Nav MenuField Trips
Field Trips use cultural experiences as inspiration for exploring different aspects of adoption. Each program is an intimate and interactive gathering designed for a maximum of 12 people. Adoption Museum Project develops and facilitates Field Trips in collaboration with people who have a direct experience of the topic being discussed. Past Field Trips have explored the connection between adoption and foster youth, Chinese American history and disability rights.
Field Trip #4: Born, Never Asked
Photo by Andy Mogg
February 4, 2018
5:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Dance Mission Theater
3316 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
About the Program
How can dance performance be a way of learning about adoption? We’ll consider that question during this Field Trip, which features the 7 PM performance of “Born, Never Asked“.
Developed by artist Zoe Klein, an indigenous international adopted person, “Born, Never Asked” is an auto-biographical dance theater piece and gallery installation that addresses the complexity of international adoption.
This Field Trip invites you to see dance performance differently. Rather than a fleeting moment of entertainment, abstraction or emotionality, dance performance can be a powerful way to learn. It can co-exist with books, films, blogs, and news as another way of knowing.
Program Agenda
Pre-show discussion, artist-designed gallery exhibition, 7 PM performance of “Born, Never Asked”, post-show conversation with artist Zoe Klein.
Cost
Field Trip participants must purchase a ticket to the 7 PM performance of “Born, Never Asked” on Sun. 2/4. Once you register for the Field Trip, you will receive a code to purchase a discounted ticket. There is no additional cost to attend the Field Trip.
How to Register
- Send an email to info@adoptionmuseumproject.org
- You will receive a confirmation email including a code to purchase a discounted ticket to “Born, Never Asked”.
- Use the discount code to purchase your ticket to the 7 PM performance of “Born, Never Asked” on Sun. 2/4.
Accessibility
This is the access that we know is available for this event: near public transportation. For questions, contact Laura: laura@adoptionmuseumproject.org.
Questions
Questions? Please get in touch: info@adoptionmuseumproject.org
Speaker
Zoë Klein is an acrobatic dancer, performing and visual artist and light designer in the Bay Area. She makes work as an indigenous international adopted person, born in Colombia and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated Hampshire College with a degree in Dance & Culture and Lighting Design. When Zoe is not making art, she works as the Development Fellow for the Adoption Museum Project.
Facilitators
Sam Aros Mitchell (Yaqui) is a dancer and choreographer. He is a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of California, San Diego. Sam is an adopted person and an adoptive parent.
Laura Callen
Laura is the Founder/Director of the Adoption Museum Project. She is an adopted person.
Partners
We are honored to partner on this program with artist Zoe Klein and Dance Mission Theater.
Field Trip #3: Patient No More
August 6, 2017
1:00-4:00
San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch
100 Larkin St. (at Grove), San Francisco, CA 94108
About the Program
How is adoption linked to disability and civil rights? We considered that question during a Field Trip to the Patient No More exhibition. Patient No More tells the story of a pivotal moment in social justice history: the “Section 504 Occupation” which helped pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. We collaborated with exhibition developer, the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability and several guest speakers: Cathy Kudlick (Professor of History and Director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability), Corbett O’Toole (disability activist who participated in the 504 Occupation, adoptive mother, author and artist), and Angela Tucker (thought leader on transracial adoption and advocate for adoptee rights who wears hearing aids). Following the Field Trip, we shared materials for further learning and reflection
Field Trip #2
June 3, 2017
12:30-3:30
Chinese Historical Society of America
965 Clay St, San Francisco, CA 94108
About the Program
This intimate and dynamic program explored the exhibition, Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion, through the lens of adoption. Since 1992, U.S. families have adopted over 76,000 Chinese children. China continues to send children to the U.S. for adoption. How does adoption fit into Chinese American history and the experience of inclusion and exclusion? We collaborated with Katelyn Dixon, a Chinese adoptee, on program design and facilitation. The Chinese Historical Society of America, the presenter of Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion, was our generous host.
Field Trip #1
January 24, 2017
7:00 PM
Warehouse 416
Oakland, CA
About the Program
During our first Field Trip, we prototyped the program concept at the Foster Youth Museum’s pop-up exhibition Tribute: Foster Youth Tattoo Stories. Jamie Lee Evans, Co-Director of the Foster Youth Museum, joined us as we simulated the program. Afterwards, we discussed what worked and what could be changed. Our learning included: hearing from someone who developed the project deepens the experience immeasurably, sharing a cultural experience enables people with different adoption experiences to connect in unexpected ways, and more time is needed for appreciating and reflecting on the exhibition itself.
Conversation Agreements
Field Trips are designed for 10-12 people to gather around a table and explore complex questions. Participants are diverse in many ways, including their position in and perspective on adoption. To help support generative conversation, we facilitate each Field Trip based on a set of Conversation Agreements.