PRESS RELEASES
SEED PROJECT ANNOUNCES Artists of Color Working in Communities! FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP FOR ARTISTS & COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS
MEDIA ADVISORY | February 1, 2021
Lancaster, PA –Seed, a community arts/creative place-keeping initiative centered in the South East neighborhood of Lancaster City, will be launching the first in a series of ongoing workshops: Artists of Color Working in Communities! This panel discussion will be held on February 11 from 5-7 p.m., featuring four community-engaged artists of color who will share their experiences and ideas on being a working artist and working in the communities and neighborhoods they care about. Panelists will show examples of their work, talk about their practice and take questions from participants that cover a broad series of topics. The purpose of the panel discussion is:
● To provide a space for artists who are Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color to knowledge-share
● To provide a space for BIPOC artists to hear from other BIPOC artists about how they navigate predominantly white institutions, working with or in contrary to systems
● To provide space for discussion and catharsis/release around issues with creative space for BIPOC communities in Lancaster
The workshop is free and open to the public, with priority given to BIPOC artists and community organizations centered in the South East. To register, please send an email to southeastcreativecommunities@gmail.com.
The workshop will feature:
Evita Colon: Evita Colon is a published award winning poet and creative entrepreneur. She is the owner and founder of Speak to My Soul, an organization that uses the performing and media arts to empower, educate and elevate whilst providing opportunities and development for creatives of color. She is also the co-owner of A Concrete Rose Bookbar, a bookstore that cultivates creativity, culture and community through African American books, wine and an intimate performing arts space. She believes understanding leads to compassion thus she is always looking for compelling ways to tell raw stories and amplify those that share them with her.
Nora Elmarzouky: A cultural broker/organizer who designs and facilitates programming on a range of themes such as cultural sensitivity, Egyptian culture, education, immigration, arts and culture, diversity and equity, and interfaith understanding. She is a long-time resident of Reading, and currently lives in Philadelphia.
Jezabeth Roca Gonzalez: Jezabeth is a multidisciplinary maker who uses Video, Performance, Photography, Land, and Live Plants through Installation. Highly influenced by their hometown of Añasco Puerto Rico known as "La cuna de la Puertorriqueñidad" (the birth of puertoricanness) and the town "Donde murieron los Dioses" (where the gods died). Focusing on re-examinations of Puerto Rico's ongoing colonial status with the United States through family, personal migration and attachment to Añasco.
Hawa Lassanah: Hawa's life mission has been to gain a wide breadth of education, knowledge, and experience about the world and its innovations in order to share it with her community. It began with the Arts Advocacy Organization called Discerning Eye Foundation for the Arts and Education™, and expanded to a gallery and community space called, Discerning Eye Center for the Arts™. Then, branching out from the Creative Arts to breath and movement therapy, Yoga For All™ was born. The latest iteration of this mission is Discerning Eye Community Agriculture™ (DECA). As the founder of this hybrid Social Enterprise, her intention is to create structures to help enable her peers and fellow citizens into lives of Leadership and to facilitate the Agency of their own possibilities, encouraging overall wellness for the individual as well as sustainable communities.
Seed was founded last year through a Creative Communities Grant awarded to the Spanish American Civic Association (SACA) by the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts (PCA), this five-year project was originally developed as a vibrant way to bring the community together around the arts and find creative expressions that neighbors would participate in together. This effort centers Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) artists and residents in or from Southeast Lancaster. This program is free and open to the public, but attendance is limited.
Please RSVP via email to southeastcreativecommunities@gmail.com
https://www.the-seed-projects.com/ https://www.facebook.com/southeastseedproject/ https://www.instagram.com/seed_project_se/?hl=en
WHAT: Artists of Color Working in Communities!—FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
WHEN: February 11, 2021, 5 to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Via ZOOM; link provided upon registration
CONTACT: Marci Nelligan; marci.nelligan@millersville.edu; 717-871-4207