Monday, November 12, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Venerating Dr. Nina Simone: Conjure Woman, Soul Woman
by: Ebony Noelle Golden,
Co-Founder/ Co-Curator of Women on Wednesday Art and Culture Project
Women on Wednesday Arts and Culture Project honors the incomparable Dr. Nina Simone as the ancestral mother for WoW2012: The Naked Edition. WoWs organizers honor Nina Simone because of her unabashed boldness and fearless dedication to truth-telling, liberation and creative excellence. Join us in celebrating the brilliance of Nina Simone this month and every month.
Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina February 21, 1933 and transitioned April 21, 2003. Her life, legacy, music, fashion and pursuit of liberation serve as guide for how black girls, women and the rest of the world can live their NAKED TRUTHS.
I was first introduced to Nina Simone in college. Every summer I taught dance and worked as a choreographer for the Young Performers Program at the Ensemble Theatre in Houston, TX. My first summer, I choreographed Lorraine Hansberry’s play “To Be Young Gifted and Black.” While researching the piece, I found Simone and remember listening to the song a few hundred times. I remember thinking that she didn’t necessarily have a melodic voice, but instead a committed voice. A voice that made to sit up and pay attention. A voice that demanded every listener recognize the wealth that is the black youth, black talent and just blackness overall. From then, I was hooked. Using her work in my scholarly, artistic and amorous adventures.
Years later, I remember playing a game of chest with a lover, who didn’t dig her sound. Her voiced opened me to a greater capacity of strategic maneuvering. I remember my lover asking about her, where she came from, why did I like her. I remember being bothered by his lack of love and admiration for Simone. In the months following that game of chest, I continued to play Simone’s music. Eventually, he learned to love her, and couldn’t remember the time when he didn’t appreciate her voice.
In a time where the cult of black respectability forced women and men to bend to white culture and standards, she was a member of a crew politically active, cultural warriors who visioned and worked for a world where creative innovation and liberation conspired to blaze a trail of possibility, beauty and freedom for communities, artists organizers and educators the world-over.
Simone’s iconic sound, political action and musical innovation resisted tradition, form and boundaries. Songs like “Mississippi Goddam” and “Four Women” season the soundtrack of liberation movements for global human rights. Always the conjure woman; Simone was able to move the crowd with the greatest of ease, radicalize a soul with a moan or a hollar, change the temperature of a room with a stoke of the piano and delve into the heart of all that is beautiful and troubling about the world with her soothing or harsh tones. She was one bad mama-jama.
This contemporary moment finds Nina Simone just as relevant. Simone serves as the muse for many Hip-hop artists, theatre-makers, dancers, choreographers and visual artists around the globe. Several of the Women on Wednesday Art and Culture Project participants are currently or have in the past created work that honors her life and legacy.
I wrote the poem below a few years ago. It is included in a poetry collection I am building and obsessed with called “again, the watercarriers.” The collection, includes a section dedicated to the diverse manifestations of the conjure woman archetype. That section includes a suite of poems dedicated to the one and only Nina Simone.
conjure woman, soul woman
for nina
nina
they say you stole shadows
you cast babyspirits out in nocturnal limboyou make them wander
in search of womb
in search of milk
in search of the space between heaven and hell
where each step is a breathsqueeze
they say you keep a sachet of boneshavings crescent city spit
and motherlanddust under your slip
that you blew
the brows clean off a man's forehead
for cutting his eyes at you
they say you could have been a street preacher
but you couldn't keep your legs closed
or pray just to our lord jesus
i know a woman who carries your face
and she aint nothing but sanctified
and she speak sweet like i hear you speak
and her fingers too are wands that stir heaven
and she holds night in her skinsings it to her children when dawn breaks
nina
they really don't know how you got the blood and the lightening in your tone
don't know how you swung back this lifetime without wings
know how you birthed us with out light so
they call you witch when obeah be your name
call you mystery when you are everywhere like dew
magician when magician you are
they call you alien when you are mamathey call you alien cause you tune our hearts
your name be obeah
you bend time
siphon your way through space
i hear you do it
stretch through speakers at me
stretch through speakers at me
just when i get tired of shouting freedom
writing freedom birthing freedom
stretch through speakers at me--your groove
a feathered redemption
About the Author
Hailing from Houston, TX, Ebony Noelle Golden is a cultural worker, artist and creative director of Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC and artistic director of Body Ecology Performance Ensemble. Ebony's current bodies of work include: "RingShout for Reproductive Justice" and "again, the watercarriers." She also writes about jazz, culture and liberation for Okayplayer’s The Revivalist Magazine. www.bettysdaughterarts.com.
About WoW
Motto: Engage, Create, Empower
Mission: WoW is dedicated to celebrating the creativity, empowerment, holistic health, and civic engagement of black girls and women.
In honoring the voices of women and girls of the African Diaspora, “Women on Wednesdays: Art and Culture Series” privileges our ancestors and their labor, affirming our collective truth – we do not walk alone, and we could not create transformative and innovative art without the journeys of those who came before us. Thus, WoW creates a space for our ancestors’ at every “Women on Wednesdays” event, encouraging participating artists and audience members to share this sacred space.
This series’ success is notable, because it provided women of color professional and emerging artists with an opportunity to share their work, engaging audience members in talk-backs after each performance. Such opportunities are crucial for women of color and our community. Though many social and political advances have been made, cultural art-making by women and girls of the African Diaspora still lacks the support often granted to others. “Women on Wednesdays: Art and Culture Series” celebrates our labor and creativity, putting women of color at the center of cultural exchange while simultaneously creating a welcome space for audiences which may not have known of this work without such a platform for expression.
