User:Eldiadia/isangmahal

History

The Isangmahal (“one love”) arts “kollective” was created in 1997 when a small group of Seattle-based Filipino-American writers and artists recognized the need for an artistic outlet for themselves and others in the margins. Partnering with the Northwest Asian American Theatre, they began with small events, providing an open mike and a supportive audience for fellow Filipino poets and performers. At their first open-mike event, the 15 poets who showed up made up the audience as well. But they persevered and at each event more and more people showed up. Nine years later the all-volunteer organization continues to produce monthly events that provide a safe, nonjudgmental performing venue for spoken word, music and dance. During that time the kollective’s membership has grown to include over 30 poets, musicians, visual artists, dancers, actors, DJs and videographers.

Isangmahal operates as a family. New members are invited by existing members to join. Joining means taking a role in helping to organize events and maintain the organization, which is all volunteer. They are not a nonprofit and do not receive funding from any outside source. Ticket receipts from their events pay for facilities rental. No one receives compensation for work with the organization.

They have two formats for events. The first and most important is the open mike. It is the core of their work. Anybody can sign up and perform their poetry, music, dance — anything. Even visual artists share their work on stage. The collective’s aim has been to create a safe and validating place for anyone to come in and share their work

The other kind of event, which may or may not happen in conjunction with an open mike, is called a feature set. A feature set has a theme and usually involves a mix of Isangmahal members who have developed and rehearsed a series of pieces.

Spoken-word artists and performers are a central element of Isangmahal, “defining and changing their surroundings while wielding the power of the word. Each individual poet maintains and nurtures a unique style of writing and performance, as distinct and diverse as each one of the poet’s personalities. Isangmahal writers are an accomplished group, with artists having been published, produced self-published work and performed as a group and individually across the nation. In addition, groups form within the group to collaborate on multivoice pieces.”[2]

Isangmahal poets and musicians have performed at numerous theaters, colleges and universities in Washington state, as well as Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Michigan, Florida and Washington, D.C. The spoken-word artists have performed at Seattle Center’s artsEdge, Seattle Poetry Festivals, Eleventh Hour Productions’ The Rapture Series, local rallies and events in Seattle’s Asian-Pacific-American community. The RAW Gallery & Seattle Central Community College Art Gallery have hosted Isangmahal visual-arts shows and artists have been featured in exhibitions throughout Washington state. In addition, the group has produced and pressed two CD recordings.

Mission/Values

The vision of the kollective includes understanding that we shall not remain complacent by any means, which signifies the importance of the tasks at hand, which encompass:

* Creating and maintaining avenues for our voices to express and analyze the problematics of life that we all live * To locate and create propaganda revealing linkages which connect and bind us all in order to initiate critical analysis of our being * To propagate LOVE, the sole basis of life and the basis of all revolutions. * To hear and be heard, to see and be seen

Goals

Isangmahal is the celebration of the universality of the human experience through the uniqueness of the individual and the power of the collective. In presenting the synergy of sight-sound-music and spoken word that reflect the tribal roots of “ol skool” Filipino rhythms with the modern temperament of Filipino Amerika, Isangmahal hopes to share in the process of loving oneself. Isangmahal is an expression of the Filipino movement that has risen to open the consciousness of the diversity of America by acknowledging the differences and similarities and the love that exists amidst these rifts. Isangmahal’s stage performance brings together a chorus of artists whose sights and sounds reinforce both the ugly and the beautiful, both the pain and celebration. Through “one love,” Isangmahal synthesizes word and music into a presentation of (self)thought, (self)expression, and (self)analysis; a coming together of the greater community to join in the experience of Isangmahal.

Isangmahal believes in love as a source of freedom and art as propaganda for self-love. Understanding this dynamic relationship between art and love, and the critical location that art can take in the process of self-actualization, Isang­mahal continues to ‘test the elasticity’ of this beautiful intersection and how it harnesses community. As racist/sexist/homophobic representations continue to plague our daily lives by attempting to incarcerate our own imaginations (how we see/hear ourselves), we continue to fight for our own safe space for subjective cultural production, community empowerment, and individual freedom. We believe in the fluidity of our culture and the necessity for transforma­tive/open dialogue between the artist and the audience. We resist all static definitions that limit how we see our selves and our art. We define our own culture from the inside and from reflection with a love that we have always known as a people. Through means that aren’t defined by the “white dominated art world,” but by the cultural vernacular of survival through words, music, dance, video, and visual art we contribute to the fluidity of our culture while subverting the gen­ocide of our authenticity as a people with the capacity to love one another in the process.

Inspiring Individuals:
 * bell hooks
 * J. Krishnamurti