As Vivant celebrates their 2nd year anniversary...this kick-off event will premiere their November exhibit MUSIC TO YOUR EYES...featuring artworks from the Caribbean and the explosive and beautiful musical cultural the Islands offer.
For more information and to RSVP:
http://vivantandcadillac.eventbrite.com/
See you there!!
e a s e
::kholi::
and many of you may remember DJ Jalen. She's been our DJ at many of our events, if not all of them thus far :) But in case this is your first @uthentic experience...she's dope! Hip hop, reggae, soul and experimental artists find themselves in her collection...so if you like hearing new music, she's on the 1s and 2s from 10-12! Be there!
...and if you'd like to do some of your own research or friend them via their myspace pages:
Queens, NY (September 3, 2009)— Back for its third annual show, YOUNITY presents an eco-art exhibition entitled
FRESHER!, opening October 3, 2009 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center in the Lower East Side section of New York City. Running until October 23, 2009, the exhibit is not the average “white-wall” art show; the all-female collective will transform the art space into an eco-funhouse of raw materials and street art. Elements such as graffiti, photography, design and construction are used to connect ideas about consumerism, environmentalism, health, and renewable energy. The private press hour from 6pm-7pm will grant access to notable, oft-unseen artists right before the public unveiling of work at 8pm. FRESHER! features main-stay YOUNITY artists such as Lady Pink, Martha Cooper, and AIKO while introducing emerging artists such as China Morbosa and Amanda Lopez YOUNITY Co-Founders and artists, Alice Mizrachi and TOOFLY, continue to push the collective to new levels of creativity.
Exhibiting works will mask the bi-level art space with a range of colorful hand-styles, creative graphics on natural textures such as wood and abstract riffs. Some of the artworks will focus on messages about greening and preserving the earth, including recycling, pollution and even ideas about social issues. A video montage will display the collective’s latest effort to Refresh the Streets –a collaborative effort to beautify a 60ft outdoor mural in Williamsburg Brooklyn with colorful, green-themed street art by selected members of the YOUNITY. Exhibiting artists at FRESHER! include SHIRO, Diana McClure, Kerri O’Connell, LICHIBAN, Krista Franklin, Kelly Denato, Niz, Paulina Quintana Jornet, and Cece Carpio, to name a few. Only 40 out of 300 female artists were selected to participate in this special exhibit.
“We wanted to provide a working network of opportunity for female artists,” says YOUNITY Co-founder Alice Mizrachi, “and we, as women, need a space to create art exhibitions, murals, books and a much needed archive of women’s urban contemporary art.” YOUNITY Co-founder TOOFLY adds, “Look at recent events that are affecting us and the next generation: the economy, global warming and healthcare, this is the perfect time to put on a show like FRESHER! and express our creative desire to promote green living and the improvement of our community.”
With the success of their premiere exhibit, The C R O S S O V E R, and the second annual Heart and Soul show, YOUNITY has become one of the most sought after all-female collectives to date. With that, they are devoted to passing the torch on to younger female artists through the YOUNITY Youth team. As of now, YOUNITY is in need of continued support to foster its self-publishing endeavors and independent growth. Limited edition YOUNITY t-shirts will be available for sale on opening night and online at www.theyounity.com. We will also have a very limited amount of Heart and Soul books available as well. The limited edition shirts and books will both retail for $20. Any other donations to the collective can be directed to: contribute@theyounity.com via PayPal.
PRESS CONTACT: Shana Louallen: shanalovespr@gmail.com // P: 646.359.8448 www.theyounity.com BLOG: www.theyounity.wordpress.com // Twitter: www.twitter.com/younityarts // MySpace: www.myspace.com/younityspace
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October 2nd and 3rd is a play involving the poets enrolled in this program and their leaders, called The Sound Testament. This is a FUNDRAISER for their upcoming workshops...so @uthentic is requesting your participation!! We'll be there :)
For more information: Donja Love, donjal@thelyricalplayground.com. 267-632-7815 or Jenica Jones, jones.jenica@gmail.com, 215-901-6389
EXHIBIT ON VIEW August 28 - October 23, 2009 /// Opening Night Reception—
Friday, August 28, 2009 // 6-9 p.m. at Intermedia Art // 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis //Free and open to the public
"Any excuse to get some pussy," pierced the aftershave & witch-hazel filled air that surrounded me as I sat in my barber's chair for my weekly haircut. Queen Latifah's image flashed across the shop's television screen. The entertainment news reporter stated that the performer was publicly announcing that she had suffered sexual abuse as a youth. The reporter went on to say that Latifah revealed the abuse to her parents at age 19, but has more recently come to terms with the abuse as an adult.
