This project is fortunate to have Kim Knox of Ubiquita onboard as a consultant.  It’s a timely piece of theater in which two playwrights–one black, one white–traveled throughout the South in the months leading up to President Obama’s inauguration in 2009.  They conducted over 100 interviews in an attempt to understand how people were making sense of the election of this country’s first African-American president.  The interviews were digitally recorded and then crafted into this piece of documentary theater.

One of the reasons the project needs the funds is that they’ve made a conscious choice to keep the tickets at $20, in order to ensure that people from across the cultural and economic spectrum could afford the tickets.  Of course, there’s an opportunity cost to them doing so.

The other cool thing is that it’s being produced at the Epic Theatre Ensemble, a presenting organization that has a long history of focusing on socially-minded plays.  Check out this project and support if you can or, at least, spread the word.

Additional links:

• Indiegogo page for Dispatches
• Dispatches on the Epic Theatre Ensemble site

@misscortes

A cool film project via my friend, producer Lisa Cortes, is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign.  The film, Kwaku Ananse, from director Akosua Adoma Owusu, received $10,000 from the prestigious Focus Features African First Program, but needs to raise another $35,000 of its budget in order to shoot.  Film is, after all, the most financially intensive of our artforms.

Here’s a blurb from the Kickstarter page:

“Kwaku Ananse” is an intensely personal project which draws upon the rich mythology of Ghana. The short film combines semi-autobiographical elements with the tale of Kwaku Ananse, a trickster in West African stories who appears as both spider and man. Ananse teaches us that there are two sides to everything and everyone. To explore this theme of doubleness, a fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nan Kronhwea attending her estranged father’s funeral. Nan’s father led two separate lives with two wives and two families — one in Ghana, one in the United States. Nan’s ambivalence about her father’s double life is a reflection of a broader truth about the nature of our personal relationships.

Great to see the strong team that’s been assembled to help make this happen.  Director Akosua Adoma Owusu was selected as one of Art Forum’s Top 10 artists. Producer Lisa Cortes has an Academy Award to her credit. Advising Producer Michelle-anne M. Small is the producer of Gun Hill Road, nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2011. Julio Chavezmontes is a young mexican producer whose first film Halley will compete for a Tiger Award next year in Rotterdam. Cinematographer Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio is an internationally acclaimed Mexican filmmaker whose first film, the documentary Toro Negro, was produced by Alejandro Gonzalez-Iñarritu (Amores Perros, Babel, 21 Grams).

Sounds like an interesting project and the storyline with a father with two families brings to mind Tayari Jones’s recent novel Silver Sparrow.  Check it out and consider a contribution, support for which will help develop emerging cinema in a country where so many stories have yet to be told.

Additional link:

• Kwaku Ananse Kickstarter page

@funkrockster

Yes, you’re reading that right: The incredible Nona Hendryx is planning a summer tour!  And to make sure it happens, she’s crowdsourcing the funding.  Her manager Vicki Wickham, gave me the heads up on this whole effort, but it’s worth shouting out Toshi Reagon for giving me the big picture.  Here’s the deal:

Nona is partnering with Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records to release her newest album, the funky and political Mutatis Mutandis (check out “Temple of Heaven” here). Righteous Babe will drop the album in a few weeks, i.e., July.  As many of you know, while it’s great to listen to a Nona Hendryx album, it’s even better to see her live!  So she’s doing her best to bring her show to a city near you.  Folk also know that gas prices and the overall cost of touring a band is nothing short of a bee-yotch, so Nona’s coming to all of us for some support.

26 DAYS LEFT: PLEDGE NOW

She’s put together some great incentives, everything from digital downloads, t-shirts, handwritten lyric sheets and special USB drives filled with music on the lower end; to VIP tour packages, rehearsal visits, executive producer credits on her next album, and even private Audio Tutu performances if you’ve got the wherewithal to really pony up.

Best of all, ten (10%) percent of all money raised after she hits her pledge target will go to Little Black Pearl, a school in Chicago for alternative learning via the arts for youth 12-17 years old.  I know it’s an organization Nona’s been supporting a long time, so it’s great to see that she’s looped them into this fundraising effort.

Already there are four (4) East Coast tour dates for the project:

• July 14: BB Kings, NYC
• July 17: U Street Music Hall, Washington, DC
• July 20: Cafe Nine, New Haven, CT
• August 11: Damrosch Park Bandshell, NYC

And did I mention there are 26 days left?

Ready to kick in a few bucks? As Depeche Mode said–and Amanda Palmer will verify–everything counts in large amounts, so whatever you can give will be much appreciated.  CLICK HERE TO PLEDGE!

Additional links:

• Nona Hendryx on Pledge Music
• Nona Hendryx official
  

@godspeedscifi

I recently got a note from filmmaker Celia Peters and her team informing me about their sci-fi film in development, Godspeed.  According to her, the project is something that the American film scene could use more of: “a sci-fi story with a universal theme which features black lead characters, and a black female protagonist at that.”  It’s a new take on what contact with extraterrestrial life might be like.  Specifically, the synopsis goes something like this:

New York, 2030. Successful, creative Brandy sees everything slip away when her mind begins to unravel. After having a very visible meltdown in her high-powered world, Brandy is crushed when she’s forced to leave the world that defines her. She retreats to her family home in Detroit but instead of finding comfort, she’s challenged and disturbed by newcomers who aren’t what they seem; even worse, familiar faces are now different. Brandy is losing the battle to hold on to her sanity, but ultimately she must decide which way to turn when she discovers that it is reality which has changed —- not her.

Interestingly enough, Peters tells me that this is not a push for donations.  Rather, she and her producing partners are trying to get a head start on building an audience for the film.  Their goal is to develop a significant number of likes and/or follows, which further reinforces the idea to potential investors that there is, in fact, an audience for this film.

Check out the video below, as Peters and her team talk about the genesis and vision for this project:

If you like what you see thusfar, head on over to the project’s Facebook and Twitter pages (noted below) and join the conversation.

Additional links:

• Godspeed official site
• Godspeed on Facebook
• Godspeed on Twitter