The Al Andalus Cultural Commission held its second meeting Feb 13 to discuss events and cultural activities in the Al Andalus Region. Chair Micael Khandr presided, and ten people participated in the discussions.
1. Rose presented the issue of the Tango Tuesday concerts. The group discussed the effectiveness of the concerts to bring in new visitors and citizens to Al Andalus as well as the convenience to members of the community who might be able to share hosting responsibilities. While the group appreciated the performances and efforts of Winters Kanto, they felt that some diversity in programming was needed, particularly across time zones, and decided to not revive the event known as Tango Tuesday. Numbers of attendees, the number of people taking the next step to join our interest group or become citizens were discussed. Members of the commission agreed to submit ideas for other performances, to include varying location, hosts and time zones, so that more people could participate and the hosting responsibilities more easily shared. We also agreed to put together a calendar so that volunteers could sign up to host concerts and other events.
2. The group also agreed that the Flamenco Friday performances of Joaquin Gustav continue to be very successful and affirmed AA's desire to continue them. Several people volunteered to help with hosting.
3. The Al Garnata opera/theater is nearly finished, and as soon as it is completed, will be bringing performances s to get regular events there. The GarnArta Gallery will also be complete soon. This is privately owned and funded for the time being.
4.The library group reported and is moving along well. Gilbert Sapwood, professional storyteller, author and founder of the SL Storytellers guild, has agreed to do a one time performance for Al Andalus .He will be presenting stories from the middle east. The date he is available is March 22, 6 pm slt. We will work with the Al Qantara library group on this.
5. The group also discussed Feria and enthusiastically supported a repeat this year. The week of April 5 was chosen for the event. Rose will chair, and call a meeting to organize different facets of the event. Arias Ahren agreed to assist in translations.
6. We also discussed the continuation of Stui's Talking Hour and agreed that a mix of sl issues as well as discussions of real world issues, including commonalities in world religions would be the subject matter. The group wanted to continue STH and agreed on an every other week schedule, with guest hosts (other than stui) welcomed., STH will be held on Wednesdays on alternate weeks from the RA's Town Hall meetings.
7. Imotali Antiesse reported on the AIC group (Andalus Islamic Council). The group presently is made up of mostly Muslim Citizens of AA but they hope more people, regardless of faith, participate. Events include Jamaah (congregation prayer), daily, 9pm SLT at the Al Andalus Mezquita. and Islamic Lectures, Sunday, 6am SLT at the Summer Palace. The group is still very young and events will evolve as the group becomes more established.
8.Aileen Zessinthal also reminded us that we still need to set up the Pathways system, and that she'd like her center to be included. Rose and Aileen will begin work on this soon.
9. Micael reported that he will continue Compline services but will be alternating the venue between Al Andalus and Gonzaga sims. He is happy with the turnout but wants to encourage more of his students to participate. He pointed out that his students generally land in Al Andalus first before going to the more structured Gonzaga sim.
The group agreed that Saturday was good for additional meetings, and adjourned