Cultural Exchange

“It is not our differences that divide us, It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences” -Audre Lorde

We work towards making Cultural differences into Cultural Harmony through Cultural Exchange programs.

While exploring Cultural clues that promote Sustainability.

Though Every Culture eventually evolves,

it is now broadly influenced by Global impact.

Globalization can be a boon,

it need not be Monoculture irony.

For in diversity is the beauty

and possibility of

Cultural Harmony

Cultural clues that are Life supporting and so are worth retaining for future generations, are worth investing time for.

We explore Cultural clues that promote Sustainability.

This section is not frequently updated. For ongoing Projects 2023 check here

We are thankful to all our collaborators and supporters for helping us materialize Cultural Exchange programs.

As part of E2Re Collaborative Fall project, we will celebrate Arts and Humanities Month with Eco-Culture-Arts inclusive projects.

‘Contemporary look at the Classics’ a Cultural in-person event at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures was part of our ‘Art with Museums’ project that began from Environmental Day 2022.

Find more details and lineup of participants below. We are thankful to Beth Watkins for helping materialize this project, to Kim Sanford for her help and support organizing the event. Thanks to Luciana Rezende, Eric Benson, Dr Sowmya Anand, Mrs Linda Thiele, Ms Janice Wu, Siddhesh Kudale, Kuldeepa VM for helping coordinate with their respective groups. Special Thanks to Spurlock Museum for hosting this event.

Following are small video excerpts of respective Featured groups:-

www.urbanafineartscenter.com - https://youtu.be/LgWW-S7yrZ0

spicmacay Illinois- https://youtu.be/639eJ9myrbA

Subhalakshmi Kumar group- https://youtu.be/G_tlHjD7ppo

the Wu Family- https://youtu.be/E0XgHCEVyXY

4-H Youth- Illinois Extension- https://youtu.be/6RUGJOKom1c

www.freshpress.studio- https://youtu.be/TaW4mnpjubo

Ascend Art360- Co-Host

We are grateful to Museum of the Grand Prairie

for including their Fabric repurposing event- REPAIR IT AND RE-WEAR IT! as part of E2Re project.

HOMESCHOOL AMERICA RECYCLES DAY: REPAIR IT AND RE-WEAR IT! on Friday, November 18

We are Thankful to Katie Snyder from CCFPD for the collaborations and for her support in planning this project.

Timeline: for E2Re Collaborative Fall events-

- October (Art and Humanities month): Project resumes.

1 OCt- 22 Oct- ‘Learning while Recycling’ call for creative entries from youth groups. Due date 22 October.

1 Oct starts ‘Upcycle a map’ Art competition hosted by PACA

15 Oct. to 15 Nov. ‘Architreasures’ Scavenger hunt by PACA

9 Oct., 13 Nov. - ‘Spurlock Sundays’ Crafts at Museum

- 29 October: Cultural event at Spurlock Museum

- 5 November: ‘America Recycles’ with Urbana Park District

- 18, 19 November : Creative Activities at The Museum of Grand Prairie

15 November Open house- PACA

- November: possible display/ exhibition of artworks at the IDEA store

Collaborators:-

Spurlock Museum , The Museum of grand Prairie , Urbana Park district, IDEA store, PACA, Ascend Art360

Thanks to Shannon Percoco and Kuldeepa VM for helping coordinate with respective groups.

E2Re project aims to bring together groups from Community, Campus and youth groups on a creative Eco-Culture-Arts platform.

Visit to the Museums was an educational experience! Observing, Discussing, Sketching made it a more intentional visit to study artifacts and its background.

Sketching the Designs. on Artifacts at Spurlock Museum.

Sketching and wondering the mechanics of water Hand Pump at the Museum of Grand Prairie.

As part of E2E2Re Eco-Culture-Arts projects, visits to museums resumed starting Environmental day 2022 and included discussions, sketching, play and learn. The project will culminate into E2Re Collaborative Fall events mentioned below.

E2Re project aims to bring together groups from Community, Campus and youth groups on a creative Eco-Culture-Arts platform. Join us with your Cultural spirit and enthusiasm!

‘A Contemporary look at Classics’ will be hosted at Spurlock Museum on 29 October, and is part of the Arts and humanities Month detailslinked here. and Participant’s Bio in blocks below.
Spurlock Sundays’ Crafts at the Museum on 9 October.
AMERICA RECYCLES DAY: REPAIR IT AND RE-WEAR IT!’ will be hosted by Museum of the Grand Prairie on 18 and 19 November. More details can be found in the block below.
A Fabric exhibit that included artworks inspired by Museums is on at the Asian American Cultural Center from 15 August to 30 September 2022. More about the exhibit- ‘Fabrics of India on Silk Road’ here.
Spurlock Sundays’ Crafts at the Museum on 13 November.

Museums are a historic and cultural treasures that could be crucial learning spaces for present times! The Artifacts convey to us the many creative aspect of lifestyles from various past cultures.. They also present clues of sustainability from the past and carry the stories of wisdom that could be relevant to present times.

Can we explore these clues relating it to our present times? Can we create something new inspired by the relics? Can we express it through our medium of Arts?

Checkout Earthday 2021 Eco-Culture virtual event with Beth Watkins from Spurlock Museum and community Members.

Join us locally for in-person visits to Museums starting July 2022. Fill the form to join, here.

It is delightful to have diverse groups for our celebrations. One realises, Earth is not just Mud and Crust, each of us make it, create it!

A Language-Culture project.

