CULTURE PROJECT’S GROUNDBREAKING SERIES “BLUEPRINT FOR ACCOUNTABILITY” COMES TO THE NEWSEUM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF THE ACCLAIMED SERIES WILL FEATURE PANELISTS RON SUSKIND, VALERIE PLAME WILSON, LT. GENERAL RICARDO SANCHEZ, VINCE WARREN, DR. ALLEN KELLER, JEREMY SCAHILL, ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR. AND ROSE STYRON

March 23, 2010, New York, NY – Culture Project has announced that “Blueprint for Accountability,” a groundbreaking theater/film/journalism series launched at The Times Center in May 2009, will take center stage at Washington, D.C.’s Newseum on April 22nd at 7:30PM.

Spurred by the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s pronouncement to close Guantanamo, the fates of nearly 200 detainees still hanging in the balance and an unwavering moral opposition to torture, Culture Project brings “Blueprint for Accountability” to the nation’s capital with an unprecedented panel of the world’s foremost experts and artists, building a case against the institutions and individuals threatening our system of democracy, while engaging the public in constructing a blueprint for a more just and democratic future. In the past, Culture Project has affected tangible policy change – namely with its multiple award-winning dramatic play The Exonerated, which traveled to Chicago in 2002 for the National Gathering of the Death Row Exonerated. This performance inspired Illinois Governor George Ryan to commute the sentences of over 140 Illinois death row inmates from death row to life in prison, a feat skeptics would deem impossible.

This installment of “Blueprint for Accountability” will feature a stimulating panel discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, former CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Vince Warren, retired Iraq commander Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, journalist Jeremy Scahill, Director of the Bellvue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture Dr. Allen Keller, author, Chief Prosecuting Attorney of Hudson Riverkeeper, and President of Waterkeeper Alliance Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and poet, photographer, human rights activist Rose Styron. A brief look at the precedents set by the Nuremberg Trials and Geneva Conventions will inform a probing discussion of the historical framework for America’s policies limiting abuses in war, and our nation’s radical departure from international human rights laws and civil liberties protections post-9/11.

Punctuating the experts’ discussion, Director Fisher Stevens (Producer of The Cove, Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary) will bring to life theatrical scenes based on the work of Harold Pinter, Ron Suskind and Robert Bolt, with participation from actor John Leguizamo. Guests will screen cinematic shorts Stevens assembled from news stories on Abu Ghraib, archival footage of the Nuremberg trials, the CIA and incisive documentaries about foreign and domestic policies that operate outside the rule of law, providing a rich historical and contemporary context for the debate.

With the nation facing a democratic crisis, “Blueprint for Accountability” seeks to understand the role of the United States government, military and CIA in illegal kidnapping, secret prisons, and torture, mobilizing public support for accountability and a truth commission investigating crimes committed in the so-called “War on Terror.”

Accountability is critical to democracy. At a time when grave challenges threaten American democracy, only a groundswell of public engagement can restore American values and moral standing in the world. At this crucial moment, Culture Project presents “Blueprint for Accountability,” a series that asks "How can we empower ourselves to hold our leaders—in government, education and corporate institutions—accountable for the events of the past and the conditions of the future?"

Fusing theater, film, debate, and discussion, Culture Project’s “Blueprint for Accountability” urges the public to hold elected officials accountable for their actions. The “Blueprint” series follows in the tradition of the acclaimed Impact Festival (2006) and Impeachment Series (2007) that convened some of the world’s foremost thinkers, artists and activists to delve into the essential and complicated questions facing the world.

Culture Project is proud to partner with FORA.tv, an online forum that helps intelligent, engaged audiences get smart about the people, issues, and ideas changing the world. FORA.tv gathers the web's largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world's top universities, think tanks and conferences, for users to watch, interact with and share.

“Blueprint for Accountability” will be presented at the Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20001) on April 22, 2010 at 7:30PM EST. Tickets are available for $45 and a limited number of patron level tickets at $75.

A press conference will directly follow the event at the Newseum.

The event will be streamed live by FORA.tv and made available on demand following the presentation.

Starting Monday, March 29th, tickets will be available online, at:

https://www.ovationtixcom/trs/pe/8069785

To watch the live-streaming event on FORA.tv, please visit:

http://fora.tv/live/Culture_Project/Torture_Accountability_Dark_Side

For more information on “Blueprint for Accountability,” please visit:

www.cultureproject.org

BIOGRAPHIES

RON SUSKIND, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, has written some of America's most important works of nonfiction, framing national debates while exploring the complexities of human experience. His books include The Way of the World, The One Percent Doctrine, The Price of Loyalty, George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill, and A Hope in the Unseen, An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League for which he was awarded the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. From 1993 to 2000, Suskind was the senior national affairs writer for the Wall Street Journal. He was a contributor to Profiles in Courage for Our Times, (Hyperion, 2002), along with other prize-winning authors. He currently writes for various national magazines, including The New York Times Magazine and Esquire Magazine. Suskind has appeared on various television news programs as a correspondent or essayist and is a distinguished visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

VALERIE PLAME WILSON, the former CIA covert operations officer, was born on Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska in 1963. She holds a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and Master's degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. Her career in the CIA included assignments in counter proliferation operations, working to ensure that enemies of the United States could not threaten America with weapons of mass destruction. She and her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, are the parents of 7-year-old twins. Mrs. Plame Wilson and her family live in New Mexico. Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, published by Simon and Schuster on October 22, 2007, is Valerie Plame Wilson's first book. It includes an afterword by Laura Rozen.

