media contact:
erica lewis-finein
brightbutterfly pr
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AFROSOLO THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
AFROSOLO ARTS FESTIVAL 18
July 28-October 20, 2011
San Francisco's Black Arts Festival
SAN FRANCISCO (July 8, 2011) - San Francisco's award-winning AfroSolo Theatre Company presents its 18th annual AfroSolo Arts Festival, celebrating African American artists giving voice to the Black experience. This year's theme, UNITED IN PEACE II: Artists, Clergy, Legislators, and Community, promotes the power of peace through live performances, the visual arts, and other events to envision and celebrate peace. This year's festival not only pays homage to and explores the rich legacy of African Americans and people of African decent, but also furthers the focus of last year's festival, centering on a coming together of all people for the common purpose of peace. Festival events (July 28 through October 20) feature a panel discussion, live music, visual art, and works for the stage at venues around San Francisco, including Yerba Buena Gardens, the Main San Francisco Public Library, Commonwealth Club of California, Fort Mason Center, African American Art and Culture Complex, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. Most events are free and open to the public. For more information, the public may visit afrosolo.org or call 415-771-AFRO (2376).
"In celebrating our 18th AfroSolo Arts Festival, we wanted to continue our exploration of what it means to live in peace," says AfroSolo Artistic Director Thomas Robert Simpson. "With encouragement from our artists, suggestions from our partners, and feedback from our patrons, as well as the continuing need to promote peace and harmony in our community, we decided to produce a second festival with the theme of 'United in Peace.' Last year's festival was a tremendous success and we think that this second chapter will be just as inviting and encouraging as we enlist members of the entire community to perform acts of peace and celebrate, envision, and discuss the role the arts can play in uniting us all."
The line up for AfroSolo 18 is as follows:
The Arts: A Medium for Peace II
A Panel discussion in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California
Thursday, July 28
Reception: 5:30pm; Panel discussion: 6-7pm
Commonwealth Club of California (595 Market Street)
Tickets ($12 members; $20 non-members) available at 415-771-AFRO (2376) or afrosolo.org
From the iconic peace sign to singer/songwriter John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" to AfroSolo Artistic Director Thomas Robert Simpson's solo performance piece There Is No Hatred Here, artists throughout the years have used art as a medium to promote peace. The Commonwealth Club joins AfroSolo Arts Festival 18 in hosting a lively panel discussion about using art to envision, promote, and celebrate peace, examining the role the arts have played in peacemaking movements of the past and present. Award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger, pianist, and music educator Jacqueline Hairston moderates this panel, featuring Brenda Wong Aoki, acclaimed storyteller, performance artist, writer, and founder of First Voice, Robert Moses, choreographer and founding Artistic Director of Robert Moses' Kin, and Wesley J. Watkins, IV, Ph.D., Founder, The Jazz & Democracy Project.
A Concert for Peace
Outdoor Jazz Concert in Yerba Buena Gardens
Saturday, August 6, 1-3 pm
Yerba Buena Gardens (Mission Street between 3rd and 4th St.)
Free and open to the public
In collaboration with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, AfroSolo presents its 10th free concert in the Gardens. This year's offering features Jerome Clay and the Jerome Clay Ensemble with special guest, vocalist Gaylyn Arnold, and Bay Area musical prodigy Ranzel Merritt Jr. of The Ranzel Merritt Quartet.
A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Jerome Clay has performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond as a jazz pianist, vocalist, producer, arranger, and songwriter; he has four CDs of original material to his credit. In addition to performing with a wide range of artists, Clay is an accomplished gospel organist and can be seen playing weekly at New Liberation Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Clay will be accompanied by Carlton Carey on drums, Ralph Nelson on guitar, Phil Oregano on bass, and Nick Rous on saxophone.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Gaylyn Arnold's musical journey has been influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, and Carmen McRae. She has graced venues from San Francisco to Boston with her unique sound, style, and stage presence, channeling the great ladies of jazz.
18-year-old saxophonist Ranzel Merritt Jr. is a recent graduate of Oakland's School of the Arts.
Merritt first performed for AfroSolo when he was just 15 years old, where he exhibited the musicality, poise and maturity of a seasoned professional; he returns to AfroSolo to give his final concert before leaving the Bay Area to study music in Boston. A former member of the SF JAZZ High School All-Stars, Merritt attended the Terri Lyne Carrington Jazz Workshop at Berklee College of Music and was a member of the Oaktown Jazz Workshops. Although young in age, he has garnered a reputation for his tonal quality and has performed with such artists as Kenny Garrett, Roy Hargrove, Bennie Maupin, Frank Foster, Ndugu Chancler, Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, D'Wayne Wiggins, and Raphael Saadiq. Merritt will be accompanied by Omree Gal-Oz on piano, Chris Jefferies on standing bass, and Malachi Whitson on drums.
