Thousand Kites

Thousand Kites (2005-2012)

Lead Artists: Nick Szuberla, Donna Porterfield, Dudley Cocke, and Rend Smith
Additional Artists: Carlton Turner, Maurice Turner, Ron Short, Amelia Kirby, and Andalusia Knoll
Partners: RIHD, Virginia CURE, National CURE, Prison Legal News, Media Justice, UNC-Asheville,
Organizers: Keith DeBlasio, Lillie Branch-Kennedy, and Barbara Fair.
Funders: Appalachian Community Fund, MAP Fund, Artography/LINC, Ford Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, Creative Capital. Kentucky Arts Council, Mellon Foundation, Alternate ROOTS, National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation,
Resources: Facilitation Guide, Research Articles, Up the Ridge documentary, Calls from Home archive.

In prison slang, " shooting a kite” is sending a message. Thousand Kites was a national project that worked directly with stakeholders using communication strategies and campaigns to engage citizens and build grassroots power. It used performance, web, video, and radio to open a public space for incarcerated people, corrections officials, the formerly incarcerated, grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens to dialogue and organize around the United State’s criminal justice system.  The project invited dozens of artists and thousands of participants to join Thousand Kites in sending a message about the impact of mass incarceration.

Thousand Kites believes:

* The criminal justice system is the most pressing civil rights issue in the United States;
* Breaking down the silence surrounding the U.S. criminal justice system through storytelling and listening helps people find effective solutions to over-incarceration in their communities;
* Because policy follows public perception, ensuring that there is ample opportunity for free and open dialogue demands that all communities work together for media justice.

The work included a series of national radio broadcasts “Calls from Home” and weekly radio broadcast “Holler to the Hood” to 13 Appalachian prisons, the national distribution of the Up the Ridge documentary, and the creation and touring of a community play.

This work laid the foundation for work with Prison Legal News and MediaJustice launching the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice and the online story platform Nation Inside.  It deepened our relationship with Lillie Branch Kennedy and her grassroots effort at RIHD.

In 2011 we left our affilication with Appalshop and launched Narrative Arts to house Nation Inside, Prison Poetry Workshop, and the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.

Articles, Research, and News about Thousand Kites
Maggie Sava (2020) To Send a Kite: Simone Weil’s Lessons in Ethical Attention for the Curator. Philosophies

Nato Thompson (2012) Living As Form: Social Engage Art from 1991-2011. Creative Time Book, MIT Press.

Cheryl Leanza / Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (2012) Letter to the Federal Communications Commission.

Linda Frye Burnham (2011) A Working Guide to the Landscape of Arts for Change. Animating Democracy -American for the Arts.

Creative Time (2011) Presentation at Living as Form: Thousand Kites. Creative Time / YouTube

The Cube Space Project (2013) Thousand Kites. TCPS

Center for Social Media / American University (2010) Thousand Kites Project - An Explanation. Center for Social Media / YouTube.

Andrew Adler (2010) Center Tells Story of Appalachia: Appalshop Hopes to Debunk Stereotypes. Courier-Journal.

Lisa Dent (2013) Nick Szuberla Organized for Criminal Justice Reform. Creative Capital.

Making Contact (2008) Thousand Kites: Organizing with Art. Making Contact

Arlene Goldbard (2006) New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development. New Village Press.

Jan Cohen-Cruz (2010) Engaging Performance: Theatre as Call and Response. Routledge