Karen Demavivas
Karen Demavivas
  • Female
  • Brooklyn, NY
  • United States
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Karen Demavivas's Friends

  • Sasiwimon Wongjarin
  • Erin Michael Rioux
  • Lyean Inocencio
  • Ishita Biswas
  • Varsha Nair
  • Fito Oddone
  • Dona van Bloemen
  • Santa Fe Creative Tourism
  • Roberto Catalano/MUSICaNTICA
  • eknathraajesh patil
  • amirshaabanipour
  • Amiel Gerald Roldan
  • Chakkrit Chimnok
  • ComPeung Team
  • Nicole Macotsis

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Highlights from our time with local communities in the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil

This entry is by way of a follow up to the album that Aoka just posted on our Create Culture page that we welcome all of you to view here. In the midst of the Aoka Beta Experience in Ubatuba and Paraty (July 30-August 4, 2010), spirits ran high as a diversity of people gathered and discovered the region’s incredible highlights. On our journey, we tasted local culinary delights like quilombola salad and azul…See More
Blog post by Karen Demavivas Dec 6, 2010
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Karen Demavivas replied to the discussion 'a NYC Culturalista meetup?' in the group NYC Culturalistas
I think this is a great idea and something as simple but nurturing as meeting up and eating ethnic food in Queens would be welcome. It seems that we all have a diversity of interests and an open way of connecting with culture through the gastronomic…
Dec 6, 2010
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Karen Demavivas commented on the blog post 'UNESCO has "preserved" Turkish Oil Wrestling- now what?'
What a great discussion and, Nico, I appreciate your daring-do in the selection of pictures (like the one above) recently:) I see each gesture like that of UNESCO's list as playing a specific role in cultural production and what they play is an…
Dec 5, 2010
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Aoka Ubatuba-Paraty Beta Experience

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Aoka Ubatuba-Paraty Beta Experience (July 30-August 4, 2010)
An album by Karen Demavivas was featured Nov 29, 2010
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Congratulate them!
Karen Demavivas was featured Nov 26, 2010
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53 more…
Photos posted by Karen Demavivas Nov 17, 2010
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Nico Daswani commented on Karen Demavivas's album
What terrific images! Looks like it was such a profound experience. Wow. can't wait to visit.
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Aoka Ubatuba-Paraty Beta Experience

Nov 17, 2010
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Photos posted by Karen Demavivas Nov 16, 2010
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NYC Culturalistas

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Connecting Culturalistas in New York City to learn about each other's work, find local collaborators and meet offline- all in the spirit of local cultural discovery!
Karen Demavivas joined a group Nov 14, 2010
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Karen Demavivas is now friends with Lyean Inocencio and Erin Michael Rioux Sep 10, 2010
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Nicole Macotsis and Karen Demavivas are now friends Aug 5, 2010
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Karen Demavivas commented on the blog post 'Of Baby Luaus and Hawaiian Gods'
What a loving, personal view of the richness of Hawaiian culture. Your daughter is gorgeous! I can't wait until she can dance the hula. Speaking of which, you should visit the Pa'I Foundation on your next trip to the islands as their…
Jul 21, 2010
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Karen Demavivas and Ishita Biswas are now friends Jul 14, 2010
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Taking the leap of faith--the Aoka Beta Experience in Ubatuba and Paraty: http://www.aoka.com.br/viagem.php?vg=4&mn=1
Status posted by Karen Demavivas Jul 7, 2010
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Karen Demavivas and eknathraajesh patil are now friends Jun 30, 2010

Profile Information

My Role
Arts Lover, Arts Institution
My Discipline(s)
Theater, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Crafts, Culinary Arts, Design
About Me And My Work
I am more a culture worker than a practicing artist, but have participated in artistic collaborations that engage community. Currently, I work as the Program Coordinator in the development of cultural programs for Aoka: a social business enterprise in the form of a sustainable tourism initiative (see details below). A two-time Fulbright Fellow, I was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 2004 to work as program coordinator, curator, and art critic on community-based art projects in Northern Thailand. This led to serving as the UNESCO-Fulbright Fellow for Culture at UNESCO and then working as a consultant on culture and development initiatives at this agency and the UN Population Fund in New York. My portfolios at the UN included World Heritage conservation, indigenous issues, creative economies, and culturally sensitive approaches to protecting women’s rights. My art and culture writing has been featured in the Brooklyn Rail, the Bangkok Post, Art4D Magazine, the UN Population Fund's publication "Culture Matters 2" as well as the exhibition catalogue of of Rikrit Tiravanija's 2004 retrospective "Nothing" at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum.
Places I Would Like To Visit
Among many inspiring experiences, I highlight three here:
As part of Aoka’s pilot trip (launched in September 2009), I participated in an Afro-Brazilian percussion workshop in a quilombola community nestled in the sub-tropical forests of Vale do Ribeira (part of the UNESCO Natural Heritage Site of the Atlantic Forests, Sao Paolo State, Brazil). In collaboration with quilombola community members who seek to revive the cultural practices of their African roots, Aoka and the NGO Batuque de Nagô have begun to develop music workshops. Held within the community, these open workshops are facilitated by the virtuoso percussionist Pithy Cajonero who dynamically tells of the origins of Afro-Brazilian music and shares traditional ways of playing the drum with both local people and interested visitors.

