EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/vanslam-Abdulsalam
April 8th, 10:30pm EST, Virtual, Suggested Donation

Come join us for another night of slam poetry! In partnership with Open Mic Night/ Art Gallery, it's moment we've all been waiting for: the CIPS Qualifier! As always, our event is in our hybrid live & online format. Bring yourselves and your words to the Van Slam zoom space!

Abdulsalam is a Syrian-Palestinian spoken word poet and photographer. His poetry explores themes of exile, homeland, belonging, and love. Before resettling to Canada in 2021, Abdulsalam lived in Malaysia for nine years, finding refuge in the world of metaphors and storytelling. There, he performed at various events, including the well-known George Town Literary Festival. In 2023, Abdulsalam reached the finals at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS) in Vancouver and has featured at Regina Word Up.

VanSlam takes place on the Unceded, stolen Lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and we wish to acknowledge & thank those people who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial. Van Slam is committed to engaging in the internal and external work of reconciliation.

EVENT LINK: http://tinyurl.com/invisible-warriors-screening
March 20th, 7pm-9pm EST, Virtual, $5

Spend an evening with Gregory S. Cooke, producer and director of the documentary "Invisible Warriors, African American Women and World War II." Mr. Cooke will introduce the film and give us perspective on the contribution of these "Invisible Warriors" before the movie is shown.

“Invisible Warriors tells the important story of women who have been ignored for too long due to their race, gender, and class. African American “Rosie the Riveters” highlight the resilience, tenacity, dedication, and pride of a people, with lessons that transcend the barriers between us and that resonant today.”—Amber Mitchell, Asst. Director of Public Engagement, The National World War II Museum.

Gregory S. Cooke has dedicated his career as an educator and historian to help relocate African Americans to the main pages of history. Invisible Warriors is his directorial debut.

EVENT LINK: http://tinyurl.com/langston-hughes-poetry
February 2nd, 7pm-8:30pm EST, Virtual, Free

Attend a poetry reading celebrating the poetry and legacy of Langston Hughes with featured poets Micah Powell, C. Thomas, and Pi-anir.

This is the second event in Day Eight’s annual DC Poet Project series. Each DC Poet Project event includes 25 to 30 minutes of poetry by the featured poets, and equal time for reading by open mic participants, for the opportunity to win a $250 open mic prize, judged by the featured poets. Anyone can perform in the open mic, but only DC residents are eligible to win the cash prize.

This is a DC Poet Project event. The 2024 DC Poet Project series is curated by Regie Cabico, and supported by the DC Commission on The Arts and Humanities. Founded in 2017, The DC Poet Project is a poetry reading series and open-to-all poetry competition culminating in publication of a new book of poetry by a DC author. Each event includes reading by featured poets and an open mic. And at each series event the judges award a $250 cash prize to a winning open mic participant. Those winners are invited to compete in the culminating event to win a $1,000 book contract. The 2023 DC Poet Project winner was Brandon Douglas, author of Dipped in Cerulean.

ABOUT THE FEATURED POETS

Micah The Poet ( poet / performer / playwright ) is a writer, poet, author, orator, DJ, and community activist and has been featured in the Washington Post, Capturing Fire Productions, Busboys & Poets & the Bowery Poetry Club. His first full-length collection of poetry Things No One Else Wants to Say was published by Capturing Fire Press. Most notable recent performances include The Mayor’s District of Pride Showcase at Lincoln Theater, The Whitney Museum's 2022 Biennial, and Queer Family Pride Weekend. Micah the Poet captivates audiences with his colorful combination of words, music, and folklore. Micah is a true charismatic duality of the sane and insane. His eccentric nature entraps audiences to listen and just maybe, feel a little something...

