Birth of Venice and early days
Actors, Filmmakers and Writers in Venice live or lived
Actors, Filmmakers and Writers in Venice hung out
Program of the 1978 Venice Festival at the Fox Venice Theater
Tale of the Fox
(from Free Venice Beachhead)
1981 Resistance Celebration Schedule
1981 Resistance Celebration Articles
Institutions, Organizations, Foundations
Paul Tanck on
Venice-related films
University of Venice
"Show Us your Venice"
Note from the webslave - Virtual Venice can’t hope to keep up with everything or make any claim to providing current information. Please contact the University of Venice via email for up-to-date information or if you want to volunteer.
In collaboration with the Venice Center for Peace with Justice and the Arts, Eric Vollmer and the Voice in the Well are planning a Performance Arts Festival to commemorate the 100th Birthday of Venice and to honor Abbot Kinney, its founder.
"Reclaiming the Dream"
2005 Venice Centenary Salute:
A Community Chautauqua Celebration
Venice of America made its public debut in grand style on July 4, 1905! Abbot Kinney celebrated the occasion with a popular summertime Chautauqua. He starred Sarah Bernhardt in Camille, the Chicago Orchestra, Italian gondolieres and oversaw nearly 1,000 public arts performances, eclectic lectures and festive concerts to declare the birth of this novel community rising like a vibrant Venus from the sea.
We want to reclaim this promising vision for our new century by asking the creative community who share in the legacy of Venice to join with us in recreating a Chautauqua Big Tent Performing Arts Festival for the Summer of 2005, one that we may proudly invite the whole wide world to enjoy!
The University of Venice
and the Arts of Democracy
Let us make no mistake. Even the finest Congress
and the best President cannot finally succeed by themselves. Democracy
ultimately requires the shared participation and the shared responsibility
of every citizen in their Nation.
...................................................... Vaclav Havel ......Civil Society
What does it mean to be an engaged and vital citizen in the early 21st Century? How do we obtain the information needed to exercise citizenship in an age of global privatized interests who often trample over the local common good?
All of us sing the praises of democracy, but what gives it the ring of truth? Is this way of life simply an exercise in opinion polling and image management? Or, is democracy something more encompassing, some higher calling that makes a special claim on citizens just as the heroic Czech writer Vaclav Havel declared?
Citizen involvement is essential to the well-being of a democratic way of life. The problems facing us today in California are quite different in size and in scope than any encountered before. They are shaped by increasing global interdependence and accelerated by dramatic technological change. Our present predicament requires more than governmental massaging. It demands sweeping public debate and creative problem solving that transforms hearts and minds.
Our exploratory courses will draw upon a variety of formats, including the Democracy In Action Workbooks designed by author Frances Moore Lappe. Each meeting will consist of Chautauqua presentations and open conversations.
We will host an innovative reading program featuring teachers, artists and community members engaged in guided inquiries into creative possibilities. Too often, people use one perspective to determine their view of an issue and neglect to consider the cultural, social, historical, economic or political context.
We intend to revisit the cultural riches found in the experiences drawn from our shared accounts of the American Past and re-vivify them so they speak to our common condition today. We want to put the public back in touch with the legacies of Philosophy, History, Cultural Studies and Literature to widen the horizons of their everyday sphere of action. We are providing a challenging setting for thoughtful individuals of all ages and all walks of life to explore creative forms of participation in civic life and the quest for a better world.
2005 documents
This information, from a flyer, is presented here for historical purposes. If there were any changes in the program as seen here, the webslave doesn’t know about it.)
Imagining Venice
a weekly series of collaborative learning programs to explore the history of Venice, piloted by Eric Vollmer at the New University of Venice at 1020 Victoria Ave., Venice
February 13
"The Art of Civic Storytelling" presented by cultural observer
Eric Vollmer
February 20
"The Art of Producing Concerts" presented by Suzanne Thompson
February 27
"The Art of Documentary Filmmaking" presented by Jeff Norman
March 6
"Running for Office as an Advocate" presented by Shawn O’Brien
March 13
"How to Create Original Artwork" presented by Gary Palmer
March 20
"Creating Public History Radio" presented by Anthea Raymond
March 27
"Writing a People’s History" presented by Arnold Springer
April 10
"Painting with the Eyes of a Poet" presented by Hillary Kaye
April 17
"The Art of Conscious Commerce" presented by Deborah G. Greene
April 24
"Memory-Making: Venice Boardwalk" presented by Alfred Johnson
May 1
Venice: Lost and Found- Produced by Brad Bemis
Film Showing & Discussion
May 8
"Participatory Democracy" presented by Joanna Silva, co-founder
of LPBN Broadcasting and co-director of Venice Neighborhood Area Network.
May 15
"Venice as Hollywood's Back Lot" presented by Eric Vollmer
"Working at Roger Corman's Production Studios in Venice" presented
by Beverly Gray
May 22
"New website photo history of Venice" presented by Rich Mann
May 29
"History of performing arts in Venice" presented by Eric Vollmer,
"The Electric Lodge" presented by Joel Shapiro
Another flyer lists these events as happening in early 2005:
Beginning in February
"Venice Filmmaking/Writing Workshop" with Rokk Lattanzio
Beginning in February
"A Better World is Possible - How we got into this mess, and how
we can get out of it" with Jim Smith
February 21
"Free Iraq! From Killer Liberators and the Corporations They Serve"
presented by Naomi Klein
February 22
"Bessie Smith Appreciation" with Suzy Williams
May 15
an afternoon of quirky reminiscences regarding the good old days of Roger
Corman Studio, presented by Beverly Gray
Thursdays
"Looking at Christianity" with Pastor Tom Ziegart
Tuesdays
"Toddlers Group" - at the Head Start Center
Sundays
"Singing Lessons" - with Cathleen Crone
Date unknown
"Keeping California’s Promise: the Legacy of John Steinbeck"
- presented by Eric Vollmer