VINCE WARREN is the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a national legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and defending the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Warren oversees CCR’s groundbreaking litigation and advocacy work which includes combating the illegal expansion of presidential power and policies such as illegal detention at Guantanamo, rendition, torture and warrantless wiretapping; holding corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; and challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. Warren has spearheaded a public campaign, “Beyond Guantanamo: Rescue the Constitution” coinciding with CCR’s landmark Supreme Court victory in Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush, which held that the detainees at Guantánamo Bay have a constitutional right to the writ of habeas corpus. Prior to his tenure at CCR, Warren held the position of national senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where he led constitutional and impact litigation to advance civil rights and liberties. He also monitored South Africa’s historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings and worked as a criminal defense attorney for the Brooklyn Legal Aid Society. Warren holds a law degree from Rutgers School of Law and a B.A. from Haverford College. Vince is a frequent national cable and network television commentator, having appeared on CNN (The Situation Room and Paula Zahn Now), BBC, ABC, CBS, as well as national radio and local television.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO SANCHEZ is a retired United States Army general who served as the Commander of coalition forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004 and Commanding General of V Corps from June 2003 until September 2006. Born in Rio Grande City, Texas, LTG Sanchez graduated from Texas A&I University as a Distinguished Military Graduate and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army. He was stationed at posts in the United States, Korea, Panama and Germany. In 1991, then LTC Sanchez served as a battalion commander during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. After the Gulf War, Sanchez was given command of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. In July 2001 Major General Sanchez assumed command of V Corp’s 1st Armored Division. Sanchez held the top military position in Iraq during the Occupation period, the emergence of the insurgency and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Sanchez retired In November 2006, after 33 years of Army Service.

FISHER STEVENS is an actor, director and Academy Award-winning producer (The Cove, Best Documentary). He has appeared in over 40 stage productions including the Tony award winning Torch Song Trilogy, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Carousel. He also co-founded Naked Angels Theater in New York City, where he acted, produced and starred in over 30 productions. The company is still producing plays after 20 years. He has appeared in over 50 Motion Pictures and Television programs. Films include: The Flamingo Kid, Short Circuit, The Marrying Man, Hackers, Reversal of Fortune, Awake and the upcoming Gringos in Rio. On television he was a regular on CBS's “Early Edition” and “Key West,” and also appeared on “Friends,” “Frasier” and “Law and Order;” he recently produced and starred in the upcoming pilot for NBC “The Grean Teem.” In 1996, along with John Penotti, Fisher founded GreeneStreet Films where he directed Just a Kiss with Marisa Tomei, Kyra Sedgwick and Taye Diggs. He produced or executive-produced over 15 films including 5-time Academy Award nominated In The Bedroom, Swimfan, Uptown Girls, A Prairie Home Companion, the upcoming Tenderness with Russell Crowe and the critically acclaimed documentary Once in a Lifetime. Last year he produced and co-directed along with Dan Klores the Independent Spirit Award winner for best documentary Crazy Love. His documentary The Cove won the audience award at The Sundance Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the National Board of Review and the 2010 Academy Awards. The Cove will be released by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate on July 31. Stevens is currently working on a new documentary The Agony and the Ecstasy about doctors trying to build a floating hospital on Lake Tanganyika in Eastern Africa.

JEREMY SCAHILL is author of The New York Times-bestseller, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He is an independent journalist who reports frequently for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now! and The Nation magazine. He has spent extensive time reporting from Iraq and Yugoslavia. Scahill is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute.

DR. ALLEN KELLER is Associate Professor of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine. He is Society Master for the May Chinn Society for Bioethics and Human Rights and in this capacity oversees ethics and human rights related activities at the medical school. Dr. Keller is Director of the NYU School of Medicine Center for Health and Human Rights and the founder and Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. Since the program began in 1995, more than 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers from more than 70 different countries have received care. The Program has established an international reputation for excellence in its clinical, educational and research activities. Dr. Keller is recognized internationally as an expert in the documentation, evaluation and treatment of torture victims. Dr. Keller co-chairs the Bellevue Hospital Bioethics Committee and is a past member of the American College of Physicians Ethics and Human Rights Committee. He is on the Advisory Council of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and has written and spoken about a number of issues relating to health and human rights including the medical and social consequences of land mines in Cambodia, refugee health, access to health care for prisoners, political asylum and caring for victims of torture. Dr. Keller has received several awards for his work, including the Barbara Chester Award from the Hopi Foundation in recognition of his work with torture victims, the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association and twice he was honored by the graduating medical school class at NYU with the Humanism in Medicine Award. Dr. Keller’s teaching and research interests are in medical ethics and health and human rights.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.'s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet” for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn over 190 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe. Mr. Kennedy serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career he served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City. He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.

