Liberated Muse Productions Partners with Y&P for Obama for the 2009 Inaugaration Festivities

Liberated Muse Productions partnered with Young & Powerful for Obama during the 2008 election campaign that won Obama the presidential election. During the week of inaugural activities, Young & Powerful will be presenting a series of activities that you can purchase tickets from through your Liberated Muse network. Tickets will sell-out pretty fast, so please get yours TODAY!

Check out some of the activities:

VISION
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Young & Powerful Launch and Networking Social

HOPE
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Young & Powerful Presidential Brunch

CHANGE
Monday, January 19, 2009
Young & Powerful Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast &

Young & Powerful Roundtable Political Forum &

Young & Powerful Black Tie Gala & Awards Ceremony

REDEMPTION
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Young & Powerful Inaugural Semi-Formal Affair

You will be able to purchase tickets for these events on the main page of our Liberated Muse social network. Click HERE to access that page and get prices.

Liberated Muse Helps You Rent Your Home for the Inaugual Festivities

Maceo Thomas, co-founder of Liberated Muse Productions, is a licensed real estate agent with Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. He has been commissioned by various homeowners to find renters for inaugaration week. Please contact us at LiberatedMuseProductions@gmail.com so Maceo can you help you find comfortable housing during the inaugural festivities or help you safely rent your home for the 2009 inaugural festivities.

Toni Morrison Tonight in Washington DC

"Those millions of readers familiar with Toni Morrison’s work, in particular her novel Beloved, won’t be surprised at the numerous instances of brutality and deprivation in her new book, A Mercy, the Nobel Prize winner’s ninth novel and her first since Beloved to depict American slavery—albeit in a very early, seventeenth-century form. What may well throw them for a loop is the redemptive tone: a pristine landscape, a compassionate white Northern farmer, and a notable absence of racial animosity—felt even more keenly in an election year with a full deck of race cards. In A Mercy, Jacob Vaark’s collection of laborer-charges (a Native American, a black child, an orphan, and two indentured servants) are united by and against a spreading culture of servitude that has little to do with skin color." New York Times

Morrison will be in Washington DC tonight to discuss this new book and all of the themes addressed.

“I really wanted to get to a place before slavery was equated with race,” Morrison told New York Times reporter Boris Kachka. “Whether they were black or white was less important than what they owned and what their power was.”

Today's Event:

Title: Toni Morrison: A Mercy

Date: Thursday December 4, 2008

Time: 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: Politics & ProseStreet: 5015 Connecticut Ave Nw

City State Zip: Washington, District of Columbia 20008

See http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1319401/ for all the details!

Thanks to poet Dehija Maat for the heads-up!

Filmmaker Patrick O'Brien Documents His Life with Terminal Illness

It's October. On the occasion of his 34th birthday, Maryland resident Patrick O'Brien is not only happy to be alive, he is beaming over the near completion of his first major film.

Only a few years ago, Patrick, then known as the wildly outrageous "Transfatty" to the New York City creative underground, could not have imagined a more perfect or compelling story line. Always fascinated with the disabled (his short film "Deep in the Heart of Nexus" chronicles a young disabled woman getting dressed), he had long searched for a story like his own. At age 34, he never thought he would be on the opposite side of the camera, much less that he would be enjoying it.

Patrick began to chronicle his terminal illness in the fall of 2006, just months after receiving his ALS diagnosis. Leaving the high paying world of commercial directing wasn't easy, but necessary to focus on his life's work: a feature length documentary about the disease. ALS, commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease", aggressively kills motor neuron cells in the body causing paralysis and eventual death, with the average lifespan being three to five years. Knowing time was in short supply, Patrick gathered his friends and other creatives to start documenting the disease as it unleashed itself upon Patrick's body, the film's moving canvas.

Currently in post production, the film will highlight all aspects of the disease with humor and grim honesty, something Patrick is well known for as a director. Controversies aside, Patrick hopes the film will get the attention of the media to spread the word about a disease which has little research funding. From protesting naked outside the White House in his wheelchair to having a true "love child", every step of his journey has been filmed, much of it captured on breathtaking 35mm film.

True to form, Patrick titled the upcoming film "Everything Will Be Okay…or How I Learned to Transcend Form, Live in the Now, and Make Love in My Electric Wheelchair." His ever loyal fans are looking forward to the new film, which will not fall far from the Transfatty tree. The man who gave them "Three breasted paraplegic DJ" and "Supermodel Meat Sports" would give them nothing less.

