Day 3 June 14, 2010

This is a glimpse of what Tribeca Arts 2010 art show theme will be this year. It is all about our paths intersecting with Jesus, art and other people stories. Today I mostly worked hard planning with my fellow interns prayer sessions for every Wednesday of our time here on project. It was fruitful and productive and I am remained of Ecclesiastes which talks often about our labor here on earth. I see God putting me to work on how can 'we' as a body of Christ work to cultivate compassion for loving others-complete strangers. Idea of "work" to me remind me of God being our ultimate Creator designing in stone our toil here on earth at different stages of our lives, whether that's school or profession we each have our own gifts and skills we possesses.

Exodus 35:35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers, in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers-all of them master craftsmen and designers.

I have a lot of friends who have a lot of talent but don't believe they have the faith to efficiently use what God given them. I was chatting with a peer of mine from George Mason on facebook and I been really encouraged by her. Her first name is Kelli and she's married and older but I love hearing her public confessing of faith within the art community. She told me a story last night about her time at Haywatch Art Camp in Maine and how she was mocked even ridiculed for her personal faith. There was this one painting professor there who react pretty shocking when she told her she is a painting major and colorblind. To the professor she was outrage and can't imagine the logic behind Kelli decision to be a painting major. It doesn't make logic sense to anyone really how can a color blind person mix paint on a palette? How can a person tell the difference between orange and blue? Funny thing is she is a remarkable painter. Her gift of painting can only be explained by God's hand in her life to break down people barriers of what we believes are limits.

Because our art show theme is intersections this summer I thought I share with you some key words we will be talking often about: intimacy, reunion, betray, pursuit, rejection, anticipation, sacrifice

I'm going to start a new thing to my blog updates where I want to tell about funny or interesting 'intersections' during my day with people and things.

My intersections today:

• Ran across the studio cat got 5 small scratches when I was playing with her.
• Ran into Joey Lee a friend from Penn State Epic who lives and work in the city for dinner at Wonjo, which he kindly offered to pay for my meal.
• Ran into Willie a student from California here for the Epic track. His first meal here is Japanese curry.
• Ran into a free Tara Helen O'Connor concert at Bryant Park.
• Ran into Kelli a fellow artist from GMU on facebook chat and hear how God been working through her.

June 13, 2010

Day 2 of Tribeca Arts Summer Project 2010

Today was a long and tiring yet exciting and glorious day because Sunday mornings are the day of observing the Sabbath. Today I observe a lot of divine 'intersections' with the divine God. His majesty occurred in attending the Ethical Society Culture Center twice one at 9 am at Redeemer Church and Vision Church at 5pm with my friend Joey. Today message was about something probably lacking in most churches the talk of the illness of money: 1) illness of saving-hoarding money Luke 11 & 2) illness of selling money- consumerism. It make sense for Pastor Scott at Redeemer to talk about this topic living in New York City where people judge you upon your social economic status, what career you have, what car you drive, where you live, what cloths/fashion you wear, etc. My thoughts are this is exactly what God has been meaning to teach me in practically offering and surrendering what I perceived as my own money for Godly purposes. For the past year I been intentionally supporting friends and others I share in their ministry vision on their mission field/trip from anywhere as Brett Barkley's vision of working closely with international students living in Chicago, IL to partnering with Andrew Kim's ministry at my own campus-George Mason University.

The second service I attend late talked heavily upon the meaning of worship. What is true worship? Is it a song sung on Sunday's morning? What is the best kind of worship? Jazz like Redeemer? Or contemporary rock like Megachurch like Mclean? Or Hymns like Korean Presbyterian Church? Meaning of worship comes from the meaning of "breaking yourself to be a blessing to others" like Christ to appreciate your personal Savior as a living sacrifice consistently for our illness- called sin. Some of the thing that stuck out to me was that worship is staying close to God at any place and time. That happened today especially when I got frustrated that I did not plan accordingly for commuting time to Joey's church Vision and it pour rain after I made multiple transfers to get to 66th St at the Ethical Center. Through all this I can still praise God for today and putting worth on a broken vessel like myself. I will leave with one of the reflection questions asked to us: "Is my entire lifestyle an act of worship?"

