ART OPENING

"Our Flesh of Flames" featuring the art work of Amiri Baraka and Theodore A. Harris AND Art work made by students at Xavier University and middle school students of New Orleans. Harris will be present to present and discuss his work.

SPOKEN WORD

Performed by Kalamu ya Salaam

WHEN: Friday, July 10, 2009

TIME: 7:00 P.M.

WHERE: Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., N.O. 70113

COST: FREE

INFO: (504) 569-9070

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Ashé Cultural Arts Center and the Visual Arts Network present an Art Opening and Spoken Word Performance featuring the works of Theodore A. Harris, Amiri Baraka and Kalamu ya Salaam.

Harris is a collagist, itself a modern form, and one that has been used to great advantage in pinning the political tale on the donkey, or elephant (or corrupt tiger, as the case may be). He tells about the peoples' struggles, world-wide, against oppression and exploitation, our lives under racism and the twisted rule of capital. At times, the images he thrusts at us are sharp enough to make us wince, with understanding and recognition. Harris' work is fundamentally about consciousness-raising, and this is what his art does. He is known for his canny ability to group together images and found objects to create a distinctive image with new meaning, and a sometimes shocking political statement based on the truths he finds in the objects he chooses.

Harris, who will be in town for the Fourth of July weekend, will participate in Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s July 4^th Maafa. During that procession, participants will be asked to collect objects that Harris intends to use in his art work to be exhibited at the showing.

Included in the art opening will be the work of Xavier University students and middle school students from New Orleans. Local author and poet ya Salaam will offer spoken word.

The Ashe' Cultural Arts Center is a VAN Partner of the Visual Artists Network (VAN.) This project is made possible in part through support from the Visual Artists Network Exhibition Residency, which is a program of the National Performance Network. Major Contributors are the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

New Orleans hasn't been the same since Hurricane Katrina, with violence rising at an alarming rate. Many New Orleanians have been pushed toward a dark, sordid path due to the lack of basic funding, extra-curricular activities, loss of community, and poor parenting. This concert intends to show at-risk citizens that, rather than resorting to violence, there are peaceful options.

The goals of the concert are: to inform the public about how violence affects our environment; how to steer away from it; promote better decision-making skills; encourage dream-chasing; and to support local artists by showcasing their music.

There will be no profane lyrics.

WHAT: Stop the Violence Concert
WHEN: June 26, 2009
TIME: 7:00-10:00 P.M.
COST: $10 in advance; $15 at the door
WHERE: Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans
INFO: Brandon Woodrin at (504) 905-0393 or (504) 569-9070

The "Sistahs" will host a very important program on prostate health entitled "Protecting the Family Jewels" - SCREENING AND TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER.

The program includes an interactive discussion with Richard Winder, a prostate cancer survivor and Dr. Keith Winfrey from Tulane Community Health Center at Covenant House.

There will be a performance by Sistahs Making a Change.

Refreshments will be served.


Thursday, June 18, 2009
6:00-8:00 p.m.

Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
New Orleans

For more information, call (504) 569-9070.

Friday, June 19 and

Saturday, June 20, 2009
7:00 p.m.
$20
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. - N.O.

(504) 569-9070

Ensemble Fatien and Ivoire Spectacle wish to thank all of their friends who helped them have such a wonderful festival season in New Orleans, especially French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest. Ensemble Fatien has been chosen to join the roster of Threadhead Records and will be headed to the studio soon to record their debut CD.

(Pictured: Sunpie Barnes and Seguenon Koné)

Seguenon Koné from West Africa, says, “We will present two very special shows called The Beat of West Africa Alive in New Orleans, featuring Seguenon Koné, Ensemble Fatien (musicians Sunpie, Dr. Michael White, Jason Marsalis, Mark Stone, Rex Gregory, Maggie, Cabou Cissoko, Michael Skinkus & Matt), and Ivoire Spectacle (dancers Mikeall Hawkins, Rodrina Rouege & Seneca). These will be the first joint performances by these great musicians, electrifying dancers and amazing drummers.”

To support the recording project and the efforts of this organization, visit Threadhead Records at www.threadheadrecords.com.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

6:30 a.m.

FREE

Congo Square in Armstrong Park

(starting location)

Ashé Cultural Arts Center

(ending location)

1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. - 70113

For more information call:

(504) 569-9070.

“It takes more than a horrifying transatlantic voyage

chained in the filthy hold of a slave ship

to erase someone’s culture.” --Maya Angelou

Maafa

The Maafa is a Kiswahili word that means great tragedy. In New Orleans, this is the 9^th annual community-wide commemoration honoring the memory of the millions of African people and their descendents who suffered and perished during the period of African capture and enslavement in America.