The moving trailer may be viewed at http://www.patrickobrienfoundation.org/0/EWBOK_trailer.mov.

"Everything Will Be Okay" is a fiscally sponsored program through the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

About Patrick O'Brien:
Patrick O'Brien is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts film program in New York City. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland with his family while he completes his documentary.

Double Vision: Twin Artists Hold Exhibit Reception in Maryland this Weekend

(In photo: Emancipation of Rachel by Sherry Burton-Ways)

Twin sisters, Sharon J. Burton and Sherry Burton-Ways, will hold an art exhibit of collages and mixed media, entitled “Double Visions,” from November 18, 2008, through January 3, 2009, at the Space 7:10 of Kefa Cafe,in Silver Spring, MD.

Sharon and Sherry are members of the Liberated Muse social network and prolific artists who have appeared in various exhibits throughout the United States. Their work incorporates a fusion of materials that they use in their respective art of collage and doll-making. Both artists speak to the culture and traditions of the African diaspora through their work.

There will be a special reception on Friday, December 5, from 6:30p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at which the artists will talk about their work.

The exhibit will be open Monday through Thursday from 7 am – 5 pm, Fridays from 7 am until 9 pm and Saturdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.The sisters’ artwork is a series of mixed media, including dolls and collages that provide a snapshot of inner thoughts and celebrates women of all cultures and backgrounds.

Burton describes her artwork as: “a series of images and words which invites the viewer to take time to escape the everyday to visualize inner hopes and dreams.” Ways says that her artwork concentrates on “the artistic and stylish side of women and the everyday quirky yet fashionable sides of life.”

Sherry Ways' studio Sankofa Doll Artistry is featured in the December issue of East of the River.

"Double Visions" special reception on Dec. 5 will feature poetry by Def Jam poet Bassey Ikpi. Ikpi will be a reviewer of the Liberated Muse Productions anthology "How I Freed My Soul" which will debut in Spring 2009. (shameless plug:-)

Embracing Our Differences Call for Submissions

(Photo "Unlikely Attraction" by Khadijah Ali-Coleman)

Embracing Our Differences invites artists, photographers, professionals, amateurs, teachers and students to participate in its 5th annual visual art exhibit celebrating diversity. National and international submissions are encouraged. 39 artists will be selected for the exhibit. The Embracing Our Differences exhibit will be displayed throughout the month of April 2009 at Island Park along Sarasota’s beautiful bayfront.

The exhibit will also be displayed throughout the month of May 2009 in North Port, Florida. Since 2004, the exhibit has been viewed by more than 400,000 visitors. The exhibit will contain 39 billboard-sized (16 feet wide by 12 1/2 feet high) images of the selected artworks.Final selections will be chosen based on artistic excellence in reflection of the theme “Embracing Our Differences”.

The art-work will also be evaluated on how effectively it will read outdoors when enlarged to billboard size – 16 feet wide by 12 1/2 feet high. Artists are encouraged to use bold saturated colors and strong lines. Final selections will be made by a 3-judge panel of professional artists, curators and art professionals. A total of $2,500.00 in awards will be presented.

Deadline for submission is January 8, 2009. There is no submission fee.

The mission of Embracing Our Differences is to use art as a catalyst for creating awareness and promoting the value of diversity, the benefits of inclusion and the significance of the active rejection of hatred and prejudice.

Submission forms and more information concerning past winning submissions are available online. http://www.embracingourdifferences.org/

Found this info on a great site called The Art List, a wonderful resource for visual artists.

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Roster

Performing Artist Roster ProgramApplication deadline: Friday, December 19 at 7:00 pm The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is currently accepting applications from individuals and non-profit organizations for the Performing Artist Roster Program (PAR). The roster showcases some of the District’s most talented artists in dance, music, and theater. Performing artists featured in the roster have demonstrated their artistic excellence and have been reviewed by an independent peer review panel of area arts professionals.

The purpose of the program is to promote artistic exchanges between Washington, D.C. and Maryland. The goals of the program are to promote the artistic excellence and development of District of Columbia performing artists by enhancing their marketability and touring capacity through successful touring engagements beyond their home state, professional development workshops, and roster campaign promotions.

A link to the program guidelines and a fill-in PDF application form are currently available on the home page of our website under “Agency News” at http://www.dcarts.dc.gov/.

For more information please contact:Charles Barzon, Arts Program AssistantDC Commission on the Arts and HumanitiesPhone: 202-724-5613Email: charles.barzon@dc.gov

Thanks to Margaux of Sol y Sol & the Saartjie Project for passing this on.