Enlarge Kris Van Riper of Crisis Assistance Ministry played the "employer" for Tuesday's Poverty Simulation.

Posted: June 9th, 2011 Greg Lacour

Deena Scott approached the table where Laura Marett sat, playing the role of a government agency Scott needed to see for money.

“Where’s the unemployment office,” Scott asked, “so I can pick up my money?”

“There is no unemployment office.”

“No, see,” Scott said, pointing to a laminated sheet she carried, “I’m getting unemployment benefits, $350 a week.”

“Oh.” Marett glanced at the sheet. “They’ve run out.”

“Oh,” Scott said, frowning. She trudged away.

Scott’s role was “Ben Boling, age 42,” a fictional poor person struggling to secure what he needed to live as part of a Crisis Assistance Ministry Poverty Simulation. It’s a guided experience, born from a Missouri nonprofit’s idea, that assigns a large group identities, money and circumstances typical of people living below the poverty line and forces them to try to make their way through life in four 15-minute “weeks.”

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Posted: June 6th, 2011 Tonya Jameson

In the past decade, I’ve covered a bajilion cultural festivals. I typically approach them with the idea that they give Americans whose parents and grandparents were born in the United States a chance to learn about the multitude of ethnicities that live here.

Con A de Arte (A is For Art) changed my thinking. The two-day event included a gallery exhibition at Gil Gallery/Coffey and Thompson Gallery on Friday, and a cultural celebration at the main library on Saturday.

The art exhibit featured works by 10 artists from various Latin American countries. Other artists works were also displayed at the main library. Saturday’s events at the library included a group Zumba class, a chance to play with toys from Mexico and other countries, storytelling, poetry and more.

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Posted: March 29th, 2011 Greg Lacour

On an already gloomy Sunday afternoon, the lights inside the Lerner Center for Cultural Arts dimmed, and stories began unfolding on the big screen; stories of despair, encouragement, frustration and hope.

They were the four Crossroads Charlotte scenario movies that thousands across Charlotte have seen and pondered. On this day, March 27, they were finding a new audience – about 15 people at the Levine Jewish Community Center in South Charlotte, which showed the films and hosted a panel discussion afterward as an addendum to the Charlotte Jewish Film Festival.

“They did a really good job with the films – the production quality, the acting, making them come alive,” said Debby Block, the festival’s film curator. “They have a universal message that’s for everybody, whether you’re Jewish or not … ‘Help out your neighbors. Don’t be a bystander. It’s not about you, it’s about us.’ No one understands that better than the Jewish people.”

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Posted: February 26th, 2011 Greg Lacour

This was a strange kind of dialogue, one that began with about 45 minutes of dead silence.

The site was Discovery Place, specifically an exhibit titled “RACE: Are We So Different?” On the late morning of Feb. 24, 14 clergy from an assortment of Charlotte-area churches viewed the exhibit at the request of Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Ministries, then took part in a facilitated discussion of the exhibit and its relevance in their lives and ministries.

All 14 ministers have signed up for Xchange Sermons, the annual area-wide pulpit swap Crossroads and MeckMin co-sponsor to unite congregations of differing faiths and denominations. Their tour and discussion of the RACE exhibit was part of a related program called RACE Exchanges, in which groups can explore the exhibit, then afterward their thoughts and emotions through discussion.

To start, facilitator Joan Hope urged the group members not to talk as they made their way through the exhibit; she said it was a time for reflection. They could talk later. That they did.

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