Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center and C.S.1 Curatorial Projects is organizing it’s third Humanities New York Reading & Discussion Program entitled “American Politics & Community Today” for six sessions from February 25 to March 31, 2020, on Tuesday evenings (and one Friday) from 6:00 to 8:00pm. Artist, writer, poet, performer, and NY Public Humanities Fellow Annette Daniels Taylor will be facilitating this discussion.

What does it mean to be an American in the 21st century? What does a model American do, and what responsibilities do Americans have to their communities and each other? How have the answers to these questions changed over the history of the United States? The participants in the reading and discussion program "American Politics and Community Today" will engage with these questions and others regarding politics and the current state of civic thought, feeling, and participation. This series, part of the NEH funded “Democracy in Dialogue,” was created by The University of Chicago’s Ken Warren.

Funded by Humanities New York this program encourages friends, colleagues, and strangers to “make time for thinking deeply about a single idea from a variety of perspectives, allowing texts to become catalysts for civic engagement, cultural understanding, and personal reflection.”

Fill out this registration form or email Claire@cs1projects.org confirm of your participation. This discussion is intimate and can accommodate about 15 people.

Readings Will Include Selections From:

The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison 

These essays by the author of Invisible Man reflect on race, literature, music, and the experience and contradictions of living in America during the 20th century. 

Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v. Board of Education

Danielle Allen looks at the current condition of civic distrust in America, tracing it back to school integration in the 1950s, and suggests practical ways that Americans can begin to overcome the issues that divide them

Between Past and Future

This collection of essays by celebrated philosopher Hannah Arendt investigates a series of concepts — authority, freedom, education, and more — and explains their significance to our political life.

PLEASE NOTE: The program is FREE and loaner books will be provided. We can also help facilitate rides as needed.

Meeting Times and Locations

Tuesdays (and one Friday) from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

• Tues., Feb.  25 - Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave., Buffalo, NY 14208

• Tues., Mar. 3 – Community Action Organization of WNY, 1423 Fillmore Ave., Buffalo, NY 14211

• Tues., Mar. 10 – Mirabo Press, 11 Botsford Pl, Buffalo, NY 14216

• Friday, March 20 – Albright-Knox Northland – 612 Northland Ave., Buffalo, NY 14211

• Tues., Mar. 24 - TBD

• Tues., Mar. 31 – Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202

We are purposely working to meet in different Buffalo locations / neighborhoods as a means to know our city better.

Discussion Facilitator – Annette Daniels Taylor

Annette Daniels Taylor, an award winning playwright, poet and artist-filmmaker. Her debut YA novel, Dreams on Fire (October 2018) with West 44 books is an poetic urban teenage journey written in verse.The author of two poetry chapbooks, Street Pharmacist; and Hush now, Annette's work explores identity, class, memory, place, and public history. Daniels Taylor is a New York State Public Humanities fellow.

This Reading & Discussion Series grew out of planning around Nick Cave –The Let Go: A Citywide Celebration of Buffalo, the vision of the Chicago based artist best known for his Soundsuits, “to introduce Buffalo to Buffalo” via collaborative interactive performance. For The Let Go, Cave creates a dance-based town hall—part installation, part performance—to which the community of Buffalo is invited to “let go” and speak their minds through movement, work out frustrations, and celebrate independence as well as community. The space allows for social gatherings and is activated by “Chase,” a multi-colored, mylar sculpture that glides across the dance floor. September 2021.