Leimert Park ArtWalk, May 2011

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AFRO ALERT:Gil Scott-Heron Walks On

Reports are flowing in that seminal poet, Gil Scott-Heron has passed away. At least he gave us one last sinewy album to rock our consciousness before he made his departure. The revolution will not be televised, it will be passed via hugs, earphones, and messages in the night.

VISCERA lands the N2 B.O.O.G.I.E. mission at the Van Nuys FlyAway

The ori.Xas find themselves outside the jump station...again. 'Bout To Get On, Artistic Directon by Anna B Scott, Photo by Andy Holtzman http://www.dailynews.com/ci_18124749?source=rss_viewed

WHAT A BLAST!

A huge thank you to my cast >>Pat Payne, Judith Scott, Staci Mitchell, d.Sabela Grimes, Paul Outlaw, Alexandria Yalje, Amy Shinson-Santo, Shelby Williams-Gonzalez, Anindo Marshal, Jahanna Blunt, Adanna Jones, and Baker Scott de Almeida

Thank you to staff of Department of Cultural Affairs and LAX World Airports, and especially the staff of the FlyAway itself for their willingness to play along, eventually ;->

We just completed 'Bout To Get On, an installation at the Van Nuys FlyAway and now I turn to getting involved with the politics around the FlyAway system that our work sought to highlight.

 

Did you know that you can only buy passage with a credit card on the FlyAway system?

Did you know that just last week, a report was released from their offices stating that it continues to run in the red at a tune of several million dollars a year?  Worst example: the bus that departs Westwood (serving the campus of UCLA) has an average of 7 passengers for each trip.  SEVEN.

Some of the things I discovered while preparing the piece would point to missed ridership and an overly narrow focus on service delivery. For example, each time I was there,  at least 2 individuals required assistance from fellow travelers to get their ticket since they either did not have a major credit card (meaning they had Green Dot or some other pre-paid card service), or had insufficient funds (the last actually happened during the show while I was in negotiations with him to show me his ticket).  Another thing we discovered during the show, the "tickets" expire in one hour and are mere flimsy fax paper receipts, very easily smudged!

With a series of performances and opportunities for audience feedback, even changing the ending of the show in real time, for example, 'Bout To Get On could help the FlyAway project managers and users work together to design a better system more friendly to multiple types of riders.

'Bout to Get On is absolutely fabulous, and now I am ready to go deeper with the work. So pelase, contribute, sign up for our shortcode messages, cause we just got the refractor beam harmonized: it's time to discover the rhythm of seamless transportation in LA.

Make a donation today!  A fun inversion of the show might appear at an ArtWalk near you...

 

This installation was made possible by the generous support and/or assistance of Earnestine & William D. Scott; Mary Trautwein of reDiscover Center; Cooper Bates Photography; Stephanie Sills of Ingenuity on Call; Baba Thiam, Tailor; Baba Fasegun; Keisha Davis of Community Build, Leimert Park; Fractured Atlas; Lucy Florence; Lula Washington Dance Theater; Anindo Marshall, and Pat Payne.

'Bout To Get On is the inaugural installation of the Ephemeral Art Program of the Public Art Division of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in Association with The Los Angeles World Airports.

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 5/23/2011

AFRONAUTS!

 

If you are in Los Angeles area, I would like to cordially invite you to dance theater installation by my pick-up performance instigation troupe, VISCERA. The show is called 'Bout To Get On and happens today, Monday May 23 at 2 PM then again at 4 PM. It is free! Commissioned by The Los Angeles World Airports and the division of Public Art in The Department of Cultural Affairs, 'Bout To Get It On asks the question: what happens when the signs in the airport turn out to be extraterrestial beings on mission to find their team leader?

 

Make a donation to the project! We have some fancy t-shirts for everyone donation over $75. New gift ;-> And the QR-Codes will make an appearance at the Leimert Park Art Walk, so get on the bus!

AFRODESIAC

STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING, AFRONAUT, AND RELISH IN THIS GIFT.

Give thanks for the Afrosphere!

More on Kevin K.O. Olusola can be found on his website.

DANCE ARTS BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS: SAND to screen at Cannes

Los Angeles screen dance and dance filmmakers should be absolutely beside themselves with joy at the announcement that Cari Ann Shim Sham• is headed to Cannes. Her moving short film, SAND, has been invited to screen in The American Pavillion on May 18th, 10:30 AM. What does it take to get into the final 16 at the Pavilion? Clearly, a whole lot of shim sham verve and class.

Kyle Ruddick & Cari Ann Shim Sham* at The Idea Project Dinner Series, AD, speaking about Ruddick's project, One Day On Earth.

The American Pavilion hosts young and emerging filmmakers, giving them an opportunity to meet industry insiders while having their work showcased. The 16 films are gleaned from a nationwide call to ALL film schools. It is out of this rather competitive and large pool that SAND emerged as a singular work. In addition to being hosted at the American Pavilion, SAND will screen in the out-of-competition segment of Court Métrage. Directed by Cari Ann Shim Sham* and co-produced with Kyle Ruddick, SAND is at once a dance film and an archival document.

<p>Sand Trailer from Cari Ann Shim Sham* on Vimeo.</p>

LA was quite fortunate to see SAND first, at the 2010 installment of DanceCamera West, where many thought it deserved top prize. Your writer here, though, was among a group of 50 who saw it at UCLA, the crowning jewel in an exquisite MFA reel by Ms. Shim Sham. After the re-edit of Bleu into the even more incredible Are You For Real, the audience could not imagine anything better. After the first 60 seconds of SAND, we were quite clear that a) Shim Sham is an incredible story teller; b) this was no simple documentary, no class screen dance post modern pastiche, clearly not an elegiac biopic. No, SAND is something rare, incredible, precious: it is a gift to all involved, given by all involved, including the audience.

 

If you are now slapping yourself for having missed SAND last year, you can at least get to meet Ms. Shim Sham* herself at DanceCamera West in 2011. She is also on the screening committee for the festival and serves as the curator of short films at the Topanga Film Festival (a very sweet festival if you have never been. Still looking for other ways to connect with the Cari Ann Shim Sham* magic? Sign up at One Day on Earth and she is likely to see your footage. She serves as the educational tool kits core writer and facilitator for the project and constantly digs through the ever-expanding group-sourced archive looking for wonderful surprises to share with the One Day On Earth Community.

So join in a toast and click those heels for Cari Ann Shim Sham*!