Occupennial Update, November 7

Week in Review:
Over the past week Sally has been working on a draft for an outreach letter that will be widely distributed through artist/art-org networks in the NYC area asking for volunteers to work on the Occupennial website as admins on team-task production for populating the databases and the content areas of Occupennial.org. The next phase immediately following our staffing measures (and to some degree simultaneous with it) will involve actually adding Occupant art content to all the areas of our website. Yaelle will be presenting the ready-to-vet iteration of the letter at tonight's Occupennial meeting at 6PM at 60 Wall St.

Also noteworthy is the Occupennial's inaugural project, the storefront installation at Printed Matter, which launched over the weekend in the Chelsea PM location. Kudos to Adrian for coordinating the expo with Max Schumann of PM, Occupy artists and Colab alumni. We will post photos as soon as they come in.

The forms feature of Occupennial, facilitating direct communications from artist wishing to participate in AC/Occupennial art actions/website functions has launched (thanks Monty), and the Performance Guild was the first (and only, so far) to submit a proposal form, which has been posted on the Occupennial site, here: http://www.occupennial.org/performance-guild/ .. Please, Guild folk, use this opportunity to send us a brief introductory/contact form for artists/arts activists who want to get involved, so we can immediately do our part to streamline the processing of inquiries.

The Occupennial calendar has been abandoned in favor of a direct link to NYCGA's event calendar. All are encouraged to populate the NYCGA calendar with AC-originating actions/events. Contact Antonio to do so.

Over the past couple weeks we've been staying aware of the ever-changing topology of Liberty Square/#OWS. The winterizing measures happening have dramatically altered the environment at the movement epicenter. Art has taken a back seat to preparations to make the protest site safe for occupants. A number of expositions focused on the occupation have engendered wide-ranging discussions about how best to proceed, with Occupennial, Arts & Culture, the NYCGA website and more. Occupennial has generated several proposals that are in process, that were temporarily tabled while we considered the emerging inter-group relationships and structures.

These proposals include:

• - OWS/Low Lives
• - Wall Exhibition (Madrid)
• - Line of Sight
• - Eviction
• - The 99% Artist March
• - Artist-led tours at Liberty Square

At tonight's meeting we'll give updates on the status of these projects, and what are next steps will be in their actualization.

Monty Stilson has been developing the Occupennial photo project offline for the past week, after having completed a restructuring of that area last weekend. He will be at the meeting tonight to discuss the new gallery set-up, Occupeyes.org and the Occupeyes Facebook page, and his findings emerging from research done to survey what photographers of the now-global occupation have been doing with their images, and our vision to make Occupennial the clearinghouse/database archive for occupant photography. He has proposed that we create an Occupennial business card with the contact info for the website/admin, that we can distribute when we're out and about at marches, openings and other Occupy-related activities. It's a great idea and perfect timing for our outreach campaign!

Chris Reitz has just completed writing/uploading the introductory entry to our new Occupennial Art History section, which is visible here: http://www.occupennial.org/occupant-ah-journal/ .. We are still refining the formatting a bit. Alan W. Moore contacted Chris and, judging from his initial rough-note, this area of our site shows tremendous promise for generating an art-historical context-based conversation on #OWS, in art historical terms.

In a response to Blithe Riley's efforts to start the already amazing Art & Labor working group, Occupennial is contemplating how we can create an area for databasing relevant info for those of us focused on art-as-occupation issues. Yaelle and I discussed folding Art History/Art & Labor/99% Art Models into a new zine format. We'll discuss that at the meetings, as well.

In case you haven't noticed -- She's a subtle operator -- Yaelle has made some more structural tweaks to the site layout over the past few days, to highlight/prioritize sections that are getting the most usage. We have a bit of a back-up of submitted content, but hopefully by the end of this week, we'll be all caught up.

The primary agenda for tonight's meeting will include the following points of discussion:

• -defining the occupennial as a post- sept 17 database/community of artists.
• -the new outreach letter (!)
• -Monty will present on the Occupennial photo section
• -how to populate the nycga calendar
• -how proposals are streamlined
• -occupennial group supporting autonomous projects

Again, please take the time to contribute to the content-sections of your Occupennial website. If you would like to/have the time to work on a section you're enthusiastic about, please let us know!

Guess that's it for now,
best,
p


[PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO YOUR LISTS/CONTACTS/NETWORKS!!!!!!]
The Occupennial Outreach Letter:

Calling all creative activists! The Wall Street Occupennial seeks enthusiastic participants to work with artists producing projects, performances, and actions within the #Occupywallstreet movement. Artists who already have a project in mind, but NEED participants/assistance, this call is for you too!

The Wall Street Occupennial, a working group of the Arts and Culture Committee, is an urgent call for artists to contribute to the ongoing #OccupyWallStreet (#OWS) movement in New York City and beyond. The Occupennial database (www.occupennial.org) serves to document and archive ongoing artist efforts that are in solidarity with the movement in Zuccotti park, as well as nationally and internationally. It also hosts a forum on 99% and occupation art, lists available spaces and resources, and strives to connect like minded and creative people together to build momentum and really make things happen!

Like the movement as a whole, many of the projects being developed cannot become a reality or be sustained at the hand of one person working alone. It has also become clear in the weeks since the occupation began, that a number of individuals, groups, classes, etc want to join in the movement, especially through creative actions, but are unsure of how to get involved in a movement that is already so developed.

If you are someone who would like to participate in the movement through creative action please reply immediately to occupennial.volunteers@gmail.com with the information requested below and The Wall Street Occupennial will connect you to an artist or team of artists that need your help!

1. Your name and contact information (email and telephone number)

2. Days/times you are available to volunteer.
[This could be more general availability like: Mondays and Thursdays from 1-6 PM, or more specific: Monday 11/7 from 4-10PM, Thursday 11/10 from 3-7 PM, and Friday 11/18 all day. You can be as open or specific as your schedule allows, but keep in mind that the more flexible you are, the more likely we will be able to link you up with a project. If you do not hear from us immediately, don't worry, more and more artists are coming to us every day and that means soon there will be no shortage of projects to dive into!]

3. (Optional) Specific skills/resources you have to offer a project and/or types of projects you are most excited about working on (see www.occupennial.org for examples of all the incredible projects that have happened so far.)

**If you are an artist in need of volunteers/participants to make your project happen:**

Send us a description of your idea, any applicable supporting imagery, and as much information as you have and we will work to connect you with volunteers to help you make it happen! If you have a specific date/time in mind for your project to happen, we will work to find participants for that date, but even better, if you are flexible with the timing, we can direct you to a time that already has a group of eager participants lined up and ready to go!

Please send all replies and inquiries to: occupennial.volunteers@gmail.com

The time is now. We can't wait to meet you!