Whitworth Gallery to host free two-day music and arts festival

The Whitworth Gallery is to host a free two-day outdoor music and arts festival in August. Black Gold Arts will celebrate the work of local and national black artists across everything from music and dance to fashion.

The festival takes place on August 6 and 7, and will take over the gallery’s sculpture terrace with its main stage, and also the Art Garden. There will be everything from live music, DJs, catwalk shows and vogue balls.

Among those performing will be the House Of Blaque Queer Carnival, a family catwalk extravaganza, Slay Cabaret, House Of Noir, Veba, DJ Stacy Bee, Qweenz Of Everything, a DJ set and live PA from Mix-Stress, the House of Fire Strollers and Ghetto Fabulous.

READ MORE: A lively strip, some tucked-away hipster gems and a no-nonsense pub: Our guide to enjoying life in one of Manchester’s favourite suburbs

Meanwhile, in the Art Garden there will be dance from Manchester choreographer Chad Taylor, and dance workshops from Ghetto Fabulous. There will also be a range of food vendors on the site all weekend, including Northenden’s celebrated Vietnamese Mi & Pho, Yardies and Jerk House providing Caribbean street food, Istanbul Kitchen and Chorlton’s Lucky Mama’s with pizza and pasta.

The Whitworth
(Image: Aidan o’rourke, freelance)

Co-artistic director Darren Pritchard said: “The Black Gold Arts Whitworth takeover is a truly unique event on the Manchester festival circuit. As well as live music, DJs, music, drag artist food and drinks we have some spectacular shows for all the family to enjoy.

“It was important that this was a free festival for all as we are writing in the midst of a cost of living crisis and want to remove those financial barriers so people can experience high quality art activities. We are a organisation focused on queer people of colour who are vastly underrepresented on the circuit.

“The two-day festival will show the immense talent we have in this city and beyond.” The event will run from 11am to 7pm on both days. For more details, head to the Black Gold Arts website.

Get the latest What’s On news – from food and drink to music and nightlife – straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.

Read more of today’s top stories here

READ NEXT:

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Joplin’s black history mural project begins this weekend

Joplin residents will begin to see the first stages of the Joplin Downtown Black History & Performing Arts Mural this weekend at the intersection of 1st and Main when artists Andrew Batcheller of Joplin and Linda Passeri of Springfield will be preparing the wall for acclaimed Kansas City muralist Mr. Alexander Austin to begin painting the mural onto the north wall of Bruce’s Point of View Optical at 102 South Main Street, Joplin.

Drivers coming into Downtown Joplin from the north on Main Street will see the emergence of images honoring Black artists who were born in Joplin or performed in the community, including world-renowned saxophonist Charles McPherson and Joplin-born Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. First and Main is the intersection of the original Route 66 and Langston Hughes Boulevard/Broadway Street and a significant connection to the historically Black area of East Town to Downtown Joplin. 

The Joplin Downtown Black History & Performing Arts Mural is a culmination of several years and the efforts of many local organizations. The project received a significant contribution of funding from the Charles McPherson Journey Home event which took place earlier this year. Additional contributions are welcome and can be donated through the Langston Hughes  Cultural Society.

The mural is expected to be completed in the next few weeks. Concept art for the mural can be seen online. 

Nanda Nunnelly, mural project coordinator said: “We are so excited to present the mural and Mr. Alexander Austin to the Joplin community! This has truly been a community effort! This mural tells the story of a rich presence of Black entertainers and artists–a story many are not aware of. This is Black History, Joplin History, and American History! 

Melissa Swindell, President of the Langston Hughes Cultural Society said: “The Langston Hughes Cultural  Society is very proud to support this historic contribution to the city of Joplin. This wonderful mural in  such a prominent location will help educate Joplin citizens and visitors to our town on the previously  untold story of the many talented Black entertainers who performed here.”  

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

As San Diego Rep closed its doors this month, artists of color called it out for past missteps

For 46 years, San Diego Repertory Theatre burnished its reputation as one of the nation’s most prolific producers of plays by artists of color. But in the six days after the company’s June 7 announcement that it was suspending operations, online posts and discussions by past Rep employees have tarnished its reputation.

On June 10, cast members from the Rep’s winter production of “The Great Khan” posted on Instagram a months-old video of themselves reading a statement about the racially discriminatory treatment they received during the play’s run from March 3 through 26. Three days later, a live YouTube discussion by seven local Black theater leaders touched on similar issues of heavy-handed treatment toward people of color in the past at the Rep.

Sam Woodhouse, founder and artistic director of San Diego Rep, issued a statement June 15 acknowledging that mistakes were made during the “Khan” rehearsals and said he and others worked with the cast to find remedies and solutions “as swiftly as possible.” He also said the company was planning to re-analyze its equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plan and institute companywide training before the Rep’s board of directors decided to suspend operations. The causes for the Rep’s shutdown included a budget deficit, unexpected losses caused by the cancellation of two productions this year, low ticket sales and the struggle of operating in a construction zone.

