Events

The Seed Gallery Opening Reception: Faces of Impermanence

Photographs by Tom Joyce
Thursday, November 6
5:00p to 7:00p
Exhibition runs November 6 through January 9, 2009

Please join us for "Faces of Impermanence," a gallery showing of never-before-exhibited photographs made in 1998 at the legendary Chuwar Gompa in Tibet, one of the last Buddhist monasteries to be desecrated in Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.

Brown Bag: Sourcewatchers on the Election and Other Wiki-Fabulous Tales

Presenter: John Stauber + Dave Johnson + Bob Burton, Center for Media and Democracy
Friday, November 7
12:30 to 1:30p
Pacific Room at Tides

John Stauber, Bob Burton and Dave Johnson of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) www.PRWatch.org will demonstrate how CMD's high-traffic wiki-based website www.SourceWatch.org has become one of the most successful online tools for powerful progressive collaboration and information. Recent successes include the Election Protection Wiki www.EPwiki.org and www.CoalSwarm.org. Other projects are underway on climate change, watchdogging global corporations and exposing corporate front groups www.FrontGroups.org. Two-thirds of the millions of people who visit SourceWatch each month arrive through Google searches alone and the site is heavily visited by journalists and policymakers. CMD is looking for new collaborators and will demonstrate how anyone anywhere with web access can easily and at no cost begin creating and editing their own articles, harnessing www.SourceWatch.org for their own watchdog and social change missions.

San Francisco World Music Festival Opening Reception: Music and Art Celebration Across the Globe

Thoreau Center for Sustainability
Sunday, November 9
3:00p to 5:00p
Exhibition runs through November 9 through 21, 2008

This year's festival will kick off with musical performances and an art exhibition opening reception, in collaboration with Paintbursh Diplomacy, an organization using art to encourage awareness of international issues through educational exchanges and community events. The exhibition will feature the work of young artists from around the globe over the past 25 years and will run through the duration of the festival. During the reception, youth from different musical traditions, including eleven-year old Kurdish singer Berfin Oztoprak, will perform. Learn more about the San Francisco World Music Festival.

Thoreau Center Crafts Faire

Thursday, November 13
11:30am to 1:30pm

Thoreau Center is preparing for another Thoreau Center Tenant Community Crafts Faire to be held in the corridor leading to the library.

This is a great opportunity to donate to your favorite organization or to jumpstart your holiday shopping. Here are some examples of items you will find at the Crafts Faire:

• Art work including paintings, jewelry and tasteful tchatchkes
• Organic soaps and lotions
• Organic food and beverages, such as nuts and Fair Trade coffees
• Clothing

Thoreau Gallery Opening Reception: Art Repurposed

Artists from Creativity Explored
Thursday, November 20
5:00p to 7:00p
Exhibition runs November 20 through January 16, 2009

Mixed media assemblage.
Claus Groeger, 2008.
© Creativity Explored

Creativity Explored studio artists put a new spin on recycling by transforming everyday discarded objects into uncommon, original works of art. 
Creativity Explored is a visual arts center in San Francisco where artists with developmental disabilities have been creating, exhibiting, and selling art for over 25 years.

To learn more about Creativity Explored, visit their gallery at 3245 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Or, contact Amy Auerbach at (415) 863-2108/ www.creativityexplored.org

Whole Earth Library Presentation by Charity Vargas

Thursday, December 11
12:30 to 1:30p
Pacific Room at Tides

Whole Earth Library at Thoreau is pleased to kick off its first literary event with a presentation by Photographer Charity Vargas. Charity will present images from her new photography book The Presidio: Portraits of a Changing Landscape and discuss the evolving nature of the park throughout it's 200 plus year history.

Interview

Tenant Interview with Rucha Chitnis of One World Children's Fund

One World Children's Fund (OWCF) networks resources directly to grassroots organizations that serve disadvantaged children and their caregivers around the world by developing a new model of giving called the Champion Model. They recognize that local people know best how to resolve problems in their communities when they have access to resources to build a sustainable future for children and their families.

How did you get involved with One World Children's Fund?

I grew up in India, where I volunteered with several local nonprofits. So, activism was a big part of my life. Often, when you grow up in a place where poverty is pervasive, it's easy to become inured and accept it as a way of life. It was inspiring for me to meet people who challenged the status quo. In my value system accepting is abetting, and volunteering with many groups it became very clear to me how far small grants could go in supporting innovative ideas and projects that address children's critical needs. I am a big believer of helping those who are already helping themselves, which is also a core value of OWCF.

The mission of OWCF deeply resonates with me: networking resources to small organizations that are run by local people who are investing meaningfully in the future of disadvantaged children through education, vocational training, and by addressing their basic needs and respecting their dignity. OWCF also believes that every individual can participate in global change. Through the Champion Model (explained below), our work starts from an empowering place, underscoring that serving is a privilege, as well as a profound opportunity to make a difference.

What are your organization's biggest challenges?

We are a small team of committed staff and board members experiencing exponential growth in our programs in the past 2 years. Our international partners have doubled in the past two years, and this year we disbursed nearly $400,000 in grants. With growth come teething problems that an evolving organization experiences—ensuring that the foundation is strong enough to accommodate growth, the need for more human power, ensuring growth resonates with our core values and guiding principles, etc. I am reminded of advice given by Anne Firth Murray in her book Paradigm Found: Stay lean and strong! This is very exciting time for OWCF, and I think the possibilities are truly endless.

How do you see the organization evolving?

We have been developing an innovative model of giving called the Champion Model, which creates a structure for people residing in the United States to raise funds for a grassroots project anywhere in the world. Champions are people who have lived or traveled in the developing world and have personally witnessed the work of an effective project that is investing meaningfully to advance the rights of disadvantaged children. OWCF acts as a fiscal sponsor and disburses funds directly to the local group after completing our due diligence checks. Champions act as the voice of their grassroots partners in the US, spotlighting opportunities for others here to make a direct difference. Champions are actively participating in global social change and are supporting initiatives of our fellow citizens of the world who are devising productive and sustainable solutions to create a better future for children and their communities.

How do you like working in the Presidio?

It's arguably the best office space in San Francisco. My cube-mates are working for terrific organizations, and there is a palpable sense of camaraderie and mutual respect. It's serene and calm here--being so close to nature. How fortunate are we?