Fundraising Update
March 31, 2007
So, friends, we’re about a week away from Easter and our fundraising efforts continue. We’ve received some very generous help, but this event is still pretty far away from breaking even, so please consider helping us out! Remember that we’re still a small-time independent church that meets in our member’s apartments; every little bit helps.
So first, a big thank you to the following people (please forgive my silly titles):
Pillars of the Church:
Deborah Black
Paul Everett
Faith House and Citylights
St. Thomas Church, Medina, WA
Patrons:
Mel Ahlborn
The Episcopal Church at Cornell
Matthew Pritchard
The Sanctuary Community
Mary Stuart
Friends:
Church of the Apostles, Seattle, WA
Kathy Cheney
Phillipa Currier & Gareth Powell (from Moot, UK)
Anne Ditzler
Abigail Estes
Chloe Silverman
Kelley Smith
Rick Snodgrass
Laura Unsworth
(also thanks to Tracy Quan who will be selling some of her books, proceeds to go to the event)
Our budget, meanwhile, looks likes this:
space rental: $2800
musicians: $400
eucharistic wine: $200
graphic design: $100
printing costs: $300
supplies: $200
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total: $4000
and this point we’ve raised $2,350 (updated 4.7.07) which means we’re a little more than half-way there. Please consider supporting this event!
Holy Week Schedule
March 31, 2007
Hey, guys, some of you have asked about what Transmission is doing for Holy Week. Obviously, with Easter around the corner we won’t be able to throw a service every day of the week, but it would be cool if we could spend some time together. Here’s our tentative schedule for any Transmissioners (and/or transcurious) folks who are looking for stuff to do:
Palm Sunday. Sanctuary, 6pm, 74th and York Ave. T.j.Snodgrass, the one and only, will be delivering his first homily. If you know Snodgrass, you know he’s not a man to be trifled with, so this should be worth checking out. I’ll be doing the music (including a tribute to Depeche Mode). One specific reason to come: almost every church does the crucifixion on Palm Sunday, but Sanctuary is actually focusing on the entry into Jerusalem and leaving Good Friday for Good Friday.
Wednesday. We’ll be having our last planning meeting at Avalon, 20th St and 6th Ave. This won’t be a service, but it will be our only chance to lay out the space, check sounds and lights, etc. The more hands, the better.
Maundy Thursday. Transmission will be gathering at Katherine Lee’s place up in Washington Heights. Good food, evocative ritual, and everything you’ve come to love about Transmission… (see post below for more info)
Good Friday. We’ll be back at Sanctuary, this time for an environmental stations of the cross which will be set up from from 6-9pm. No, it’s not a three hour service; that means that you can show up whenever you want and leave whenever you want. Bowie and I are both doing installations, and I’m also making an audio loop of poetry and music. It’ll be a neat experience of traditional church doing a radically decentralized worship.
Holy Saturday. Down to Time Square for St Mary the Virgin‘s Easter Vigil. Affectionately known as “Smokey Mary’s,” this place does high-liturgy like no one else. It’ll be a very different experience from Transmission, but we also recognize “high liturgy” as being both solidly multi-sensory and very traditional. It’s a long service, so eat before you get there.
Easter Sunday. EASTER AT AVALON! What else do you need?
Becky Garrison: Easter for the Outcasts
March 26, 2007
Our friend, Becky Garrison, has just posted about Easter @ Avalon on “God’s Politics” – a blog by Jim Wallis & Friends, presented by Beliefnet and Sojourners. Yay!
Go by and see what she has to say in “Easter for the Outcasts” and cast a comment!
Support Easter At Avalon
March 24, 2007
Dear friends, kind Christians, and allies,
Yup, right now all our expenses for Easter @ Avalon are being paid out of our own pockets. We are estimating a $4,000 total budget, $2800 of which is for space rental. We have already received more than $500 in donations, in addition to countless hours of volunteer time (see list of contributing artists and groups in the post below)!
This experimental Easter service (which incorporates ancient elements of Christian worship, in addition to lots of totally 21st-century stuff) is being planned to welcome people who wouldn’t otherwise attend church on Easter, for those who might not feel welcomed if they
did show up, and for those who want to experience an additional resurrection celebration!