C Thomas is a dynamic force of creativity, activism, and inspiration! As a Queer Black Non-Binary individual, they have harnessed the power of words and art to champion important causes such as Child Abuse Prevention, LGBTQIA rights, and Mental Health Awareness. Their journey has led them to become an award-winning poet, a dedicated teaching artist, and a prominent advocate for positive change. Recognized as a pioneer of poetry by the National Underground Spoken Word Poetry Award (NUSPA) in 2015, Christopher possesses the remarkable ability to both captivate audiences as a performer and as a host. Their magnetic presence has left an indelible mark on diverse platforms, from esteemed institutions like Angelina College, Georgetown University, Jefferson University, and Howard University to cultural spaces like Busboys and Poets, Studio 2001 Art Gallery, The Athenaeum, and the Torpedo Art Factory. They also lead the acclaimed discussion-based writer’s workshop, Writing to Wellness™, which empowers individuals to utilize poetry as a tool for healing while navigating trauma. Through poetry, advocacy, and a commitment to positive change, Christopher continues to shape a more inclusive, compassionate world.

Pi-Anir (Pronounced Pioneer), the Poet, is a “transplant’s transplant.” A Spoken word artist, Host, Teacher, Advocate, and Author from Chicago’s Westside, by way of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. A uniquely vast Poet whose life of adversity is the prelude to her most extraordinary stories. As a youth mentor and teaching artist Pi-Anir has developed creative writing and artistic programs to expose at-risk teens to poetry in a non-traditional sense. Her self-published work: “To the Goddess in My Garden; A Book of Poetry and Self-reflection.” is a part of her “Poetry with a Purpose” mindset. Pi-Anir believes that art saves lives and is passionate about spreading awareness through creativity about issues that affect the community. Her Poetic body of work includes a host of local venues across the US and International Performances in Iceland and Amsterdam. Pi-Anir has opened for such artists as Sunni Patterson and Maimouna Youssef (Mumu Fresh). She now calls Maryland in the D(M)V area home, where she is currently the host of Sound Off, a monthly open mic series that encourages artists of all genres to let their voices be heard. In addition, Pi-Anir has partnered with organizations that support mental illness, sexual assault, and endangered children to continue her mentoring and advocacy work. Pi-Anir the Poet can be found on Instagram and Facebook at Pianirthepoet and reached at Pi-anirthepoet@gmail.com.

EVENT LINK: http://tinyurl.com/sign-my-name
January 18th, 10:00pm -11:30pm EST, Virtual, Free

Sample an upcoming film about Betty Reid Soskin that focuses on her little-known life as a singer-songwriter in the 1960s and '70s.

Sign My Name to Freedom will be a feature-length film about 102-year-old Betty Reid Soskin, her lost music, and her family's experiences confronting Jim Crow segregation in the Bay Area. The film will be a documentary hybrid, drawing on Betty's extensive photo archive and footage shot with her over more than four years, but it will also include dramatic recreations with actors to depict pivotal moments in her life that were never documented. It centers on a secret she had kept for more than 50 years: her life as a singer-songwriter during the 1960s–70s, when she wrote autobiographical songs to process her experiences as the first Black family to move across the color line into Walnut Creek when it was racially segregated. Film director Bryan Gibel, who originally planned to document the story of Reid’s Records, encouraged her to bring out taped recordings of her music that had been buried in the back of a closet. He was blown away by their quality and shifted gears. Over the past six years he and his crew have been working with Betty and her family members to bring this documentary to completion while she can still enjoy it.

The evening's free program will include a 20-minute preview sample of the film; Q & A with director Bryan Gibel and other members of the team, including Betty's granddaughter Alyana Reid; and information about the crowdfunding campaign to support finishing the film. With luck, Betty herself will join us for at least part of the program.

The Zoom link for this online event will be emailed to you.

For more info about the film, please visit www.signmynametofreedom.com. You can sign up for the film's email list for occasional updates on how you can support the project at www.signmynametofreedom.com/join-us

For more info about Berkeley Historical Society & Museum, please visit www.berkhistory.org.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/gather-in-poems-2023
December 14th, 7pm - 8pm, Virtual, Free

Join us for Gather in Poems, an evening of readings with the following poets: Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Dawes, Oliver de la Paz, Denice Frohman, Kimiko Hahn, Joy Harjo, John Keene, Dorianne Laux, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, Naomi Shihab Nye, Yasmine Seale, Yvette Siegert, and Afaa Michael Weaver. This gathering is hosted in the spirit of gathering, gratitude, and a shared hope for the upcoming year. Presented in collaboration with W. W. Norton, which is celebrating its centenary in 2023.