Rep officials have said they hope the theater’s closure is only temporary and they can restructure and reopen in 2024. With that in mind, Woodhouse — who had planned to retire in the fall and a search for his successor was already well under way — said the Rep of the future will benefit from the reckoning it’s going through now.

Advertisement

“As we look toward the future of the Rep … we are taking a holistic look at the company, including structure and processes, and we recognize there is much work to do. Our goal remains to continue our commitment to create work that promotes an interconnected community, nourishes progressive values and celebrates diverse voices, and to become a fully inclusive, equitable, anti-racist multicultural organization,” Woodhouse said in the statement.

On Sunday, members of the multiethnic cast of “The Great Khan” submitted to the Union-Tribune a newly revised statement about the negative experiences they had in at the Rep last winter. The statement said the play’s three Black cast members, who wear their hair naturally, were denied the same level of hairstyling services and accommodations as non-Black cast members. One cast member was repeatedly denied promised transportation to rehearsals. And during the play’s final rehearsals, ushers tried to stop only the Black and Asian cast members from entering the building.

Following the final performance of “The Great Khan,” the cast — Mikayla Bartholomew, Jerome Beck, Brittney Caldwell, Molly Adea, Brian Rivera and Dylan Seaton — read a prepared, 900-word statement to the audience that was recorded on a cellphone. But that video wasn’t shared online until June 10. That original statement, written by Bartholomew, asked White audience members to check their inherent biases, and they encouraged Rep administrators to “untether themselves from the roots of White supremacy that holds up most of our institutions.”

In their most recent statement, the cast members say they’re proud of how they stood together as a community, demanded change and the production was better for it. “Our show worked because our community worked. We worked. It’s the Rep that didn’t.”

Meanwhile, on June 13, the Rep-produced YouTube live video series “We Are Listening” aired its 43rd and final episode. Launched a month after George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, the series hosted by Rep administrator Ahmed Kenyatta Dents was a salon where Black artists in the theater industry could share their experiences. The honest and raw interviews attracted the support of La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe, and two of their Black artistic leaders, Jacole Kitchen at the Playhouse and Freedome Bradley-Ballentine at the Globe, joined the project as co-hosts.

During the final episode, co-host Kitchen, directors Yolanda Franklin and Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and actor Monique Gaffney all said they had complex emotions about the Rep. They said Woodhouse and the Rep offered each of them the opportunity for career breakthroughs, but that loyalty may have blinded them to issues other artists of color had experienced.

“We are so deeply a part of this community that it’s hard to see the flaws and so we excuse things,” Kitchen said. “But how many of us have just said, ‘That’s just Sam. That’s the Rep. That’s how they do things.’ … But when you bring in a company of people who don’t have that same attachment … they went ‘No, this isn’t how you do things.’ … So it got conversations happening within the community of what do we accept, what do we put up with and what do we sweep under the rug.”

Bradley-Ballentine — who announced earlier this month he will be leaving the Globe to return to his former artistic home, the Public Theatre in New York — said he’s sad that San Diego has lost a theater where “Sam created a space for Black, Latino and women artists that didn’t have that space in San Diego.” But he said it’s time for change and it’s better for the Rep to close now rather than bring in a new leader of color who could never surmount the company’s terminal financial situation.

In the meantime, Bradley-Ballentine said it’s the responsibility of all leaders of color to ensure every theater provides a healthy space “where people are taken care of and their voices matter.”

“I’ve been fighting this fight my entire professional theater life,” he said. “Nobody has the right to disrespect you as an artist.”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

GRAMMY Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter India.Arie Joins National Symphony Orchestra To Headline BGR!FEST 2022 — Black Girls Rock! BGR!FEST