Performances for Peace
In Collaboration with the San Francisco Theater Festival
Sunday, August
7
Fort Mason Center (Marina Blvd and Buchanan Street)
Free and open to the public
AfroSolo joins the San Francisco Theater Festival in presenting two exciting artists whose performances emphasize the bonds that we all share, highlighting compassion, understanding, joy, and peace.
Traci Bartlow
Rich Fertile Soil
Sunday, August 7, 2:10-2:40pm
Southside Theater, Fort Mason Center
Exploring an African American woman's bond to family, farming, and the entrepreneurial spirit, dancer/choreographer Traci Bartlow skillfully retraces her family's history in Rich Fertile Soil. This multimedia journey uses storytelling, photography, and dance to chart one family's beginnings in rural Texas, their migration to central California, and finally to the urban streets of Oakland, CA, revealing the powerful ancestral connections that shape our daily lives.
Joel A. Brown
Simplexity
Sunday, August 7, 4:15-4:45pm
Firehouse Theater, Fort Mason Center
Atypical testimony. Evocative storytelling. Smoldering vocals. Simplexity is an experiential blend of soulful, sensual, and spiritual poetry. Joel Brown is a new-age spoken word poet. His poetry is a unique style that speaks to life and its varied nuances. He has been published in various urban magazines and literary publications; his discography of poetry includes "Lucid Intervals" (2005) and "Simplexity" (2009). His debut book, Wordsmith in a Lighted Room, was published in 2009.
The San Francisco Theater Festival (SFTF) produces an annual event to promote the region's many live-stage theaters to a broad and diverse audience, from small children to adults, in order to increase appreciation for, and build attendance to, the Bay Area's culturally and artistically-varied theater groups.
Visual Arts Exhibit
Blue People by a Green Painter
Featuring the Works of Nanette Harris
Curated by Nena St. Louis
Monday, August 15 - October 20
San Francisco Main Public Library (100 Larkin Street at Grove)
Free and open to the public
Blue People by a Green Painter features the work of painter Nannette Harris. AfroSolo is proud to join San Francisco's Main Library in exhibiting the work of this outstanding artist. Harris' work explores humanity by painting the skin of people of different races, countries, and cultures blue; paintings in this exhibit include likenesses of Billy Holiday, Willie Nelson, President Barack Obama, Jesus Christ, and many others. Harris uses blue because the color of blood, when inside a person, is blue; she views the color as a symbol of the connectedness that bonds all people. As a "green painter," Harris uses recycled paint, which adds a three-dimensional quality to her paintings, and reclaimed paint brushes, to render extraordinary textures.
Show curator Nena St. Louis has curated shows at a number of venues in San Francisco, including Eleventh Street Gallery, where she was Events Coordinator and Director from 1985 through 1987. She is a performance artist, sculptor, and founder of Jump! Theatre.
Waiting for Giovanni
A New Play by Jewelle Gomez
In Collaboration with and Directed by Harry Waters Jr.
In Association with New Conservatory Theatre Center
World Premiere
August 19-September 18
Previews: August 19-21, 24-26; Opens: August 27
(Performances Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm)
Tickets ($24-40) available at the New Conservatory Box Office, at 415-861-8972 or nctcsf.org
The year is 1956. A young black writer from the stoops of Harlem has become a literary success. He has a social circle that praises him, a profession that he loves, and an eager line of lovers. While writing his second novel however, he encounters hostility not only from his editor, who happens to be white, but from his community of activists and writers. Based on a split second of indecision in the life of author James Baldwin, Waiting for Giovanni explores a writer's dilemma about publishing a controversial book that will have a profound impact on his life, the lives of his friends, his family, and on the Civil Rights Movement. Waiting for Giovanni looks at what it really means to be an artist and activist, and how we live that out in our everyday lives.
