October 2024 News

Greer E. Mendy: Weaving Cultural Legacies Through Blues To Bounce

A Black woman with a shaved head and wearing a form fitting strapless black dress is standing outside in front of a weathered wooden fence. She smiles and looks up at the sky with her back arched and her ams outstretched. Draped over her arms and extending down like open wings is a bold yellow length of fabric with black edges and large black flower silhouettes. — Greer E. Mendy.

In Southern Artists for Social Change awardee Greer E. Mendy’s latest project, Blues To Bounce, the artist brings more than fifty years of experience to bear on an eloquent narrative that captures the essence of New Orleans’ vibrant cultural tapestry. “Through dance, music, and literature, Greer is on a mission to create and narrate cultural legacies that reflect the true spirit of the community,” writes Southern Artists for Social Change awardee Carey Fountain in his profile of the artist.

Read the full profile here

Roberto Bedoya, the Civic We, and the Archipelago of Cultural Policy

An older Latino man with short salt-and-pepper hair and glasses, and wearing a blue sports coat and blue shirt, stands In the center of a large convention hall and points happily to something out of frame. He is holding a bottle of beer in his right hand and pointing with this left hand. People standing nearby are applauding as they look at him. — Roberto Bedoya is toasted at the 2024 Grantmakers in the Arts convention in Chicago.

Roberto Bedoya, cultural strategist, sat down with NPN president and CEO Caitlin Strokosch in October in Chicago to talk about the 20th anniversary of Bedoya’s influential paper “U.S. Cultural Policy: Its Politics of Participation, Its Creative Potential”, plans to revisit the work in the coming year, and what Roberto 3.0 looks like. “The power of imagination is that it is new, outside any normalized frame. It’s frisky; it brings new knowledge, truth, and emancipations to light. The policy world needs to embrace this ‘outside-ness’.”

Read the discussion

Congratulations to This Year’s Prospect.6 Gala Featured Artists

Promotional poster image for Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home. On a brown and light purple background is gold text that reads, "P.6 New Orleans." Below that, in large red letters, are the words, "GALA November 1 2024." Gold text at the bottom of the image reads, "The Sugar Mill, 1021 Convention Center Blvd, New Orleans, LA, 70130, Patron Party 6 pm, Gala 7 pm. Honoring Ron Bechet, Dr. V. Joy Simmons, Arthur Roger, Krista Thompson, Nari Ward." Along the right side of the image, again in gold lettering, is a repeating line of decorative text that reads, "The Future is Present, The Harbinger is Home." — Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, debuts to the public on November 2, 2024, and remains on view through February 2, 2025.

Congratulations to the Louisiana-based artists exhibiting with Prospect.6! NPN celebrates you orbiting to new heights in the international art field, and special recognition goes to the artists whose artistic practices have overlapped with the Network: Abdi Farah, Ashley Teamer, Brooke Pickett, Christian Ðinh, L. Kasimu Harris, Mel Chin, and Ruth Owens.

“Thank you for your invaluable contributions to the art world,” Stephanie Atkins, NPN’s Director of Southern Programs, writes. “Your work is truly inspiring and we are grateful for your dedication and talent.”

Fear Less: Affirming Our Commitment to Racial Justice

Several dozen women of color wearing business attire stand in front of the United States Supreme Court building. In front of them, a young Black woman wearing a pink coat stands behind a clear speaker's podium and makes an announcement into a pair of microphones. The women behind her are holding up signs with white text on a blue background. The signs read, "Pursue Economic Opportunity for All," "Protect the Freedom to Learn," "Preserve Our Democracy," and "Defend Diversity, Equity & Inclusion." — The Fearless Fund announces it is ending its small business grant contest for Black women in front of the United States Supreme Court building on September 11, 2024.

In October, NPN joined ABFE – A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, the Council on Foundations, and Grantmakers in the Arts in a panel session unpacking the lawsuit against the Fearless Fund and affirming the right, need, and commitment to our grantmaking and programming that explicitly supports artists, organizations, and communities of color. For NPN, being explicit and visible in our commitment to racial justice is especially important as a national organization based in the South, “in a legal geography that is more likely to be hostile to race-explicit efforts,” writes ABFE. “Even in the face of scare tactics, setbacks, and disappointing outcomes, it’s our job to further the racial equity work we set out to do. Why? Because a race-explicit lens is the only way to be clear-eyed about fairness and opportunity in 21st century America.”

NPN proudly stands alongside our many colleagues in philanthropy affirming our steadfast commitment to racial justice and liberation. Read more from ABFE on the Fearless Fund and remaining resilient in the face of challenge, and encourage funders to support ABFE’s Racial Equity Advancement and Defense Initiative to ensure nonprofits have the resources they need to continue liberatory work.

Cultural New Deal Addresses Racial Justice in Silicon Valley

A group of young Asian-Americans of various genders perform for a crowd on a bright sunny day. They are dressed in stylized cultural costumes of black and yellow with large purple belts, white shorts, and white ankle boots. They are holding large drum sticks and striking large traditional drums while smiling at the audience out of frame. — San Jose Taiko performs. Photo by Mark Shigenaga.

A coalition of independent artists and arts organizations committed to working collectively for racial justice and cultural equity has launched the Cultural New Deal Silicon Valley (CNDsv) featuring a 2024 State of the Arts Report. Among the lead organizations is MACLA, an NPN Partner based in San Jose, CA. CNDsv members participated in a cross-sector initiative expanding their work and informing the recent study “Building Resilient Futures: New Pathways for Inclusive Economic Development” which identified seven high-priority sectors within a systemic approach towards a sustainable and fair economy, including artists and cultural workers. “Artists, arts administrators, and culture bearers play a unique role in breaking the curse of white supremacy, patriarchy, and myriad other forms of interlocking oppression,” write the organizers.