(MENAFN– PRLog) — BONDVISION Media, and BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ CEO Beverly Bond, makes Washington, DC the official home of The BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Festival™ ( BGR!FEST) with the addition of three inaugural platforms: BGR! FILM FEST , THE BLACK CLOUD ® TECH SUMMIT and the launch of BLACK MEN ROCK! BGR!FEST™, an immersive multi-day live experience curated to celebrate the cultural contributions of Black artists, thought leaders, and creatives. The festival, spanning four days, will take place during Independence Day weekend, June 30- July 3 across multiple venues in the District of Columbia.
Multi-GRAMMY® Award–winning R&B icon India.Arie will headline this year’s BGR!FEST for two magical nights of high art and healing. This will be her first-ever collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and under the direction of award-winning conductor Dr. Henry Panion III , producer and arranger for Stevie Wonder, The Winans, and more.
The BGR! FILM FEST celebrates the innovation, vision, and voices of Black women storytellers and will be on Saturday, July 2 and Sunday, July 3, across three locations: The Kennedy Center Family Theater, the Angelika Pop-up, and the Eaton Cinema. Selections include Denise Dowse’s Remember Me: the Mahalia Jackson Story starring Ledisi and Wendy Raquel Robinson, Eliane Henri’s and Erykah Badu’s Hargrove, Lin Que Ayoung’s But Tomorrow, Felicia Pride’s Tender, Regina Hoyles’ Adullam, and more. The festival will also feature DC based filmmaker and writer Bree West , executive producer of the new AMC Networks/ALLBLK series ‘Hush.’
THE BLACK CLOUD
® TECH SUMMIT , powered by Amazon, is a tech hub for Black trailblazers, tech innovators, industry experts and the next generation of STEM leaders. Free to the public, THE BLACK CLOUD ® TECH SUMMIT will be located at The Beverly Salon at the Eaton Hotel to be held on Thursday, June 30, and Friday, July 1, featuring innovative STEM leaders from diverse backgrounds and industries.
The 2022 BGR!FEST will also introduce the BLACK MEN ROCK! stage hosted at the 9:30 Club , featuring enigmatic rapper Jay Electronica, R&B Soul sensation Raheem DeVaughn , indie rock artist Bazaar Royale , Roc Nation artist Greg Banks . Hosted by M-1 of rap duo dead prez and DC’s own DJ Trini of 93.9 WKYS FM.
‘It is exciting to have Beverly Bond and BLACK GIRLS ROCK! BGR!Fest here in Washington, DC, a world-class cultural destination. OCTFME is proud to be a part of BGR!FEST. Our Mayor, Muriel Bowser, is committed to the arts and creative community and OCTFME plays a vital role in supporting our creative community and the creative industries in DC. The BLACK GIRLS ROCK! platform is so important as it focuses on celebrating, elevating, and empowering women and girls of color. BGR!FEST is a showcase for musicians, singers, cultural curators, cultural entrepreneurs, and creative innovators,’ said Dr. Angie M. Gates, Director of the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music, and Entertainment . ‘We hope our City, the Capital of Creativity, will be home to BGR!FEST for years to come.’
Founder and CEO Beverly Bond said, ‘The 2022 BGR!FEST is a full-spirited and empowering celebration of Black genius in art, culture, innovation and technology adding to the tapestry of our collective magic. With the support of Mayor Bowser, Dr. Angie Gates and the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment (OCTFME), BGR!FEST is able to expand the festival exponentially with the launch of new activations and programs like BGR! FILM FEST, BLACK CLOUD TECH SUMMIT, and BLACK MEN ROCK!, highlighting the best of Black thought and creativity in Chocolate City.’
Additional artists, speakers, and events will be announced. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased via .
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
THURSDAY JUNE 30:
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
BLACK CLOUD® TECH SUMMIT A tech hub for Black trailblazers
THE BEVERLY SALON AT THE EATON HOTEL

BLACK CLOUD® TECH SUMMIT a tech hub for Black trailblazers, will gather top STEM leaders, tech innovators, business advisors, recruiters, and industry experts to discuss career opportunities, forecast digital technologies, and offer insights for transforming the tech industry for the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs of color.
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
BLACK GIRLS ROCK!® CONCERT SERIES – INDIA.ARIE x NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KENNEDY CENTER

Multi-GRAMMY Award®–winning R&B icon India.Arie will headline this year’s BLACK GIRLS ROCK!FEST™ (BGR!FEST) as it makes its highly anticipated return—collaborating with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) for the very first time. This must-see event will feature multi award-winning conductor and arranger Dr. Henry Panion III, most known for his work with superstar Stevie Wonder. Dr. Panion will lead India.Arie and the NSO in lush orchestrations of her music.
11:00 PM
BGR! AFTER DARK

VIP AFTER-PARTY (PRIVATE EVENT)
FRIDAY, JULY 1:
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
BLACK CLOUD® TECH SUMMIT DAY 2
THE BEVERLY SALON AT THE EATON HOTEL

BLACK CLOUD® TECH SUMMIT a tech hub for Black trailblazers, will gather top STEM leaders, tech innovators, business advisors, recruiters, and industry experts to discuss career opportunities, forecast digital technologies, and offer insights for transforming the tech industry for the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs of color.
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
BLACK GIRLS ROCK!® CONCERT SERIES – INDIA.ARIE x NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – DAY 2
THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS

