INSIGHTING AND FORESIGHTING: THE EXTRAORDINARY PRESCIENCE OF OCTAVIA BUTLER - PROGRAM

: 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

INSIGH TIN EXTRA ORDINA G AND FORE SI RY PRE SCIENC GHTING: THE MAY 12 E OF OCTAVIA , 6PM BUTLER

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.

INSIGHTING AND FORESIGHTING: THE EXTRAORDINARY PRESCIENCE OF OCTAVIA BUTLER MAY 12, 6PM (EST) A Conversation with adrienne maree brown and Ayana Jamieson It is apparent that Octavia E. Butler has been showing us the future with uncanny accuracy. She showed us the consequences of depleting our natural resources, she wrote about the effects of Climate Change, the uneven wrath of pandemics on communities of color, she understood the systemic nature of racism, she challenged traditional gender roles, and she even wrote about a demagogic authoritarian US President whose campaign slogan was “help us Make America Great Again”. She seems to have been telling us that our actions have consequences. This intimate conversation delves into the extraordinary prescience of Octavia Butler, the relevance of her work, and the lessons we continue to learn.

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.

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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.

BIOGRAPHIES adrienne maree brown is the writer-in-residence at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, and author of We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office. She is the cohost of the How to Survive the End of the World, Octavia’s Parables and Emergent Strategy podcasts. adrienne is rooted in Detroit.

studies courses at California State University Polytechnic, Pomona.

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 Ayana Jamieson is a Depth Arts Council, he has previously Psychologist and is the founder served at an international level of the Octavia E. Butler Legacy working for prison reform with Network, a global community C.U.R.E. International in Douala founded in 2011, committed to Cameroon, and as a development highlighting Octavia Butler’s life ambassador recently assisting and work while creating new in the completion of a library works inspired by Butler’s legacy. project for the Sekyere Afram The Legacy Network grew out of Plains district in the country Ayana’s research for her doctoral of Ghana. Reynaldo publishes research on Butler’s life. Her dissertation is entitled, ‘Certainty extensively in the area of of the Flesh’: A Biomythographical Afrofuturism, communication studies, and the African diaspora Reading of Octavia E. Butler’s experience. Reynaldo is currently Fictions. She is an organizer, the executive director and coeducator, and teaches ethnic

founder 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.

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