This event is free and open to the public. Closed captioning will be provided. A link to the virtual event will be available on this page and sent to registrants in the coming weeks.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/seeds-of-resistance-plays
December 9th, 5pm, Virtual, Free

Seeds of Resistance 2023: Social justice-inspired plays by youth based on community leaders' life stories.

About...Productions presents the return of this online event featuring plays created by educationally underrepresented youth in the company's Young Theaterworks' Social Justice Residency at Roosevelt High School’s Math, Science, and Technology Magnet Academy in Boyle Heights. 

Students interviewed three community leaders whose work in social justice movements have inspired the creation of three new plays that will be presented in a virtual event by professional actors, teaching artists, and students. This virtual event will include a screening of the pre-recorded staged reading of the new plays, followed by a post-play discussion.

The teaching artists who mentored the youth include Carene Rose Mekertichyan, Catherine Dee Holly, and Marlene Beltran (Lead Teaching Artist).

The pre-recorded readings and live post-play discussion will be streamed on YouTube. Register for the event to receive the link to the livestream. This event is free, or you can make an additional donation at checkout.

Student-created work is based off the life stories of the following community leaders:

• Paula Crisostomo: a primary organizer of the historic 1968 East L.A. Walkouts

• Quetzal Flores: founder and musical director of the Grammy Award winning Chican@ band, Quetzal, and cultural strategist/organizer raised in East L.A.

• Stephen Sass: founding president of the Breed Street Shul Project in Boyle Heights

The 10-week Social Justice Residency is part of About...Productions’ Young Theaterworks program. Now in its 23rd year, Young Theaterworks serves highest-risk and educationally underrepresented youth in L.A.-area public high schools with high impact, project-based learning that improves academic achievement and creative engagement. Strengthening students’ literacy practice, and collaboration and communication skills, the program also empowers them to become stewards of their community’s history.

About…Productions creates original interdisciplinary theaterworks and educational programs that provoke new perspectives on history, humanity, and culture. The company is dedicated to generating new work through collaboration to create artistic and community dialogue and believes in the power of theater to enlighten audiences, transform youth, and celebrate the lives of seniors. For more information, visit our website.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/bilal-concert-livestream
December 3rd, 3pm, Virtual, $8

Grammy Award winning artist Bilal presents a mid-career retrospective featuring an ensemble of luminaries from his storied musical tribe. For one night only, this supergroup comprising 15 Grammys, 2 Oscars and 3 Emmys will perform a collection of songs forming the arc of Bilal’s genre-defying catalog – one that includes 4 studio albums and collaborations with Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Pharrell, and Jay Z – as well as new songs from his forthcoming project.

This event is hosted by Glasshaus Presents, the new concert series welcoming celebrated artists for an intimate performance with 100 guests. A thoughtful multi-camera broadcast and board mix by their Grammy-winning production team extends the intimacy of these concerts worldwide.

The livestream experience resides in NOWHERE, offering spatial audio, face-to-face interaction, artist Q&As, and exclusive merchandise in a beautiful virtual landscape.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/question-period-film
December 1st, 12:30pm-1:30pm, Virtual, Free

We invite you to Waterloo Region Migration Film Festival screening of the film Question Period:

In this film, a group of Syrian women, refugees recently resettled in Canada, are negotiating life in their new home. They have some questions. Directed by Anne Marie Fleming, one of the original FFM filmmakers.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/joy-harjo-chat
November 16th, 4pm-5pm EST, Virtual, Free

The Library Speakers Consortium welcomes internationally renowned performer, writer and poet of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Joy Harjo.

United States Poet Laureate and winner of the 2022 Academy of American Poets Leadership Award, Joy Harjo, joins us for a chat about her most recent memoir, Catching the Light and to discuss her rewarding lifetime as a writer and poet.

In Catching the Light, Harjo examines the power of words and how poetry summons us toward justice and healing.