Multi-GRAMMY Award®–winning R&B icon India.Arie will headline this year’s BLACK GIRLS ROCK!FEST™ (BGR!FEST) as it makes its highly anticipated return—collaborating with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) for the very first time. This must-see event will feature multi award-winning conductor and arranger Dr. Henry Panion III, most known for his work with superstar Stevie Wonder. Dr. Panion will lead India.Arie and the NSO in lush orchestrations of her music.
8:30 PM DOORS OPEN
BLACK MEN ROCK!
9:30 CLUB
BGR!FEST
presents the launch of BLACK MEN ROCK ! a concert + celebration featuring a diverse representation of dynamic Black male music artists. BLACK MEN ROCK! 2022 will take place at The 930 Club with JAY ELECTRONICA, RAHEEM DEVAUGHN, BAZAAR ROYALE, GREG BANKS, M-1 OF DEAD PREZ and more.
SATURDAY, JULY 2:
BLACK GIRLS ROCK! AND MUMU FRESH PRESENTS ‘HEART SONG’ WRITING WORKSHOP
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

BLACK GIRLS ROCK! teams up with GRAMMY Nominated Rapper, Singer, songwriter, and motivational speaker, Mumu Fresh for a 2 hour long therapeutic songwriting workshop entitled Heart Song.
Line Hotel DC Community Center (basement level)
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
BGR! FILM FEST

An exhibition of Black women filmmakers and Black women-centered content.
The Kennedy Center Family Theater – 2:00 PM-6:00 PM
8:00 PM
THE BGR! SHOT CALLER DINNER (PRIVATE EVENT)
Featuring ALICE SMITH
An exclusive VIP gathering celebrating the 2022 expansion of BGR!FEST to DC attendees will include distinguished guests, performers, artists and tastemakers from across the DMV area.
11:00 PM
BGR! AFTER DARK

VIP AFTER-PARTY (PRIVATE EVENT)
SUNDAY, JULY 3:
10:00 PM – 6:00 PM
BGR! FILM FEST – DAY 2

An exhibition of Black women filmmakers and Black women-centered content.
The Eaton Cinema – 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
The Angelika Pop-up – 2:00 PM-6:00 PM
11:00 PM
BGR! AFTER DARK

VIP AFTER-PARTY (PRIVATE EVENT)
ABOUT BLACK GIRLS ROCK!

BLACK GIRLS ROCK® is a multifaceted media, entertainment, philanthropic, and lifestyle brand that encompasses numerous experiential live events, media content, merchandise, and programs including the internationally acclaimed televised BLACK GIRLS ROCK!® Awards, The BGR!FEST and BLACK GIRLS ROCK!® Inc., a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit.
ABOUT BGR!FEST
BGR!FEST™ is an immersive live experience that celebrates, empowers, and elevates Black culture, arts, tech, and innovation. Curated by CEO and founder Beverly Bond, BGR!FEST™ extends the popular BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ platform to audiences, providing a larger platform to showcase musicians, singers, cultural curators, social entrepreneurs, and other creative innovators. Open to all ages, each edition of the BGR!FEST™ includes a mix of concerts, a speaker series, panels/workshops, sponsor activations, and community events. visit .
BGR!FEST MEDIA CONTACTS:
Thomasina Perkins
Capitol Public Relations

202.486.0698
Jennifer Valentin
Shore Fire Media

617.417.8387
Media Contact
Capitol Public Relations LLC
Thomasina Perkins-Washington
***@capitolpublicrelations.com
2024860698
Photos:

MENAFN27062022003745003076ID1104441959

Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Ranking our favourite performances from this year’s BET Awards

Another day, another award show. So amid all these award shows, what makes the BET Awards unique? Well, to start with, the BET is an award show mainly for black artists — BET stands for Black Entertainment Television — to celebrate their achievements in music, acting, sports and other fields of entertainment, although people of other races also can be nominated and win awards. Every year, the BET Awards gives us amazing performances and this year, we’re ranking our top three.

Diddy

The top spot undoubtedly goes to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who won a lifetime achievement award and performed a medley of all his best hits from his 25 years as an artist.

From his early R&B classics ‘Come Talk To Me’ with Jodeci and ‘I’m Goin’ Down’ with Mary J Blige, the first steps of Diddy’s illustrious career were shown, followed by his Bad Boy phase, when he was associated with the record label Bad Boy Entertainment, with such hits as ‘Victory’ and ‘Bad Boyz’ with Shyne. He continued with this blast from the past with ‘All about the Benjamins’ with the Lox.

He continued, ushering in the 2010s with ‘Pass the Courvoisier’ with Busta Rhymes and his new single ‘Gotta Move On.’ He finished this rousing performance on an emotional note with ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ performed with Faith Evans and dedicated to his late partner, Kimberley Porter, amongst others.

Lizzo

The next person on our list is Lizzo, performing her hit Hot 100 single, ‘It’s About Damn Time.’ The singer and her dancers stunned in shining gold outfits, serving some killer dance moves. She made the song even more memorable with a rendition played on her flute at the beginning of the song, and all in all, provided a fantastic, energy-filled performance.