To find out more about Women on Wednesday Art and Culture Project visit our Facebook Group or wowproject.yolasite.com.
Friday, November 18, 2011
https://www.facebook.com/events/264913493551887/
Greetings,
Tomorrow is the day for Body Ecology's 2nd RingShout for Reproductive Justice! Dress warmly, fill your thermos and prepare yourselves for what will be a gripping and enlightening public art performance.
What is a RingShout? A ringshout is a method for praise and worship. In the ring shout people sing, dance, testify. Body Ecology recognizes the technology of the circle has made black women and black communities un-breakable. It is our circle that keeps us focused on the whole, the light in our community, the hopefulness that we can collectively vision.
Body Ecology affirms that this campaign, this ring shout this circle of energy and creativity is our best asset for addressing justice and reproductive health.Our RingShout is a performance of healing, truth-telling, humor and recovery. We do this through the performance of original poetry, narrative, choreography. Expect to be moved! Each ringshout ends with a community cipher/ story circle so bring a dance, a poem a testimony about health, legacy, reproductive justice or creativity! Join us!
In solidarity,
Ebony Golden
Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative
www.bettysdaughterarts.com
Thursday, November 10, 2011
RingShout for Reproductive Justice Continues Nov. 19th!
Body Ecology continues its RingShout for Reproductive Justice Campaign with a second public performance and street story circle. Check back soon for more information about the performance and how you can get involved!
Lauded as the "father of gynecology", Dr. James Marion Sims brutally experimented on enslaved African women in Birmingham, Alabama. There just so happens to be a monument built in his honor on 5th Avenue. Body Ecology wants this memorial removed!
We are calling on the power of the women who suffered at the hands of this "doctor" as we offer our second installment of RingShout for Reproductive Justice. We are calling on the power of the women are experiencing joy, trauma, revelation, doubt, and a myriad of emotions and feelings that relate to our reproductive health and choices.
What is a RingShout?
A ringshout is a method for praise and worship. In the ring shout people sing, dance, testify. Usually the songs are lead but there is time for each person to speak or sing. You may be more familiar with recent configurations of the ringshout including the cipher or even the "sista circle" or sacred circles for women. The idea is that the circle is sacred and when those join in the circle they harness an energy and power to manifest what they choose. Also, there are theatre makers who are using the ring shout in traditional theatre settings for similar purposes.
Body Ecology recognizes the technology of the circle has made black women and black communities un-breakable. It is our circle that keeps us focused on the whole, the light in our community, the hopefulness that we can collectively vision. Body Ecology affirms that this campaign, this ring shout this circle of energy and creativity is our best asset for addressing justice and reproductive health.
Our RingShout is a performance of healing, truth-telling, humor and recovery. We do this through the performance of original poetry, narrative, choreography. Expect to be moved!
Each ringshout ends with a community cipher/ story circle so bring a dance, a poem a testimony about health, legacy, reproductive justice or creativity! Join us!
More about the RingShout for Reproductive Justice Campaign
Read More Here:
http://www.bettysdaughterarts.com/#!ringshout-for-reproductive-justice
www.bettysdaughterarts.com
Friday, October 21, 2011
BDACs current campaign is called the RingShout for Reproductive Justice!
Join us for our 2nd RingShout November 19!
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=264913493551887
What is a RingShout?
A ringshout is a method for praise and worship. In the ring shout people sing, dance, testify. Usually the songs are lead but there is time for each person to speak or sing. You may be more familiar with recent configurations of the ringshout including the cipher or even the "sista circle" or sacred circles for women. The idea is that the circle is sacred and when those join in the circle they harness an energy and power to manifest what they choose. Also, there are theatre makers who are using the ring shout in traditional theatre settings for similar purposes.
Body Ecology recognizes the technology of the circle has made black women and black communities un-breakable. It is our circle that keeps us focused on the whole, the light in our community, the hopefulness that we can collectively vision. Body Ecology affirms that this campaign, this ring shout this circle of energy and creativity is our best asset for addressing justice and reproductive health.
Our RingShout is a performance of healing, truth-telling, humor and recovery. We do this through the performance of original poetry, narrative, choreography. Expect to be moved!
Each ringshout ends with a community cipher/ story circle so bring a dance, a poem a testimony about health, legacy, reproductive justice or creativity! Join us!
Join us for our 2nd RingShout November 19!
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=264913493551887
What is a RingShout?
A ringshout is a method for praise and worship. In the ring shout people sing, dance, testify. Usually the songs are lead but there is time for each person to speak or sing. You may be more familiar with recent configurations of the ringshout including the cipher or even the "sista circle" or sacred circles for women. The idea is that the circle is sacred and when those join in the circle they harness an energy and power to manifest what they choose. Also, there are theatre makers who are using the ring shout in traditional theatre settings for similar purposes.
Body Ecology recognizes the technology of the circle has made black women and black communities un-breakable. It is our circle that keeps us focused on the whole, the light in our community, the hopefulness that we can collectively vision. Body Ecology affirms that this campaign, this ring shout this circle of energy and creativity is our best asset for addressing justice and reproductive health.
Our RingShout is a performance of healing, truth-telling, humor and recovery. We do this through the performance of original poetry, narrative, choreography. Expect to be moved!
Each ringshout ends with a community cipher/ story circle so bring a dance, a poem a testimony about health, legacy, reproductive justice or creativity! Join us!
