arthouseflowerBLACK ARTS MOVEMENT CONFERENCE SATURDAY PROGRAM
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Arrivals & Registration 8:30AM – 11:30AM
Opening Ceremony 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Panel Session 10:10AM – 11:30AM
Lunch 11:45AM – 12:45PM
Keynote Address 1:00PM – 1:45PM
Panel Sessions 1:00PM – 5:45PM
Dinner 6:00PM – 7:00PM
Theatre Night 7:30PM – 9:30PM
Panel Session 10:10AM – 11:30AM
Black Power and Black Arts Roundtable Recreation Center
Moderator: Dr. Nigel Hatton, University of California, Merced
Panelists:
Askia Touré Poet & Activist, Co-Founder of the Black Arts Movement
Marvin X Playwright & Activist, Co-Founder of west coast branch of Black Arts Movement
Eugene Redmond Founding Editor of Drumvoices Revue, Emeritus Professor of English & former Chairman of the Creative Writing Committee at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
Umar Bin Hassan Member of the civil rights era Last Poets
Avotcja Black Arts Movement Poet & Percussionist
Judy Juanita Novelist and playwright, former editor-in-chief of Black Panther Party Newspaper
Dr. James Smethurst Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, author of The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s (The University of North Carolina Press (March 2005)
Dr. Mike Sell Professor of English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, author of The Avant-Garde: Race Religion War and editor of Ed Bullins: Twelve Plays and Selected Writings.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS 1:00PM – 1:45PM
Marvin X
Black Arts, Black Power, Black Studies COB 105
Arts in the Valley, October 2013, 1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Kim McMillon, the host of Arts in the Valley, interviews Marina Drummer on Herman Wallace, and the Angola 3 and Herman Wallace.
To listen to the interview on Herman Wallace:
KPFA Evening News Anchor: A memorial service and funeral were held in New Orleans today (Oct. 12) for famed Angola 3 prisoner Herman Wallace. Wallace died of liver cancer last week, three days after his indictment was overturned and he was released in an ambulance from Louisiana’s Hunt Correctional Center.
His death also came one day after a Louisiana grand jury re-indicted him for the murder of a prison guard which he always maintained he did not commit, as have Robert King and Albert Woodfox, the other two members of the Angola 3. The three say they were framed and held in solitary confinement for founding a chapter of the Black Panther Party in the Angola State Prison.
KPFA’s Ann Garrison spoke to Marina Drummer, a longtime Northern California-based organizer for the Angola 3.
KPFA/Ann Garrison: Marina, could you briefly review the major flaws in the evidence against Herman Wallace, Robert King and Albert Woodfox.
Marina Drummer: Well, the major flaw is that there was no evidence. There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever. All there was was conflicting eyewitness reports and a prison administration that was determined to stop Herman and Albert from organizing in the prison.
KPFA: In the film “Herman’s House,” Herman describes the moment in 2008 when he and Albert Woodfox were inexplicably returned to the general prison population.
HERMAN’S HOUSE:
TV Newscaster: After 36 years in solitary confinement, two of the men known as the Angola 3 have been moved into a dormitory with other inmates at Angola. Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were convicted of killing a prison guard but they claim they didn’t do it. They have sued the state claiming cruel and unusual punishment, because they’ve been kept in solitary confinement since the early ‘70s.
Herman Wallace: It happened … ummmm … after 35 years, 11 months and 7 days in a cell, that we were taken from the cell and put on a bus, and we were bused on the concrete all the way out here to Camp B. And, you know, and then they removed all the restraints off of us … off of us … and we walked into the dormitory and I tell you, it was spectacular. I’ve been in dormitory before, but, it has been, you know, 36 years. And, it’s just going to take time for me to drop a great deal of my defense mechanisms, you know, and blend in with some of the social activities that’s going on around me. It’s good, and it’s preparing me for the street.
KPFA: Eight months later, Herman and Albert were returned to solitary confinement, this time to different prisons, far from one another. Was there ever any official explanation besides “General Prohibited Behavior”?
Marina Drummer: No. The thing about the prisons is even the sentence that they had didn’t say anything about solitary confinement. They were sentenced to life in prison and yet they spent that in solitary.
The kinds of decisions that are made about moving prisoners or where they’re kept are made entirely internally. These are not court ordered decisions. They’re made by the correctional department, and frequently at the whim of a warden or a guard.
And in Herman and Albert’s case, and King, when he was there, they were reviewed every few months as to why they were in solitary, and every time they were reviewed, it came back “reason is stated as cause of original sentence,” which … who knows what that means?
There was never ever any kind of explanation for what was going on, neither when they were put in solitary, when they were taken out of solitary, nor when they were moved back into solitary, although I’m sure that the move to separate prisons was something the warden at Angola certainly wished he had thought of 20 or 30 years earlier because it took all of the heat off of him.
