1. (and only) write a letter to your county commissioner immediately! (disclaimer: this is not a call to action)

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Commissioner (Insert Last Name Here)

(Potential first sentence for the letter sent to the Commissioner for the district in which you live/vote:) I am writing to you, my elected representative to the County Commission, to let you know of my deep and abiding concern as a resident and voter regarding the County’s FY2009/10 budget.
(Potential first sentence for letters sent to all other County Commissioners:) There are critical issues affecting the County’s arts and cultural support for which we need your help.

The Mayor’s proposed budget cut to the Department of Cultural Affairs is intolerable.

While we understand the need to prune the County’s operational budget to fill the large budget gap, we ask that you seriously look at the entire budget and ask yourself how shortsighted it would be to lose important support of the cultural community. Consider the millions of dollars the arts generate each year which would be lost in these reductions. The County’s economic impact of the arts study, released last year by the Department of Cultural Affairs, demonstrates that every $1 dollar of County arts funding invested leverages $27 of other private and public funds. This return on investment is remarkable evidence of the effective and worthwhile use of public funds. While $3.5 million is comparatively little in the context of the County’s target for overall budget reduction, it is an enormous portion of the County’s investment in its cultural life. Cutting these funds will have devastating, ripple effects across the various other funding sources that the County’s support helps to generate.

Annually, Miami-Dade’s arts industry generates nearly $1 billion in local economic impact, employs roughly 23,000 people full-time, and, in addition, receives the contributed skills and time of 19,000 arts volunteers. Thousands of jobs will be lost if these cuts are kept in place.

County government’s leadership and investment in the arts and culture has contributed directly to our community beginning to realize its goal of becoming one of the world’s most exciting cultural destinations. The proposed draconian cuts to the Department of Cultural Affairs will disrupt the cultural growth of our community and will cripple our efforts to attain our ambitions to attract business, tourism and citizens who are proud to call Miami-Dade County a true leader in arts and culture.

Thank you for your past support and for recognizing the value, importance and far-reaching benefits of building a great cultural life for our community. I strongly urge you to vote to continue current support for the arts and the budget of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

Sincerely,
Your Name

Who is your Commissioner? Click here to find out

Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners:
District 1
Barbara J. Jordan
305-375-5694
District1@miamidade.gov

District 2
Dorrin D. Rolle
305-375-4833
BMORRIS2@miamidade.gov

District 3
Audrey M. Edmonson
305-375-5393
District3@miamidade.gov

District 4
Sally A. Heyman
305-375-5128
District4@miamidade.gov

District 5
Bruno A. Barreiro
305-643-8525
District5@miamidade.gov

District 6
Rebeca Sosa
305-375-5696
District6@miamidade.gov

District 7
Carlos A. Gimenez
305-375-5680
District7@miamidade.gov

District 8
Katy Sorenson
305-375-5218
District8@miamidade.gov

District 9
Dennis C. Moss (Chair)
305-375-4832
DennisMoss@miamidade.gov

District 10
Javier D. Souto
305-375-4835
District10@miamidade.gov

District 11
Joe A. Martinez
305-375-5511
District11@miamidade.gov

District 12
José “Pepe” Diaz
305-375-4343
District12@miamidade.gov

District 13
Natcha Seijas
305-375-4831
No email – Fax 305-375-2011

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SAVE THE DATES card – 12/08

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Miami Beach, in celebration of the 20th anniversary edition of Subtropics,
February 26 – March 29, 2009. SOUND features a number of sound-based
pieces all sharing the same space.

This video (an abbreviated form of the original hour-and-a-half session)
was produced by Gustavo Matamoros to illustrate the process of fishing
for resonant frequencies inherent in the architecture; a technique passed
down by Russell Frehling, one of the many artists whose work is included
in the show.

click to make your donation on-line using Paypal or any credit card

Sound Microscope by Jason Freeman and Mark Godfrey for iSAW

Composer Jason Freeman asks you: What is sound made of?

Sound Microscope is free to use available through our website. But donations would be most appreciated. Hope you enjoy it and please, drop me a note to let us know how you like it.

To find it, simply click on the image above

“In the science classes I took growing up, we spent a lot of time learning about the complexities of the world that are not visible to the naked eye. We watched the powers of ten movie. We created chemical reactions. And we looked at all kinds of things under the microscope. But it wasn’t until many years later that I learned how the same thing is true for sound. There are all kinds of amazing structures within sounds that are hard for the naked ear to notice.” So when we asked Jason to come up with an interactive piece for our website to help people better understand sound, he came up with the idea of a Sound Microscope.