(

Jack Harlow, Lil Wayne and Brandy

Last, but certainly not least, Jack Harlow amazed the audience with his spectacular performance of his hit songs ‘Poison’ and ‘First Class’ performed with the legendary Lil Wayne and Brandy respectively.

And we couldn’t end this piece without a mention of Mariah Carey and Latto’s performance that took us way back.

.

What performances did you like?

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

These easy wins could alleviate wait times at hospital ERs, experts suggest

As Sarah McLeod’s asthmatic son struggled to breathe on a recent trip to the emergency room in Calgary, she looked up at the board to see a 10-hour wait time standing between her son and the care he needed. 

When she came in, her son was stable. But he got worse, so McLeod talked to a nurse. 

“The nurse looked through her system and there were, again, no beds available. She was obviously frustrated. She said to me that she could tell that the system was broken,” said McLeod.

The nurse was able to find a bed in another unit, and McLeod’s son was eventually able to get help. But the whole ordeal took about eight hours. 

“When I left the room there were still families out there that were there when I started at three in the morning,” said McLeod. 

The issue of long wait times has been plaguing hospital emergency departments long before the COVID-19 pandemic. In Ontario, emergency room patients are dealing with record-high wait times to get admitted to the hospital.

White Coat Black Art26:30ER Crisis and Solutions

Health-care experts say there are a number of solutions that could alleviate the built-up pressure. Some of those solutions will take some time to implement — but they say others could be put into practice now.

Dr. Lindy Samson, chief of staff at CHEO, (formerly Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario), says it’s important for children and their development that the wait problem is solved now, as the trickle-down effect of packed emergency departments is having an impact on surgeries.

“In-patient medical wards have been at or over 100 per cent occupancy for the last several weeks. And when that happens, that delays the ability for kids that are in the emergency department that need to be admitted to hospital from being able to leave the emergency department and get up into their hospital room,” said Samson, who is also a pediatric infectious diseases physician. 

Woman and young boy smile outdoors.
Sarah McLeod came up against a 10-hour wait at the emergency room when she brought in her son, who was struggling with an asthma attack. (Submitted by Sarah McLeod)

Mental health-care outside the ER

Samson says CHEO is seeing respiratory viruses going around, and an increase in trauma and broken bones that come with kids playing outside in the summer. 

On top of that, she says there is a high number of kids and teens with acute mental health distress. And that’s where CHEO has started to make a difference. 

Samson says CHEO is trying to reduce wait times by removing the need for some kids to even go to the emergency department in the first place. 

The hospital started a child and youth-focused health team that is funded by the province, which partners with over 60 organizations and providers that work in children’s healthcare, such as family physicians, pediatricians, mental health organizations and home care providers. 

Brunette woman in a red cardigan holds a nametag that reads 'Dr Lindy Samson'
Dr. Lindy Samson, chief of staff at CHEO, says it’s important to address the issue of ER wait times to prevent a trickle-down effect of delayed surgeries. (CHEO)

That group has worked together to create a program called One Call, One Click, which is a mental-health service that allows easy access to information and triaging to find who can provide the best help in the quickest time possible, without stepping foot in the ER. 

Samson says it’s all about putting “kids and their families and their needs at the centre and [building] a system around that in an integrated way rather than have people have to jump through hoops and go to different silos who are planning separately.”

And Samson says that general approach works. 

“There is data from pre-COVID that shows that that does decrease their need to be admitted to hospital and I believe also visits to the emergency department,” said Samson.

Rapid assessment zones

Dr. David Petrie says reducing emergency department wait times is complex but can be done by understanding how a hospital system works overall and where the problems lie. 

Petrie is an emergency physician in Halifax and has been working in emergency medicine for almost 30 years. 

A grey-haired man in glasses.
Halifax emergency physician Dr. David Petrie says rapid assessment zones can help decrease ER wait times. (CBC)

He says in Nova Scotia emergency departments, the wait from signing up to seeing a physician averages about four hours but can get up to eight hours. 

One way Petrie suggests improving the system is by making better use of the beds hospitals have. 

“Ten, 15 years ago, an [emergency department] bed was an [emergency department] bed and the next patient came in, stayed in that bed until their workup was completed … so there was a period of lag time until a decision could be made, and the patient was either moved upstairs to their inpatient bed or discharged,” said Petrie. 

But Petrie believes a rapid assessment zone could change that. 

“You bring someone in, do your history and physical … then take them out of that bed where it’s possible, move them into what might be called an internal waiting area and move the next patient in,” said Petrie. 

“So rather than that one bed maybe being occupied for four to five hours by one patient, you could move five, six, seven, eight patients through that single bed.”

Accountability and co-ordination

Petrie also suggests improving accountability. He says oftentimes, different departments aren’t working together, and in solving their own issues will create problems for others.

