: S D L R ION T A O R E W L
CCE D A E F O R ALTE THE AGE ND
PIA A O T U BLACK
RE:INCA MIGRAT RNATION AND ION AN A D ENTR FROBEATS, MAY 15 EPRENEURSH , 12PM IP
Image by BLACKMAU
New York Live Arts is located in Lenapehoking. We acknowledge and pay respect to the Lenape people, the elders and ancestors, past, present and coming in the future. We acknowledge and offer deep gratitude to Lenapehoking - the land and waters of the Lenape homeland.
Special thanks to our partners, collaborators and sponsors
Live Ideas 2021 is co-curated by Reynaldo Anderson and New York Live Arts in partnership with the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM).
Live Ideas 2021
ALTERED-WORLDS: BLACK UTOPIA AND THE AGE OF ACCELERATION Contemporary Afrofuturism may be defined as an emerging social philosophy of the African diaspora and Africa. Today, partly because of a crisis in globalization, social media and other technological advances, second wave Afrofuturism is emerging as the High Culture of the African diaspora and is the cultural vibranium of a rising virtual African civilization. The 2021 edition of Live Ideas, Altered-Worlds: Black Utopia and The Age of Acceleration, will explore this second wave of Afrofuturism as an alternative to the social anomie, reactionary impulses and neo-fascism of late capitalism. The five-day inter-disciplinary hybrid festival will unfold across multiple dimensions through installations, conversations and performances at the intersection of arts, techno-culture, sci-fi, social sciences, philosophy and the imagination.
RE:INCARNATION AND AFROBEATS, MIGRATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP MAY 15, 12-4PM (EST) 12 – 1:15PM Panel: UPCYCLING MOVEMENT REVOLUTIONS: AFROBEATS FROM NIGERIAN STREETS TO WORLD STAGES – ART VALUE AND AGENCY Onye Ozuzu, Qudus Onikeku, Adila Omotosho, Ambrose Idemudia in conversation, moderated by d. Sabela grimes and hosted by Osubi Craig Panel conversation exploring the Afrobeats dance movement with a network of artists featuring Qudus Onikeku (Maker in Residence with CAME UF) and members of the QDance Company. DIscussion will be focused around the tangible and intangible value generated from Afrobeats innovation and cultural production and the negotiation of economic and social justice when art becomes commercial venture. This panel is presented by the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship (CAME) at the University of Florida | College of the Arts (arts.ufl.edu/came)
1:30 – 3PM – Screening: Re:INCARNATION Qudus Onikeku & QDance Company
The screening is followed by a conversation between Qudus Onikeku & Bill T. Jones, moderated by Onye Ozuzu. Re:INCARNATION is a 2021 dance, music, fashion and visual art creation, that showcases the depth of ancient Yoruba philosophy, mixed with the current Nigerian youth culture and its pure and uncompromising joy. It is the work of a crop of Nigerian dancers marked by the rhythm and groove of Lagos. Paying tribute to this richness, the choreography is written with a highly musical structure, with an intricate and carefully designed visual aesthetics. Coming from a deep Yoruba cultural understanding, at the core of this multimodal and multi-sensorial composition is the Yoruba central concept of reincarnation (birth, death, re-birth) which offers a distinct way of thinking about time in a cyclical manner. https://www. qdancecenter.com/reincarnation The screening and conversation are made possible with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.
SUPPORT Without our wonderful friends at Crux, we would not have been able to create such an innovative and interactive virtual performance space. INTERSPACE is the vision of the Crux team and we highly recommend them if you’re looking for your next digital venue! Click here to learn more and reach out to them. Support for Live Ideas is provided by: Partners for New Performance: Julie Orlando (Chair), Alexes Hazen, Linda Hirschon, Andrea Rosen, Nina Stricker. Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Ford Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Google, Marta Heflin Foundation, Alex Katz Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Alice Lawrence Foundation, The Poss Family Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Semel Charitable Foundation, Scherman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Support for discounted tickets provided by Con Edison. Live Ideas receives public funds from Humanities New York, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council with special thanks to Council Member Corey Johnson.