Prayer Request

• I'm no natural leader; I'm a better follower than a leader often time but I'm called to lead on Tribeca Arts Summer Project 2010 disciplining 3 solid guys who come from christian homes. I feel unequipped yet know this is what I asked for to stretch my faith in leading this summer. Pray for faith in God to help me to offer myself and believe I have something to offer to my disciples.
• Pray for my responsibilities and role as a student intern in helping lead prayer every Wednesday, keeping track of art supplies/inventory, as well as personal promotion for the art show.
• Continue to pray for support as any will much appreciated for this project students and staff included.
• Pray for myself and others to take step of faith and be bold and courageous to proclaim and testify God's glorious name and gracious gospel here in NYC.
• Pray for unity amongst the Tribeca Arts group with a variety of preconceived barriers from people's different backgrounds (different ages, majors, schools, families, countries, states, personality, etc)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Hi Everyone!



Hope you guys are enjoying your summer! As you may already know I had already left for New York City and right now staying at the 12^thfloor of Herald Towers. I am really excited to see how God works in me on this project and how much He has in store for me in stretching my faith. 
Currently, I had raised the $3,600 amount of support asked of me for the project. But I am still accepting your contribution if you had not yet and would like to partner with me in this project. I would need about $150 more for the 4 days I am staying at the housing early for student intern orientations before the students arrive on Wednesday. If you are willing to contribute to my summer project cause, you can send donations through this website:

https://give.ccci.org/give/View/5430251?pp=Search+Results

For those who wish to send me a check (checks make out to Campus Crusade for Christ) please send to this address:

Campus Ministries- Tribeca SP

Brian Dang

144 E. 44^th, Suite 710

New York, NY 10017

Arrived at noon time I had no time to settle unpacking and head straight to our lovely home for the next few weeks at NYCAMS (New York Center For Art & Media Studies). To our surprise we found our feminline friend in a chair curious to see us being a human friendy cat. When we convene with our Art staff our friend meow and claw at the door making distractions as we go over important information. By the end of the meeting me covered a lot of ground from everything scheduled, to content of art teaching, discipleship training, review evangelism activities and our roles and responsibilities as student interns.

I was exhausted by the end of the day after travelling early in the morning to New York City. Hungry and tired my roommate Anthony and I went to chinatown together for dumplings at Joe’s Shanghai. Anthony have to escort me because apparently they lost my key and looking to get it replace. As annoying it is not having a key on the first day, I just have to be flexible to the changes. We waited 45 minutes at this place, but the wait was worth the food my first experience at a dumpling house and eating soap dumplings.

Settling already into my housing I had no time to rest getting straight to legalities and orientation of project for interns. Three hours passed after going over the schedule for the whole project, going over the theme of Intersection for this year art show and its purpose of connecting others with how Jesus intersect with every part of a person’s life not just their spirituality, and going over responsibilities and role as discipleship leader and content. After sitting through all that and travel I’m on the brink of need of rest as hunger hits.

For those who are willing to pray for me, please keep these prayer requests in mind:

- Pray for a supernatural handle of my responsibilities and role as a student intern (discipleship leader and arts staff jobs/responsibilities, leading prayer and devotional).

- Pray for unity, accountability, and much more to take place within my project group so that our lives will intersect so we can foster a healthy environment where we can grow in the Lord together.

- Prepare the area that God may send forth his Spirit to work already in the hearts of those we will come in contact with in sharing the gospel.

- Pray for the ability to absorb the information, skills, and training as I endure this project so that I may apply them in my life during my spiritual walk with the Lord.

-Pray for steadfastness and restoration because our schedules are packed as staff and students so we can avoid spiritual or physical burnout.

-Pray for staff and students to remain faithful in raising all their support.

