55 min

Conjuring Mythologies

Curated by ArteEast

Friday, December 12 at 8:30pm

A night celebrating the Middle East and its artists featuring pieces by Levon Kafafian, Shiraz Fazli, Hind Shoufani/ Timothy Cleary, and Niki Afsar. 70 min

Saturday, December 13 at 3pm 

Gender, Sexuality, and Queerness through the Dancing Body

Curated by Mare Nostrum Element

Featuring Velvet Pistol by Emily Tarrier and Emory Ferra Campbell, I’m Not Wrong & Neither Am I by Heather Dutton and Middle Child Dance Theatre, and a short dance piece by cherographer Ke’Ron Williams followed by a Q&A about their method and classes. 70 min

Saturday, December 13 at 7pm 

Celebration of Human Rights

Featuring Tales & Tunes of Tamazgha by Nora Gharyéni, I Got The Role by Jessica W. Bonds, Good Women by Cate Wiley, BLACK IN THE FIRST DEGREE by Reginald T. Jackson, and an untitled piece by Sepehr Pirasteh & Giancarlo Latta. 75 min

Sunday, December 14 at 3pm 

Protest, Passion, Power

Featuring Pause by Owen Valentine & Ayana Wild, Alala & The Scarman by Vick Liu & Silma Sierra Berrada, A Troubling State by Oscar Sanders, Say Something by Nicholas Bompart & Bompart Productions, PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS: “Ode to Eno Peeing in Duchamps Urinal,” “Mother’s Milk,” and “Licking the Wound.” by Screaming Mimes Theater, and JESUS AND GEORGE MICHAEL by Poppy Louise Miller. 76 min

Sunday December 14 at 7pm 

Short Performance Festival

Featuring I Am Ophelia by Shyla Idris, Live Birth in the Cactus Farm: Featuring Nicholas Cage by Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation/ Trans Agenda Presents, THESE WORDS by Laura Coe and Liv Butowsky, Saturday’s Child by Brynn Hambley, Love Life by Gabriella Arianna, and Singing Through Space by Redshirts Musical Improv. 82 min

For more details, visit https://thetanknyc.org.