For example, an inpatient department with a long line may leave patients in the emergency department. But Petrie says that can be solved with accountability across the health-care field. 

“More specifically … some of the most effective impacts on [keeping people moving through the ER] have to do with holding people accountable to certain flow targets,” said Petrie. 

“And that has to do with length of stay. It has to do with meeting expected sort of time of discharge, a whole host of things that can make a difference.”

And both Petrie and Samson agree that more collaboration and teamwork across all departments of health care can also help the ongoing issue.

“We all have to be committed to our patients and the system, and we all have to work across these boundaries,” said Petrie. “That’s the only way we’re going to get ourselves out of this.”

Sarah McLeod’s recent trip to a Calgary emergency room took over eight hours, but she said it could have been a lot worse. Doctors say online triage, rapid assessment zones, and more accountability could help decrease ER waits. (Submitted by Sarah McLeod)

It’s these kinds of differences Sarah McLeod said she hopes to see so that if she has to take her son to the emergency department again, he’ll get help sooner.

“I think that we, as citizens, as parents, deserve to know what wait times are in hospitals and why they’re that bad and what can we do to fix them?” said McLeod.

“I am hoping going forward I will not have to go back unless it is incredibly serious.”


Produced by Colleen Ross, Amina Zafar and Stephanie Dubois.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Rare Grooves

In the mid-1960s, South African musician and composer Ndikho Xaba was visiting the United States as an actor in the first African play to ever run on Broadway. The production of Alan Paton’s “Sponono” was staged for nearly a month at the Cort Theatre, now James Earle Jones Theatre, and when the show’s run ended, Xaba stayed behind.

Whatever problems he found in America, he chose to deal with them rather than return to the racist system of apartheid in his home country. In New York, his old friends Hugh Masekela and singer Miriam Makeba helped him establish residency while Xaba taught himself piano. Soon he wound up in San Francisco at the peak of the psychedelic, “hippie”-era counterculture, where he was surrounded by like-minded artists pursuing social progress through music, political activism and various other consciousness-expanding activities.

In 1971, Xaba and his young band traveled south to a Los Angeles garage studio, where they recorded a masterpiece of Afrocentric spiritual jazz titled “Ndikho Xaba and the Natives.” Originally, only a hundred copies of the album were pressed, and much later it became a highly sought-after collector’s item. First remastered and reissued by Matsuli Music in 2015, this musical treasure is finally reaching a larger audience on its 50th anniversary, now that Mississippi Records has reissued it this month on affordable, 160-gram vinyl. The Natives featured on these songs include Baba Duru on congas, Ken “Shabalala” Parker on bass, Kieta on drums, Lon Moshe on vibes and percussion and Richmond’s own James “Plunky” Branch on tenor and soprano saxophone, flute and percussion.

click to enlarge cover.jpg

Plunky, who is about to turn 75 next month, still maintains a prolific artistic life. Between writing and publishing poetry, performing and recording new music, and executive producing a new documentary about the Black Fire label he co-founded in Washington, DC, Branch stays busier than many artists a third his age. And during the bleak, early days of the pandemic, as tumbleweeds drifted through the toilet paper aisles, Branch chose to provide free weekly outdoor performances for his Byrd Park neighborhood, a shining example of an artist contributing to the wellbeing of the village.

Regarding the new reissue, which is garnering critical kudos and praise from all the right influencer caves, Branch says the album still reminds him “most intensely” of his mentor, Xaba, and his wife, Nomusa, and what he learned while playing with him from roughly 1970-1972. “The primary lesson I got was this idea of African music being very closely akin to American jazz and R&B music,” he says. “The other part was that music could be more than entertainment, [it could be] a political tool, if not a weapon. In African society, you judged music and the arts, in general, not based on specific technique or proficiency. You judged the arts by how well it served the tribe, or society.”

Listening to the songs today, one can sense the common musical bonds forming between anti-colonial, social justice movements in Africa and the United States. This is revolutionary music carried by a deep, meditative groove that seems held aloft by Xaba’s expressive piano, Plunky’s soaring, fluttering horn work, and various homemade instruments and percussion. More specifically, the music bridges the Zulu and Xhosa tribal music of South Africa, and its popular “township jive” dance music, Branch says, with the spiritual free jazz scene built in America by luminaries such as Alice and John Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders and Sun Ra. Among the reissue’s five tracks are longer, free-flowing instrumentals – notably the sublime track, “Nomusa,” named after Xaba’s wife –in addition to shorter, live-sounding chants reminiscent of Sanders’ raw and celebratory musical demands for freedom.

[embedded content]

Branch says that Xaba was taken with spiritual jazz because it allowed a kind of romanticizing of the music. “I don’t mean romanticizing in terms of dreaming, but making sounds that would be imitative of things in nature,” he explains. “For example, we might be asked to reenact the sounds of battle or revolution.”