Brian Dang

Thursday, June 10, 2010 Prodigal Son

Luke 15 has been on my mind a lot and frequently appearing in my life. Pastor John Park spoke on this same passage of Jesus parable in Remember, He Had TWO Sons. Last night at Primetime we watch Tim Keller's DVD Prodigal God. The storytelling was remarkable in the video but most importantly the visual cues of a dinner table. Most folks have heard of this beloved parable, it was my first bible story I heard as a Christian attending a college small group. I remember weeping so emotionally relating to the younger son of the story. Jesus told this story of the 'lost' son to tax collectors and sinners. But recently I am remind by others Jesus meant the parable to be told to the Pharisees and self-righteous at the time.

The prodigal son story has two sons in the parable but most remember the younger son. Few actually remember the second act of Luke 15 of the older son. The older son had complained to the Father about his celebration of his younger son returning home. The older son does not want to join the celebration staying outside as the Father beg his older son to understand and reconcile in the house. The story ends on a cliffhanger without an ending of what the older son will do. I wonder what Jesus had in mind to teach the Pharisees about the older brother story. I believed Jesus told the story to bring about reconciliation between the tax collectors and sinners and Pharisees to feast on the dinner table. "Prodigal" I thought means 'lost' but according to Webster it means 'riotous living'. If Luke 15 is as much about the older son than the younger son, in what ways is the older son 'lost' or ''riotous living'? I often see myself relating to the older brother not because I'm the oldest in my family but because of the self-judgmental and self-righteousness expressed by him in the story to the Father. Am I more concern with my desire to do "good" than to seek God?

Thursday, June 10, 2010 Prodigal God

Thursday, June 10: American Art Administrator Educator (AAAE) 2010 Conference at American University (June 3-5)

Day 1 June 3, 2010

After paying a friend a visit for lunch while he intern with the Department of Housing and Urban Development building in Washington DC, I ventured to Dupont Circle toward Phillips Collection. It rained that night and walking in the rain was miserable getting semi-disoriented in my sense of direction. What was a happy surprise was running into my friend from my college fellowship in the neighborhood on 21st St. After finding my way there I was able to finally enjoy the night hearing from the AAAE opening reception speaker Michael Kaiser. I had previously heard of Michael Kaiser from an excellent book I read about art management called The Art of the Turnaround about his adventures of turning debt ridden not-for-profit art organizations such as American Ballet Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, London's Royal Opera House, and now president of Kennedy Center. I highly recommend it for arts lovers and business guru alike to learn about sustainability of the health of arts organizations. His message was a warm welcome for educators hearing about the privilege he has to speak to an audience who understands his passion for the Arts. But the rest of the night was an eye-opener for us to hear of his discovers from his 50 cities in 50 states tour of art community centers around the United States. This is what he discovered-

1) Arts are not being advocated enough

2)Generational need for art advocate leaders

3)Persistency in advocating for the arts in local communities.

I believed no one are against the arts as Michael Kaiser mentioned but how to fit the arts into community budgets are hard. Part of the problems are the arts community are not doing a good job of communicating and articulating importance of the arts to one's joy of life. I feel his message was a vibrant appeal to educators to continue to speak to their students to inspire a new generation of leaders to emerge in America. I left the night feeling re-energized and refresh with light conversation with a recent Master of Art Management graduate from University of Maryland student by the name of Michelle. The had attended the conference 5 years ago as an undergrad and enjoyed it.

Day 2 June 4, 2010

Suit and tie I ventured into Washington DC at 7am in the morning on Franco-Springfield blue line transferring at Metro Center to the red line heading to Shady Grove to Tenleytown-American University. The 1-hour metro ride was worth the wait stepping my first steps on the grounds as I entered American University Katzen Arts Center which looks enormous from the outside. The facility were polished as I begin the day with their continental breakfast preparing myself for a packed day.

