IHRAM History
A growing international story written in the heartsong of
beauty, sincerity, vulnerability and diversity!
The International Human Rights Art Festival, founded at Dixon Place Theater (NYC) in March 2017, and incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit in August 2018, has presented a growing body of work.
We expanded from a “festival” to a “movement” in 2023, due to our growing international reach and community of passionate creators in a variety of media.
Founded out of Tom Block’s own art-activist practice, the IHRAM offered a manner of expanding positive energy and influencing social justice and human rights discussions around the world.
The first iteration of the project was the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival, which Tom produced in 2010 outside of Washington DC, the the largest such event ever. The event brought more than 500 artists offering 200 different art events in 40 venues over a weekend.
The opening was live-cast on local cable TV, and featured speeches from Congressman (now Senator) Chris Van Hollen; State Senator (now Congressman) Jamie Raskin; Montgomery County, MD Executive Ike Legett; future Montgomery County, MD Executive Marc Elrich and a handful of other State and County legislators.
A philosophy of engagement
The founding principles of the organization reside in the belief that oppositionality — separating people into those who agree with us, and those against who we must fight — does little but harden walls and solidify the status quo.
As Nelson Mandela said: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Our work is to open doorways, to allow people to hear and understand each other, from a Ugandan poet-in-exile to United States Senators; from a bullied high school student in Bangladesh to an international activist going head-to-head with China.
We do not want to smash the walls of power. As Lao Tzu noted: “Violence, even well-intentioned, always rebounds upon itself.” We believe that opening doorways into those halls with a gentle spirit and solid faith in our message and beauty is the strongest manner of effecting positive social change.
Our growth
Begun as a one-off Festival in March 2017, we were surprised and emboldened by the amount and quality of artistic interest, the size of the audience and the strong press reaction. We incorporated as an organization that summer, and received 501c3 non profit status by August of the next year.
As we became better known, both locally and, through digital outreach, internationally, a much wider range of artists and media began to approach us, hungry for a platform that fit their work and philosophy. The IHRAM Press began with a literary magazine in 2019, when Tom met Michaela Zelie, who was waiting tables in Rangeley, ME. After discovering that she was a poet, he said he was thinking of starting a literary aspect to the organization. Her beautiful piece, “Broken Bread Sestina,” began our literary journal, and we were soon receiving literary works from around the world.
The African Secretariat grew out of working with two powerful African creators, Mbizo Chirasha, who came to us in 2017, as he fled Zimbabwe one step ahead of the C.I.O. (Zimbabwean Secret Police), and Wole Adedoyin the President of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers. By early 2020, these two creators were delivering such passionate work and expanding our reach throughout that Continent, that we opened our offices in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and began publishing anthologies and highlighting the creative work of Africans.
The incredible energy generated by our organic growth and reach then demanded of us to begin the IHRAM Press book publishing arm, with our current, powerful editor, Bridget Reuame. We began our award season in 2019, to offer another manner of highlighting literary and visual work around the world, offering two to three awards every year. We began our fellowship program and ran interim events. And we continued to expand our work with our Honorary Committee, opening a doorway for our artists around the United States and world to present their work in conjunction with some of the most important social and political leaders of our time.
IHRAF in the News
PROLOGUE TO PROGRESS, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CULTURE PROJECT
October 15, 2017 at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn, NY
Banned by His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan from performing as planned at St. Mary's Catholic Church
Press from after the banning:
New York Times: Festival Moves Event After Church Objects to Gay-Themed Content
"I think it’s absolutely, completely wrong," Ms. Kathleen Turner said. Deciding who should be heard and who silenced, she said, "is very much against the teaching of Christianity."
Crain's NY Business: Arts festival scrambling for space after archdiocese nixes LGBT performances
"The New York City arts community does not take kindly to censorship, especially now under the current political situation," Producer Tom Block said.
Broadway World: Catholic Church Refuses to Host International Human Rights Art Festival Event Featuring Kathleen Turner
The International Human Rights Art Festival is based in inclusion, honesty and sincerity - and brings together artists who will stand proudly before an audience and open their hearts, exposing their struggle in whatever arena they feel most challenged. "The idea that some of us would go forward while others were rejected is antithetical to our mission, our belief and frankly, our faith - respect does not stop at the doorway to one or another segment of the population," said Producer Tom Block.
