The Animating Democracy Initiative, a program of Americans for the Arts funded by the Ford Foundation, explores compelling ways that cultural organizations and artists can contribute to public discourse and stimulate meaningful civic dialogue about important issues of our time.

Five Monday morning sessions present provocative arts-based civic dialogue projects funded by the Animating Democracy Lab as well as others. Each session features artistic work and an interactive experience or demonstration designed to illuminate the potential, challenges, practices, and issues inherent in linking the arts and civic dialogue.

Among the sessions, see an excerpt of Flint Youth Theatre's recent play, My Soul to Take, about school violence and participate in process drama as a technique for public dialogue. Experience Urban Bush Women's Hair Stories, alternating performance and conversation about the politics of hair and issues of race, class, and assimilation.

See SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) demonstrate how it is harnessing the vast potential of the internet as a space for the public's creative ideas and dialogue in designing Great Wall mural images portraying the last four decades of the 20th century.

See the pARTicipate2001 web site for details on these and other Monday sessions.