Sound Microscope is a simple interactive web application designed by Jason Freeman and Mark Godfrey for exploring the inner lives of sounds. A pan-and-zoom interface (similar to online map services) isolates small fragments of a sound file in time and frequency space, bringing structural subtleties and hidden details to the aural foreground. It is intended to help students (or anyone!) learn about the visual representation of a sound and its frequency components while encouraging them to listen in new ways and from new perspectives.

Jason Freeman will be uploading this project into our website during his upcoming residency at iSAW, September 26-29, 2008. Here is his schedule:

1. 09-26-09 7:30-11:30AM: special guest lecturer: isaw’s sound studies classes, Design and Architecture Senior High School
2. 09-27-09 10AM-4PM: sound microscope session / upload, isaw, 12355 NE 13 ave #206
3. 09-28-09 2PM: featured artist: Living[room]Music, Light Box, 3000 Biscayne Boulevard

_____

links to coverage:

South Florida Classical Review,

LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH JASON FREEMAN THAT APPEARED AUGUST in KADMUSARTS.COM

a four-channel sound installation in the Fine Arts Gallery at Broward Community College sponsored by iSAW

thursday 08/21/08 7-10PM OPENING RECEPTION

thursday 08/21/08 7:30PM TALK: Rene Barge, Davod Dunn & Gustavo Matamoros

exhibition dates: friday 08/22/08 – monday 09/29/08

Breath Forms
statement by Rene Barge
Over the summer I developed a practice of breathing into various microphones developed by the bio-acoustician and composer, David Dunn. David uses the microphones to investigate our connection to the world and how it keeps us simultaneously alive and dying. I used the microphones to investigate my breath that is very much connected to my awareness of my living and dying. I also used filters as an element of lighthearted play and inquisitiveness about my breath.
The presence of sound in our world reminds me that there is much to be explored beyond our dominantly visual culture. In his work I and Thou, Martin Buber speaks of how we see people as simply material objects, something we look at, an “it,” or we can look into a person and enter the sacredness of their humanity so that they become a “thou.” (And as a Jewish philosopher who immigrated to Palestine to advocate for Arab-Jewish cooperation, Martin knew all too well how easily we objectify.) I am freed up enough to listen in this same way that Martin speaks about how we can look into a person and enter the sacredness of their humanity. I have learned from practiced listening that we can listen into a person and enter into the sacredness of their humanity much like David Dunn listens into the sacredness of our symbiotic relationship to the world, our humanity. Rather than looking at people as objects or work tools, we can listen to them as sacred living beings.
Recordings of my breath fill the space with all its dying and living moments, with all my inquisitiveness about listening attentively and playfully. You are sharing the same space the sound recording of my breath is sharing right now. And, as the composer and sound artist, Gustavo Matamoros points out; the sound of the breath is a white noise that contains all sounds. You are interacting and participating with it and the way in which you are interacting and participating with it cannot sound like this in any space else.

Here’s a small tribute to his life and work.

Subtropics Marathon 18 / photo: luis olazaba

“Soundscape with K-Man: Destination Unknown” (2008) GM – 1MB; audio format: mp3

A contribution from HED: (5″x7″) poster that Art was distributing at one of the mid-80s exhibition/events at Moosart Gallery (while dressed in quasi-military gear and orchestrating an army of miniature rockets, soldiers, etc from a camouflaged rolling cart):

internship dates: may 15 – august 29, 2008

Majoring in Music Technology at the School of Music, Florida International University in Miami, Edward Shannon spent his summer at isaw in order to complete the nine internship credits required for his graduation.

Must of his duties centered around work related to isaw’s sound archive. He mostly work with DP, making backups of multi-channel recordings of previous Subtropics Festivals, mixing and mastering stereo reference files in preparation for David Dunn’s Archive Assessment and Evaluation Project. He also assisted during recording sessions.

Edward Shannon is very creative and displays a well rounded interdisciplinary education. His instruments are the viola (both acoustic and 5-string Viper electric) and the laptop computer with Max/MSP.

Upon graduation, he plans to dedicate his time to establishing his name as a performer, composer and electronic musician.

Composer Nic Collins, author of the book Handmade Electronic Music conducts a lecture recounting his experiences in the world of circuit-bending and hardware-hacking. Those participating in his two-day intensive hardware-hacking workshop are encouraged to attend this lecture which complements the workshop. This lecture is presented in collaboration with ArtCenter South Florida and the 2008 Winter Music Conference (WMC08)

thursday, march 27, 2008 / 7:30 PM
ArtCenter South Florida
800 Lincoln Road Mall, Miami Beach
admission: $15 – free to WMC08 badge holders
and hardware-hacking workshop participants

this is an official WMC08 event