Gay City News: Catholic Church Anti-LGBTQ Guns Still Firing on All Cylinders
Father Bernárd Lynch, an out gay Catholic priest persecuted by the Archdiocese of New York for his gay rights and AIDS work in the 1970s and ‘80s, wrote in an email from Ireland: "The news regarding Cardinal Dolan’s rejection of this most recent event with Kathleen Turner and others over LGBTQ content is no different. They still hate us. They hate who we are and how we love. Living or dying, my Church simply cannot accept us as co-equals in God’s image. What a disgrace. Thirty years later, we have marriage both here, in the land of my birth, and in New York, the land of my spiritual birth. The Church institutionally still spells death to us. What kind of God do they believe in?"
Episcopal Cafe: Arts festival too hot for Catholics moves to Episcopal church
Playbill: Update: Festival Finds New Venue After Catholic Church Dropped Support Over LGBTQ Content
“I feel fortunate in that I am not beholden to a spiritual structure that tells me who is worthy of a voice and protection, and who is not,” the producer commented. “We believe that all people share this right—we will not pick and choose among our acts or our issues, allowing some while rejecting others.“
NewNowNext: Human Rights Performance Forced To Move After Catholic Church Complains About Gay Content
Patheos: LGBTQ-Friendly Festival Changes Venues After Catholic Church Objects to Content
Broadway World: Photo Flash: Kathleen Turner Headlines International Human Rights Art Festival
Pink News, U.K.: Catholic Church banishes human rights festival over LGBT performance
Christian Post: NY Church Nixes Human Rights Art Festival Over LGBT Content
Press from before the banning:
Broadway World: Kathleen Turner Headlines 2017 International Human Rights Art Festival at Culture Project; Lineup Announced!
Broadway World: Kathleen Turner to Headline International Human Rights Art Festival This Fall
Broadway.com: Kathleen Turner Will Headline Culture Project's International Human Rights Art Festival
Playbill: Kathleen Turner to Headline October 15 Arts Festival for International Human Rights in NYC
NBC Live! Catching Up with Kathleen Turner
IHRAF Dixon Place 2017
BROOKLYN RAIL
"'Activist artists are not the center of the American culture, but we’re at the center of the American soul,' Block says. The artists involved echo Block’s passionate belief in activist art as an essential core of both who we are as Americans and what we aspire to become as we continue to build towards an ideal society."
-- Pirronne Yousefzadeh
AM-NEW YORK
"Though statement-making works will be seen at the festival, Block stressed that this event will represent the optimism rooted in each social theme."
-- Dana Reszutek
METRO-NY
"The non-partisan celebration of life and creativity..."
-- Linda Laban
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER
"The fight for human rights doesn’t end with the festival. Organizers hope people come out of the festivities inspired into activism of their own. Block says, 'If everybody in that room tonight did one more thing, there would be a lot more things happening in terms of fighting or struggling or dreaming of a better, more gentle world.'"
-- Jasmine Ting
HOLLYWOOD SOAPBOX
“I look at Donald Trump as the representation of a human energy that goes back to the beginning of time. He’s not an individual. He’s a representation of fear. He’s a representation of human tribalism. These kind of ideas go back to the caveman, so I feel very strongly that … positive energy becomes part of the reverse movement.”
-- John Soltes
Artists and Climate Change: Festivity in the Darkness
Broadway World: Bessie Award-Winning Choreographer Joya Powell on the IHRAF
Broadway World: Celebrating Advocacy through the Arts with the International Human Rights Art Festival
Huffington Post: Chinese Dissident Wei JingSheng featured at International Human Rights Art Festival in NYC
Voice of America (Mandarin): The International Human Rights Arts Festival Uses Its Soft Power to Face Anger and Division
Theater in the Now: podcast
WPAT Multicultural Radio 930 AM (interviews with Producer Tom Block): February 18, 2017 & February 24, 2017 NYUNow: New York's First Human Rights Art Festival
NYC-Arts: Top Five
The Stage News International Round Up: Highlighted Listing
Untapped Cities: Your Weekend Untapped Top Ten Events
The Villager: Highlighted Listing