Sunday, 2-5 pm
Manifest NE Studio

Would you join a group of artists and soul-seekers who are coming together to brainstorm, create, and play with a new Men's Art-Felt Soul Group on Sunday, 4/5/09, 2-5 pm, at the Manifest Studio, 4906 NE 22nd Ave, Portland, OR 97211?  Cameron Downie, a ballet dancer & artist, will lead us in a series of creative exercises to open our hearts, minds, & bodies.  Then we'll do some planning & brainstorming about a new men's art-felt soul group.

GROUP PURPOSE:  The group's evolving, draft purpose is to create and sustain a playful, safe, creative, consistent space for men to get to know and share their souls through various forms of artistic exploration & expression, including --

* movement/dance
* music/sound
* painting/drawing
* sculpture/pottery/mixed media,   
* textile arts
* writing/poetry
* photography/video/online art

We believe men can discover and manifest their soul purpose (true potential, body/mind/spirit wellness, embodied community) when they access & express the wisdom of their creative/emotional/intuitive right brain & body through artistic exploration & expression.  We beleive men can sustain this inquiry when they explore & create soul-connected art regularly with other men in community.  Certainly creating one's own art alone is essential, AND in the busy, fast-paced, disconnected modern world, most men need the support of a group & regular group practice to sustain and deepen their artistic exploration of their soul's purpose.  This group will help us sustain our inquiry into the nature of our souls through art & collaboration.

During our planning we intend to at least start to answer the following questions about the new group:

1. GOALS:  What are the goals of the group?  What do we long for that we'd like to learn, experience, & do with the group?

2. ACTIVITIES:  What activities will help us reach our goals? 

3. WHERE:  Do we want to begin meeting in the Manifest Studio for the spring quarter on Saturday or Sunday afternoons?  Or do we want a bigger studio space (e.g., Motion Massage Studio on Alberta between 18th & 19th or others)?

4. WHEN:  Do we want this to be a twice monthly group?  Do we want to meet weekday evenings or during the day on weekends?  In the spring do we want to meet 1st & 3rd Sundays, 2-5 pm?  Would we rather meet in the evening for the summer since people like to be outside, and if so, which evening and where?

5. LEADERSHIP:  What do we want our group leaders to do? 

5.1 CO-FACILITATORS:  Which two men would like to lead the group as co-facilitators?  Co-Facilitators receive 25% of net donations if we have 4 or fewer donating participants and 50% of net donations if we have 5 or more donating participants.  By when can we get a bio from the co-facilitators that lists their experience & credentials related to coordinating a art-felt soul group?  Can we get low & high resolution photos of each facilitator?  Co-Facilitators traditionally coordinate and create a team to manage the following group activities:

5.2 TEAM MEMBERS:  Who will help the co-facilitators by taking responsibility for one of the following tasks:

* OUTREACH:  program outreach (flier distribution, online outreach, networking at community art & other events),
* SCHEDULING & PROGRAM FACILITATION:  talking to artists about facilitating a program, program scheduling & facilitation,
* REGISTRATION/ORIENTATION:  registration, orient participants to Manifest's 6 Shared Values & bathroom & water, announce upcoming Manifest events, encourage participants to join Manifest
* COMMUNICATION:  communication with potential participants & participants (answering questions about the group via phone & email)
* SPACE PREP & CLEANUP:  cleaning & preparing the studio before folks arrive, coordinating clean up afterwards

6. SCHEDULE:  Who would like to facilitate a session on each of the forms of expression and when?  Let's schedule our first few sessions to be fun & simple.

7. OUTREACH:  Who do we most want to invite to play with us?  Who will invite folks and how?  Who will handle each of the following:

* Flier Design & Production
* Flier Distribution in coffee houses, bars, art studios/galleries, dance studios, music venues,
* Online Outreach to artists, arts organizations via online social networking sites, online art list servs, & online groups
* In Person Networking at art events, with arts organizational leaders, & with artists
 
8. SLIDING SCALE DONATION MIN/MAX:

9. # OF PARTICIPANTS (MIN/MAX):

INFO:  Cameron at 503-223-8822 x1