Peace Light Grace Joy Beauty Sweetness Harmony Music Angels Blessings on The Journey……..

Love

The Artist Convocation will be held in the Winship Building on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The Winship Building is located just west of San Jacinto at 23rd Street.

The cost for attending all or part of the convocation is $12
Payment can be made by cash or check during registration or at the Convocation site.

The  Artist Convocation is an opportunity for Austin based artists of all experience levels to come together to build community as they develop professionally through a series of workshops, panels, art making and networking sessions. The workshops are centered around specific disciplines and are facilitated by Austin-based artists. Some discipline based workshops offer sessions for the new and emerging artist while some are directed towards the more experienced practitioner. In addition to the discipline based workshops the Convocation brings together panels of arts professionals to discuss issues that affect artists’ careers.

The Artist Convocation is sponsored by  (A/TRC) in partnership with Sharon Bridgforth; the Department of Theater and Dance; the Center for African and African American Studies, and the hard working artists of this community who are willing to give of their time and expertise. For more information call: 512-236-0644 Schedule/Registration and more at: A/TRC.

ALL WORKSHOPS ARE FULL/THANK YOU!!!!

Finding Voice
Workshops Facilitated by Sharon Bridgforth

For Emerging Artists

In AUSTIN, L.A. & S.F.

ALL WORKSHOPS:
Siding scale: $40 - $75 
Sign up for one/or more. 

Space is limited.  To register contact: sharon AT sharonbridgforth dot com

I just got the big juicy news that I’m a New Dramatists! Class of 2016!
My fellow classmates are: Qui Nguyen, Michael Golamco, Sally Oswald, Richard Maxwell, Andrea Thome.

For more about New Dramatists CLICK HERE

This is a Dream come True….LIFE IS GREAT YA’LL!!

*Special S’kin Deep Event!
- Reception with artists at 6:30pm +talk back after show =$30

S’Kin DEEP is a soulful dance refracting notions of heritage, beauty, tribal energy and ancestral memories. Baraka de Soleil / D UNDERBELLY’s newest project summons up indigenous physical & ambient sensations from Africa, Australia & the Americas, as SK’in DEEP interweaves a powerful landscape of spirited loose-limbed bodies energized by jazz theater pioneer Sharon Bridgforth’s poetic text & innovative percussionist Jmy Lopez’s otherworldly rhythms.

D UNDERBELLY exists as an ever-fluid underground network of artists of color celebrating its tenth year of developing performative experiences for theatre, dance, site-specific and alternative spaces. Founded by award-winning choreographer, performance artist & curator, Baraka de Soleil, this network has premiered a dynamic range of projects including: Tagg’n, N This Hous, First Dark Drama, Koool-aid Luv Odyssey, Egress and has been in residence at: Brooklyn Arts Exchange; Dixon Place; Ontological Hysteric Theatre; Tribeca Performing Arts Center; & Queens Museum of Art. Currently based in Brooklyn, Ny, D UNDERBELLY’S continuum spans a multidiscipline range of artists - from spoken word performers to musical artists - who are very engaged in the act of inter-disciplined exploration in order to develop investigative practices & processes that allow for communal exchange and enlightening discovery. The name references ‘the underbelly of a slave ship’; excavating the energy that surfaces from our cultural experiences.

BARAKA DE SOLEIL has been involved in the experimental movement, music and performance art scene, throughout the country and internationally, for the past 15 years. His artistry reflects moving images excavated from the multilayered traditions of the African diaspora, immersed in an urban contemporary reality; actively crafting from ancestral memories, post-modern aesthetics and cultural legacies He currently curates the multi-disciplined series, Studies N Black, and freelances as a teaching artist throughout the country. For his choreographic work on Sango: Lord of Thunder, Baraka was awarded the prestigious Katherine Dunham choreography/AUDELCO for excellence in Black Theatre at the 34th annual VIV ceremony.

Made possible with generous support from The Greenwall Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Austin Project
Jam Sessions Performance/Poetry/Movement
Took place April 26, 2009 at the Off Center
with: Lidia Marte, Elvia Mendoza, Samiya Bashir, Stephanie Lang, Senalka McDonald, Matt Richardson, Jacqueline Smith, Czarina Thelen
Producer: Joni L. Jones/Omi Osun Olomo
Anchor Artist: Sharon Bridgforth
Director: Florinda Bryant
JAM INDEED THEY DID!!! What a time! Thanks to Ana Lara for the photos

These photos are from The Performing Blackness Series Presentation of:
Washed Written and Performed by Laurie Carlos
With an opening presentation by The Austin Project/Featuring:
Lidia Marte, Elvia Mendoza, Samiya Bashir, Stephanie Lang,
Senalka McDonald, Matt Richardson, Jacqueline Smith and Czarina Thelen
Saturday, April 18, 2009 8PM

These events are sponsored by The John Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas Austin

I plan to attend every Black Lavender Experience/always! Below is what went on this year. Stay tuned for future BLX at: Rites and Reason

To read an article in EDGE Chicago written by Joseph Erbentraut CLICK HERE

I had the great priveldge of doing a workshop with
Move On Mondays at Links Hall
Monday, March 23, 7-9pm

I was Blessed once again to be a Featured Artist at Pow Wow, Inc.
Tuesday March 24 7:30PM POW WOW, Inc. at Jeffrey Pub.
To check out more about Pow Wow CLICK HERE

C.C. Carter is Executive Director of Young Chicago Authors.
I did a workshop and was featured with them on March 24, 2009.
These young artists are AMAZING! For more about this wonderful organization CLICK HERE
Check out the Young Chicago Authors:

Wednesday March 25 7PM $5.
I read from delta dandi at The Center On Halsted

I had the Blessing of being on program with the Illustrious E. Patrick Johnson at the Chicago History Museum….
Thursday, March 26
SPEAKING OUT DOWNSOUTH

The focus was experience stories of African American gays and lesbians from the South and the historical and cultural connections between Chicago and the South.
To see future Speaking Out Downsouth events: CLICK HERE

Legendary Theatre Artist Robbie McCauley performed a workshop presentation of Sugar at UT Austin, Thanks to the Department of Theatre and Dance and The John Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, UT Austin.

For more about Robbie http://www.emerson.edu/admission/graduate/academics/Robbie-McCauley.cfm”> CLICK HERE