Queen Latifah is no stranger to media speculation of her sexuality and she's often answered that she's comfortable with whom she is and that the happenings of her intimate relationships aren't open to the public, hence the title "intimate." Sadly & ignorantly a middle-aged black man felt compelled & comfortable enough to say that this woman who has been a positive role model for women of color and women in general was only coming out with her testimony of survival in order to come out as a lesbian & meet little to no resistance from the public because the anti-gay public (especially the black community that is deeply wrought homophobia) would pity her & write off its disdain for her sexual expression. It is a shame that this man, like many ignorant individuals, forges a correlation between sexual assault or abuse & homosexuality. Fortunately, the work of statistics is on the side of reason. Rape or molestation rarely sways an individual’s sexual preference or orientation.
What was most appalling to me as I sat in Chair #3, I listened to several black men dismiss their sister's testimony for folly. Many saw it like the man who felt her admission was a ploy for her future coming out. Others saw it as unfortunate, but they still “knew” she was gay. Neither group understood that her abuse was the subject of the news broadcast & her expression of her intimacy was not. Still, in this ignorance, many of the men applauded her assumed lesbianism as if she was oddly their comrade. "Bitch betta get that pussy. Ain't nothin' wrong with pussy," they laughed.
How do we alleviate the homophobia & misogyny in these familial spaces? The former stems from the latter, but both do not always so conspicuously share the same space.
The barber shop has been a cornerstone of the black community, providing black American men with solace, dignity, & above all else, brotherhood. Its impact & importance has always carried & sustained by word of mouth -- truly legendary. But it wasn’t until rapper-turned-actor-turned-director Ice Cube explored the barber shop’s role in the black community, how it nursed the black male ego, & how it provided a space for dialogue to progress (and regress), encouraging socio-cultural & political discourse. The barber shop is "the black man's country club," as proclaimed in Ice Cube's movie "Barber Shop." Any topic is up for discussion, elder members have “senrority” (seniority), & pussy is always a sweet topic. Sometimes women are discussed, too. As a black man I listened to men who could be my father or uncle or grandfather degrade Queen Latifah's womanhood, dismiss her struggle, & applaud their own assumptions about her sexuality. All was fine until I spoke up & asked "what if she was your sister or your daughter or wife?" As a gay man I empathize with the need to demand my privacy & my humanity without seeming closeted or not proud of whom I am. There's a fine line between lacking pride & being private. My fellow barber shop attendants seemed to feel that Latifah's sexuality should be up for public debate & scrutiny. However, the women in their lives were not to be subjected to such disrespect & intrusiveness. Many of the regulars in the barber shop know that I'm gay & oftentimes I don't think they realize that their opinions are ignorant & offensive. Other times, I’m sure that they know they speak hurt.
Now, don't act like you haven't thought about it. You know you want it. Everyone thinks about it. Most of us do it, often.
The clip included shows one doctor’s efforts to use the barber shop’s nurturing environment to inform & encourage black men to attend regularly scheduled doctor’s appointments. Chicago’s “Project Brotherhood” combats the distrust in a Eurocentric medical pathology that has shown time & time again that it has no regard for the sustaining of the black man, & ultimately dispels the fear of the emasculating experience of placing one’s health in another’s hands. Black men are afraid of doctors because we don’t always comprehend that our greatness can only extend into the next generation if we honor our bodies mentally, emotionally, and physically. Signing up for proper medical & life insurance coverage has been the talk of the town or at least Washington, D.C., for over a year. President Obama mentioned his hopes to reinvent America's healthcare system & has even called for bloggers to aid the cause & spread the word. Congress plans to review the reform bill before the end of its summer session.
The barber shop is part of the black man‘s kingdom, a kingdom that requires his greatest health; a kingdom that he did not build & cannot maintain by himself. Hopefully, “Project Brotherhood” and programs like it will encourage black men to respect the Queen. There can be no U.N.I.T.Y. until he acknowledges his hand in misogyny. Till then, black women will be waiting for him to answer “who you callin’ a bitch?!”
This Saturday, July 25th @ 9pm....Littlefiled, NYC: 622 Degraw btw. 3rd and 4th Aves...Planet Brooklyn! 21 and over...$10 in advance/$15 @ door...here 4 tix
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