In this lyrical meditation about the why of writing poetry, Harjo reflects on significant points of illumination, experience, and questioning from her fifty years as a poet. Comprised of intimate vignettes that take us through the author’s life journey as a youth in the late 1960s, a single mother, and a champion of Native nations, this book offers a fresh understanding of how poetry functions as an expression of purpose, spirit, community, and memory.

Harjo insists the most meaningful poetry is birthed through cracks in history from what is broken and unseen. At the crossroads of this brokenness, she calls us to watch and listen for the songs of justice for all those America has denied. This is an homage to the power of words to defy erasure—to inscribe the story, again and again, of who we have been, who we are, and who we can be.

About the Author: In 2019, Joy Harjo was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold the position and only the second person to serve three terms in the role. Harjo’s nine books of poetry include Weaving Sundown in a Scarlett Light, An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. She is also the author of two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, which invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road. She has edited several anthologies of Native American writing including When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through — A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, and Living Nations, Living Words, the companion anthology to her signature poet laureate project. Her many writing awards include the 2022 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 Jackson Prize from Poets & Writers, the Ruth Lilly Prize from the Poetry Foundation, the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is artist-in-residence for the Bob Dylan Center. A renowned musician, Harjo performs with her saxophone nationally and internationally; her most recent album is I Pray For My Enemies. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

* This is an online event hosted by the Library Speakers Consortium. Please go here to register for the talk: https://libraryc.org/detroitpubliclibrary/33469/register

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/undocumented-search
November 5th, 2pm-3pm EST, Virtual, Free

Nestor Gomez presents a new show of stories, Undocumented: A Search for the American Dream. These personal narratives are based upon his experiences as a child growing up in Guatemala, to being an undocumented immigrant and finally a naturalized American citizen. Nestor’s poignant storytelling experience will take you through the struggles and injustices of being seen as a second class citizen. Get ready to be engrossed by these heartwarming tales.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/sing-sistah-sing
October 26th, 8pm EST, Virtual, Free

Sing Sistah Sing!
Andrea Baker - Mezzo
Albert Horne - Piano

About:

Sing Sistah Sing! is the first work conceived and written by internationally renowned Mezzo Soprano Andrea Baker. Andrea began her operatic career with the San Francisco Opera, and now resides in Scotland. The show is both a celebration of the sound and extraordinary breadth of the African American female voice, and a heartfelt retelling of some of their most incredible life stories.

Sing Sistah Sing! brilliantly weaves together these women’s brave struggles both in the civil rights movement and in their fight for artistic freedom both at home and abroad. Some have chosen opera, jazz or blues to express themselves. Celebrated artists include Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Donna Summer, Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

Andrea Baker, herself an artistic trailblazer, is the first African American to sing Fricka, Waltraute, Erda and 2nd Norn in Wagner’s great Ring Cycle in the Chinese premiere of the work at the Beijing Arts Festival, the first African American Carmen in Australia at the Sydney Opera House and the first African American to sing the role of Ortrud in the South Korean premiere of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Daegu Opera Festival. In 2020 Andrea became an Ambassador for The Nevis Ensemble, Scotland’s Street Orchestra, bringing music to everyone everywhere.

With the award-winning Sing Sistah Sing! Andrea Baker tells her own deeply personal story and pays joyful, soulful and varied musical homage to many of the women who courageously paved the way. Andrea began to discover that their stories were also her story and that she too would continue to lay the path for the next generation.

Andrea is joined by South African pianist and specialist chorus master Albert Horne.

About the livestream

This livestream is FREE and will be available only during the concert as it happens and will not be available after the concert ends. You can only gain access to watch our livestream by signing up to this event page.
The link to the LIVESTREAM will be emailed to you on the day of the concert, please sign up to this event to receive the link.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/lunch-poems
October 18th, 3pm EST, Virtual, Free

Lunch Poems at SFU is a unique opportunity to celebrate poetry and is held the third Wednesday of every month. October's online Lunch Poems reading features poets Pushpa Acharya & Gillian Sze.

