Free Puppeteers

Local protesters may want to take note of the recent goings-on in Philadelphia: Prior to the Republican National Convention, 70 "puppetistas" from the Ministry of Puppetganda were arrested at a warehouse and 100 hand-made puppets (including cardboard cockroaches, skeletons, and an electric chair) were thrown into trash compactors. As of December 13, all charges were dropped against these puppeteers, as there was no evidence to link any of them to an actual crime. Philadelphia's district attorney's office also withdrew charges against the owner of the warehouse, who was jailed for 54 hours before being released without bail. Bradley S. Bridge, a senior public defender, told The Philadelphia Inquirer, "To their credit, the District Attorney's Office did the right thing by agreeing that there was no basis to prosecute anybody. Something is dreadfully wrong when people are searched, arrested, and prosecuted when there was no basis to search, arrest, and prosecute." There are ludicrous details to the case--including a search warrant affidavit claiming that the protesters were financed by Communists-- but the results are serious: A political protest was squelched by the police with no justifiable cause. As with Seattle Mayor Paul Schell's imposition of an unconstitutional "no-protest zone," there's a lot of clucking about officials overreaching their authority, but no genuine penalizing of authorities abusing their power. BRET FETZER


Free Screen Time

Calling all would-be Brakhages! Ever since you found the old family Super-8 in the attic over the holidays, all you've been going on about is how the films you shoot are going to be so "cutting-edge" and "avant-garde." Well here's your chance to put your talent where your mouth is: The 3rd Annual Seattle Underground Film Festival is accepting entries for this year's installment, scheduled for October; the deadline for entries is June 1. The slate is wide open in regard to length, subject matter, format, and language, so indulge! Details and an entry form are available by contacting bolexman@msn.com; if you must send a letter, the address is P.O. Box 4077, Seattle, WA, 98104. BRUCE REID


Free Money

Artist Trust is accepting applications for their 2001 GAP (Grants for Artists Projects) Program, which provides awards of up to $1,400 for projects including the development, completion, or presentation of new work; publication; travel for artistic research; and documentation of work. GAP Grants apply to all disciplines. The funding environment is increasingly inaccessible to individual artists, so if you've got a bee in your bonnet and you need financial support, apply now. Send a business-sized, SASE to: GAP Application, Artist Trust, 1402 Third Ave, #404, Seattle, WA 98101-2118 or print it off of their website at www.artisttrust.org. The deadline is February 23, 2001 at 5 p.m. BRET FETZER


Free Association

It's a slow week for arts news, so we called up some artists to find out what they've been dreaming about lately:

A filmmaker has been dreaming of castles and villas with beautiful grounds in foreign countries. In his dreams, he's always in places he's not supposed to be.

A writer dreamed she was laying some gravel-- which was red, white, and blue--through her old backyard like a winding road. It was beautiful.

A dancer has been dreaming of babies falling off beds and getting huge welts on their heads. They're not happy dreams, she reports.

An actress was dreaming that she was calling someone on the phone, and just as she finished dialing, her alarm went off. She woke up laughing.

And finally, a journalist dreamed of living in a town with enough artsy goings-on to eradicate the need to forage through artists' subconsciouses to meet his word-count.

artsnews@thestranger.com