State of Research in Arts Management

What I learned that morning was about the state of research in Arts Management. I didn't realize how new in academia Arts Management field is until I hear about the topics being discussed. Antonio Cuyler a Ph.D at American University Professor and Program Director talked about a need for a systemic review for research in the field. His presentation touch upon what kind of research articles can you find in the field and a need for more credential review of article journals and publications in Arts Management.

He broke down the two different kind of research of knowledge basic which is "pure" knowledge for knowledge sake and applied research meant for unbiased external micro-research. How research can be increase by educators in the field is by more publication grants and scholarship rewards for graduates to do their dissertations.

Mike Wilkerson from American University followed with his presentation on "What Deem as Qualifications in Academia Track for an Art Administrator?" He posed a lot of questions which I don't believer there are clear or distinctive measures of standardized qualifications universities have from a national level. This is problematic as Wilkerson did research by Monkey survey members from AAAE. There were statistics that strongly suggest a problem in academia of rejections rate from universities' Deans of Art Administrators when academia track tenure comes into consideration. If Arts Management will continue to develop AAAE will need to take initiative to establish a common national standards to present to universities' Deans about who qualifies in this field as best educators and practitioner.

Our very own Daniel Waxman, graduate from George Mason University Arts Management program present a study on Assessment class in Higher Education. Learning the outcomes from this presentation, the academia does not know what are the core classes for Arts Management with a variety of classes of choice all over the map at different programs. Most agree from the majority that an Arts Management degree at the masters level includes marketing, finance, budgeting, accounting, research methods, technology and the arts but with all the essential a mock degree program max out at 36 hours. What is recommend by Waxman is consideration of how important the role of technology will effect the field and studies, consideration of students adaptability because of current economic conditions, and review of role of practical experience in masters degree.

Day 3 June 5, 2010

Wednesday, May 2, 2010 It's Complicated

This past Sunday I visited an old friend who lives in McLean and goes regularly to McLean Bible Church Frontline. It was my first time experience the megachurch of Northern Virginia. Quite the experience with its own two level garage so we parked on the ground level under some shade. We got there early and I checked for Wi-fi as I sink into their lobby couches. The auditorium was filled with multiple screens for your convenient viewing of the worship band as music filled the entire space. There were upper seats as we took our seat in the center row near the top. While believing I was at a rock concert, Pastor Todd let us watch a video about inner city ministry in DC. The video promotes the House DC's mission to provide an opportunity for inner city youth and their families to connect to Christ through creative programs that meet both physical and spiritual needs. www.thehousedc.org

The title of the sermon was "It's Complicated" referring to the relationship status often appear on Facebook. Whether you're single, or dating relationships are complicated suggested by Todd Phillips. This was their third week on their dating series "It's Complicated" that night Todd talked about spiritual compatibility. Just like the popular eHarmony online dating which matches you up with 29 Dimension of Compatibility (whatever that means) Todd Phillips has a few of his own.

1) Look for a Mate that is 100% Sold out for God

Ecclesiastes 12:13B/ Philippians 3:8

Look for a mate that fear God and Keep His Commandments

Paul was completely sold out for God

You want to be #2 compare to God in your mate's life

2) Look for a Mate that is Excited about their Daily Walk with God

Psalm 37:4

David delight himself daily for God

Submission to the Lord-intentions are clear

How do you and your mate express their passion for God?

Dating is for critiquing your potential life partner lives and your own.

You need to have confidence that they will obey God no matter the cost.

Hold out for God's best do not settle for mediocre.

3) Look for a Mate who is a Doer of God's Word

Joshua 1:8

Speak the word of God, mediate, reflect, active pursuit of God's word.

I hear a lot of dating sermons and my thoughts before the sermon was am I going to hear something useful being content with my singleness. I think what I got out of this sermon was humility that I need to be self-aware of my shortcomings. A walk with God is a life long process and it requires humility. Lately I can feel pride coming upon my attitude and words these days as I believe I'm smarter or wiser than maybe others. I am thankful God is not through with me yet. Next blog will discuss my adventures into DC as I attend 2nd Annual Art Administrator Educator (AAAE) Conference 2010 host by American/George Mason University.