Pushparaj Acharya is a poet born in Nepal. His poetry collections, Chāyākāla (“The Phantom Time,” Fine Print, 2006) is in Nepali and Dream Catcher (Vajra, 2012) is in English. He collaborated with an Edmonton-based artist and two other poets to produce Somnio: The Way We See It (TiPSY Press, 2015), a book that received the Cultural Diversity Grant from the Edmonton Arts Council. His Nepali translation of Jean-Claude Carrière’s and Peter Brook’s play The Conference of the Birds was performed in India and Nepal. He has written screenplays for films and made documentaries on art, cities and food. Pushpa is also a literary scholar and has taught in the universities in Canada and Nepal.

Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry collections, including Peeling Rambutan, Redrafting Winter, and Panicle, which were all finalists for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Her latest book, Quiet Night Think, was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022 and received the 2023 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Gillian has also written books for children. Her debut picture book, The Night Is Deep and Wide, was listed as one of the best books for kids in 2021 by the New York Public Library. Her work has been translated into Slovenian, French, Italian, Turkish, Hebrew, Spanish and Greek. Originally from Winnipeg, she now lives in Montreal where she teaches creative writing and literature at Concordia University.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/roxanne-dunbar-ortiz
October 12th, 6pm EST, Virtual, Free

This American Book Award–winning title about Native American struggle and resistance radically reframes more than 400 years of US history.

Unflinchingly honest about the brutality of this nation’s founding and its legacy of settler-colonialism and genocide, the impact of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s 2014 book is profound. The basis of the HBO docuseries Exterminate All the Brutes, directed by Raoul Peck, and a New York Times Bestseller, this classic is revisited with new material that takes an incisive look at the post-Obama era from the war in Afghanistan to Charlottesville’s white supremacy-fueled rallies, and from the onset of the pandemic to the election of President Biden. Writing from the perspective of the peoples displaced by Europeans and their white descendants, she centers Indigenous voices over the course of 4 centuries, tracing their perseverance against policies intended to obliterate them.

Today in the United States, there are more than 500 federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly 3 million people, descendants of the 15 million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. With a new foreword from Raoul Peck and a new introduction from Dunbar Ortiz, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.

Big Concept Myths

• That America’s founding was a revolution against colonial powers in pursuit of freedom from tyranny

• That Native people were passive, didn’t resist and no longer exist

• That the US is a “nation of immigrants” as opposed to having a racist settler colonial history

Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz is joining us on the virtual Busboys stage to bust these myths and share a history of the United States that places Native Americans at the center. Copies of the book will be available for purchase before and during the event, so make sure to order your copy before we’re out of stock! Your purchase of the book includes shipping anywhere in the United States via USPS.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 7:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of the 10th Anniversary Edition of AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES will be available for purchase before and during the event. Please note that this event is VIRTUAL and will be livestreamed.

We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a New York Times best-selling author, grew up in rural Oklahoma in a tenant farming family. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than 4 decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. Dunbar-Ortiz is the winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize, and is the author or editor of many books, including AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, a recipient of the 2015 American Book Award. She lives in San Francisco. Connect with her at reddirtsite.com or on Twitter @rdunbaro.

Professor Maylei Blackwell is an interdisciplinary scholar activist, oral historian, and author of ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement, published with University of Texas Press. She is an Associate Professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies and Women’s Studies Department, and affiliated faculty in the American Indian Studies and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies. Her research has two distinct, but interrelated trajectories that broadly analyze how women’s social movements in the U.S. and Mexico are shaped by questions of difference ­ factors such as race, indigeneity, class, sexuality or citizenship status ­ and how these differences impact the possibilities and challenges of transnational organizing.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/black-gay-dance-stuck
October 6th, 9pm-11pm EST, Virtual, Free

BLACK, GAY, stuck at home is a QPOC screening series. Our next screening will be 2018's WHEN THE BEAT DROPS featuring Q&A with Jamal Sims and Jordan Finnegan. This film explores the development of bucking, an energetic form of the dance, from the point of view of Anthony Davis, an Atlanta native who helped popularize it.

