PROPOSAL

Page 1 of 8

PROPOSAL

Page 2 of 8

Table of Contents

Summary of Request ………………………3 Program Description……………………….4 Implementation…………………………….5 Need Within the Community………………6 Midnight Tea Overview……………………7 Key Staff…………………………………...8

PROPOSAL

Page 3 of 8

Summary of Request Program Title: Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea Proposed by: Natasha Marin, MKMT Project Facilitator Address: 2332 17th Ave S, Seattle WA USA Phone: 206-734-5901 Email: mikokuro@gmail.com Program Dates: December 22, 2012 – December 23, 2012 (to coincide with my travel dates).

Midnight Tea Guests interact with Featured Artists during Spring Tea (ArtXchange Gallery, Seattle).

PROPOSAL

Page 4 of 8

Program Description Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea provides an alternative space wherein artists and members of the community co-create a ritualized “happening.” The Midnight Tea fosters dynamic collaborations, cultural exchange, and genuine encounters with the artistic “Self.” These events take place within an anti-exclusive environment. Through this program, your venue can provide the community of Mumbai with the a public ritual/performance of Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea. If interested, additional services can be provided as well, including a workshop presentation on Collaboration and Cultural Exchange, or a short lecture on Poetry and New Media by visiting artist, Natasha Marin. The ritualized nature of this event allows for both traditional and non-traditional art consumers to create understanding through the exchange of ideas and art in an environment that encourages experimentation and creative approaches to art-making.

All Midnight Tea events are professionally photographed and videotaped. These images are from the Midnight Tea in Kunming, China (Bei Li, 2011).

PROPOSAL

Page 5 of 8

Implementation Project Facilitator, Natasha Marin and your organization will work together to stage and promote the Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea “happening” on December 22, 2012 in Mumbai, India. As part of the Tea and its related events, members of your community (Resident Artists, staff, and associates) may include and/or showcase their work. Community members and Natasha Marin will work together to establish benchmarks for success in the area of fundraising, ticket sales and community involvement and response. Prior to the public performance, Natasha Marin will be available to visit the community and conduct special workshops and programs for those interested in international community building and development in the Mumbai area. All the activities are highly interactive providing participants with an opportunity to participate as well as observe. Natasha Marin will also meet with your organization and its members, providing them with information about her work relative to this event. These “salon-talks” will be designed to increase community awareness and interest in the upcoming performance. The initiative will culminate with a public performance of Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea on Saturday, December 22, 2012. This event will explore the themes of time, tea and technology and will last for twelve hours, from midnight on Saturday to noon on Sunday. This project will involve 12 international anchor artists, working across the disciplines who will work in collaboration to engage a wider Mumbai public and internet audience.

PROPOSAL

Page 6 of 8

Need Within the Community Mumbai is the obvious place to bring ideas of cultural exchange with its already vibrant art and cultural scene. As an expression of openness and hope for a more connected future, Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea celebrates the variety of human experiences that are archived as “Art” in a manner that is both traditional and experimental. The Midnight Tea strives to uncover shared experiences by creating personalized art. Each Midnight Tea Guest is given a role to complete during the event, thereby encouraging participation that goes beyond the typical artist/audience delineation. In the past, Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea has allowed a diverse group of artists from Asia, North America, Europe, and the Caribbean to engage with new peers and audience members as collaborators. Beyond the aesthetic value of the event, and the often deeply personal transformations that may take place— Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea provides much-needed healing and catharsis for those who may not have experienced this through the art process.

Guests, Observers, and Featured Artists work together to create a once-in-a-lifetime art ritual (Northwest African American Museum, Seattle).

PROPOSAL

Page 7 of 8

Midnight Tea Overview

There are 12 roles, one for each invited guest.

Guests are served tea amidst an interactive installation (often involving live music, performance and/or sound/video installation).

Guests are not “chosen” – they invite themselves on a first-come-first-serve basis to the event via the event website (ensuring the anti-exclusive nature of the event).

The ambiance of each event is the result of a) the guests, b) featured and guest artists, c) the particular preferences (e.g. tea, assignments, culinary choices, decorations, etc.) of the “ghostess,” Miko Kuro.

The event begins at midnight (typically on a Saturday).

Midnight Tea Guests receive personalized roles and assignments to complete during the event.

PROPOSAL

Page 8 of 8

Key Staff Natasha Marin is a poet and conceptual artist. Born in Trinidad & Tobago and naturalized in both Canada and the United States, her recent work involves creating dynamic sites of Genuine Encounter using time, technology, and tea. With her current project, Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea, she works between genres and in collaboration with other artists, to adapt her text-based work into immersive, multimedia experiences. Midnight Teas have been held in traditional and non-traditional art spaces in Greece, Canada, France, China, and in different US cities since 2008. In December of this year she will host a 12-hr-long “art ritual” in Mumbai, India with the help of 12 invited artists working across the disciplines. Her poetry has been published in English, French, and Chinese in journals and anthologies. Find more about her project on the web at www.mikokuro.com.

Two Portraits of Natasha Marin by Daniel Carrillo.