Sunday, October 09, 2011
This Body Ecology: Creativity & Transformation Residency will be looking at the connection between spiritual practice and creative performance. Expect to deepen conversations around ritual, Shange, Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez and others. Expect to be asked to "perform something that pushes you to a new awareness of yourself and your creative potential". Join us!
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197374113662828
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197374113662828
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Join Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative in our inaugral cultural arts direct action campaign!!! We begin tomorrow!
Body Ecology: Creativity and Transformation Residency
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public Performing Arts and Activism Workshops for South Bronx Community
Contact: Ebony Noelle Golden
Email: ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com
www.bettysdaughterarts.com
South Bronx, New York --6 pm on September 28, Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative in collaboration with Casa Atabex Ache will launch the Body Ecology: Creativity and Transformation
residency for women and trans folks of color . The residency will address reproductive rights, environmental justice and spiritual activism over a period of a month. The residency will
feature public performance opportunities, creative dialogue, dance, writing and theatre workshops at Casa Atabex Ache. Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in two
public performances: one at Casa Atabex Ache and the other at the Harriet Tubman Memorial statue in Harlem. The performances will feature the original work of participants who will be
exploring the role of creative arts in working for individual transformation and community action.
The workshops will take place 6-8 p.m. at Casa Atabex Ache located at 471 East 140th Street Bronx, NY 10454. Participants have the option of paying between 20 and 40 dollars each
session, although no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Dates & Topics Include:
September
Reproductive Justice Cultural Arts Direct Action Campaign Debuts
28: Body Ecology Residency Begins @ Casa Atabex Ache. Register Here. Reproductive Justice!
October
1: Ringshout for Reproductive Justice 3 pm @ the Harriet Tubman Memorial Plaza 122nd and St. Nick.
3: Performance/Workshop: Ritual Theatre & Choreopoem Aesthetics @ Medgar Evers College
5: Environmental Justice Workshop
12: Spiritual Activism Workshop
19: Solo and Collaborative Performance Workshop
22: Body Ecology at The Black Girl Project Symposium
26: Final Benefit Performance in Support of Casa Atabex Ache and Project Zanzibar
The residency is a part of Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative's inaugural cultural arts direct action campaign season dedicated to using arts to address issues of reproductive justice within
the African Diaspora community. Ebony Golden, Creative Director of Betty's Daughter said, “This cultural arts direct action campaign has been a dream for several years. I am excited to
use the arts to vision a world I want to live in with the rest of the ensemble and community. We are not fighting against anything, we are honoring our autonomy over all that we choose to
create-artistically, politically, spiritually, economically, educationally...” The goals of the campaign are to raise awareness, increase creative action, facilitate dialogue and support local
organizing efforts.
The campaign will take the ensemble to Boston, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. Local allies include Casa Atabex Ache, Ocean Ana Rising, Brecht Forum, and WOW Cafe Theatre.
Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC is a cultural arts direct action group that inspires, enlivens, and incites justice and transformation of individuals and communities through
creativity, cultural arts and radical expressiveness.
Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative envisions and works for a world where cultural and artistic practice envelops and sustains wellness and justice movements for individuals and
communities.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Project Zanzibar:: Cultural Arts Residency
BDAC needs your help to get to Zanzibar!!! Each dollar is an investment!
Donate here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projectzanzibar
Our Story
In August of 2010, Ebony Golden was introduced to Bi Aida and Mbaruk (Directors of Creative Solutions) by Tufara Muhammad at the Highlander Research and Education Center. During Cultural Workers' Weekend, Bi Aida and Ebony talked about the possibility of community cultural arts residency at their Creative Solutions school in Zanzibar. By the end of the weekend, Ebony was sure that this collaboration would be an awesome opportunity to learn and share art in community, while beginning an intentional and sustainable relationship with an international collaborator. This weekend, Project Zanzibar:: Cultural Arts Residency was born.
Utilizing art and creativity, Project Zanzibar:: Cultural Arts Residency seeks to amplify the voices and creativity of young adults and women at Creative Solutions Resource Systems school located in Mangapwani, Zanzibar.
The residency is a collaborative effort between Creative Solutions and Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, based in New York, NY.
Goals and Outcomes
1. 3 Yoga Workshops
2. 2 Dance/Movement Workshops
3. 2 Writing Workshops
4. 1 Story Circle
5. 2 Theatre/Performance Workshops
6. 1 Visual Arts Workshops
7. 1 Community Performances
More About The Collaborators
Creative Solutions Resource Systems is a non profit community learning center, located in the village of Mangapwani, approximately 27 kilometers from Zanzibar town and one kilometer from the beach. We are a grass roots organization providing access to education through both traditional and modern systems. CSRS strives to unleash the creative energy within each individual through participatory workshops, classes and demonstrations. CSRS is committed to the philosophy of creating solutions through self-help.
Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC is a cultural arts direct action group that inspires, enlivens, and incites justice and transformation of individuals and communities through creativity, healing arts practices and radical expressiveness. Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative envisions a world where cultural and artistic practice envelops and sustains wellness and justice movements for individuals and communities. Betty's Daughter Arts collaborative provides workshops, residencies, performances and consulting services to communities working for justice and transformation.
Check out BDAC at work--http://youtu.be/j5evUICB7as and http://vimeo.com/17252820
The Impact
Participant Impact
Transformation: Creativity heals, transforms, liberates and enlivens individuals and communities. This experience will provide participants with tools they can use in their everyday lives to reflect, rejoice and renew through writing, performance, movement and meditation.