Enjoy this presentation and your experience at Live Arts? Please consider making a donation so we continue to support artists like this and their critical work! Donate at newyorklivearts.org/support/donate
BIOGRAPHIES Osubi Craig is a multi-talented, African Diasporic percussionist, higher education administrator, engineer, arts presenter, and arts advocate. Osubi brings a great deal of experience and energy to his new new role as Director of the Center for the Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship in the College of the Arts at the University of Florida. Craig currently serves as the college representative on the UF Equitable AI workgroup. As a third generation percussionist growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Osubi was immersed in the emerging African Diasporic cultural arts movement. His passion for science and technology led him to earn a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering while minoring in Jazz Studies at Florida A&M University (FAMU). During his time in Tallahassee, FL he performed with the renowned FAMU Marching “100” band, FAMU Jazz Ensemble, Dromatala Hand and-Stick Percussion Ensemble, African Caribbean Dance Theater and FAMU’s Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theater. Osubi went on to earn an M.A. from Florida State University in Arts Administration. Osubi is the founder and artistic director of the Prophecy
Music Project, an ensemble of professional artists dedicated to the preservation of African Diasporic music and dance. He has worked extensively with major performing arts organizations, such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and National Dance Institute’s Arts-inEducation programs. He served as lead drummer for Kulu Mele African Dance & Drum Ensemble (Philadelphia, PA), and as teaching artist for the Philly Pops (Philadelphia, PA), NJPAC (Newark, NJ), Lincoln Center Institute Arts-in-Education program (New York, NY) and Urban Bush Women (Brooklyn, NY). IG @OsubiCraig FB @OsubiCraig Twitter @Osubi_C Bill T. Jones (Artistic Director/ Co-Founder/Choreographer: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; Artistic Director: New York Live Arts) is the recipient of the 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award; the 2013 National Medal of Arts; the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography of the critically acclaimed FELA!; a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award, and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award
for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award; the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography forThe Seven; the 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award; the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and the 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award. In 2010, Mr. Jones was recognized as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.” Mr. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in 1982. He has created more than 140 works for his company. Mr. Jones is the Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, an organization that strives to create a robust framework in support of the nation’s dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting, and educating. Onye Ozuzu is a dance administrator, performing artist, choreographer, educator, and researcher currently serving as Dean of the University of Florida
College of the Arts in Gainesville, FL. Actively presenting work since 1997, Ozuzu has presented work nationally and internationally at The Joyce Soho (Manhattan, NY), Kaay Fecc Festival Des Tous les Danses (Dakar, Senegal), La Festival del Caribe (Santiago, Cuba), Lisner Auditorium (Washington, DC), and McKenna Museum of African American Art (New Orleans, LA). She has performed locally in Chicago at Hamlin Park Summer Sampler, with Red Clay Dance in La Femme, and in the Afro-Latin@ Summer Dance Intensive at Columbia College Chicago. Ozuzu has been Artist in Residence at Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative of the Rebuild Foundation, EarthDance Workshop and Retreat Center, Bates Dance Festival, Chulitna Wilderness Lodge and Retreat, and Lagos danceGATHERING in Lagos, Nigeria. Her collaboration with jazz composer Greg Ward, Touch My Beloved’s Thought, premiered at the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (Chicago, IL)—a live dance and music performance in honor of Charles Mingus and commissioned by Links Hall and Constellation. Her recent project, Project Tool, which explored the relationship between mind, body and tool, was a 2018 Joyce award and a 2016 Chicago Dancemakers
Forum Lab Artist recipient as well as a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Links Hall in partnership with Dancing Grounds and NPN.
clowns without Boarders a global (NGO) three (3) times participant of dance gathering, an exchange program organized by Q dance company.