KPFA: Do you think the unprecedented media attention that Herman won in the last few months of his life, and now in death, has a good chance of leading to the freedom of Albert Woodfox?
Marina Drummer: We certainly hope so and we’re certainly going to do everything we can to push for that and utilize the critical mass that’s developed. And yet, I cannot stress enough that the state could care less what the U.N. says, what the Congress says, what Amnesty says, what anybody says. They’re determined to fight this to the end, as was shown by the fact that even on his dying day, or two days before he died, they went to the trouble of calling a special grand jury to re-indict him.
KPFA: PBS has made the film “Herman’s House” available online for free until Nov. 2 in honor of Herman Wallace. Other films that tell more of the history of Angola Prison and the Angola 3 include “In the Land of the Free,” “Angola 3: Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation” and “Hard Time,” all of which are available online.
Arts in the Valley, September 2013, 1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Arts in the Valley host Kim McMillon interview UC Merced Doctoral Candidate Michael Eissenger on the upcoming Merced Multicultural Center exhibit “Central Valley Threads.”
CENTRAL VALLEY THREADS,
“LIFE & ART IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY”
A GROUP EXHIBIT BY SCHOLARS FROM
UC MERCED AND UC DAVIS
SEPTEMBER 21ST – OCTOBER 4TH 2013
ARTISTS RECEPTION – SEPTEMBER 21ST 2013 | 6:30-9PM
To listen to the interview with Michael Eissenger, click onto the link:
Featuring scholars from UC Merced and UC Davis, Central Valley Threads acknowledges both the unique and too often under represented study of arts in working class studies and the similarly underrepresented study of arts in the Central Valley by turning to a variety of working class cultures within the fields of fashion, food, music, and literature.
Featuring work by: Jan Goggins, Ray Winter, Susan Kaiser, Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew, and Melissa Chandon.
Sponsored by: UC Humanities Research Institute and UCM Center for the Humanities
http://www.artsmerced.org
Arts in the Valley, September 2013, 1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Arts in the Valley host Kim McMillon interview poet Blas Falconer on his book Foundling Wheel which centers on the adoption of a gay couple’s first child, The Foundling Wheel employs apt imagery to create an emotional mosaic that explores the complicated bond between father and son.
To listen to author, Blas Falconer, please click onto the link:
Blas Falconer is the author of The Foundling Wheel (Four Way Books, 2012); A Question of Gravity and Light (University of Arizona Press, 2007); and The Perfect Hour (Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press, 2006). He is also a co-editor for The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity (University of Arizona Press, 2011) and Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010).
He teaches at University of Southern California and in the low-residency MFA program at Murray State University.
Falconer’s awards include a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, a Tennessee Individual Artist Grant, the New Delta Review Eyster Prize for Poetry, and the Barthelme Fellowship.
Born and raised in Virginia, Falconer earned an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland (1997) and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston (2002). He currently lives in Los Angeles, California with his family.
http://www.blasfalconer.com
Arts in the Valley, September 2014, 1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Arts in the Valley host Kim McMillon interviews Mrs. P performed by actor Kathy Kinney. Enjoy this full hour of wonderful storytelling. If you would like to learn more about Mrs. P, and her latest venture, the “Be a Famous Writer” National Writing Contest for Kids, visit her website MrsP.com.
To listen stories by Mrs. P, click onto the link:
MrsP.com was created with the goal of giving kids the wonderful experience of having a trusted, skilled storyteller read them classics of literature. Rather than simply presenting an audiobook, Mrs. P recreates the look and feel of “story time,” a magical ritual many kids might not otherwise get to enjoy.
Mrs. P reads classic children’s stories that have proven their value through the test of time. The authors whose work is presented on MrsP.com are the finest writers who ever lived. To complement the storytelling experience, Mrs. P commissions both new and established artists to create original artwork for each story. The heart and soul of our content on MrsP.com will always be a gifted storyteller reading great stories enhanced with a few simple illustrations. Mrs. P prefers not to compete with big-budget Hollywood movies, elaborate video games and virtual worlds; she would like to help kids learn to use their imaginations. That is why she created the Be-a-Famous Writer Contest, which is now celebrating it’s 5th year!
Kathy Kinney, co-president and; co-creator of Mrs. P, was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and achieved international fame playing Mimi Bobeck on “The Drew Carey Show” for nine years. (Kathy is the only member of the Mrs. P team who has had a doll manufactured in her image.) Before and after playing Mimi, Kathy has guest starred on television shows too numerous to mention. She has also appeared in many films including “This Boy’s Life” and “Stanley and Iris”. She is also co-author, along with her friend Cindy Ratzlaff, of the book, “Queen of Your Own Life – The Grownup Woman’s Guide To Claiming Happiness And Getting The Life You Deserve.”