“For MACLA, this is important as it expands our organizational efforts to support Latinx artists and cultural workers,” says Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez, Executive Director. “CNDsv is building power by collaborating with BIPOC artists and peer organizations. We are stronger together. Two priorities are funding for a Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program for our BIPOC artist community and cost-of-living increases from funders. When artists and creatives go from barely surviving to thriving, our community is more just and equitable.”

Announcements

NPN Creation and Development Fund Artist Shamel Pitts Named a MacArthur Fellow

Congratulations to Shamel Pitts, an NPN Creation and Development Fund Artist, on being named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow! The Brooklyn-based founder and artistic director of TRIBE creates “pioneering experimental performance works inspired by Afrofuturism while reimagining collective ways of world-building.”

View Shamel Pitts’ MacArthur Fellowship page

A young Black man with a shaved head and sleeveless, futuristic hooded vest stands on a sidewalk in NYC. His eyes are covered in large, hourglass-shaped wraparound shades, and the lining of the hood is maroon. Behind him is a large black-and-white mural of an unidentified Black man's face, with the word "STRONG" spray painted across the subject's cheek. — 2024 MacArthur Fellow Shamel Pitts.

Creation Fund Activities to Enjoy this November

a bluff, Autum Knight

November 7th, 8:00 pm
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
(Portland, OR)

Autumn Knight’s performances create spaces for intimacy between the audience and performer. Her series NOTHING#15: a bar, a bed, a bluff is a three-part exploration of the Italian concept of dolce far niente, or “the sweetness of doing nothing.”

Learn more about a bluff

A thin, hand-drawn line extends vertically down the middle of an otherwise blank white square. The line forks at the top and bottom. On the left side of the line, the word "laughing" is scrawled in all caps. On the right side of the line, the phrase "Smiling and making a noise in the throat" is written in the same style. — Image from *a bluff* by Autumn Knight.

Ghostly Labor, Vanessa Sanchez and La Mezcla

November 14th, 7:30 pm
Green Music Center, Weill Hall
(Rohnert Park, CA)

Ghostly Labor is a multidisciplinary, rhythmic performance that explores the history of labor in the US-Mexico borderlands and the joy of collective resistance. This work brings together tap dance, Mexican zapateado, Afro Caribbean movement, live music and animated archival video. Featuring an all-female dance company, spoken word, traditional son jarocho music from Veracruz, Mexico, and an Afro-Latinx percussive score, this full length dance theater production highlights historical events, such as the Bath Riots of 1917, the experiences of farm workers and domestic workers throughout California, and generations of labor that have gone unseen.

Learn more about Ghostly Labor

A woman in a red dress stands on a small wooden box on the left side of a performance stage. She has her left hand at her waist with the elbow sticking out, and raises a red scarf high above her head with her right arm. Behind her, four dancers crouch with heads down. Projected on a scrim behind the performers is a white box with red text that reads in part, "Red-haired Girl, Armed With Car Controller, Proves Joan of Arc in Protest Against Vinegar and Gasoline Plunge." — Scene from *Ghostly Labor* by Vanessa Sanchez and La Mezcla.

STORMCLUTTER, BRKFST Dance Company

November 14th, 7:30 pm
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
(Sheboygan, WI)

BRKFST Dance Company presents two wildly different works: Wisconsin premiere of STORMCLUTTER, with composition by BRKFST member Renée Copeland, and a restaging of Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents by composer Daniel Bernard Roumain. STORMCLUTTER is an exploration of relationships and our ongoing efforts to resolve opposing states of interpersonal tension. Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents is interpreted as a commentary on American life that is filled with a mix of ambition, passion, blame, justice, hope and love. BRKFST utilizes breaking, abstraction and contemporary dance to create works that are both intellectually stimulating and physically rigorous.

Learn more about STORMCLUTTER

In a dance rehearsal space, five dancers of various ethnicities and genders, all wearing loose fitting gray or black clothing, pose together with limbs intertwined and bodies bent in various unusual ways. The photo is tilted, adding to the visual chaos. — Scene from a rehearsal of *STORMCLUTTER* by BRKFST Dance Company.

Arms Around America, Dan Froot & Company

November 15th and 16th, 8:00 pm
UCLA Nimoy Theater
(Los Angeles, CA)

Arms Around America is a community-based theater project investigating how Americans experience fear, power, identity, loss, and love through our relationships with guns. This world premiere performance is staged as a live radio-theater broadcast. Four actors voice dozens of characters in a constellation of short plays based on real families whose lives have been shaped by guns. They are accompanied by a sound effects artist (Dan Froot) and a live band playing Julio Montero’s driving score.

Learn more about Arms Around America

A group of people of various ethnicities and genders pose behind a low, wide table. On the left side of the image, a sign that reads "ON AIR" is placed vertically, and one of the men in the group is resting his arm on it. A woman and another man are sitting behind two microphones in the center of the image. Behind them are two other company members smiling with heads tilted, and behind them are three men holding, left to right, a guitar, a small set of drums, and another guitar. — Dan Froot and Company in *Arms Around America*.

Carlota work-in-process showing, Goat in the Road

November 22nd, 7:00 pm
Canola Collective
(New Orleans, LA)

A work-in-process reading with music!

Learn more about Carlota

A medium-brown skinned woman in a tignon (head wrap) and wire rimmed glasses, praying at an altar made up of lit candles of different heights. The woman is clasping her hands flat together in prayer, eyes closes, and is wearing a white blouse, red necklace, and shiny round earrings. — Denise Frazier performing the character Carlota in Goat in the Road’s *Sick Notes: Letters from the Epidemic* (2021). Photo by Joshua Brasted.

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