Community Sustainability: Creativity is integral to building and sustaining community. The residency will provide participants with tools to investigate art and creativity as a practice for solving issues impacting local communities. Through creative visioning, action and reflection participants will experience movement from issue to resolution while at the same time building a tool kit to continue the forward movement for community sustainability and growth.
Literacy: Creativity is directly linked to achievement in literacy and basic skills. Because arts practice supports the overall critical thinking skills of students, it is extremely important to find new and innovative approaches to getting students writing and thinking outside of books. Creativity helps students conceptualize and envision experiences that extend comprehension of texts and problem solving skills. The activities used in this residency will be useful to students as they work to achieve their educational goals.
Organizational Impact
Creative Solutions is looking for ways to offer its students quality cultural arts programming. These costs, of course, are steep for a community school. Through our collaboration, Creative Solutions will have a month-long residency that it can use as a template for building and sustaining cultural arts programs throughout the year. Because BDAC is looking to its supporters to help fund this residency, Creative Solutions will not have to worry about payment for the services and use those funds to sustain other educational projects.
The Bottom Line
1. If this project does not happen, Creative Solutions quite possibly will not have intensive cultural arts programming for the month.
2. Participants will not have access to a transformative arts experience.
3. BDAC will not be able to begin its international arts initiative.
What We Need
BDAC Needs 2500.00 for the residency. Here is how it will be spent.
1500-flight
200-medication
700-Food and Lodging
100-Flip Cam
What You Get
Mention in Newsletter
Mention on website
DVD of Residency
Residency Chapbook
A gift from Zanzibar
A post card from Zanzibar
Other Ways You Can Help
Tweet about the residency using the #ProjectZanzibar hashtag
Mention the residency and our campaign on your Facebook wall or status update
Come to the going away party in Brooklyn July 16th.
Donate books, media or school supplies to Creative Solutions
Donate yoga mats
Donate DVDs
Donate art supplies
Donate frequent flyer miles
Get your social club to donate
Purchase mailing of materials
Come up with another way to help and let BDAC know!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Register for the 5th In The People's Hands Arts and Activism Project workshop, in Durham NC.! Free.
4th Annual In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project Presents...
The LIBERATION INTENSIVE
Location: TBA
Cost: FREE
Contact: Ebony Noelle Golden-ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com,
Nia Wilson-spirithousenc@gmail.com
tel: 919.283.9032
www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
Registration: email or text- ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com or 919.283.9032.
Join SpiritHouse, Alternate Roots and Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative for the 4th In The People's Hands Arts and Activism Intensive. This year we are focus is LIBERATION. The weekend we will offer creative performance, spoken word, writing and community action workshops for the community.
Agenda
Thursday June 30th 430 pm
Meet and Greet and Opening Session
530 Introductions and Ice Breaker
600 Opening Session
Why Liberation? Why Now: A Creative Imperative
In this session, Ebony Noelle Golden will lead an interactive session with participants exploring creative approaches to liberation, RSC's principles of community engagement while framing the scope and range of the weekend intensive.
Friday July 1st 430 pm
430- Light Dinner/Snacks
5 pm- Session 1
630-645 Break
645 pm - Session 2
815- Wrap Up
Saturday July 2
10 am- Performance/Manuscript One-on-Ones with Visiting Artists (20 minute sessions)
11 am - Light Brunch
1130- Session 3
1pm- Break
115- Session 4
245- Break
330
Cultural Arts Direct Action: The Creative and the Strategic Road Map
In this session, Ebony Noelle Golden will lead participants in a process of mapping out the next steps for using art and culture for change. Participants should come prepared to talk about a tangible shift they want to see in their communities and how they want to use art and culture to do that work.
530 Break
7 pm Community Performances
4th Annual In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project Presents...
The LIBERATION INTENSIVE
Location: TBA
Cost: FREE
Contact: Ebony Noelle Golden-ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com,
Nia Wilson-spirithousenc@gmail.com
tel: 919.283.9032
www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
Registration: email or text- ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com or 919.283.9032.
Join SpiritHouse, Alternate Roots and Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative for the 4th In The People's Hands Arts and Activism Intensive. This year we are focus is LIBERATION. The weekend we will offer creative performance, spoken word, writing and community action workshops for the community.
Agenda
Thursday June 30th 430 pm
Meet and Greet and Opening Session
530 Introductions and Ice Breaker
600 Opening Session
Why Liberation? Why Now: A Creative Imperative
In this session, Ebony Noelle Golden will lead an interactive session with participants exploring creative approaches to liberation, RSC's principles of community engagement while framing the scope and range of the weekend intensive.
Friday July 1st 430 pm
430- Light Dinner/Snacks
5 pm- Session 1
630-645 Break
645 pm - Session 2
815- Wrap Up
Saturday July 2
10 am- Performance/Manuscript One-on-Ones with Visiting Artists (20 minute sessions)
11 am - Light Brunch
1130- Session 3
1pm- Break
115- Session 4
245- Break
330
Cultural Arts Direct Action: The Creative and the Strategic Road Map
In this session, Ebony Noelle Golden will lead participants in a process of mapping out the next steps for using art and culture for change. Participants should come prepared to talk about a tangible shift they want to see in their communities and how they want to use art and culture to do that work.