Jewelle Gomez is a writer and activist. She is the recipient of a literature fellowship from the National endowment for the Arts, two California Art Commission Fellowships, and an Individual Artist Commission from the San Francisco Arts Commission. She is the author of the double Lambda Award-winning novel The Gilda Stories, which celebrates its 20th year in print in 2011 with readings at the Museum of the African Diaspora and at the Queer Arts Festival. Her fiction, essays, criticism, and poetry have appeared in numerous periodicals, including The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Ms. Magazine, ESSENCE Magazine, The Advocate, Callaloo, and Black Scholar. In addition, she was on the founding Board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
Actor, director, and educator Harry Waters, Jr. originated the role of Belize in the San Francisco production of Angels in America and has since been featured in numerous films and television shows. Waters has worked as an actor on and off Broadway as well as in regional theaters around the country including the Mark Taper Forum and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The mission of the New Conservatory Theatre Center is to champion innovative, high quality productions and educational theatre experiences for youth, artists, and the queer and allied communities to effect personal and societal growth, enlightenment and change.
UNITED IN HEALTH
Artists, Healthcare Workers, and Community
Saturday, August 13, 11am - 1pm
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center (1050 McAllister Street at Webster, SF)
Free and open to the public
In collaboration with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, MoMagic, the African American Health Disparity Project, St. Mary's Hospital, California Pacific Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente, AfroSolo hosts this annual community health fair. This event is free and open to the public and includes community forums, health care screenings and demonstrations, information tables, and access to healthcare professionals, in addition to food, games, and prizes.
The Carnegie Hall Concert
Featuring The New Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble
Sunday, September 25, 4pm
African American Art and Culture Complex (762 Fulton Street)
Tickets ($50* and $100**) available at 415-771-AFRO (2376) or afrosolo.org
Veteran AfroSolo artist and award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger Jacqueline Hairston has been invited to participate as a guest conductor in a February 2012 performance at New York's Carnegie Hall. Hairston will conduct a combined chorus comprised of singers from around the United States in a performance of her trademark spiritual arrangements. In preparation for the event, she will preview her Carnegie Hall concert with a 50-member chorus as part of AfroSolo 18; the concert will also be a fundraiser to help fund the Ensemble's trip to New York.
Award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger, pianist, and music educator Jacqueline Hairston was trained at the Julliard School of Music, Howard University School of Music, and Columbia University. Her works have been performed and recorded by internationally acclaimed singers including Kathleen Battle, Grace Bumbry, and the late William Warfield. Her numerous awards for musical contributions include the Los Angeles Living Legends African Diaspora of Sacred Music Award, Oakland's "Light in our City" award, and a Jefferson Award for Preserving Negro Spirituals, among many others.
*includes pre-show wine and cheese reception
**includes pre-show wine and cheese reception, a special pre-show performance and signed CD from Jacqueline Hairston
Founded in 1993 by Jefferson Award-winner Thomas Robert Simpson, AfroSolo Theatre Company presents the experiences of African Americans and those from the African Diaspora through solo performances and the visual and literary arts. Through these mediums, people of all ethnicities are brought together to explore and share the human spirit that binds us all. AfroSolo has presented celebrity guests, including award-winning Broadway actor Ruby Dee; political humorist and activist Dick Gregory; the late blues and jazz legend Charles Brown; the late poet June Jordan; legendary songstress Mavis Staples; and gospel artist Emmit Powell. The AfroSolo Festival has presented the works of over 115 emerging solo artists.
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
WHAT:
San Francisco's award-winning AfroSolo Theatre Company presents its 18th annual AfroSolo Arts Festival, celebrating African American artists giving voice to the Black experience. This year's theme, UNITED IN PEACE II: Artists, Clergy, Legislators, and Community, promotes the power of peace through live performances, the visual arts, and other events to envision and celebrate peace. The festival not only pays homage to and explores the rich legacy of African Americans and people of African decent, but also furthers the focus of last year's festival, centering on a coming together of all people for the common purpose of peace. Festival events feature a panel discussion, live music, visual art, and works for the stage at venues around San Francisco, including Yerba Buena Gardens, the Main San Francisco Public Library, Commonwealth Club of California, Fort Mason Center, African American Art and Culture Complex, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. Most events are free and open to the public.