After leaving San Francisco, Xaba moved to New York and Washington, DC –where Branch says they did some more recording– before later returning to his homeland of South Africa, post-apartheid. Baba Ndikho Xaba passed away in June 2019 at the age of 85, an under-appreciated genius of South African music.

So why does there seem to be a resurgence of this kind of spiritual jazz music among younger audiences and independent labels today?

“That’s such a great question. I’m not sure,” Branch says, before taking a few stabs at it. “Some might think that where we are on the planet now, and how we’re faring politically, [that] this is the time for a resurgence of music created toward the end of the Black Arts movement in the ’60s and early ’70s.” He points to former race relations during a time of upheaval, as well as several [political] assassinations. “Some might say we’re in a similar time frame, not just locally but globally.”

Branch points out that spiritual jazz music asks us to look beyond the physical world and reach for something grander. “I think there also might be an interest in that music purely because it’s different,” he continues. “Marketing and social media has given us a kind of mass-produced sameness. Sometimes, people crave something different. New guys like Kamasi Washington and old guys still around might appeal to people; they don’t fit into the Justin Bieber world, or Britney Spears, or even Beyonce.”

From a music business standpoint, he says this genre is not as “controlled and contracted,” and collectors are always craving overlooked gems. “I was just telling my wife, the idea of resurgence and reissues of vinyl records; sometimes we call it rare groove music. These records are rare.”

click to enlarge Plunky Branch performs on shekere (left) while Ndikho Xaba plays conga drum during a concert at Howard University in Washington, DC. circa 1975.

  • Plunky Branch performs on shekere (left) while Ndikho Xaba plays conga drum during a concert at Howard University in Washington, DC. circa 1975.

Although largely self-taught, Branch says he was lucky to have gotten a solid education in music while going to Maggie Walker High School in Richmond.

“I had great Black music teachers, like Joseph Kennedy, a jazz violinist and one of the first two Black people to integrate the Richmond Symphony,” he recalls. “Good, basic music information. But when I graduated, one of the most important parts for me was developing my own sound.”

Initially, Branch attended Columbia University in New York to become a chemist and planned to work for Dupont. But campus radicals convinced him that he would be making napalm to be used against villagers in Vietnam, so instead he gravitated to his other love of music, which has defined his life ever since.

Branch relocated to the Bay Area in the late 1960s because of “music and politics,” he says, and ended up living a couple blocks from the corner of Haight and Ashbury, early home base for the Grateful Dead and ground central for the American counterculture.

“What I feel when I hear this record now is a great reminiscing of those times, the psychedelic era, the formative years of the Black Panther party,” he says, noting that he hung out all the time at Bill Graham’s venue, the Fillmore West, watching acts like Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Miles Davis. “Especially the ‘Bitches Brew’ era.”

He also mentions an organization, Third World Communications, out of San Francisco. “Being from Richmond, I only knew race relations based on Blacks and whites, and only through total segregation. [Here] was this organization of Japanese artists, Filipino artists, Chicano or Mexican artists, Chinese, because of Chinatown. All these nationalities were getting together for left wing political and cultural enterprises, exercises, demonstrations and activism.”

While living in the Bay Area, Branch played with several R&B bands and worked with drummer Art Perry, who had been touring with legendary jazz multi-instrumentalist, Rahasaan Roland Kirk. “I interacted with Sun Ra, met Pharaoh Sanders – and recorded with him later in New York,” Branch says. “For me, Pharaoh was an idol. And Rahasaan Roland Kirk helped me learn the concept of circular breathing on the horn.”

He said it was players like Roland Kirk or John Gilmore from Sun Ra who taugh him the importance in finding his own sound, or musical language.

“One of the great things about saxophone is its tone is so malleable. You hear the timbre of someone like John Coltrane and nobody else sounds like that,” he says. “That’s what my challenge has been for these 50 years, [to find] a sound that’s for me, expresses my emotionalism, my politics. Although these days, I’ve started writing more [poetry]. Just because you find your own sound, doesn’t mean everyone is going to understand it.”

[embedded content]

Branch usually refers to the Ndikho Xaba and the Natives album as the work that got him started producing albums. The recording and the band actually took root from an earlier Bay Area gig, when Xaba enlisted Plunky and the other musicians to provide the backing for a local poet, a “folksier, older Black gentleman” named Cousin Wash. Since that first album, Branch speculates that he’s produced roughly 40 albums, most involving himself or his groups.

During that time, Xaba gave all of his fellow band members African names, calling the young saxophonist “Nkabinde,” which translated to “tall bull … He gave me that name because I was lanky and had a lot of girl friends,” Branch writes in the liner notes.