Today, Adilaringz is the creative In her body she has negotiated the director of ADASTUDIO (Adila inter-sectionality between many Dance Acrobatics), an outfit movement forms from tennis that promotes circus arts in to ballet, West African dance to Nigeria and provides circus Hatha Yoga, freestyle House to entertainment, dance and salsa, contemporary dance to fitness training as well as talent Aikido. She seeks a relationship management. that is like the relationship of a Learning is a never ending course maker to their tools, rather than when it comes to Adila she keeps a person to their habits. Ozuzu acquiring certifications in her craft makes contemporary dance that globally. Pushing the boundaries, is “tooled” by, but not dictated by, setting the right standards, traditional movement cultures providing jobs through arts and in style, technique, concept and promoting alternative means execution. of entertainment to expand IG @ozuzudances the creative industry in Nigeria, ozuzudances.com placing the country as a tourist Adila Omotosho also known as attraction are the goals that drive Adilaringz is an Entrepreneur, this young energetic, artistic Seasoned performer, entertainer and entrepreneur. philanthropist, professional IG @adilaringz acrobat, choreographer, creative FB Adila Omotosho and artistic director. She’s a two times award winning acrobat 2016 Ambrose Idemudia popularly known as Ambrose TJark is a and 2018 NTCA, TGA Best female dance artist and fashion designer Afro dancer, certified in school of Arts China. She has graced stages and stylist from Nigeria. He is a founding member of across the world in countries Westsyde Lifestyle; a dance like Ghana, Ethiopia, India, China crew set up to propagate Afro and Top Artist in Nigeria, likes urban kulture and lifestyle, and to of Qudus Onikeku to name but a secure its legacy for generations few. Worked as a performer with
2014 United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow, is a transmedia storyteller whose creative practice draws directly from a mix of socio-historical observation, self-examination and speculative exploration through layers of interconnected sonic, visual and kinesthetic arrangements. Previous work, ELECTROGYNOUS, declares that Black gender qualities are infinite, multidimensional and distinct His works in conjunction with manifestations of wombniversal his team, westsyde lifestyle consciousness. His current have greatly influenced the Afro project, Dark Matter Messages, community nationally and globally, dreams Octavia E. Butler’s body which has been featured in major of work into modular multiblogs and lifestyle magazines disciplinary performance/ such as Native, Bella Naija, Pulse, installation experience(s) that Okay Africa, Afropunk, Trace TV include “minting” digital art using etc. their story also featured blockchain technology. Each in MixMag’s Kings of culture experience realizes quantum documentary and Mr. Eazi’s Lagos Blackness as a means to play to London Documentary. within the nowness of recurring He has equally performed and futures. On faculty at USC’s worked with A-list music artists Glorya Kaufman School of leading the Afrobeats music Dance, he continues to cultivate, movement including Wizkid, Funkamental MediKinetics, a Burna Boy, Davido, Yemi Alade, movement system that draws Olamide, Korede Bello, Mayorkun, on the layered dance training, Zlatan, Tekno, Tiwa Savage as well community building, and spiritual as international acts such as Major practices evident in Black lazer. vernacular and Hip Hop/Street IG @ambrose_tjark dance forms. FB @Ambrose Idemudia Joshua The Center for Arts, Migration, d. Sabela grimes aka Ovasoul7, and Entrepreneurship (CAME) 2017 County of Los Angeles connects networks of scholars, Performing Arts Fellow and artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, to come; a pioneering crew at the forefront of the aesthetics development of AFRO URBAN DANCE kulture and lifestyle. He’s also the artistic director of Wack NG; a fashion brand committed to pushing urban street culture especially in Africa. Ambrose TJark is Inspired by the simplicity and yet the complexity of life and it’s possibilities, the art of life and love.
and advocates to the engines of creative and cultural economics at the heart of migration. Defining the arts as all forms of cultural production, the center seeks to effectively create new models and power alignments that return value—entrepreneurship— to cultural producers to build more just global futures. Through community-responsive programming, research, and creative production, the center facilitates and extends the innovation, resilience, and ingenuity of diasporic and migratory communities. The cultural forms that persist, remix, or emerge along the tributaries of human movement generate abundant tangible and intangible value. www.arts.ufl.edu/came IG @uf_came FB @ufcame Twitter @UF_CAME Co-curator of the Live Ideas Festival Dr. Reynaldo Anderson currently serves as an Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the Humanities department at Harris-Stowe State University in Saint Louis Missouri. Reynaldo has earned several awards for leadership and teaching excellence and he is currently the Past Chair of the Black Caucus of the National Communication
Association (NCA). Reynaldo has not only served as an executive board member of the Missouri Arts Council, he has previously served at an international level working for prison reform with C.U.R.E. International in Douala Cameroon, and as a development ambassador recently assisting in the completion of a library project for the Sekyere Afram Plains district in the country of Ghana. Reynaldo publishes extensively in the area of Afrofuturism, communication studies, and the African diaspora experience. Reynaldo is currently the executive director and cofounder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) a network of artists, curators, intellectuals and activists. Finally, he is the coeditor of the book Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness published by Lexington books, co-editor of Cosmic Underground: A Grimoire of Black Speculative Discontent published by Cedar Grove Publishing, the forthcoming volume The Black Speculative Art Movement: Black Futurity, Art+Design to be released by Lexington press in 2018, and the co-editor of Black Lives, Black Politics, Black Futures, a forthcoming special issue of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies.
