East Bay Stories of Empathy
 

Stories of Empathy            Empathy Group
Beginning

Overview

Grant Application
   1. Applicant Organization
   2. Project Description 
   3. Audience and Outreach
   4. Public Engagement
   5. Project Personnel
   6. Timeline 
   7. Full Project Budget

 Final-Creations

Participating Organizations
      Neighborhood Public Art

Participating Volunteers

 Working Timeline

Interview Workshops
    Workshop 1
   Workshop 2
   Workshop 3 Youth
   Workshop 4

Scaling

About Empathy

 Empathy Group
  Workspace: Presentation Project
 

 

Overview of Project

Project Director: Edwin Rutsch - (contact)
Fiscal Sponsor:  City of Richmond - Arts and Culture Division,  Michele Seville, Manager
Partner: Richmond Art Center, Nancy M. Servis, Executive Director

 I often say we've got a budget deficit that's important, we've got a trade deficit that's critical, but what I worry about most is our empathy deficit. When I speak to students, I tell them that one of the most important things we can do is to look through somebody else's eyes. Barack Obama

 video

Beginning in April 2009, The East Bay Stories of Empathy Project will produce a 30-minute video called East Bay Stories of Empathy and a companion art exhibition, to be premiered at the Richmond Arts Center in May 2010. This collaborative project, based in the East Bay of California, collects personal stories about the place of empathy in the lives of people from strikingly diverse backgrounds, in order to draw into focus their common humanity and shared citizenry. The goal of this project, inspired by the words of President Obama, is to address the “empathy deficit” that is crippling our nation.

We will ask people of all ages and genders and ethnicities and religions and political persuasions to share with us stories of their own experiences where empathy may have been lacking or where it may have been present and how those experiences effected their own lives.

For this, we are applying for a small grant through the California Council for the Humanities - California Stories Fund, to fund a Stories of Empathy video project centered in Richmond, California but covering the East Bay. If the grant is awarded, it runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The City of Richmond - Arts and Culture Division, has agreed to act as the fiscal sponsor. The Richmond Art Center will be a partner and have offered the use of  their faculties for interview workshops, a final art exhibit and a location for the screening the final video. 

The Richmond - Arts and Culture Division, has a yearly program called the Neighborhood Public Art  (NPA) program. They have a $70k budget for the year to do public art projects in the city. Michele Seville, the manager of this program, liked our grant proposal so much that she is committing the bulk of this years NPA program to the theme of empathy. This program runs from now through October, 2009.

The Stories of Empathy project consists of 5 phases.  It is modeled on a previous art and video project we created on the theme of inspiration.

  • Outreach and Volunteers: Initially will contact local community organizations to take part as well as recruit volunteers to help with the project.

  • Interview Workshops: Interview 10 youth and 30 diverse adult participants about their experiences with empathy.

  • Post Production: Editing 40 short stories to place on the internet and a 30 minute documentary.

  • Final Art Exhibit And Presentation: We will exhibit art work created during the process and show the completed documentary with community involvement.

  • Follow-Up - Six months after project completion, tape short interviews of participants and other community members for a summation of their experience.
  East Bay Stories of Empathy Project