The line up for AfroSolo 18 is as follows:
The Arts: A Medium for Peace II
A Panel discussion in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California
Thursday, July 28
Reception: 5:30pm; Panel discussion: 6-7pm
Commonwealth Club of California (595 Market Street)
Tickets ($12 members; $20 non-members) available at 415-771-AFRO (2376) or afrosolo.org
Artists throughout the years have used art as a medium to promote peace. The Commonwealth Club joins AfroSolo Arts Festival 18 in hosting a lively panel discussion about using art to envision, promote, and celebrate peace. Award-winning ASCAP composer, pianist, and music educator Jacqueline Hairston moderates this panel, featuring Brenda Wong Aoki, acclaimed storyteller, performance artist, writer, and founder of First Voice, Robert Moses, choreographer and founding Artistic Director of Robert Moses' Kin, and Wesley J. Watkins, IV, Ph.D., Founder, The Jazz & Democracy Project
A Concert for Peace
Outdoor Jazz Concert in Yerba Buena Gardens
Saturday, August 6, 1-3 pm
Yerba Buena Gardens (Mission Street between 3rd and 4th St.)
Free and open to the public
In collaboration with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, AfroSolo presents its 10th free concert in the Gardens. This year's offering features Jerome Clay and the Jerome Clay Ensemble with special guest, vocalist Gaylyn Arnold, and Bay Area musical prodigy Ranzel Merritt Jr. of The Ranzel Merritt Quartet.
Performances for Peace
In Collaboration with the San Francisco Theater Festival
Sunday,
August 7
Fort Mason Center (Marina Blvd and Buchanan Street)
Free and open to the public
Traci Bartlow
Rich Fertile Soil
Sunday, August 7, 2:10-2:40pm
Southside Theater, Fort Mason Center
Joel A. Brown
Simplexity
Sunday, August 7, 4:15-4:45pm
Firehouse Theater, Fort Mason Center
Visual Arts Exhibit
Blue People by a Green Painter
Featuring the Works of Nanette Harris
Curated by Nena St. Louis
Monday, August 15-October 20
San Francisco Main Public Library (100 Larkin Street at Grove)
Free and open to the public
Blue People by a Green Painter features the work of painter Nannette Harris. Harris' work explores humanity by painting the skin of people of different races, countries and cultures blue. As a "green painter," Harris uses recycled paint and reclaimed paint brushes to render extraordinary textures.
Waiting for Giovanni
A New Play by Jewelle Gomez
In Collaboration with and Directed by Harry Waters Jr.
In Association with New Conservatory Theatre Center
World Premiere
August 19-September 18
Previews: August 19-21, 24-26; Opens: August 27
(Performances Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm)
Tickets ($24-40) available at the New Conservatory Box Office, at 415-861-8972, or nctcsf.org
Based on a split second of indecision in the life of author James Baldwin, Waiting for Giovanni explores a writer's dilemma about publishing a controversial book that will have a profound impact on his life, the lives of his friends, his family, and on the Civil Rights Movement. Waiting for Giovanni looks at what it really means to be an artist and activist, and how we live that out in our everyday lives.
The Carnegie Hall Concert
Featuring The New Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble
Sunday, September 25, 2011, 4pm
African American Art and Culture Complex (762 Fulton Street)
Tickets ($50, $100) available at 415-771-AFRO (2376) or afrosolo.org
Veteran AfroSolo artist and award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger Jacqueline Hairston has been invited to participate as a guest conductor in a February 2012 performance at New York's Carnegie Hall. In preparation for the event, Hairston will preview her Carnegie Hall concert with a 50-member chorus as part of AfroSolo 18; the concert will also be a fundraiser to help fund the Ensemble's trip to New York.
UNITED IN HEALTH
Artists, Healthcare Workers, and Community
Saturday, August 13, 11am - 1pm
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center (1050 McAllister Street at Webster)
Free and open to the public
In collaboration with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, MoMagic, the African American Health Disparity Project, St. Mary's Hospital, California Pacific Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente, AfroSolo hosts this annual community health fair. This event is free and open to the public and includes community forums, health care screenings and demonstrations, information tables, and access to healthcare professionals, in addition to food, games, and prizes.
TICKETS:
Most events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. For tickets and more information, the public may visit afrosolo.org or call 415-771-AFRO (2376).
For tickets and more information about Waiting for Giovanni, the public may contact New Conservatory Theatre Center at nctcsf.org or call 415-861-8972.
PHOTOS:
High-resolution art for AfroSolo 18 is available upon request by contacting brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
Funding for the AfroSolo Theatre Company is made possible in part through the support of the African American Health Disparity Project, California Arts Council, Friends of AfroSolo, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, LEF Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Presenting Partners: African American Art & Culture Complex, The Commonwealth Club, Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, The New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco Main Public Library, and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.
Presenting
Partners: African American Art & Culture Complex, The Commonwealth Club of
California, Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, The New Conservatory Theatre
Center, San Francisco Main Public Library, San Francisco Theater Festival, and
Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.
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