CALENDAR & EVENTS Virtual Events MAY 10 7PM
Live Ideas Gala 2021 Digital Gala | $100 Digital Event Tickets
MAY 12 6PM
Insighting and Foresighting: The Extraordinary Prescience of Octavia Butler INTERSPACE | Tickets start at $10
MAY 12 7PM
Interspace Exhibition Opening INTERSPACE | FREE with RSVP
MAY 13 5PM
AFROFUTURIST INVERSE INTERSPACE | FREE with RSVP
MAY 14 1PM
Live Ideas Symposium INTERSPACE | Tickets start at $15
MAY 14 7PM
Saul Williams: The Motherboard Suite Livestream | Tickets start at $20
MAY 14 8PM
ALTER-WORLDS (( COSMIC FUNK )) AFTER-PARTY Livestream | FREE
MAY 15 12PM
Upcycling Movement Revolutions & Re:INCARNATION INTERSPACE | Tickets start at $25
MAY 15 7PM
Saul Williams: The Motherboard Suite Livestream | Tickets start at $20
Box Office
Tickets can be purchased at newyorklivearts.org.
Discounts
FESTIVAL PASSES: $50/$35/$25 virtual pass Use code liveideas2021 and get 50% off the virtual pass when you buy 1 live in-person ticket to The Motherboard Suite or Drexcia Redux: An Afrofuturist Cabaret.
Installation Theater Hours: May 12 7pm-10pm, May 13 following the Viewing Hours performance, approx. 8pm-10pm, May 14 following the performance, approx. 8pm – 10pm, May 15 2pm – 8pm Lobby Hours: May 12-14 3pm-10pm, May15 2pm-8pm Studio Hours: May 12 8:30-10pm, May 13-14 5pm- 7:30pm & 9:30pm-10p, May 15 2pm – 8pm
Live In-person MAY 11 7PM
Installation Opening: Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another, Baïlaurâ & Drexciya Redux FREE with RSVP
MAY 12 730PM
Drexciya Redux: An Afrofuturist Cabaret Studio | Tickets start at $20
MAY 13 7PM
Saul Williams: The Motherboard Suite Theater | Tickets start at $45
MAY 13 830PM
Drexciya Redux: An Afrofuturist Cabaret Studio | Tickets start at $20
MAY 14 7PM
Saul Williams: The Motherboard Suite Theater | Tickets start at $45
MAY 14 830PM
Drexciya Redux: An Afrofuturist Cabaret Studio | Tickets start at $20
MAY 15 7PM
Saul Williams: The Motherboard Suite Times Square | FREE
MAY 15 8PM
Cosplay @ Time Square Times Square | FREE
COVID precautions
In-person audience will be required to provide proof of negative results from a PCR or rapid antigen COVID-19 test or COVID-19 full vaccination, as well as temperature checks on event day in order to gain entry. More info
Directions
219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011 (Between 7th & 8th Aves) Subway: 1 to 18th Street, 2/3, F, M, L and A/C/E to 14th Street.
