Liberated Muse Brings Another Celebration of Freedom

This Friday, September 11 @ 7pm, Liberated Muse Productions brings another Celebration of Freedom to the Potter's House in Adams Morgan in Washington DC. The live music extravaganza will feature artists Colie Williams, Ozara Ode, Craig Von, Quineice Clarkson and Gary Young and spoken word artistry from Jade Andwele and Margaux Delotte-Bennett of the Saartjie Project. Andwele and Delotte-Bennett are featured writers in the book Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul, the first volume in the Liberated Muse anthology series.

This performance event is part of the book tour for Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed my Soul. Tour stops have included this past summer's Artomatic, the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest and a previous appearance at the Potter's House during the Friday Sound of Hope benefit concert series produced by Mary Shapiro in June. Proceeds from the June showcase went to students from DC's east of the river area who were beginning college this Fall as part of the DC College Success Foundation program. Proceeds helped the students pay for entrance fees, including housing deposits.

This Friday, Sept. 11, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Saartjie Project's outreach work with young people. The Saartjie Project is an artist collaborative that performs work inspired by the life of Saartjie Baartman, the woman known as the Hottentot Venus.

The Saartjie Project on FOX 5

This morning, the Saartjie Project was featured on FOX 5 with Holly Morris. The Saartjie Project just finished three shows as part of the Capital Fringe Fest. Seven members of the Saartjie Project are members of the Liberated Muse network-- Farah Lawal, Binahkaye Joy, Nia McClean, Clarissa McKithen, Jade Andwele, Jessica Solomon, and Khadijah Ali-Coleman, co-founder of Liberated Muse Productions. Check out the vid above to catch the segment.

The Capital Fringe Fest & Hip Hop Theater Festival Begin this Week!

"We are here to show you that DC is more than a municipality filled with institutions that import artists to exhibit or bring down last year’s broadway hit. We are here to show you that we are a city filled with innovators."

The quote above can be found on the Capital Fringe Fest's welcome page as you are greeted with the notion that this year's fest is going to innovative, filled with talent from the nation's capital, and, always, filled with productions that are by no means mainstream. Hence, the term "fringe". The Capital Fringe Festival is about performance art that is eclectic, artistic and accessible. You can find out more by visitin the website http://www.capfringe.org/.

Some of the acts in this year's Fringe Fest we hope you check out are below:

Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty

Of course Liberated Muse is biased towards the Saartjie Project. Five of the members of the Saartjie Project are members of the Liberated Muse online network @ http://www.liberatedmuse.com/, including Liberated Muse co-founder, Khadijah Ali-Coleman. But aside from the bias, the Washington Post has also identified the Saartjie Project's "Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty" as a must-see show out of the 100+ performances showcased in this year's festival. Click HERE to get details about the Saartjie Project show. Click HERE to read the Washington Post article.

Headscarf & the Angry Bitch

Zed Headscarf performs a tongue-in-cheek romp through faith and growing up Muslim in America. Featuring hits like 'The Only Thing I'll Do Five Times a Day is You' and 'I Lost My Virginity During Ramadan.' With the US' growing international wars with people in other nations who are often of the Islam faith, this performance is guaranteed to be a boundary-stretching adventure as we confront our ethnocentric views and prejudices often perpetuated through the media. Get ticket info HERE.

So Do You Love Me Yet?

Liberated Muse member, Farah Lawal, who is also featured in our book Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul examines relationships and love in her one-woman show "So Do You Love Me Yet?" This 70-minute show weaves storytelling and spoken word into an enthralling show by Lawal who has appeared in a multitude of stage shows, most recently the play "Native Son". "Farah Lawal brings unexpected tenderness and devotion to Bigger's lover, Clara," said one Washington Post review of her performance in Native Son. Read the review HERE.

Watch Farah in the video below and visit HERE to purchase tickets to her show:

Hip-Hop Theater Festival

Founded in 2000, The Hip-Hop Theater Festival continues to invigorate the fields of theater and Hip-Hop by: nurturing the creation of innovative work within the Hip-Hop aesthetic; presenting and touring American and international artists whose work addresses the issues relevant to the Hip-Hop generation; and serving young, urban communities through outreach and education that celebrates contemporary language and culture.

