A SHORT HISTORY OF TOM TRESSER'S WORK IN ARTS, POLITICS, CREATIVITY AND PUBLIC POLICY
2004
March - Attended Camp Wellstone, a 2 1/2 day training session for grassroots activists and candidates (present and future).
April - Elected to the Local School Council of the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.
August - After seven months of organizing work, incorporated and registered the Creative America Project as a nonprofit, nonpartisan group to inspire and train artists and creative professionals to run for local office. Created events at several local venues, including the Guild Complex and Victory Gardens Theatre to mix performance with speaking about the need to defend creativity and for creatives to run for local office. Spoke at a National Performing Arts Convention, Louisville Summit on Community Arts and the League of Chicago Theatres annual conference. Read coverage in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader.
November - The Creative America Project is taking off, with invitations from arts leaders in Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Champaign, St. Louis, Madison, Phoenix, Cheyenne and San Francisco to bring our 2 1/2 training program to their cities in 2005. We've pulled together an impressive national Board of Directors and Advisory Council that includes: William Cleveland , Kevin Colon, Dr. John Eger, Sandra Myers , Dr. Margaret Wyszomirski , Douglas Blandy, Kathie deNobriga, Joey Coleman , Michael Dorf, Mayor Richard Howorth, Jeff Jones, Kitty Kurth & Kevin Lampe, Rosemarie Mincey, Daniel Bretton Tisdale, and Your Plan B Company
2005
Tom does presentations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana,
Michigan, New Jersey and New York on "The
Politics of Creativity - A Call to Service," which
lays out the case for creativity as a basis for a positive,
winning politics and for the leadership qualities of creative
professionals. You can book this presentation for your city!
However, the Creative America Project is in limbo as the
IRS objects to our application for nonprofit status and eventually
kicks the application to IRS HQ and we are notified 16 months
after first submitting the application that no one has been
assigned to the case and no word can be given if and when
the application will be decided upon. Read
the articles on Creative America from UTNE Magazine, the
Chicago Sun-Times, New
City and the Chicago Reader
Read my op-ed piece in the September 2004 issue of American
Theater urging artists and creative leaders to run for
local office. Download
it here...
2006 - 2007
I
started teaching "How To Be a Cultural Activist" at
the
DePaul
University School for New Learning. The
student newspaper, The DePaulia, ran an
article on the class in their April 28 issue.I'm continuing
to teach at DePaul, offering "Who's Lying To You Now?"(critical
thinking and media literacy), "The Politics of Creativity" for
the Political Science Department. New courses include "Creative
Tools for Social Change" for the Peace
and Social Justice Program and "International Creativity
Policy" for theMasters
Program in Public Service. At
the Loyola
University Theater Department, I'm teaching "The
Artist as Activist.". Read an article
from the Loyola Phoenix on this class.