The Commemoration, Procession & Ceremony

The commemoration will start at Congo Square in Armstrong Park at 6:30 a.m. Drummers, community activists, spiritual leaders, artists and visitors to our city will lead a musical procession to the Tomb of the Unknown Slave at St. Augustine Church. They will then process through the French Quarter where participants will learn about the Slave Exchange and other historical points of interest; then onto the Canal Street Ferry, ending at The Village in Algiers, where libations, prayers, and creative expressions will be offered in honor of the ancestors. Attendees are asked to wear white attire.

Breakfast and Concert

Following the commemoration there will be a breakfast gathering and concert at Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in New Orleans. Featured artists include percussionist Bill Summers and the Yoruba Orchestra, Derrick Deal & Giselle Nakhid (performing Ocean from The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth), Ben Hunter, and others

Luther Gray, who leads Ashé Cultural Arts Center's cultural and community programs, was honored by the Arts Council of New Orleans for his contribution to the regional arts and culture community. Gray received the prestigious 2009 Community Arts Award at a luncheon at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans, on May 7, 2009. The night before, Gray showcased his talents at a patron party at the Windsor Court Hotel's Grill Room, along with fellow award winner Deacon John Moore.

Recipients were selected "for artistic excellence, sustained contributions, unique achievements, perserverance and a deep commitment to the arts and the community."

Gray, a talented master drummer and community activist, has been a New Orleans resident for more than 30 years after having moved from his native Chicago. After leaving his corporate job, he focused his energy on drumming and soon realized its potential to reach the community’s youth. He has organized classes that use drumming techniques to teach math, science and social studies, as well as to teach the history of African drumming for students of all ages. He has worked as a musician with groups such as Percussion Incorporated and Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians, and helped to organize the Congo Square Foundation. The foundation is instrumental in reviving Congo Square with performances and festivals reminiscent of its origins. Congo Square is in the National Register of Historic places. He has been a producer for the Ashé Cultural Arts Center since it opened; he has also produced programs for the Contemporary Arts Center. His music group Bamboula 2000 fuses African and contemporary sounds and has garnered an impressive musical catalog and a strong fanbase.

SHEISM: A WOMAN WORSHIP WORKSHOP

Labels: PR

Parents and kids looking for something unique to do on Saturdays and this summer are invited to infuse the arts into their routines. Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s Kuumba Institute will host an “Art for Life” focused Youth Program. The program will afford children, ages 6-16, the opportunity to receive specialized training in art, voice, dance, theater and drumming, according to Kesha McKey, the youth programs coordinator.


The six-week Saturday Program begins on May 9 and runs through June 13. Following the Saturday Program, an eight-week Summer Youth Program will operate Monday through Friday from June 15 through August 7. Both programs will run from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Space is limited.


Kuumba Institute is located at Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Blvd. in New Orleans.


For additional information and registration, call (504) 569-9070.

UNDOING RACISM/COMMUNITY ORGANIZING WORKSHOP
The People’s Institute presents its unique 2-1/2-day workshop. The Institute moves beyond a focus on the symptoms of racism to an understanding of what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone.

April 17-19, 2009
Friday, 6-8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – New Orleans
Registration fee: $250
Info and registration: (504) 301-9292; www.pisab.org
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DOVIA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies)
Congratulations to Gwendolyn Richardson who was recently installed as president of DOVIA. Richardson heads the volunteer and internship program for Ashé Cultural Arts Center.

DOVIA New Orleans is a professional association for volunteer coordinators. The New Orleans group is over 12 years old and was reactivated last spring following a brief Hurricane Katrina break. Reactivation training consisted of a series of six-sessions, used the National Points of Light Volunteer Program Management Curriculum, and was completed in November of 2008. The training sessions were led by Janet Pace from the Lt. Governor's Office. Opportunities for learning include: daytime networking and training, an annual training event, and more.

Other officers include: Vice President Shannon Murphy, Treasurer Jody Braunig, and Membership Chair Erica Johnson.

DOVIA OPEN HOUSE
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Noon – 2:00 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – New Orleans

Light lunch and networking
For more information call 985-674-9049 or Email dovianolamail@yahoo.com.
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COMMUNITY FORUMS
Ted Quant, director of Loyola University’s Twomey Center for Peace through Justice, moderates two community forums. Authors Robert King (From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King) and Orissa Arend (Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers Take a Stand in New Orleans) will be signing their recently-published books.

