Intermedia Arts Re-Launches Writers of Color Reading Series on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 7:00 p.m. at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55408. The event, “Beyond the Pure – Color Theory for the 21st Century” features Sha Cage, e.g. Bailey, Beverly Cottman, Ibé, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, Bryan Thao Worra, and May Lee Yang.
Color Theory for the 21st Century builds and strengthens community while exploring shared experiences and issues of race, culture, and identity. Color Theory for the 21st Century is a part of the NEW Beyond the Pure Reading Series from Intermedia Arts.
This new monthly series from Intermedia Arts rotates among three incredible readings: Queer Voices, a GLBT Reading Series; Color Theory for the 21st Century, Readings by Writers of Color, and Sounds of (R)evolution, the multi-disciplinary literary lecture series that explores local issues and communities through the words and stories of writers using their voices to inspire positive social change.
Each month, Beyond the Pure engages artists and audiences in an evening of literary inspiration that is energy-filled, joyous and focused on community. This is truly a reading series for the 21st Century!
$5 Suggested Donation Supports the Series!
For more information, call (612) 871-4444 or email [email protected] or online at: www.IntermediaArts.org.
e.g. Bailey: Liberian-born multidisciplinary artist, e.g. bailey, is an actor, spoken word artist, filmmaker, playwright and producer. Since ’95, he has co-founded and co-produced Write On RaDio!, an award-winning weekly literary radio program on KFAI Fresh Air Radio; co-founded Arkology, a spoken word and music collective, which was chosen in the City Pages’ “Picked to Click” Best New Band Poll in 1998 and 1999; e.g. co-wrote and co-produced blues for nina: a poetic interpretation of the life and music of nina simone, for SASE: The Write Place and the Twin Cities Black Film Festival; was commissioned by Pangea World Theater to adapt Chinua Achebe’s novel No Longer at Ease to the stage; produces Words Will Heal the Wound: a celebration of community through poetry, a spoken word radio series for KFAI Fresh Air Radio in celebration of National Poetry Month, now in its third year; and inaugurated two new spoken word radio shows, Tehuti: The Art of Spoken Word on KFAI and Urban Griots on KMOJ. Recently he co-founded Singers of Daybreak, the first spoken word conference, to engage dialogue about the art of spoken word with local and nationally recognized spoken word artists; and is currently Executive Director of the MN Spoken Word Association, which he co-founded to develop the Singers of Daybreak conference, and Trú Rúts Endeavors, an artistic organization that fosters innovative projects and works. He recently directed his first play, for colored girls and black boys: The Remix. To find out more about e.g. or stay connected with his work go to: www.egbailey.com | www.truruts.com
Shá Cage: One of the most dynamic spoken word artists on the scene, and a noted actress, Shá Cage has been appropriately called ‘The Priestess of the Word.’ A striking mix of spoken word and theatre, her performances have left audiences moved. Her work unabashedly questions inequality, class, and gender issues and is rooted in the rhythms of her native Natchez, Mississippi. Her work has taken her all across the U.S., to South Africa, England, France, The Netherlands, Belgrade and Croatia, Mali, and Canada.
Beverly Cottman is an interdisciplinary artist creating at the intersections of visual, literary and performance art. As storyteller “Auntie Beverly” she tells folktales and fables from the African Diaspora. As a member of the Ways Ensemble,(Bill Cottman, photographer, Kenna Sarge, dancer/choreographer and J.Otis Powell!, writer and poet,) Beverly has performed in collaborative productions at Pangea World Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts and the Avalon Theatre. Her collage/assemblage and found object sculptures have been exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Obsidian Arts (Minneapolis), the ARC Gallery (Chicago) and Homewood Studios (Minneapolis). Beverly shares her interpretations and outlook on literature and creativity as a teaching artist with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature Spirited Minds and Strong Souls Singingand the VocalEssence WITNESS artist-in-the-schools programs. Her creative endeavors pass on values, instill pride, evoke self-love and celebrate culture. She draws inspiration for her performance work from her role as “Gramma” to Yonci Peaceful and Ebrima Baye. She is a modern-day “griot” delivering wisdom of the ages in a voice of the present for the future.
IBé was born in Kankan, Guinea; grew up between Koindu (Sierra Leone), Evanston (Illinois) and St. Cloud (Minnesota). Naturally, he lives in “The Middle of the Atlantic”…with a mailing address in Minneapolis, MN. IBé is the recipient of a 2010 Midwestern Voices Award, a 2009 Urban Griots’ Cultural Award, a 2005 Jerome/SASE Verve Grant, and a 2004 Minnesota Academy Award nominee for Best Spoken Word. IBé writes that which he sometimes finds hard to say. Spoken word helps him say it. He is the author of “Bridge Across Atlantic”, a collection of poems about life between Africa and America.
Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria is a writer and spoken word poet of Peruvian heritage heavily involved with Palabristas, a local [email protected] poets collective. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and an involved activist in the [email protected] community. He writes about fatherhood, the duality of two cultures in English, Spanglish and Spanish, and issues pertaining to his community and life experiences. He has performed with Yellow Rage, Los Nativos, Chicano Messengers of the Spoken Word and Big Quarters. He also takes the power of his work to local high schools, colleges, and universities, both in the Metro Area and in Greater Minnesota, in which he engages in conversation with students in regards to the art of spoken word and how they can use it as tool of liberation. He released a spoken word CD in 2006 titled “Desconocidos” with the collaboration of other local poets and is featured in the Palabristas Chapbook titled “Outside the Lines.” For more information email [email protected] or visit www.mnwordslinger.com
Bryan Thao Worra is the award-winning Laotian American author of several books of poetry including On the Other Side of the Eye, Winter Ink, My Dinner With Cluster Bombs and Touching Detonations. Born in Laos in 1973, he has received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Loft Literary Center and the Playwrights Center. In 2009 he become the first Laotian American to receive the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature for poetry. He is the recipient of the 2009 Minnesota State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans Asian Pacific American Leadership Award for excellence in the arts. His work is taught internationally in colleges and high schools and appears in over 100 newspapers, magazines and anthologies around the world including Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States. He is a contributing editor to Asian American Press and the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement. He resides today in North Minneapolis.
May Lee-Yang is a playwright, poet, prose writer, and performance artist aspiring to get paid for it. Her theater-based works include Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman(Out North Theater, MN Fringe Festival), Sia(b)(Mu Performing Arts, the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent-CHAT, and Kaotic Good Productions), Ten Reasons Why I’d Be a Bad Porn Star(Illusion Theater), Stir-Fried Pop Culture (CHAT), and The Child’s House(Intermedia Arts). Her writing has been published in Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong Americans, The Saint Paul Almanac, Water~Stone Literary Review, Jade Magazine, and others. She has received grants and fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Performance Network, the Midwestern Voices and Visions Residency Award, the Playwright Center, and the Loft.
ABOUT THE BEYOND THE PURE READING SERIES This monthly series rotates among three incredible readings: Queer Voices, a GLBT Reading Series; Color Theory for the 21st Century, Readings by Writers of Color; and Sounds of (R)evolution, the multi-disciplinary literary lecture series that explores local issues and communites through words and stories of writers using their voices to inspire positive social change. Each month, Beyond the Pure readings engage artists and audiences in an evening of literary inspiration that is energy-filled, joyous and focused on the community. With curators Jon Medeiros, Andrea Jenkins, Carolyn Holbrook and Marcie Rendon.