Please help support this historic and exciting event! Be a friend and kick in $5. Help pay for our sundry supplies by giving $50. Cover the cost of our musicians by donating $200. Or be a “pillar of the church” and help defray the cost of our space rental with a $500 gift. All amounts welcome. Every little bit helps.
p.s. We will not be charging admission for the event (so your gift will help someone else celebrate Easter), but we will be taking donations (so come! and share your pennies and twenties then if you’d don’t want to give online).
p.p.s. These donations are tax-deductible. Please contact us (click on link in top right corner of this site) if you need a letterhead receipt for tax purposes. We will be declaring these donations to the tax powers that be and will give away any proceeds we make above expenses to non-profit organizations that assist modern day sex workers.
p.p.p.s. Listen to your heart. You know you want to give! Cause giving feels good.
EASTER @ AVALON: contributing artists & groups
March 24, 2007
many thanks to these artists and groups who are planning to participate and share their talents with us – and to the glory of God – on Easter evening! please check out the websites of these individuals and groups who bring so much ‘art and soul’ to this project…
artists
Connie Casserole, dj
Isaac Everett, music
Dara Centone, singer
Steve Hoevertsz, guitarist
Miles Kennedy, drummer
j. Snodgrass, writer
Mike Jackson, artist
Tracy Quan, writer
Malinda Allen, dancer
Noah Fischer, lights
Mel Ahlborn, artist
Hal Weiner, photographer
[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007]
March 23, 2007
[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007 ]
Last year, more than 50 bloggers around the globe came together to share their reflections in a grid blog called Via Crucis during the week often called HOLY WEEK and in the week after EASTER. The name for this rag-tag effort comes from the Latin words for the Way of the Cross – Via Crucis. The response was astounding to this experiment in distributed global media, which was designed to draw on the creativity, diversity, and theological understanding of the blogging community to a moment in the story of folks practicing faith.
With the beginning of Holy Week (Palm Sunday ‚Äì April 1) right around the corner, I am hoping you might join the [Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] – if you are interested please go to http://thecorner.typepad.com/via_crucis_2007/ for a calendar of this year’s grid blog and sign up!
Easter@ Avalon planning meeting (3 of 4)
March 19, 2007
Club Avalon ceiling, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
So Easter is only three weeks away. We’re half way there! Yikes…
Anyway, this Wednesday we’ll be having our next planning meeting at 7pm. This week we’ll be meeting at St Clement’s Church in their parish hall (we’ll get there early and put up signs so you can find us).
St Clement’s is at 423 W 46th, bet 9th and 10th ave.
Main things to discuss:
~music. We’ve got a rock solid band put together and need to decide how to use them.
~postcards. We’ve got postcards to distribute! Check out the designs here.
~a slew of other things. Plus special guests!
Hope to see you there!
Another Easter element falls into place
March 16, 2007
I’m pleased to confirm that Malinda Allen will working with us on the Easter @ Avalon project. She’s creating a piece in collaboration with artist Noah Fischer (who is creating dynamic light sculpture for the event) that will explore themes of incarnation, bodies, gender, and, of course, Easter. She grew up in the black church and her work reflects this – her piece will involve quite a bit of call-and-response, audience participation, etc.
Rumor has is that she and Deborah Black, another choreographer with whom I’ve worked, will also be leading some sort of yoga/contact improv/partner massage during the latter half of the service. Excellent.
EASTER @ AVALON: postcard / web image yay!
March 16, 2007
Easter Postcard FRONT, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Yay! Hadassah Hill (www.heelsonwheelsdesign.com) designed these fabulous postcards for us. They’re at the printers right now and we’re expecting a couple thousand to arrive on Tuesday. Please let us know if you’d like a pile to pass out.
Please also feel free to post this image on your blog, myspace page, or website. If you click on the image above, you’ll be taken to a flickr.com page where you can download it in various dimensions (or grab html code to do the work). I’ve also posted the postcard back for ya’ll to check out or post, if you prefer. Thanks!
EASTER @ AVALON: event listing
March 9, 2007
Easter @ Avalon
Local sex workers, artists, and an underground Manhattan church combine forces to bring you an experimental Easter service at this Chelsea dance club (formerly The Limelight). The service includes performance poetry, graffiti art, a live band playing Madonna covers, and much, much more. Come honor Mary Magdalene and celebrate one of western civilization’s oldest springtime/resurrection festivals.
Date/Time: Sunday, April 8th, starting at 6 p.m.
Location: ClubAvalon, 47 West 20th Street (at Sixth Avenue).
The service will be free and open to the public.
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Please pass this on to any publications you think may be interested in listing our Easter service. Contact us for the full MEDIA ADVISORY.