In each of its Festival cities, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco, The Hip-Hop Theater Festival presents live events created by artists who stretch, invent and combine a variety of theatrical forms, including theater, dance, spoken word and live music sampling. Through open submissions and aggressive curating both nationally and internationally, the Hip-Hop Theater Festival is fully dedicated to finding, developing and introducing to the public new artistic creations from a diversity of cultures and points of view.

The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and Hip-Hop Theater Festival is proud to present all events free of charge this year as the festival hits Washington DC. Online reservations are required, however, for many of the events are already filled to capacity already. Last night's Howard Zinn show at the Kennedy Center was filled to capacity in a very short time, leaving many guests who arrived later to search for something else to do for the night because they couldn't get in.

Here are some FAMILY-FRIENDLY choices we want to check-out this week:

THURSDAY, JULY 9
7 PM :: Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation MythWritten and Directed by Psalmayene 24Originally Commissioned by Imagination StagePremiere performance January 24, 2009

Zomo the Rabbit in search of wisdom

Set in our Nation's Capital, Zomo is a contemporary, high-energy take on an African tale. Zomo the Rabbit calls the Sky God (on his cell phone) requesting the ultimate prize of wisdom. The Sky God gives him three tasks and Zomo succeeds in trickster fashion, but it's only by sharing the prize that he invents Hip-Hop, leading all the characters to celebrate their culture together. Enjoyed by Ages 4+. THEARC Theater :: 1901 Mississippi Avenue, SENOTE: For Thursday, July 9 performance, HHTF Shuttle Van running from Southern Avenue, Green Line Stop from 6 PM – 7 PM

SATURDAY, JULY 11
12 PM :: Step Into a World
Open House :: ALL AGES WELCOME

Each year this event welcomes families, community leaders, local artists, and young people out east of the river to enjoy some of the art and music created by the students of the DC Urban Arts Academy. This year, Words Beats & Life is inviting several local organizations, community groups, and programs to come showcase their programs. Throughout the day there will be interactive workshops in arts & crafts, Hip-Hop history, chess, a b-boy/b-girl exhibition, an interactive student art exhibition and performances, all for ages 6 and up. For more information email Ayana Patrick or call 202-667-1192. Benning Park Recreation Center :: 5100 53rd Street, SE (@ Fitch Street

Visit the Website HERE

Check Out Some of Liberated Muse's Hottest Stars This Weekend

I met Dee Stone last year when she participated in last year's Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest. She is a warm and quirky lady and has vocals that are to die for. She and the following women will be performing this Saturday, May 2 @ the Capital Hill Arts Workshop in Washington DC for a benefit celebrating the HOMECOMING of Saartjie Baartman, the black woman known as the Hottentot Venus.

Visit http://www.thesaartjieproject.org/ for details on the event. It's a pay as you can pay scale which is great for those trying to scale back in the face of this trying economy.

MAHOGANEE


Mahoganee is a talented singer who is head of the Diva Militia and works actively in the community to mentor young girls. She writes original pieces which address various issues in our community. One of her most memorable songs is an ode to the survivors of Katrina.

Chaquis Maliq

Chaquis Maliq performed in the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest in 2008 and I can't wait to see her on stage again. Her beautiful voice is reminiscent of Chaka Kahn meets Stephanie Mills.

Jade Foster

Jade Foster is the poet featured in the above Jesse Boykins song. Founder of the Black Church Maraca, Jade is a prominent area poet who has been published in several books and performs regularly throughout DC and beyond.

Binahkaye Joy & Friends @ the Potter's House this Month

Dancer, writer, actress and humanitarian Binahkaye Joy is a spirit who you get a chance to meet every once in a while. Her persona is as endearing as her name and stage characters she presents whether she is dancing, acting, performing spoken word or facilitating workshops. A member of our Liberated Muse network, Binahkaye blogs about her work as an OSA dancer and her work with different populations as she uses dancing as a healing agent. According to Binahkaye, OSA "Open Space Activation" Dance is a transformative, organic-art experience that evolves as movement in public spaces. "Activation" is a dance process that transforms idle, static spaces into active, creative laboratories and initiates awakenings inside everyone in the space. Visit her wonderful blog HERE.