‘Lingo, Languages, Dialects’ Celebrating CU’S (Champaign Urbana, IL) Linguistic diversity.

The United Nations celebrates Mother-Language Day on 21 February. We take this opportunity to resume our Language-Arts project that aims to explore our Linguistic origins and their respective Cultures through inter-generational dialogues and celebrate it through Arts. We are Thankful to The International and Area Studies Library, UIUC. for their valued collaboration.

Our first event included an exhibit showcasing Language Arts at **IAS UIUC Library** from 16 March through 30 April 2022 and a **virtual meet on 27 March** with artists and guest presentations.
We are grateful to Mara Thacker from IAS Library for the cooperation and support throughout this project. Many Thanks to Dr Atoma Batoma, Dr Sowmya Anand, Dr Yu Wang, Mrs Tracy, Phillip Nyman, Alice Sinzato and Leonardo Ventura for being our guest with their respective groups.
This project is ongoing and might culminate in the Fall Cultural events with Museums. We welcome talks/ Performances/ meetups that cater to the aim of this project.

Bios: Guest exhibitors and speakers for Lingo, Language and Dialect.

Dr. Atoma Batoma is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently African Studies Librarian in the International and Area Studies Library. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Liege in Belgium, and a MS in Library and information science from the UIU Graduate School of Library and Information science. He has published several articles in the area of onomastic science, including articles on the naming system and practices of the Kabye of Northern Togo.

He speaks Kabye, his mother tongue and several other languages including; French, English, German, some Swahili, and currently learning Spanish with passion and intensity.

Dr. Yu Wang - Dr. Yu (Ian) Wang’s art interest started in 1983 when he graduated from the West China University of Medical Sciences and carried out his first major field research on social and cultural factors of the Li Su people’s health in south west China.Since 1998 Dr. Wang has been serving on the Board of Directors of the SpurlockMuseum and as the curator of East Asian Galleries of the museum. With two masters, one MD and one Ph.D. degrees, Dr. Wang is a scientist and also an artist, a university museum curator, an art lover/promoter and a serious art collector for more than 30 years. In recent years Dr. Wang wrote and published 3 art books.

He is currently the Director/Manager of Champaign Chinese Magazine Editorial Board.

Mohan Kaur Tracy was born and grew up in Malaysia. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and an M.A., also in History, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1967, she married David Tracy, a Peace Corps volunteer, and moved to the United States. She has worked as a school teacher in Malaysia and England and at the University Library in Madison.

Mohan and David moved to Champaign in 2012 to be closer to their son’s family, when Mohan discovered the joy of fabric Quilting. Since then she has exhibited in several Art Shows and was one of the 12 artists chosen to display her Kite mobile sculpture, “Waiting to Fly”, in the 2021 ARTdoors program. She is enjoying her time here with family and joyfully keeping busy with her art.

Bloco Gavião Music group is a community samba group working in coordination with the Capoeira Angola Center IL and Contramestre Denis Chiaramonte as well as the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music.

we have served over 400 people from the CU community, giving them hands-on experience with musical arrangements inspired by the richness of the Afro-Brazilian cultural diaspora. Our goal for our work in the community is to share 'axé' a Yoruba word which we translate as 'the energy that gives life.'

Dr Sowmya Anand: Presenting- The Hindi Study Group- The goal of the informal Hindi language group is to help children to develop reading, writing and speaking competencies in Hindi. The group was organized many years ago by an interested parent and over the years community members have picked up the baton to keep it going, And, even today, the people who lead the class are parent volunteers. The group meets every week on Sundays; in each session, typically an hour long, children learn to write Hindi letters and words, grow their hindi vocabulary, and are encouraged to speak in Hindi. The class is small and informal and we welcome the addition of new members.

Philip Nyman - Puzzle Designer- I’ve had a lifelong interest in arts, crafts, and especially puzzles. In 1982 I came to the U of I as a PhD student in Physics after receiving a Master’s degree in Physics and Mathematics from the U of Wisconsin - Madison. While conducting research, I also completed the Master Gardener program and designed the first formal garden for the new Cooperative Extension ‘Idea Garden’.

I’m a member of Mensa and the ISPE. My collection of over 2000 puzzles includes many three-dimensional wood, metal, and plastic creations as well as jigsaws, games and books.

Mara Thacker is the South Asian Studies and Global Popular Culture Librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As an associate professor, she has cultivated a research agenda on trends in area studies librarianship with a focus on distinctive collections, and public engagement. Mara’s work to build and market one of the largest collections of South Asian comics in a North American research library contributed to her receiving the 2017 Library Journal Movers & Shakers award. Mara is also one of the founders and editors-in-chief of the Journal of Library Outreach and Engagement.

Alice Yumi Sinzato is a Brazilian artist based in Urbana. She works in a variety of media, from sculptures and clothing to collages, drawings and paintings. Alice explores themes of aesthetics, culture and identity, body and space. In her work, Alice combines her Brazilian identity with her Japanese heritage, developing her own artistic sensibility through the combination of these two cultures.

This event was a synchronious collaboration between artist friends. It represented the vibrant Art groups of Champaign Urbana and its multi-cultural community! Some event excerpts on the link below-

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRx2TLHW7oP5L_Tcty_7KemxTcejx4-BF

Artists participating in Cultural Exchange for Boneyard Fest 2021

Bao Bui, Nazanine Agassi, Michael Roughton, Michael Sherfield, Tania Arazi Coambs, Augusto Espiritu, Tesfaye Wolde-Medhin, Mohan Tracy, Harshal Jagdale