Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Grand Performances Amplifies the Voices of Native American Women

By Native News Online Staff - August 20, 2019 at 12:00AM

Published August 20, 2019

LOS ANGELES — Grand Performances (GP) amplifies the voices of Native American artists Layla Locklear (Tuscarora/Oglala Sioux), Charly Lowry (Lumbee/Tuscarora), and Bear Fox (Akwesasne/Mohawk Nation) for a first-time collaboration in Los Angeles neighborhoods: Eagle Rock, Culver City, and Watts-Willowbrook from September 5-8, 2019. The collaboration is part of a week-long residency featuring all three artists titled Voices Making Waves: Native American Women from the Eastern U.S. The residency kicks-off the fall season of GP Amplified, which expands GP’s thoughtful programming to communities across the region.

Layla Locklear (Tuscarora/Oglala Sioux)

During the residency, GP will combine a series of free concerts with intersectional community- and artist-focused activities and conversations. To facilitate, GP has partnered with community-based organizations including Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Brasil Brasil Cultural Center, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Each partner organization will act as a performance venue to initiate conversations between artists and community in pre-or post-performance convenings. “This series continues our commitment to our states’ first peoples,” said Mari Riddle, GP Executive Director. “We hope to create a dialogue that reveals and celebrates shared cultural traditions and value systems. We want to lift up and speak to the possibilities that result in bringing culture-bearers together as allies to look at how forced migration manifests in 2019 Los Angeles and the cultural riches that have come from our many communities living together.”

Charly Lowry (Lumbee/Tuscarora)

Since its founding in late 1988, GP has used the arts to raise awareness of many issues of historic and current concern to Los Angeles communities. “Our goal for all of the work presented by GP is to tell the big and small stories,” said Leigh Ann Hahn, GP Director of Programming. “We want to shine light on historical moments and the human condition, so that there is an opportunity for all participants – artists, audience, crew, etc. – to discover new art, another person’s story, or even connect more deeply with their own history.”

Artists-in-residence Locklear, Lowry, and Fox combine multi-culturally influenced and genre-spanning musicianship with deeply rooted Native American activism. Locklear is an accomplished musician, Native American rights activist, and advocate for Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Lowry makes passionate music that intersects with her activism in standing up for Lumbee and Native American rights.

Bear Fox (Akwesasne/Mohawk Nation)

Both Locklear and Lowry are former members of Ulali Project – an important and enduring Native American ensemble. The group is known for blending voice and hand percussion to create a groundbreaking contemporary sound, which was warmly received by GP audiences in 2018. Fox is a solo artist and member of the Akwesasne Women Singers, an ensemble of native voices driven to protect and preserve the Kanien’keha (Mohawk language) traditional customs.

Schedule – Voices Making Waves: Native American Women from the Eastern U.S.

Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 8pm  Free

Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041

Friday, September 6, 2019 at 8pm – Free

Brasil Brasil Cultural Center, 12453 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066

Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 2pm – Free (Space is limited)

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, 1731 E 120th St, Los Angeles, CA 90059

 

For more information and to RSVP for free, visit www.grandperformances.org.

The post Grand Performances Amplifies the Voices of Native American Women appeared first on Native News Online.



Click to Read the Full Article: Native News Online

via IFTTT

No comments:

Post a Comment