530 Break
7 pm Community Performances
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Women on Wednesdays Art and Culture Project Now Accepting Performance and Workshop Proposals
Greetings,
I hope you all are finding warmth as it gets really cold outside. I co-curate Women on Wednesdays Arts and Culture Project based here in NYC. We are currently accepting performance and workshop proposals from girls and women of the African diaspora to present creative works and teach during the month of February. Here is the link: http://www.bettysdaughterarts.com/women-on-wednesday-teach-in.php If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com.
Ebony Noelle Golden
Peace.
Greetings,
I hope you all are finding warmth as it gets really cold outside. I co-curate Women on Wednesdays Arts and Culture Project based here in NYC. We are currently accepting performance and workshop proposals from girls and women of the African diaspora to present creative works and teach during the month of February. Here is the link: http://www.bettysdaughterarts.com/women-on-wednesday-teach-in.php If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at ebonygolden@bettysdaughterarts.com.
Ebony Noelle Golden
Peace.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Call for art, spoken word, music- Sex worker rights are Human rights!
In conjunction with International Human Rights Day on December 10th, a coalition of New York-based sex worker rights, anti-violence and decriminalization advocates are hosting a Human Rights Speak-Out and Arts Evening. You are encouraged to submit your work!
We are looking for:
- pieces that connect to or highlight themes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ and the examples below); and to the idea that criminalization of sex work leads ultimately to human rights violations.
- visual art; and short (2 to 7 minutes) spoken word or poetry pieces, musical pieces, theater shorts, films, etc.
- current/ former sex workers, and folks who are otherwise in communities that are heavily impacted by criminalization and policing of sex work are especially encouraged to submit
Submit to : kmdadamo@gmail.com and belltoweroverflo@hotmail.com
For spoken word and performance, please email written copies if possible. For film, either mail a copy or send an online link to view. For visual art, please either send JPG images (no more than 2) or otherwise call to make arrangements to submit.
Submit by: November 25th
Be sure to keep Dec. 10th on your schedule! Travel stipends for local NYC area travel to the event on the evening of December 10th may be available for submitting artists. Please keep in mind that the event will be promoted to media outlets in order to try to bring a sex worker rights and human rights message to a wider audience.
Here are some examples of conditions faced by sex workers and articles of the UDHR that correlate:
Sex workers and people profiled as sex workers are often ignored when they report violence, rape, or other crimes against them, and even presumed to have brought the violence on themselves. Frequently, they face violence, including sexual violence and extortion, at the hands of the police.
Article 3.
* Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5.
* No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 7.
* All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
People, particularly transgender folks and people of color are often profiled as sex workers and arrested. For example in Washington, DC, officers can arrest people they “presume to be prostitutes” in so-called Prostitution Free Zones.
Article 9 of the Declaration says:
* No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 20.
* (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
Criminalization and stigmatization create enormous obstacles to sex workers organizing for labor rights, and sex workers sometimes face discrimination when they seek different work.
Article 23.
* (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
* (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
* (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
* (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 25.
* (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
In conjunction with International Human Rights Day on December 10th, a coalition of New York-based sex worker rights, anti-violence and decriminalization advocates are hosting a Human Rights Speak-Out and Arts Evening. You are encouraged to submit your work!
We are looking for:
- pieces that connect to or highlight themes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ and the examples below); and to the idea that criminalization of sex work leads ultimately to human rights violations.
- visual art; and short (2 to 7 minutes) spoken word or poetry pieces, musical pieces, theater shorts, films, etc.
- current/ former sex workers, and folks who are otherwise in communities that are heavily impacted by criminalization and policing of sex work are especially encouraged to submit
Submit to : kmdadamo@gmail.com and belltoweroverflo@hotmail.com
For spoken word and performance, please email written copies if possible. For film, either mail a copy or send an online link to view. For visual art, please either send JPG images (no more than 2) or otherwise call to make arrangements to submit.
Submit by: November 25th
Be sure to keep Dec. 10th on your schedule! Travel stipends for local NYC area travel to the event on the evening of December 10th may be available for submitting artists. Please keep in mind that the event will be promoted to media outlets in order to try to bring a sex worker rights and human rights message to a wider audience.
Here are some examples of conditions faced by sex workers and articles of the UDHR that correlate:
Sex workers and people profiled as sex workers are often ignored when they report violence, rape, or other crimes against them, and even presumed to have brought the violence on themselves. Frequently, they face violence, including sexual violence and extortion, at the hands of the police.
Article 3.
* Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5.
* No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 7.
* All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
People, particularly transgender folks and people of color are often profiled as sex workers and arrested. For example in Washington, DC, officers can arrest people they “presume to be prostitutes” in so-called Prostitution Free Zones.
Article 9 of the Declaration says:
* No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 20.
* (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
Criminalization and stigmatization create enormous obstacles to sex workers organizing for labor rights, and sex workers sometimes face discrimination when they seek different work.
Article 23.
* (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
* (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
* (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
* (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 25.
* (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Stand in Solidarity with Gumbo YaYa!
www.iamnotaproject.wordpress.com
Greetings community,
Gumbo YaYa wants you to stand in support of healing and creative expression for African American girls and women. Most of you know I help sustain a community-based sister circle called Gumbo YaYa: Creative Expression and Healing for African American Girls and Women. Well soon the project will expand to communities in South Africa and Kenya and continue in Durham, NC.
We want you to stand in solidarity with us! If you believe in our mission and our work email your name and the organization you represent to be listed on our community support page!
Gumbo YaYa is a holistic, arts-based program that directly addresses reproductive justice, awareness, and empowerment of African American girls and women. Established in 2007, Gumbo YaYa draws on the cultural practices of knowledge-sharing, political action, art-making, and community- building created and sustained by African American girls and women.