BGASH is supported by The Reckoning, The Healing Space Podcast, and Team Rayceen Productions. RSVP to receive Zoom screening information in confirmation message.

www.bgsah.com

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/inconvenient-indian-screening
September 30th, All Day (12am-11:59pm) EST, Virtual, Free

In this time of radical change and essential re-examination, Inconvenient Indian brings to life Thomas King’s brilliant dismantling of North America’s colonial narrative, reframing this history with the powerful voices of those continuing the tradition of Indigenous resistance. The film will be available to stream the whole day of September 30th.

From The Toronto Film Festival:

“Based on Thomas King’s award-winning 2012 study, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Michelle Latimer’s equally essential documentary examines the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples in North America. If early colonization depended on force, in more recent decades it has focused on Indigenous history, culture, and traditions. History has been wiped out or twisted to serve the absurd self-justifying fantasies of the colonizers; traditions, language, and religion have been systemically suppressed via state institutions, meaning current generations’ pursuit of their history is fraught with obstacles.

Latimer brings these issues to the fore through a profoundly compelling array of techniques, including a voiceover by King, movie and archival footage, interviews, dance, visual arts, and traditional customs like tattooing and hunting. Well-known figures like visual artist Kent Monkman and filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril are among her subjects, along with hunters, community workers, and emerging film artists such as Nyla Innuksuk and her collaborators, who adapt genre devices to tell their own stories.

While these pursuits of cultural memory and awareness are invigorating and touching, the film also takes direct aim at North America’s pernicious notion of history and truth. As King points out, the claim that previous generations were ignorant of the repercussions of their actions is disgracefully self-serving — and only allows those in power to return to the scene of the crime to continue stealing land and resources. King concludes his narration with a powerful exhortation that we can do what we want with his analysis, but we can no longer claim we were innocent or ignorant, making Inconvenient Indian one of the most essential films at this year’s Festival.”

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/this-thread-of-gold
September 13th, 3:30pm-5pm EST, Virtual, Sliding Scale

Throughout history, acts of defiance have taken place in secret: through hushed conversations, in kitchens, churches, trusted networks. Other acts of defiance are made global, through art, politics, and open activism.

Celebrate the history of Black female resistance with Catherine Joy White in conversation about her new book, This Thread of Gold.

From Alice Walker to Beyoncé, from Audre Lorde to Doreen Lawrence, from Aretha Franklin to Zendaya: Catherine Joy White charts her own journey to self-discovery through the prism of extraordinary women to create a beautiful tapestry of Black joy.

Catherine will be in conversation with Chloe Lee, Citizenship and Migration Researcher at The National Archives. This in conversation event will be followed by a live audience Q&A.

As gender advisor to the United Nations, Catherine is working on gender equality on a global scale. She recently joined forces with the Premier League and the Premier League Charitable Fund to develop Changemakers, a gender equality and mental health programme for women and girls in England and Wales. She was also recently listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 Class of 2022.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/dominic-lim
August 10th, 9pm-10pm EST, Virtual, Free

San Mateo County Libraries welcomes Bay Area author Dominic Lim to discuss his debut novel, All the Right Notes.

In this hilarious and joyous rom com, sparks fly when a piano genius and a Hollywood heartthrob are thrown together for a charity performance of solos, heartfelt duets, and a big, show-stopping finale.

Quito Cruz might be a genius piano player and composer in New York City now, but that doesn’t mean that he’s any closer to his Broadway dream. Although Quito knows what the problem is. Or rather who. Because ever since that night in college—with pretty-boy jock Emmett Aoki—his inspiration has been completely MIA...

Now Quito’s dad wants him to put on a charity performance in his hometown. And there’s one big string attached: convince Emmett—now one of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities—to perform.

It’s all shaping up to be the biggest musical fiasco of Quito’s life. Especially when Emmett agrees to attend, and Quito realizes that undeniable vibe between them is stronger than ever. Because there’s nothing simple about falling for a movie star . . . even when he’s pitch-perfect.

