the 'os' weblog

Chris Macrae wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk
Sat Dec 31 15:45:08 PST 2005


On this one , I'll take Michael's side because I haven't quite understood the 
critics' points yet. It seems to me that most weblogs are rather like books; 
pretty linear; needing an overall editorial viewpoint if they are to develop 
an audience

a more exact statement would be there's room for both open space blogs by an 
established team of people and those that are open open; but if a blog is of 
the first type and has being going for 7 years it will likely have its own 
pattern, and would seem to me rather odd to chnage that

I'm not aware of any book on open space being wriiten by saying whomever comes 
on page 3 is the right page

chris macrae

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>From  Sat Dec 31 19:03:37 2005
Message-Id: <SAT.31.DEC.2005.190337.0500.>
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 19:03:37 -0500
Reply-To: hhowen at verizon.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Organization: HH Owen and Co.
Subject: Re: opening space for the arts
In-Reply-To: <43B6F24D.8080905 at paulbunyan.net>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Pat -- this is a truly remarkable story -- and well worth telling and
re-telling! There is so much learning! And each part of it is precious!! As
for the "budget cuts" -- this may well be opportunity arising out of
necessity. Who says you need State Funds to create (Open) space for the
Arts? Power to the people! Somewhere in the land of Lake Wobegone there is
the space for good work to continue. It only needs to be found. 

Sounds like a great project. :-)?????

Harrison 

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!
hhowen at verizon.net
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html


-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Pat Black
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 4:04 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: opening space for the arts

Thanks for sharing this note from Bill, Harrison.  Hi Bill you rock the
universe.  I have had the privilege of working at the Arts Institute he
referred to in Minnesota.  Bill is an awesome holder of space.  He too as
been known to take a few naps during the AEI week.  I feel transformed every
time I have the good fortune to be present at this event.  The institute
brings artists, educators, arts administrators, non-profit organization and
community members together to address questions about arts education and the
trans formative power of the arts.  The institute has been funded by the
Perpich Center for Arts Education.  This is a state agency created by
legislation.  There is a state wide arts high school that includes boarding
facilities and research and professional development component for the
development of arts education.  Minnesota is the only state with an agency
dedicated to  arts development.   The formation of the question in my
experience has always been a stat!
e wide endeavor. Diane Aldis the coordinator of the institute works with
people throughout the state to develop the inviting question.  She gets
input from all those who work to make the institute happen and some people
have been working this event since the first one 10 years ago.  She uses a
list serve to get input from anyone who has participated in the institute
over its 10 year history as well has meeting with out state groups to
develop the question.  The questions are deep and address complicated
societal issues through art making and talk.  

A couple of years ago the question asked how the arts could be used to
examine perceptions and forge community.  That year the arts created a whole
community of structures out of felted wool and construction debris from
dumpsters that included a sculpture park.  The sculptures from that park are
disbursed from Bemidji to Minneapolis.  In the midst of this art making the
issues that plague the Bemidji community, polarization and racism surfaced
within the institute.  A provocateur showed up to trigger participants race
and gender issues.  It was heated and raw and Bill just held the space
believing the process would bring resolution and it did.  It was watching
Bill handle that time that really dispersed any reservations about the
process.  I knew that the process had the capacity to handle anything
creation could throw at it.  How did Bill handle it?  He just kept saying to
the tears and wounds presented to him that he believed in the process and it
would work it out without!
 intervention on his part.  And it did. We not only had provocateurs
challenge us but a courageous young hoop dancer from Red Lake Nation who was
at the college for a different program ditch that program and joined us in
the creation of the village, the sharing of stories and hoop dancing.  It is
in the art making that much of the talking occurs and what has been
invisible is revealed.  

It has been my experiences at the institute, just 4 years, that gave me my
first experience with OST and lead me instantly to the Practice of Peace.  I
get Bill's association between the 2 because the art happens outside our
normal language armoring.  I think it puts people on the fast track for
revelation and resolution because you never know where the art is going to
take you.  Assumptions are revealed as AHahas and ohhh.  

Unfortunately for the participants who go to the institute every year for
rejuvenation and community, it will not happen due to budget cuts.  But what
has happened over this 10 year period.  A state agency, at least in part,
does not operate as a typical bureaucracy.  That state agency has infected
another, the State Arts Board with open space and they are changing, the
Minneapolis arts non-profits have been infected and they are changing.  OST
has infected the classrooms through teachers and artists who are changed by
open space.  I start all my school residencies with a short 2-4 hour open
space.  The Perpich is pretty good about documenting events and change, they
may be a rich research for OST experiences of long periods of time.  I feel
lucky to be a part of the OST scene here and can see it working its magic,
transforming even state bureaucracies.
pat black
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:46:44 -0500
From:    Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Subject: Opening Space for the Arts

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The following note floated into my inbox as an early New Year's Gift. I
thought you all would enjoy.