Arts in the Valley, Saturday and Sunday, August 24 and 25, 2013, 1480 KYOS AM
To listen to Genny Lim’s interview, click onto the link:
Genny Lim’s live and recorded poetry/music collaborations have included jazz greats, Max Roach, Herbie Lewis, Francis Wong and Jon Jang. She’s performed at jazz festivals from San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego to Houston and Chicago and has been a featured poet at World Poetry Festivals in Venezuela, 2005, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, 2007 and Naples, Italy, 2009. Her play “Paper Angels,” was performed at Settlement House in New York City in 2009 and her performance piece, “Where is Tibet?” premiered at CounterPULSE, S.F., Dec. 2009. She is adjunct faculty in the BAC program at CIIS and author of two poetry collections, “Child of War,” “Winter Place” co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island and two plays anthologized in Unbroken Thread (U of Mass) and Politics of Life (Temple). Genny has just completed her new collection of poems, Paper Gods.
information taken from http://www.ciis.edu/Genny_Lim.html
Arts in the Valley, Saturday and Sunday, August 17-18, 2013,1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Arts in the Valle host Kim McMillon interviews Belva Davis, the first black female TV journalist in the West. Belva Davis shares the story of her extraordinary life in her memoir, Never in My Wildest Dreams.
To Listen to interview with Journalist Belva Davis, click onto the link:
Never in My Wildest Dreams is a book about courage and achievement from pioneering journalist Belva Davis, who helped to change the face and focus of TV news. When Davis started her journalism career, the major media outlets were largely closed to African Americans and female reporters. In the earliest part of her career, she worked for black newspapers and black-programmed radio stations. In 1966, when, racial barriers began to fall, she became the first black woman hired as a television news reporter in the western United States.
Many of the explosive stories of the ‘60s ’70s and ’80s intersected with her private life. She spent months covering campus demonstrations, anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Black Panthers. She married William Moore, who became the first black television news photographer at a commercial station in California – at one point each of them had a station-issued gas masks to protect them during the protests. As she covered the kidnapping ordeal of heiress Patty Hearst, police informed her that white supremacists were threatening to abduct her own daughter. When she reported a series about alleged police misconduct, her son was mysteriously arrested. The family housekeeper turned out to be a likely spy on behalf of the Rev. Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple. And her daughter worked in San Francisco’s City Hall and was there the day Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated.
Never in My Wildest Dreams covers Davis’ years of reporting on the AIDS epidemic for which she won awards, but also the story of the tragic lost of her long time producer to the disease. There are stories of her travels to Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro twice, as well as to Kenya and Tanzania after the bombing of U.S. embassies in those countries. With honesty and openness, she talks about the difficulty of managing her family and professional career, while quietly fighting racism and sexism. Along the way she held fast to her dream–and changed the perception of who should and could be a good television news reporter.
Vicki Haddock , co-writer, worked closely with Belva Davis to organize nearly a half-century of a life filled with historic moments, a job she was well suited to handle. Haddock spent three decades in Bay Area journalism, working as a reporter, editor, and occasional columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner , and before that, as a political editor and writer at the Oakland Tribune.
Information from website, http://www.belvadavis.com
Arts in the Valley, 1480 KYOS AM, Merced, CA
Tune into Arts in the Valley when host Kim McMillon interviews Alí Allié, Ruben Reyes, the producers and director of GARIFUNA IN PERIL, and Beulah Stanley, the film’s promoter. Garifuna in Peril premiers in San Francisco on August 22, 2013.
To Listen to the interview, click onto this link:
Thursday, August 22, 7:30pm
SAN FRANCISCO
AMC Van Ness 14
1000 Van Ness Ave
San Francisco, CA 94109
http://www.tugg.com/events/4864
ADVANCE TICKETS ONLY $12
Tickets will not be sold at the door.
Arrive early; film will start promptly at 7:30pm.
Written, Produced and Directed by
Alí Allié and Ruben Reyes
Year of Production: 2012
Countries of Production: USA/Honduras
Running Time: 99 minutes
Languages: 55% Garífuna, 30% English, 15% Spanish
Subtitled in: English (Spanish subtitled version available)
Additional Writing: William Flores
Associate Producers: Dudley Augustine, Ben Flores, Jorge Garifuna
Actors: Ruben Reyes, Julian Castillo, Gloria Garnett, Jessica Alvarez, E.J. Mejia, Jr., Luis Martinez, Aubrey Wakeling, Arleny Escobar
Cinematographer: Alí Allié
Editors: Alí Allié, Ruben Reyes, Milton Guity, Katherine Cumpa, Marya Murphy
Music: Emilio Nuñez & Labaña Maraza, Aziatic, Punta Cartel, Ala Suazo, Rene Crisanto y La Runi Hati, Bodoma, Isabel Flores, Garifuna Records, Bootsy Rankin, Julito Timbalito, Bill Cayetano, Georgette Lambey, Glen Garcia, Nuru, Luisito Martinez, Yanyman, Ruben Reyes
artsinthevalley 