Among Mr. Kennedy's published books are the New York Times’ bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004), The Riverkeepers (1997), and Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr: A Biography (1977) and two children’s books St Francis of Assisi (2005), American Heroes: Joshua Chamberlain and the American Civil War and Robert Smalls: The Boat Thief (2008). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Nation, Outside Magazine, The Village Voice, and many other publications. His award winning articles have been included in anthologies of America’s Best Crime Writing, Best Political Writing and Best Science Writing.

ROSE STYRON is a poet, journalist and human rights activist. She has published three volumes of poetry (From Summer to Summer, Viking, 1965, Thieves’ Afternoon, Viking, 1972 and By Vineyard Light, Rizzoli, 1995) and collaborated in translations from Russian (Modern Russian Poetry and Poets on Street Corners both Viking Press.) Her poetry appears in a variety of publications. Her articles on human rights and foreign policy have been published in periodicals such as The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Republic, her interviews, book reviews and essays in American Poetry Review, The Paris Review, Ms. Magazine, Vogue, Holiday, Ramparts, The Los Angles Times, New York Times, Chicago Sun Times, etc. “Voice of America” produced Writer’s World, her international series of conversations with publicly-engaged novelists and poets. Selections were subsequently syndicated in New Perspectives Quarterly. In the field of mental health, Styron contributed a chapter to “Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression,” edited by Nell Casey, (Harper Collins, 2002) and has spoken at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital about William Styron’s depression and its impact on the family.

In 1970, following an Afro-Asian writers conference in Moscow and Tashkent, Styron joined the founding group of Amnesty International USA and has since served on the board of many NGOs including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Reebok Human Rights Foundation, The Lawyers Committee For Human Rights, Equality Now and the Project on Justice (based successively at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and at Tufts University) traveling widely on their behalf in Latin America, the USSR, Central Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. Her most recent involvements have been South Africa, Cuba, and Northern Ireland. Also, she has chaired PEN’s Freedom-to-Write Committee, AI USA’s National Advisory Council, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Awards. Styron currently serves on the boards of the Academy of American Poets, the Association to Benefit Children, and The Brain and Creativity Institute at USC. Styron is an overseer for New York University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

ANDREW S. KARSCH divides his time between the worlds of motion pictures, politics, and technology.

After working as a producer and executive for many years with United Artists, he founded Longfellow Pictures and subsequently took on running companies for both William Randolph Hearst III and Sidney Kimmel. Among his producing credits are the Academy Award-nominated Best Picture, “The Prince of Tides," as well as “The Emperor’s Club,” “Princess Cariboo,” "The Rachel Papers,” "Curtain Call,” “Town and Country,” and the soon-to-be-released feature “Betty Anne Waters” starring Hillary Swank, with Juliette Lewis, Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher, Sam Rockwell and Melissa Leo. Politically, Mr. Karsch worked for many years with Senator Edward M. Kennedy running his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1976. He served as the Senator's Issues and Media Director for the state of New York during his 1980 Presidential campaign.

Mr. Karsch currently lives in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. with his wife Nan Richardson, a publisher, and two small children overseeing his online company, ‘Outside.In,’ founded with partners Steven Berlin Johnson and Mark Bailey. His political work remains one of his core concerns and he continues to advise candidates, campaigns, and foundations. During the last Presidential campaign, Mr. Karsch worked with Rock the Vote to create and produce the largest youth registration drive in history, registering 2.64 million new voters, primarily between the ages of 18 and 30. This was accomplished optimizing an array of new tech resources and opportunities.

He has just launched a new motion picture/multimedia company, Insurgent Media, LLC, with partners Erik Gordon and 2010 Academy Award-winner Fisher Stevens, Insurgent will actively participate in both existing and emerging media while concentrating on the production and distribution of documentary and feature films.

CULTURE PROJECT is dedicated to addressing critical human rights issues by creating and supporting artistic work that amplifies marginalized voices. By fostering innovative collaboration between human rights organizations and artists, we aim to inspire and impact public dialogue and policy, encouraging democratic participation in the most urgent matters of our time.

A venue for acclaimed, prize-winning performance, Culture Project has been a magnet for some of today's best talent, including Meryl Streep, Danny Glover, Mary J. Blige, Robin Williams, Marisa Tomei, Staceyann Chin, Lynn Redgrave, and others who share a passion for theater and social justice. Culture Project has garnered numerous awards, including the Times' #1 Play of the Year (2003), Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award (2005), a Drama Desk Award (2003), an Outer Critics Circle Award (2003), and Lucille Lortel Awards (2003, 2008).