While I lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I was a volunteer art teacher for Studio Xang, a grass-roots organization which provides free art classes to underprivileged Shan migrant children from Burma. This work made me
passionate about the human rights movement for indigenous peoples in Burma and art as a
transformative means of engagement.

I once lived for a month with a herder family in the Khangai region of Mongolia, while helping a Mongolian friend with a community resource management project. While there, I herded animals on horseback, hiked through the steppes, and helped with the domestic chores in the family ger (Mongolian trellis tent covered with felt). Along with the joy of being in the everyday rhythm of this exuberant culture and vast landscape, I developed a conceptual photography project with text. The theme focused on images of shifting borders/fences in the steppes, which reflect the tension between the sedentary and the nomadic ways of life in a changing Mongolia. My project was part of Varsha Nair's international Womanifesto exhibition in 2006, linking artists around the world through web-based projects: www.womanifesto.org.
Art Forms And Cultures I Would Like To Engage With
To link Aoka with a network of cultural practitioners around the world. (Aoka is currently supported by Ashoka, Artemisia Foundation and the Brazilian government as one of the most innovative social business enterprise models in Brazil.) See the following mission and objectives.
Mission: Aoka provides sustainable trips of quality leisure, which facilitate intercultural exchange and raise the social and environmental consciousness of all participants at diverse natural and cultural sites.

Objectives
-Maximize sustainable management practices in all our operational activities in accordance with the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.
-Encourage intercultural exchange through participatory and educational tours, workshops and volunteer projects.
-Empower local communities by building their capacity to generate supplementary income through sustainable tourism.
-Support and promote locally grown and/or made products at each visited site.
-Affirm the value of local traditions and natural resources through the culturally sensitive and environmentally conscious faciltiation of our itineraries.
-Cultivate a partnership network of community members, NGO workers, specialists and facilitators based on sustainability, transparency and fair trade.
-Establish the AOKA Fund thanks to the donations of our travelers, which will go to specific community development projects decided upon by the communities themselves at each site.
My Creative Influences & Favorite Artists
So many have informed my work here and in the field: Ashoka, Massive Change, Buckminster Fuller, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Varsha Nair, Navin Rawanchaikul, The Beauty Suit Collective, Studio Xang Program for Migrant Children from Burma, Compeung, WEAVE, Pun Pun, Batuque de Nagô , The Laundromat Project, The Urban Homestead Project, JACA, Superflex, N55
My Artistic Affiliations
Compeung, The Colcha Project, Womanifesto, Fly with Me to Another World, The Urban Homestead Project
My Web link
http://www.aoka.com.br

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Karen Demavivas's Blog

Karen Demavivas

Highlights from our time with local communities in the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil

Posted on December 5, 2010 at 7:22pm 0 Comments

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Karen Demavivas

Aoka in Transition: Ubatuba and Paraty, Brazil, April-May 2010

Posted on June 12, 2010 at 12:04am 0 Comments

The Aoka team recently traveled along the coast of Southeastern Brazil where mountains lush with Atlantic rainforests merge with pristine beaches. We engaged with the three Afro-descendant and fisherfolk communities of Camburi, Campinho and Fazenda in order to get a sense of their rhythm of life and see how some of their needs and desires for community development can be met through sustainable tourism. We sat down in forest areas, village squares, porches and a 19th century flour… Continue

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At 9:52pm on June 13, 2010, Varsha NairVarsha Nair said…
That's great news Karen! Look forward to hearing from you and perhasp seeing you in Thailand?
At 3:11pm on June 5, 2010, cheryl gravittcheryl gravitt said…
Congrat's on your feature Karen, you've got some really cool stuff going on!
At 12:23pm on June 5, 2010, Chakkrit ChimnokChakkrit Chimnok said…
WOW .it cool !!
At 9:32pm on June 1, 2010, John RouseJohn Rouse said…
Karen, what were you doing in Brazil?
At 11:03am on April 1, 2010, Santa Fe Creative TourismSanta Fe Creative Tourism said…
Wow ! You have done alot of interesting things.
At 10:51am on January 19, 2010, Karen DemavivasKaren Demavivas said…
Great idea...would be cool to see similar ingredients grown in subtropical areas. In fact the Atlantic Forests of Brazil actually remind me of areas of Pai and Mae Hong Son!
At 4:41am on January 18, 2010, ComPeung TeamComPeung Team said…
Happy New Tiger Year Karen! Perhaps we should go to Brazil and cook Thai food there ;-)
At 7:31pm on December 29, 2009, Nico DaswaniNico Daswani said…
cool logo!
At 10:41pm on December 22, 2009, Nico DaswaniNico Daswani said…
Karen, we are so happy to have you here. What a wonderful and thoughtful profile. Many thanks for such wonderful information. 2-time Fulbright?? wow! What you are doing with AOKA is so interesting. You know that Ongo Bongo is here on Create Culture too, yes?
 
 
 

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