Binahkaye will be performing this month at the Potter's House in Washington DC doing a performance she titles "Joyism". The performance is hosted by Sounds of Music and will be a fusion of dance, words, sounds, and fun, inviting everyone to participate in the dance that, she says, "belongs to all of us". She will be accompanied by the cosmic melodies of Manatho "Moonhead" Masani on mbira, (the thumb piano). Sounds of Hope is a benefit concert series that happens EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT from 7pm to 10:30pm at The Potter’s House, 1658 Columbia Road NW in Washington DC.

Binahkaye is a member of the artist collective The Saartjie Project who she has invited to do excerpts from the show during her performance set. Doors open @ 7:30pm and the suggested donation is $15 All tickets sold at the door! The Facebook invite is HERE.

Host: Sounds of Hope @ The Potter's House
Date: Friday, March 20, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: The Potter's House
Street: 1658 Columbia Rd NW
City/Town: Washington, DC

The Potter's House is a restaurant, a bookstore, a gift shop, a concert venue, a theatre, and an art gallery. The Potter's House is maintained by the Potter's House church of Washington DC. For more information, call (202) 232-5483

Still Time to Register for the Re:Verse Literary Conference & Festival

You can still take part of this very relevant conference & festival. Liberated Muse co-founder Khadijah Ali-Coleman is one of the presenters. Kudos to author Felicia Pride and the Literary Freedom Project for hosting and creating this forum.

Visit http://reversefestival.com/08.htm
for more info.

Here are the conference workshops:

Conference Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Location: Hostos Community College
450 Grand Concourse at 149th St., Bronx, NY

The Re:Verse Literary Conference revitalizes the importance of books in the lives of young people.The conference presents creative ways for keeping literature and books valuable sources of knowledge and creativity.

This series of professional-development workshops will help educators incorporate literature into existing curricula to further explore course work that focuses on cultures, history, and social studies.The mission is to bring a love of literature back into the classroom in new, unique, and exciting ways.
Regular registration: $15, October 1 through October 25All conference attendees will receive a complimentary one-year subscription to Mosaic Literary Magazine ($24 value) and lunch.http://reverse.eventbrite.com

Session I: 12:00n-1:15pm
Conscious Women Rock the Page: Using Hip Hop Fiction to Incite Social Change
Conscious Women Rock the Page to support educators who wish to use hip-hop fiction in their classrooms to explore social issues and promote activism among their students.

Instructors: Jennifer Calderon, Elisha Miranda, Sofia Quintero, and Marcella Runell Hall

Puerto Rican and Dominican Poetry in the Classroom
This workshop will explore the work of poets from the rich cultural communities Puerto Rican and Dominican and ways to use their work in the classroom.

Instructor: Rich Villar

Session II: 1:30-2:45pm
Revisiting the Role of Literature & Culture in the Classroom through Art & the Written Word
Revisiting the Role of Literature will explore the fusion of culture, literature, and visual arts in new ways; global community building through literature; and the role played by literature, art and the new media in the creation of a heritage and cultural identity

Instructors: Gabrielle David and Nikita Hunter

The Bridge is Over: Connecting Young Adults with Engaging, Age-Appropriate Literature
The Bridge is Over will provide educators and youth providers with strategies to identify and work with engaging multicultural young adult literature.

Instructor: Felicia Pride/BackList

Lunch: 2:45-3:30pm

Session III: 3:45-5:00pm
Learning About Ourselves and Each Other: How Reading Diverse Text Promotes Tolerance and Boundary-Stretching
This workshop will engage participants in discussion and activity that identifies ways to engage urban youth in literary pursuits that include reading about and discussing literary texts by authors who are culturally different or write about characters who are different culturally in any way ranging from ethnicity and religion to nationality and gender.

Instructor: Khadijah Ali-Coleman

Poems as Speech Acts and Accommodating Forms
Workshop participants will read aloud and analyze three to four contemporary poems by different poets and discuss how our attitudes, beliefs, and our understanding of diction, tone, and context influence us to arrive at the poet's intended meaning.

Instructor: Charles H. Lynch

Liberated Muse Productions is a Proud Partner of The Saartjie Project

Liberated Muse Productions is proud to be a partner of the Saartjie Project which debuted their onstage performance in August 2008. After a successful two-day run in August and a recap during the Can a Sista Rock a Mic Festival in Washington DC in October, the Saartjie Project has plans to return in 2009 with new vignettes but the same intensity and passion showcased in the debut productions. Visit http://www.thesaartjieproject.org for details on this artist collective.