About Dominic Lim

Dominic Lim has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with music. He holds a master’s from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is an alum of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has sung with numerous professional choral ensembles. As a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association, Dominic has performed Off-Broadway and in regional productions throughout the US. Although he probably shouldn’t admit to having favorites, the thrill of singing “This is the Hour” in the chorus of Miss Saigon still pops up in his dreams. He supports his local writing community as a member of the Writers Grotto and as co-host of San Francisco’s Babylon Salon. Dominic lives in Oakland with his loving and supportive husband, Peter, and their whiny cat, Phoebe. Learn more at https://dominiclim.com/

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/wright-art-twins
August 3rd, 9pm-11pm EST, Virtual, Free

Your chance to get exclusive insights into Wright Art Twins studio while also watching them create historical pieces!

The Wright Art Twins are community leaders and innovators in the art world with a creative art style they named “Emcrisam.” They’ve worked with Home Interior stores, interior designers, and corporate businesses. Their new pieces are dynamic, bold, and fierce, and the art creates a dominant presence that will amplify any area the pieces are placed in.

The virtual event takes place on our Instagram and Facebook page Wright Art Twins Gallery. Check out the link above to see images from their past work.

Follow them on Instagram: @wrightarttwins

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/chromatic-portraits
July 27th, 12pm EST, Virtual, Free

Join directors Nathalie Masduraud, Valérie Urréa and photographer Lesley Lawson for a panel discussion and film screening of South Africa, Chromatic Portraits.

The documentary South Africa, Chromatic Portraits (2014) depicts forty years of political events in South Africa through the lens of its photographers. These range from David Goldblatt, the founding father of South African documentary photography, and the historical members of Afrapix, an independent agency that was inspired by Magnum and created in 1982, to the contemporary photography scene and the heirs of this “Struggle Photography”, including Jodi Bieber, Pieter Hugo, Zanele Muholi and Thabiso Sekgala.

Join Afrapix founding member Lesley Lawson and the documentary directors Nathalie Masduraud and Valérie Urréa for a panel discussion and film screening.

This program is in conjunction with Defiant Visions, on view at apexart, 291 Church St., New York, NY 10013 from June 2 - July 29, 2023

Defiant Visions expands public perception of anti-apartheid imagery by showcasing how women photographers exercised resistance to oppression through the lenses of their cameras.

BIOS

Lesley Lawson was a writer, photographer and audio-visual producer during the South African struggle years from the late 1970s to early 1990s. She worked largely for NGOs, trade unions and women’s organizations and was a founder member of the Afrapix collective.

Nathalie Masduraud and Valérie Urréa are documentary filmmakers. Both have made films on their own: Urréa has focused on autism and dance as well as social issues related to gender, race and disability, while Masduraud has produced portraits of artists besides films on the occupation and the French colonies. They made their first film together in 2014, South Africa, Chromatic Portraits, a documentary dedicated to the South African photography scene produced by Arte, and subsequently produced numerous social and historical documentaries.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/aj-akoto
July 13th, 2pm-3:30pm EST, Virtual, Free

In an intimate and unflinching collection, A J Akoto tracks the complex bind of mother-daughter relationships. Through separation and attempts to mend, longing, and the fluidity of myth/story-telling in defining histories and identities, she collapses the elision between womanhood and motherhood/daughterhood, bringing to the forefront that which usually remains unspoken.

Join us to celebrate AJ Akoto's phenomenal debut poetry collection Unmothered, published by Arachne Press, which explores the space inhabited by undutiful daughters, who really need to be able to leave their mothers behind. Using myth, especially Medea, as a way to be able to say the unsayable - sometimes, your mother is the monster you need saving from.

A J will read from the book, and there will be a Q&A.

ABOUT AJ AKOTO

AJ Akoto is a writer living and working in London. Unmothered is her first collection of poetry. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge, with particular focuses in Latin literature, and Visual Culture.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/uzuri-beauty
June 20th, 9pm-10:30pm EST, Virtual, $12

Critically acclaimed veteran photographer Ricardo Scipio will be showing photos from his project Uzuri for the first time in 30 years. Uzuri means beauty, and was his first ever art photography project. From 1990 to 1993 Scipio created this pioneering work photographing portraits and nudes of Black women in colour in natural landscapes. (NSFW) Accompanying the showing of 100 photographs from the project will be a question-and answer session with the artist. 

