Dance

Crossing Borders and Boundaries was the theme of the GFE Conference in 2007, and shortly after the GFE and GIA conferences and the Arts and Education Weekend, I left for a trip to Asia including visits to Thailand, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. The GFE conference underscored the fact that one of the most important skills needed now is to be globally literate, which is pretty much being neglected in schools at the moment.

According to some, "the word twain has its origin in the Old English twegen, meaning two. The phrase never the twain shall meet was used by Rudyard Kipling, in his Barrack-room ballads, 1892: 'Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.'" Kipling uses a colonial lens to bemoan the lack of commonality and accord between the British and the indigenous East Indian. Until my recent trip to New Mexico I often felt that same lack of accord between arts funders and education funders.

When funders move into indigenous communities they tread a very fine line. On one side of the line they have a duty to undertake sufficient investigation to ensure that they properly understand a funding request and their own role in relation to it. On the other side, obtaining the information may conflict with the ability to acknowledge and give appropriate respect to the applicant's indigenous culture and its bounds.

2007, 16 pages. Washington State Arts Commission, 711 Capitol Way, Suite 600, PO Box 42675, Olympia, WA 98504, 360-753-3860, www.arts.wa.gov

Download pdf: www.arts.wa.gov

The Washington State Arts Participation Initiative (API) was established in 2002, and provided fifteen model organizations around the state with modest multi-year grants designed to strengthen participation in the arts. Those chosen were all serving underserved communities

2007, 19 pages. Dance USA, 1111 16th St NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, www.danceusa.org