=20

Harrison

=20

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!

hhowen at verizon.net

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training  <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> =
www.openspaceworld.com


Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org> =
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com> www.ho-image.com=20

OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the =
archives
Visit:  <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

=20

Harrison:

=20

My name is Bill Cleveland. I have been using OST as a part of my work at =
the
Center for the Study of Art and Community.  Much of this involves cross
sector program design, planning, and network building among artists, =
arts
organizations and other community sectors such as human services, public
safety, education, and community development.  The major focus of this =
work
has been to address the question. =20

=20

How can those involved in the arts and community development work =
together
to create caring and capable communities? =20

=20

As you can imagine this has been fertile ground for OST. I do 10-15 OST
events a year.   One interesting aspect has been the increasing space =
that
has emerged within the OST process for the use of the arts themselves as
tools for communication and making meaning. =20

=20

One event that I have facilitated for the past eight years is a =
gathering of
150-200 artists and educators called the Minnesota Artist/Educator
Institute.  This gathering has a rotating cast of returnees and =
newcomers
who come prepared not only to discuss and debate the best practices in =
arts
education, but also to MAKE ART using OST.   We hold this event, which =
has
been dubbed the "Woodstock of Arts Education", at Bemidji State =
University
about 160 miles north of Minneapolis.  We take over all the arts =
facilities
on campus.  Theaters, dance studios, print making studios, welding =
studios,
clay studios, computer graphics suites .... for FIVE DAYS of 24 hour, =
OST
driven creative insanity.=20

=20

Another interesting creative OST application has resulted in the =
creation of
three theater works produced by Pangea World Theater this past year.  =
This
OST-based theater making process (called the Bridges Project) began with =
a
two day design retreat was convened to produce the creative concepts and
preliminary designs for three Bridges productions. The threshold =
question
that framed the weekend's efforts was.

=20

What stories can we tell together that will provoke new ways of telling?

=20

To accelerate the sharing and growth of these emerging artistic ideas, =
we
employed a slightly modified OST format.  For Bridges, the path from
concepts to production design unfolded in three distinct phases, each of
which was "bridged" by presentations by teams of artists summarizing the
evolution and outcome of their cumulative work in the sessions.=20

=20

Each of the three phases began with a standard OST agenda setting =
exercise.
Through this process each artist was given an opportunity to convene a
discussion on a creative idea, issue or opportunity related to the =
framing
question. For Phase one, seven such discussions were convened on the =
first
morning of the retreat.  This was followed by short reports from each
session to the whole group.  After lunch, five more idea sessions were =
held.
But because the retreat's overall goal was to narrow many creative =
concepts
to three, these sessions necessarily precipitated the =
cross-fertilization
and eventual merging of a number of ideas. Following a second round of
summary reports the full group identified what they felt were the three =
most
promising ideas. It is interesting to note that the emerging concepts
emphasized both new approaches to creative collaboration and artistic
content or storyline. After committing to one of the three, the artists =
then
devoted their final sessions to continued conceptual development and
production specifics such as roles, responsibilities, budget and =
schedule.=20

=20

All three theater have now been produced to critical acclaim in =
Minneapolis
and St. Paul. =20

=20

So, the process you shared a decade ago has taken some interesting =
twists
and turns.  Thanks for the inspiration. =20

=20

I am thinking that these arts-infused OST practices might be an =
interesting
addition to your evolving peace program.  Give it a thought and let me =
know.


=20

Bill

=20

=20

Center for the Study=20
 of Art & Community

=20

4566 Tangleberry Lane N.E.
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

=20

E: bill at artandcommunity.com
P: 206-855-0977
F: 206-855-1895

=20

www.ArtandCommunity.com=20

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>From  Sat Dec 31 19:05:15 2005
Message-Id: <SAT.31.DEC.2005.190515.0500.>
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 19:05:15 -0500
Reply-To: hhowen at verizon.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Organization: HH Owen and Co.
Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Actually -- there is such a "book" -- it is called the Non-User's Guide to
OS. Great book! But the real point is that the "reasons" (which may be
completely valid) have yet to be explained. As in "With a blog -- we need
some ordered creation -- so we (your editors) are trying to make sense out
of what pitches up at the door step." Or something.

Happy New Year!

ho 

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!
hhowen at verizon.net
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html


-----Original Message-----
From: wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk [mailto:wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk] 
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 6:45 PM
To: hhowen at verizon.net
Cc: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog

On this one , I'll take Michael's side because I haven't quite understood
the 
critics' points yet. It seems to me that most weblogs are rather like books;

pretty linear; needing an overall editorial viewpoint if they are to develop

an audience

a more exact statement would be there's room for both open space blogs by an

established team of people and those that are open open; but if a blog is of

the first type and has being going for 7 years it will likely have its own 
pattern, and would seem to me rather odd to chnage that

I'm not aware of any book on open space being wriiten by saying whomever
comes 
on page 3 is the right page

chris macrae

---------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through http://www.easynetdial.co.uk

*
*
==========================================================
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------------------------------
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view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist



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