Gumbo YaYa’s mission is to affirm the health, wellness, and vitality of African American girls and women through creative and expressive healing.
To date, Gumbo YaYa has worked with over 100 women and girls in New York, North Carolina, and New Orleans. We have staged three community performances, and held one community forum.
We have collaborated with a host of like minded individuals who firmly believe in our mission and our work. We have been funded by New York University- ism project grant, New York University- Department of Multi-cultural Programs, Health Medical Research Foundation, The Imperial Court of the Daughters of Isis, Billings & Martin and several private sponsors. We have successfully entered our fall giving season, and raised over 2,000 for our international initiatives.
Here is what coming up...
Winter 09-10: Gumbo YaYa Cycle 3 Planning phase
Spring 2010: Gumbo YaYa Reproductive Justice, Now! begins
Community performance and forum
Summer 2010: Gumbo YaYa South Africa/ Kenya
Fall 2010: Gumbo YaYa documentary short film screening
We want you to stand in solidarity with us! If you believe in our mission and our work email your name and the organization you represent to be listed on our community support page!
Please feel free to share resources with us about grants, funding streams, donations, bartering/freecycling, people doing this work internationally, activities, and more.
We look forward to hearing from you.
In service and solidarity,
Ebony N. Golden
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
3rd Annual In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project
Community Writing Intensive
Poetry. Hip Hop. Performance. Instead of Prisons.
Contact Ebony Noelle Golden
inthepeopleshands@gmail.com
www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
919.423.3780
Durham, NC—Oct. 1-4 artists from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, and beyond will gather for the third annual Community Writing Intensive in Durham, NC at the New Horizons School and The People's Channel. This year's theme, "to p.i.m.c. w/ love", is a satirical take on the lack of justice the prison system practices towards people of color and poor people. Visit http://www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com to register and see full schedule of events.
Participants will engage poetry, media, hip hop theater, and music as tools for critically and creatively engaging community wellness, prison reform, the school to prison pipeline, and decreasing violence in local communities.
Nia Wilson, Executive Director of SpiritHouse-NC said, "This program is absolutely necessary. Our path to freedom is informed by being able to articulate our stories, our visions, in our own words. SpiritHouse is dedicated to creating these intentional spaces for the entire community to dialogue, write, perform, and heal."
This year’s intensive features:
· Tuition-free workshops
· Workshops led by community poets and community organizers
· Travel Scholarships for commuters
· Youth-led workshops
· Writers-in-Residence
· Performance workshops
· Action-based community dialogue
. Manuscript workshops
. Open-Mic
. Virtual release of e-zine www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
. Establishing a community board of artists and writers in the rooted in the south east
The In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project is based on June Jordan's 15-year old "Poetry for the People" program. The program "continues to pursue Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a beloved community for all".
June Jordan crafted Poetry for the People with three guiding principles in mind:
1. That students will not take themselves seriously unless we who teach them, honor and respect them in every practical way that we can.
2. That words can change the world and save our lives.
3. That poetry is the highest art and the most exacting service devoted to our most serious, and our most imaginative, deployment of verbs and nouns on behalf of whatever and whoever we cherish.
For more information about June Jordan and Poetry for the People, visit www.poetryforthepeople.org.
This project is made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the We Shall Overcome Fund, The People's Channel, Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, and SpiritHouse-NC.
For more information about the intensive, to apply or to donate time, money, or services contact inthepeopleshands@gmail.com, or call Ebony Noelle Golden at 9194233780. To register for the intensive, visit http://inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com/registration.php.
-END-
Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
3rd Annual In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project
Community Writing Intensive
Poetry. Hip Hop. Performance. Instead of Prisons.
Contact
Ebony Noelle Golden For Immediate Release 919.423.3780 www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
inthepeopleshands@gmail.com
Durham, NC—Oct. 1-4 artists from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, and beyond will gather for the third annual Community Writing Intensive in Durham, NC at the New Horizons School and The People's Channel.
This year's theme, "to p.i.m.c. w/ love", is a satirical take on the lack of justice the prison system practices towards people of color and poor people. The intensive will engage poetry, media, hip hop theater, and music as tools for critically and creatively engaging community wellness, prison reform, the school to prison pipeline, and decreasing violence in local communities.
Nia Wilson, Executive Director of SpiritHouse-NC said, "This program is so absolutely necessary. Our path to freedom is informed by being able to articulate our stories, our visions, in our own words. SpiritHouse is dedicated to creating these intentional spaces for the entire community to dialogue, write, perform, and heal."
This year’s intensive features:
· Tuition-free workshops
· Workshops led by community poets and community organizers
· Travel Scholarships for commuters
· Youth-led programs
· Writers-in-Residence
· Performance workshops
· Action-based community dialogue
. Manuscript workshops
. Open-Mic
. Virtual release of e-zine www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
. Establishing a community board of artists and writers in the rooted in the south east
The In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project is based on June Jordan's 15-year old "Poetry for the People" program. The program "continues to pursue Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a beloved community for all". June Jordan crafted Poetry for the People with three guiding principles in mind:
1. That students will not take themselves seriously unless we who teach them, honor and respect them in every practical way that we can.
2. That words can change the world and save our lives.
3. That poetry is the highest art and the most exacting service devoted to our most serious, and our most imaginative, deployment of verbs and nouns on behalf of whatever and whoever we cherish.
