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Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament

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Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament (PAND)—alternatively called Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament—was a loose coalition of activist collectives made up of performers and artists. PAND chapters formed across the United States and Europe in the early 1980s to organize arts events, protest nuclear proliferation, raise funds to support peace and environmental causes, and heighten awareness of the threat of nuclear weapons.[1][2] Several PAND chapters including the Cleveland and New York City collectives formed in 1982, a year when anti-nuclear activism culminated in the largest ever anti-war demonstration in support of the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.[3][4][5][6] The demonstration held in Central Park was attended by close to a million people.[7][8]

By the mid-1980s, several European PAND chapters were established and in 1983, the artist Harry Belafonte, who was one of the principle organizers of the New York City PAND collective, founded PAND International.[9] In 1990 PAND International, led by Arthur Strimling, a New York theater director and PAND International Vice President, collaborated with the performance artist Suzanne Lacy and a Finnish PAND chapter to produce a Meeting of the Worlds Festival—"a music and art gathering on the theme of world peace"—in Joensuu, Finland.[9][10] The Meeting of the Worlds Festival, billed as a "global gathering" by the Los Angeles Times, included performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Leningrad Philharmonic, and musical artists David Byrne and Martina Arroyo.[11][12]

In addition to organizing events, there is evidence that some PAND collectives were involved in publishing and documentary film projects.[13][14] In spite of the number of prominent cultural figures and artists who were involved in PAND collectives and affiliated with PAND sponsored events, there is little formal information available about the collectives themselves, their governance, and what factors contributed to their eventual dissolution. This lack of documentation may reflect the rhizomic nature of these groups or a diminishing cultural interest in nuclear disarmament campaigns.[citation needed]

New York City PAND Collective

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Cartoonist and author, Jules Feiffer founded the New York City PAND chapter in collaboration with other prominent New York artists including Robert Altman, Harry Belafonte,[15] Jill Clayburgh, Eliot Feld and Harold Prince in 1982 in order to "'mobilize people in the performing arts to use their skills, talents and public access to halt the ongoing drive toward mass destruction.''[16] NYC PAND members and sponsors purportedly included notable figures in the New York performing arts community including Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Colleen Dewhurst, and Joseph Papp.[17] In 1983, the New York City PAND chapter sponsored series of traveling theatrical performances intended to provoke a dialogue about nuclear disarmament across New York State. Dubbing themselves a "caravan," artists and artist collectives including Emily Mann, Joanne Akalaitis, Ben Maddow, Paul Zaloom, Rebecca Wells, the Talking Band, and the Bread and Puppet Theater staged events as part of the PAND "road show" at cafes and college theaters in several cities including Schenectady and Saratoga Springs.[14][17][18]

References

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  1. ^ "Guide to the Cleveland PAND (Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament) Collection". rave.ohiolink.edu. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  2. ^ "The Peace Calendar: Artists form new group". tpc.peacemagazine.org. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  3. ^ "ICAN | International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons". www.icanw.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  4. ^ "The Spirit of June 12". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  5. ^ "UNODA-GA Special Session on Disarmament". www.un.org. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  6. ^ "Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament". wedoitfortheloveofmusic.com. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  7. ^ Montgomery, Paul L. (1982-06-13). "THRONGS FILL MANHATTAN TO PROTEST NUCLEAR WEAPONS". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  8. ^ "Remembering the 1982 rally against nuclear arms - Waging Nonviolence". Waging Nonviolence. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  9. ^ a b ROSS, JANICE (1989-10-01). "Pushing the Boundary Between War and Peace : Performance artist Suzanne Lacy plans for a global event in Finland". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  10. ^ "FINLAND TO HOST FESTIVAL OF PERFORMING ARTS IN JUNE". DeseretNews.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  11. ^ HANANI, HANNAH (1990-07-08). "The Arts: A Universal Language : Diverse cultures find a common ground through dance, music, theater at Meeting of the Worlds festival in Finland". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  12. ^ Rico, D (June 1990). "The edges of the world". Mother Jones. 15 (4).
  13. ^ The International Shadow Project 1985: Handbook. Portland, Or: Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, 1985. Print.
  14. ^ a b Papp, Joseph. Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament: Related Coverage from New York, N.y. New York, 1982.
  15. ^ Kidd, Vernon (April 29, 1990). "A WORLD OF MUSIC; From a Myriad of Music, 20 Gems". New York Times.
  16. ^ "Performing-Arts Group For Atom Curb Formed". The New York Times. 1982-04-04. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  17. ^ a b Churchill Wright, Peg (May 2, 1983). "Festival of Arts for Peace Offers Four Days of Theater". Schenectady Gazette.
  18. ^ Cohen-Cruz, Jan, and Joseph Roach. Motion of the Ocean: United States Activist Performance in Transition, 1960s-1990s. , 1994. Internet resource.

Further reading

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  • Haedicke, Susan C., and Nellhaus, Tobin. Performing Democracy : International Perspectives on Urban Community-based Performance. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2001. Print. Theater—theory/text/performance.
  • Kayton, Bruce. Radical Walking Tours of New York City. 2nd ed. New York: Seven Stories, 2003. Print.
  • Lacy, Suzanne., Roth, Moira, and Mey, Kerstin. Leaving Art : Writings on Performance, Politics, and Publics, 1974-2007. Durham [NC]: Duke UP, 2010. Print.
  • Miller, Hillary. “Mabou Mines’ Dead End Kids & Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament,” in Side by Side: Collaborative Artistic Practices in the United States, 1960s–1980s, eds. Gwyneth Shanks and Allie Tepper, Vol. III of the Living Collections Catalogue (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2020).
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