FREE THE ANGOLA 3 AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS: Strategies, Insight and Wisdom
Panelists: Robert King, the only freed member of the Angola 3, author of From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King; Malik Rahim, cofounder of the Common Ground Collective, former Black Panther, community organizer on protection of the environment and rights of prisoners and their families, founding member of the coalition to free the Angola 3; Jackie Sumell, artist and co-creator with Herman Wallace of “The House that Herman Built.” Historical context for the A3 story set by Lance Hill, PhD; Carolyn Kolb, PhD; and Lawrence Powell, PhD.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – New Orleans
Light supper will be served
FREE
For more information call Orissa Arend at (504) 865-1619 or (601) 807-7297. Visit www.showdownindesire.blogspot.com.

BLACK PANTHERS SPEAK TO POST-KATRINA NEW ORLEANS: Survival Programs—Past and Present
Panelists: Malik Rahim, former Black Panther , community organizer; Bob Tucker & Don Hubbard, businessmen who worked with the Landrieu administration in 1970; William Barnwell & Jerome LeDoux, priests who tried to mediate between the Panthers and the police in 1970 and who witnessed the reconciliation among many of the original adversarial key players at a forum in 2003. Keith Weldon Medley, author of We as Freedmen: Plessy v. Ferguson, will provide the historical context.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – New Orleans
Light supper will be served
FREE
For more information call Orissa Arend at (504) 865-1619 or (601) 807-7297. Visit www.showdownindesire.blogspot.com.

THEATER:
MISS MARGARIDA'S WAY

Ashé Cultural Arts Center proudly presents UNO's production of Miss Margarida's Way--A Tragicomedic Monologue for an Impeteous Woman. The play was written by Roberto Athayde, originally directed by Rodney Hudson, and restaged by Joyce Deal, who stars as Miss Margarida.

The setting is Miss Margarida's classroom, and the audience gets to participate as her students. The play contains mature themes and adult language.

WHEN:
Fridays and Saturdays, January 23, 24, 30 and 31, 2009

WHERE:
Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans

ADMISSION:
General Admission is $15. Students and Seniors, $10.

INFO:
Call (504) 569-9070 or (504) 239-0126.



FREE CONCERT
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING

WHAT:
Lift Every Voice and Sing Concert celebrating African-American liberation music, featuring freedom songs from the Civil Rights Movement in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Artists include Rev. Lois Dejean, Davell Crawford, Deacon John Moore, Sharon Martin, Michaela Harrison, Gabrilla Ballard, Creative Forces and others. Bring the children and elders and come prepared to sing along. Refreshments will be served.

WHEN:
Sunday, January 25, 2009 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans

ADMISSION:
Free

INFO:
Call (504) 569-9070.

Please Join Us for a special MAAFA Planning Meeting

Thursday, June 5, 2008
1:00 pm

Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
New Orleans, LA 70113

* At the MAAFA meeting we will also discuss the planning of the Oretha Castle Haley Summer
Market Place Festival activities.

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What is MAAFA?
The New Orleans Community Maafa Remembrance & Renewal Committee will invite the public to the 8th annual community-wide commemoration honoring the memory of the millions of African people and their descendants who suffered and perished during the period of African capture and enslavement in the Americans over 500 years ago.

The 2008 Maafa Commemoration Ceremony will start at Congo Square in Armstrong Park on Saturday, July 5 at 6:30 a.m. (promptly at sunrise) and end at 9:00 a.m. in Woldenberg Riverfront Park. Community activists, spiritual leaders, artists and visitors to our city will lead a musical procession through the French Quarter to John Scott's "Ocean Song" sculpture in Woldenberg Park, where libations, prayers, and creative expressions will be offered in honor of the ancestors.

Following the Maafa ceremony at 10:00 a.m., there will be a Breakfast gathering at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. - Central City, New Orleans.

Also join us at the Ashe' Cultural Arts Center after the MAAFA Ceremony for the O.C. Haley Blvd. Summer Market Place Festival from 11:00am to 5:00pm. The street festival on O.C. Haley Blvd. (between St.Andrews Street and Euterpe Street) will feature a free afternoon of music, food, vendors, children activities and a Farmer's Market.

For vendor information and additional details about MAAFA, please call Luther Gray at (504) 495-0463.

NEW YEAR BABY
By Socheata Poeuv

SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2008
6:00 PM

Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd

FREE Admission

Born in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew
up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge
genocide. In NEW YEAR BABY, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the
truth and why her family's history had been buried in secrecy for so long. (60 Minutes)

A short discussion will follow the screening.

Hosted by the Charitable Film Network, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Public Broadcasting Service,
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Independent Television Service.