For more information about June Jordan and Poetry for the People, visit www.poetryforthepeople.org.
The Community Writing Intensive is sponsored by the We Shall Overcome Fund, The People's Channel, Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, SpiritHouse-NC, and the North Carolina Humanities Council.
For more information about the intensive, to apply or to donate time, money, or services contact inthepeopleshands@gmail.com, or call Ebony Golden at 9194233780. To register for the intensive, visit http://inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com/registration.php.
-END-
Community Writing Intensive
Poetry. Hip Hop. Performance. Instead of Prisons.
Contact
Ebony Noelle Golden For Immediate Release 919.423.3780 www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
inthepeopleshands@gmail.com
Durham, NC—Oct. 1-4 artists from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, and beyond will gather for the third annual Community Writing Intensive in Durham, NC at the New Horizons School and The People's Channel.
This year's theme, "to p.i.m.c. w/ love", is a satirical take on the lack of justice the prison system practices towards people of color and poor people. The intensive will engage poetry, media, hip hop theater, and music as tools for critically and creatively engaging community wellness, prison reform, the school to prison pipeline, and decreasing violence in local communities.
Nia Wilson, Executive Director of SpiritHouse-NC said, "This program is so absolutely necessary. Our path to freedom is informed by being able to articulate our stories, our visions, in our own words. SpiritHouse is dedicated to creating these intentional spaces for the entire community to dialogue, write, perform, and heal."
This year’s intensive features:
· Tuition-free workshops
· Workshops led by community poets and community organizers
· Travel Scholarships for commuters
· Youth-led programs
· Writers-in-Residence
· Performance workshops
· Action-based community dialogue
. Manuscript workshops
. Open-Mic
. Virtual release of e-zine www.inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com
. Establishing a community board of artists and writers in the rooted in the south east
The In the People's Hands Arts and Activism Project is based on June Jordan's 15-year old "Poetry for the People" program. The program "continues to pursue Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a beloved community for all". June Jordan crafted Poetry for the People with three guiding principles in mind:
1. That students will not take themselves seriously unless we who teach them, honor and respect them in every practical way that we can.
2. That words can change the world and save our lives.
3. That poetry is the highest art and the most exacting service devoted to our most serious, and our most imaginative, deployment of verbs and nouns on behalf of whatever and whoever we cherish.
For more information about June Jordan and Poetry for the People, visit www.poetryforthepeople.org.
The Community Writing Intensive is sponsored by the We Shall Overcome Fund, The People's Channel, Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, SpiritHouse-NC, and the North Carolina Humanities Council.
For more information about the intensive, to apply or to donate time, money, or services contact inthepeopleshands@gmail.com, or call Ebony Golden at 9194233780. To register for the intensive, visit http://inthepeopleshands.synthasite.com/registration.php.
-END-
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Zora! Festival
have you all seen this? http://www.zorafestival.com/index.html
FYI: FW: CFP
You have probably seen the call for papers below, posted at our website
over the last year, for the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston (ZNH) Festival of
the Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Florida (USA) January 23-31,
2010.
The JUNE 1st deadline is around the corner, and your submissions is
enthusiastically anticipated from across disciplines and areas of study.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES , and LISTSERVES.
Taking a minute to forward the email below can make a world of
difference for this academic forum and for the sustainable development
of Eatonville, America's oldest incorporated African American town in
the US.
[Cultural preservation activism has helped this community survive urban
gentrification]
Questions?
See the call below and feel free to contact me directly.
Dr. Deidre Helen Crumbley: ZNH National Planner
Associate Professor/ Africana Studies Program
Interdisciplinary Studies Division Box 7107
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7107, USA
CALL FOR ACADEMIC PAPERS
Invitation:
Scholars are invited to submit papers for the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston
Festival of the Arts and
Humanities (January 23 - 31). The festival theme is "Reflection on the
Life and Legacy of Zora Neale
Hurston 50 Years After Her Death."
The legacy of Zora Neale Hurston is a phenomenon that has undergone a
remarkable
development and expansion in recent decades, embracing, among others,
topics in ethnic identity, social
interactions, feminist theory, and cultural continuity. Hurston's unique
insights into folklore,
performance, and creative expression have invited new interpretation and
inspired emulation, while the
corpus of her own work has grown as a result of research and discovery.
The committee will welcome
papers exploring the dynamic dimensions of the Hurston legacy from
theoretical and/or historical
perspectives and will be especially attentive to appropriate
consideration of past, present, and emerging
scholarly content.
In a tradition of excellence, scholars are encouraged to engage the
literature and discourse of
their respective fields at the same that they present their findings
during the public forum in a form that
is accessible to academics in other disciplines and is also
intellectually stimulating for an intelligent
general audience.
Submission Instructions:
Submit a 150-word abstract along with an 500-word summary of your paper
that of your paper that indicates the
thesis or central question, which you plan to explore, as well as an
idea of the theoretical framework
within which your findings will be considered.
Deadline:
Abstract and summary are due June 1, 2009.
If your work is accepted for the festival, a copy of
the full paper must be submitted by November1, 2009.
Email your submission to:
Deidre Crumbley @: deidre_crumbley&ncsu.edu
AND
N. Y. Nathiri @: apec@cfl.rr.com
Then Mail a Hard Copy to:
Hurston Papers 2010
Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)
227 East Kennedy Boulevard
Eatonville, Florida 32751
have you all seen this? http://www.zorafestival.com/index.html
FYI: FW: CFP
You have probably seen the call for papers below, posted at our website
over the last year, for the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston (ZNH) Festival of
the Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Florida (USA) January 23-31,
2010.