LIVE ARTS CONTRIBUTORS New York Live Arts is deeply grateful to all the individuals listed below for their vital gifts to New York Live Arts over the last year: $500,000 and higher Anonymous Slobodan Randjelović & Jon Stryker $100,000-$499,999 Eleanor Friedman Ruth & Stephen Hendel Alex Katz Foundation Ellen M. Poss Jane Bovingdon Semel & Terry Semel / Semel Charitable Foundation $50,000 - $99,999 Zoe Eskin Suzanne Karpas Barbara & Alan Marks $25,000 - $49,999 Anonymous Patricia Blanchet / Ed Bradley Family Foundation David Dechman & Michel Mercure Adam Flatto Lorraine Gallard & Richard H. Levy Helen & Peter Haje James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen in memory of Linda Grass Shapiro Charla Jones Amy Newman & Bud Shulman Randy Polumbo / Plant Construction Matthew Putman Alanna Rutherford Diana Wege $10,000 - $24,999 Bloomberg Philanthropies Alexes Hazen Colleen Keegan Julie Orlando Andrea Rosen Ruby Shang $5,000 - $9,999 Derek Brown & Deborah Hellman Paula Cooper & Jack Macrae Agnes Gund Bill T. Jones & Bjorn Amelan Jeffrey B. & Wendy Liszt Deborah Ronnen Melissa Schiff Soros Cindy Sherman Williams Family Foundation
$1,000 - $4,999 Anonymous Gerald Appelstein Charlotte & Charles Buchanan Jonathan J. Cohen Charitable Fund Jeannie Colbert Kim Cullen Joan Davidson Lil and Jim DeMarse Dobkin Family Foundation Margaret Doyle Philip Gallo Mimi Garrard Judith & Steven Gluckstern Michael & Deborah Goldberg Otho Kerr Glenn Ligon Anna Maltby & Akshay Patil Tommy McCall & Victor Zonana Nancy Meyer & Marc Weiss Susan Micari Meridee Moore & Kevin King Thomas Nichols & Daniel Chadburn Deborah Pines Rita Salzman The Susan Stein Shiva Foundation Catharine R. Stimpson Kristalina & Jack Taylor Kate Whitney & Franklin Thomas James & Azin Wilcox Bruce & Megumi Williams Timothy Wu & Eric Murphy $500 - $999 Arthur Aviles Timothy Benning The Marshall Frankel Foundation Sharon Gerstel Olivia Katz Kenneth Machlin John Sansone Deborah Swiderski Gifts and commitments between 4/1/2020-3/31/2021
Support is provided by the Alice Lawrence Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Arnhold Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Con Edison, Dance/NYC, The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Ford Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Humanities New York, Hyde & Watson Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Joseph & Joan Cullman Foundation, MAP Fund, Marta Heflin Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, New Music USA, O’Donnell Green Music & Dance Foundation, Samuel Levy Foundation, Scherman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Studio Institute, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, William Penn Foundation. New York Live Arts is supported by public funds from Humanities New York, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council with special thanks to Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
STAFF & BOARD Artistic Leadership
Executive Leadership
Board of Directors
Bill T. Jones Artistic Director
Kim Cullen Executive Director & CEO
Stephen Hendel Co-Chair
Janet Wong Associate Artistic Director
Development
Richard H. Levy Co-Chair
Dave Archuletta Chief Development Officer
Helen Haje Vice Chair
Kyle Maude Producing Director
Ali Burke Individual Giving & Special Events Manager
Slobodan RandjeloviĆ Vice Chair
Hannah Emerson Producing Associate
Erin Baskin Institutional Giving Manager
Veronica Falborn Producing Associate & Production Stage Manager
Bianca Bailey Member Services & Education Coordinator
Davin DeCicco Producing Assistant
Candystore Development Assistant
Kim Cullen Chief Executive Officer Ex-Officio
Hans Rasch Institutional Giving Assistant
Bjorn Amelan
Production Hillery Makatura Director of Production
Finance & Operations
Creative Director
Nupur Dey Director of Finance
Programming, Producing & Engagement
Bjorn G. Amelan Communications Tyler Ashley Director of Communications
Gregory English Rentals Coordinator
Alan Marks Treasurer Alanna Rutherford Secretary Bill T. Jones Artistic Director Ex-Officio
Sarah Arison Aimee Meredith Cox LaToya Ruby Frazier Charla Jones Colleen Keegan Amy Newman Randy Polumbo
Human Resources
Ellen M. Poss
ADP TotalSource
Matthew Putman Jane Bovingdon Semel
Mayadevi Ross Digital Media Coordinator
Legal Services
Ruby Shang
Hannah Seiden Front of House Coordinator
Lowenstein Sandler, PC Pro-Bono Counsel
Catharine R. Stimpson
Liliana Dirks-Goodman Graphic Designer Pentagram Pro-Bono Branding Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Raja Feather Kelly Faye Driscoll Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Vinson Fraley, Jr., Barrington Hinds, Chanel Howard, Dean Michael Husted, Shane Larson, s. Lumbert, Marie Paspe, Nayaa Opong, Huiwang Zhang
Diana Wege Board Emeritus Derek Brown Terence Dougherty Eleanor Friedman Advisory Council Margaret Doyle, Chair Alberta Arthurs Beverly D’Anne Lisa Frigand Jenette Kahn Susan Micari Alton Murray Lorraine Gallard Lois Greenfield Martha Sherman