Born in Trinidad, raised in Toronto, Scipio attended The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where he was a studio major. He then began his love affair with cameras during a ten-year stint as an international fashion photographer. Disenchanted by the industry’s standard of ‘beauty’, which he considered hostile to women of colour and women with realistic-sized bodies, Scipio quit, and inspired by the beautiful Black people he had been surrounded by his whole life, started his art career with this celebration of natural black beauty.

Ricardo Scipio has made three independent fictional feature films as a writer and director, and eight more books of photography in the following years and is currently working on his tenth book.

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/juneteenth-14th-annual
June 16th, 9am, Virtual, Free

Juneteenth is the oldest, nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States of America. Two and a half years after the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation, where Black people were considered free and delivered from enslavement.

Our annual Juneteenth Family Fun Day Festival gathers 20,000+ attendees local to the NYC community to enjoy a vibrant day of rich culture through music, dance, poetry, skits, history, vendors, and family activities for single-family homes, married with children, and extended family. Virtual Friday - stay tuned for ways to join us! 

Across the United States, people of all walks of life share the understanding that July 4th is the long-time celebration of the Declaration of Independence. America was finally free from the dependence of the British and was considered to be an independent collection of nations. However, Africans in America did not share that experience, for they were still being owned and considered 3/5ths of a man. On June 19, 1865, news came from the soldiers who landed in Galveston, Texas that the Civil War had ended and that slaves were now free; hence our celebration of Juneteenth is the Black Independence Day.

In honor of this long time coming, Africans in America have celebrated with food, dancing, singing, and celebration of the right to live and pursue happiness outside of being owned by another human being. Today, through organized efforts and collaborations of different organizations, solidarity in how we celebrate is showcased through literary expression and images of the numerous shades of Black in music, technology, art, science, and business takes center stages throughout communities that reflect a new generation of talent. These communities are the site where the torches of inspiration are passed and are encouraged to continue the tradition of celebrating annually.

In the past we have had 5,000 -10,000 attendees. This year we are expecting over 25,000 attendees across the weekend of events.

Juneteenth NY Is an organization for the community by the community. We pride ourselves in education, empowerment and edutainment at each level of growth. We look forward to celebrating this national celebration with you, your family and our community of Cultural seekers.

There will be vendors, amazing local talent, food representing our culture, a community art project, fashion show, an award dinner, and much more. Register to stay tuned to all of the updates that are in store. 

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/never-thought-of-it
June 12th, 6:30pm-8pm EST, Virtual, Free

In the book I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out to find what was blinding us and discovered the most eye-opening tool we’re not using: our own built-in curiosity. Partisanship is up, trust is down, and our social media feeds make us sure we’re right and everyone else is ignorant (or worse). But avoiding one another is hurting our relationships and our society.

In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people. She shows you how to overcome the fear and certainty that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is different from or even opposed to yours.

Drawing from cross-partisan conversations she’s had, organized, or witnessed everywhere from the echo chambers on social media to the wheat fields in Oregon to raw, unfiltered fights with her own family on election night, Mónica shows how you can put your natural sense of wonder to work for you immediately, finding the answers you need by talking with people. 

EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/indigenous-ways-festival-may
May 5th, 7pm EST, Virtual, Free

Our summer series, the IndigenousWays Festival is back! We’re hosting three unique hybrid events showcasing leading Indigenous artists.

Taking the mainstage at our first IndigenousWays Festival of the season is Talibah Begay, who has been gifted with extraordinary vocal range taps into her Diné heritage to sing Traditional Navajo songs. Following Talibah Begay, we have an Indigenous Fashion Show, lead by artist and fashion designer, Amy Denet Deal. Closing the evening is Grammy award winning musician and composer, Robert Mirabal and his band. He also a painter, master craftsman, poet, actor, screenwriter, author, horseman, and farmer from Taos, Pueblo.