The JUNE 1st deadline is around the corner, and your submissions is
enthusiastically anticipated from across disciplines and areas of study.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES , and LISTSERVES.
Taking a minute to forward the email below can make a world of
difference for this academic forum and for the sustainable development
of Eatonville, America's oldest incorporated African American town in
the US.
[Cultural preservation activism has helped this community survive urban
gentrification]
Questions?
See the call below and feel free to contact me directly.
Dr. Deidre Helen Crumbley: ZNH National Planner
Associate Professor/ Africana Studies Program
Interdisciplinary Studies Division Box 7107
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7107, USA
CALL FOR ACADEMIC PAPERS
Invitation:
Scholars are invited to submit papers for the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston
Festival of the Arts and
Humanities (January 23 - 31). The festival theme is "Reflection on the
Life and Legacy of Zora Neale
Hurston 50 Years After Her Death."
The legacy of Zora Neale Hurston is a phenomenon that has undergone a
remarkable
development and expansion in recent decades, embracing, among others,
topics in ethnic identity, social
interactions, feminist theory, and cultural continuity. Hurston's unique
insights into folklore,
performance, and creative expression have invited new interpretation and
inspired emulation, while the
corpus of her own work has grown as a result of research and discovery.
The committee will welcome
papers exploring the dynamic dimensions of the Hurston legacy from
theoretical and/or historical
perspectives and will be especially attentive to appropriate
consideration of past, present, and emerging
scholarly content.
In a tradition of excellence, scholars are encouraged to engage the
literature and discourse of
their respective fields at the same that they present their findings
during the public forum in a form that
is accessible to academics in other disciplines and is also
intellectually stimulating for an intelligent
general audience.
Submission Instructions:
Submit a 150-word abstract along with an 500-word summary of your paper
that of your paper that indicates the
thesis or central question, which you plan to explore, as well as an
idea of the theoretical framework
within which your findings will be considered.
Deadline:
Abstract and summary are due June 1, 2009.
If your work is accepted for the festival, a copy of
the full paper must be submitted by November1, 2009.
Email your submission to:
Deidre Crumbley @: deidre_crumbley&ncsu.edu
AND
N. Y. Nathiri @: apec@cfl.rr.com
Then Mail a Hard Copy to:
Hurston Papers 2010
Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)
227 East Kennedy Boulevard
Eatonville, Florida 32751
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative continues the "Working Our Rainbows: Critical Approaches to Africana Women's Performance Methodology" Series
Peace family. As I continue to think about "women's work", political division, art, community and sustainability, I am critically looking at these terms-feminist and womanist and how they create/define/conflate/re-iterate power, everyday "happenings" and creative performance dynamics among Black women.
The Working Our Rainbows Series is an at-home, mobile device, on line lecture series devoted to Black Women in Performance Studies. Please email bettysdaughterarts@gmail.com if you would like to host a lecture!
This weeks lesson:
1. Watch Staceyann Chin's performance of "Feminist or Womanist".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOmyebFVV8
2. Read Revisiting "What's in a Name?": Exploring the Contours of Africana Womanist Thought
Nikol G Alexander-Floyd, Evelyn M Simien. Frontiers. Boulder:2006. Vol. 27, Iss. 1, p. 67-89,131-132 (25 pp.)
I will email the essay if you would like.
3. Write a letter to yourself answering some or all of these questions: 1. Am I a feminist? 2. Am I a womanist? 3. How do I identify politically, culturally, socially?
4. If you were talking to Alice Walker right now, what would you say to her about womanism? 5. If you were talking to Clenora Hudson Weems right now, what would you say to her about womanism? 6. If you were speaking to Audre Lorde right now, what would you ask her about hybridity? 7. If you were talking to your mama right now what would you ask her about herself?
Hit me up on facebook or respond on my blog here!
Peace and performance!
Ebony Noelle Golden
bettysdaughterarts@gmail.com
bettysdaughterarts.synthasite.com
Peace family. As I continue to think about "women's work", political division, art, community and sustainability, I am critically looking at these terms-feminist and womanist and how they create/define/conflate/re-iterate power, everyday "happenings" and creative performance dynamics among Black women.
The Working Our Rainbows Series is an at-home, mobile device, on line lecture series devoted to Black Women in Performance Studies. Please email bettysdaughterarts@gmail.com if you would like to host a lecture!
This weeks lesson:
1. Watch Staceyann Chin's performance of "Feminist or Womanist".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOmyebFVV8
2. Read Revisiting "What's in a Name?": Exploring the Contours of Africana Womanist Thought
Nikol G Alexander-Floyd, Evelyn M Simien. Frontiers. Boulder:2006. Vol. 27, Iss. 1, p. 67-89,131-132 (25 pp.)
I will email the essay if you would like.
3. Write a letter to yourself answering some or all of these questions: 1. Am I a feminist? 2. Am I a womanist? 3. How do I identify politically, culturally, socially?
4. If you were talking to Alice Walker right now, what would you say to her about womanism? 5. If you were talking to Clenora Hudson Weems right now, what would you say to her about womanism? 6. If you were speaking to Audre Lorde right now, what would you ask her about hybridity? 7. If you were talking to your mama right now what would you ask her about herself?
Hit me up on facebook or respond on my blog here!
Peace and performance!
Ebony Noelle Golden
bettysdaughterarts@gmail.com
bettysdaughterarts.synthasite.com
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