Friday night’s event, a part of the International Arts Movement’s Encounter ’09: Art In Action, was a night meant to enrich and re-humanize. Featuring a reading from Billy Collins and a jazz performance from Helen Sung and her band, the evening opened with a speech from International Arts Movement (IAM) founder, Makoto Fujimura, who urged attendees to pursue the “gratuitous benevolence” of art, erasing the conception of art as a commodity and re-establishing it as a gift.
Fujimura spoke of fifteenth century Japanese tea master, Sen no Rikyu, who believed that art played a significant role in the everyday lives of ordinary people. According to Fujimura, “He did not advance tea, but brought it back to its most basic essence… the old things are passing away, and the new has yet to come.” As the evening was meant to show, this “new” entails an advent of artistic endeavors, calling on humanity’s duty to create from the ashes – an especially poignant calling since the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, where the events unfolded, is quite close to the 9/11 memorial, which Fujimura repeatedly referenced.
As Public Relations Coordinator Christy Tennant summarized, IAM is “a non-profit arts organization that promotes cultural artifacts, which promote goodness, truth, and beauty.” Fujimura founded the movement eighteen years ago when he traveled to the Philippines to do humanitarian work. Since he could only bring one suitcase, Fujimura filled it with artwork instead of clothes and set up an impromptu exhibit in his hotel. People were drawn to the beauty of the art, leading him to the realization that more of humanity should be exposed to good and beautiful art – including the visual, musical, and written, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment.
Thus, the group hosts a yearly Encounter for artists of different media to come together. As Tennant argues, “Artists need to learn from each other and be inspired… Painters should read literary journals, and musicians should spend time in art museums… We can’t just rely on what’s inside of ourselves; we need to seek inspiration from outside sources.”
Thus, this year’s Encounter, meant to inspire participants to use their art for good around the world, invited Billy Collins, former United States Poet Laureate, to read from his work. Tennant explains, “We love seeing good art and good literature celebrated, and poetry is something that used to be really popular in our country. Now, I would challenge anybody to name the current Poet Laureate.” IAM sees Collins as a poet who has brought poetry back in a lot of ways – mainly due to the highly accessible and human nature of his poetry.
Thus, the evening blended philosophy, jazz, and poetry, moving from Fujimura’s speech on the glories of art and the duties of artists to a jazz performance by Helen Sung and accompanists, who blended poetry and music. Finally, the night concluded with a reading from Billy Collins, who shared poetry and anecdotes in his affable voice. As Collins joked, “The subject of poetry is basically death… if you’ve been to college and majored in English, you know that you probably majored in death.” Yet, for Collins, even death can produce a funny poem.
Overall, though, the evening was a great success, urging listeners, as Tennant summarizes, “to go home and make art, or poetry, or dances, or books, or whatever that will serve to re-humanize the world.”
Students can get involved with the International Arts Movement by joining their group on Facebook or visiting their website at http://www.internationalartsmovement.org.