After the Xaba album in the early 1970s, Branch formed his own group Juju and put out two early records on the Strata-East label, an innovative artist/producer collective founded by jazz musicians Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver in New York in the early 1970s. The label made its name by releasing the classic Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson album, “Winter in America” (1974). Along with the Last Poets, Scott-Heron is often considered a spiritual godfather of socially conscious rap music.

“A big part of my history is as a result of my interactions with Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson and the Midnight Band as they once were called,” Branch says. “The theory behind that company was that the artist would be the owners of the label, essentially.” Branch explains that the artist would produce their own studio sessions and pay for the first initial thousand or two thousand pressed copies. Then the label would market the record for the artist.

Strata-East had about 30, mostly older jazz musicians, he recalls. Also on that label were some young lions, or “headstrong guys” that included Scott-Heron, Mtume, and Plunky. “That album ‘Winter in America’ had a hit song called ‘The Bottle,’ which was selling thousands of copies. It caused all kinds of upheaval at Strata-East because they hadn’t contemplated even having hit records. They had to ask themselves if they wanted to participate in the commercialization of the music.”

[embedded content]

After some debate and discussion, Branch says they were forced to confront the idea that they were “more interested in the politics of how to change the record industry” while “promoting jazz music, specifically.”

“’The Bottle’ was a more R&B song and the system they had set up was unmanageable,” Branch recalls. “The artist producers would get 85% returns from the records and the company would get 15% … but they couldn’t keep up with that formula when Gil’s record started really selling.”

Like lots of U.S. manufacturing sectors, the company basically worked on a glorified consignment basis and “it was a mess,” Branch remembers. But it was also an educational mess that allowed Branch to learn enough about the music business that he was soon inspired to cofound his own Washington, DC record label, Black Fire, with jazz DJ Jimmy Gray. The label released his Plunky and the Oneness of Juju’s classic “African Rhythms” in 1975.

After the Strata-East drama, Scott-Heron also moved to Washington and began using Black Fire for distribution for his most popular record. “It seemed like the whole R&B world wanted copies of ‘The Bottle.’ Gil pressed them himself and distributed through Black Fire, which put us on the map. For about eight weeks, the only place you could get that record around the whole country, and internationally, was us.”

Also, Branch and Oneness of Juju band used a booking agent, Charisma Productions in DC, which booked shows for Scott-Heron, Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Norman Connors, and others. “Gil Scott and Brian Jackson are like brothers to me. We played together all the time. Oneness of Juju wasn’t as big as other bands with that agency, but they would use us as the opening act many times.”

[embedded content]

Eventually, Branch returned to his hometown of Richmond where he began to really pay it forward as an educator, cofounding the Richmond Jazz Society. That inspiring organization remains close to his heart to this day. “I love what some of the younger groups are doing today. Like Butcher Brown, I did some things with them. I like their experimentation, the blend of hip-hop and jazz and everything in between.”

Branch still enjoys recounting the story of when Richmond’s VCU jazz ensemble went to South Africa in 2012 to scout its exchange program with the University of KwaZulu-Natal. They met Xaba’s wife, who only wanted to them all about Plunky.

“The instructor said, ‘We went [8,000] miles to learn about a musician who was three minutes from campus,” Branch says, laughing. “So when they got back, we released a recording commemorating their trip and my relationship with Ndikho.”

However, Branch has publicly lamented Richmond’s music scene as being a little too cookie-cutter, particularly “the R&B bands have tended to be cover bands as opposed to original music.”

But more and more, people are doing their own music, he says, in various genres. “I see some experimentation with Afrobeat, and I’m always appreciative of VCU and Virginia State’s jazz departments, and what they’re doing at VPM with radio and Style.” Things are better than they were a decade ago, he adds.

When asked why Richmond has never managed to support a small, world-class jazz club (like Yoshi’s in Oakland or the Spotted Cat in New Orleans), even with our impressive number of talented players and educators, Branch has theories.

“Richmond is, believe it or not, a conservative place. And this is purely a Plunkyism, but part of the problem is we’re the capital,” he says, noting that he’s been to many states and finds that, largely, it’s not the capitals that are most progressive in terms of art or entertainment. “You might find more progressive art in the Tidewater area or Northern Virginia than [here]. People don’t party where the politics and laws are being made.”

Though Branch admits that he never thought marijuana would see any legalization in Virginia. “I knew 50 years ago it should not be illegal, and there was social harm being done to people by its prohibition,” he says. “That speaks to what is possible. You never know, you can’t prejudge people by location, geography or even culture, because things can change.” He also hopes that science continues to use more psychedelics in the treatment of things like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the fear involved with terminal illness.

Over his life, Branch has released around 20 albums on the Black Fire label and more recently started his second label, N.A.M.E (New African Musical Enterprises) Brand Records. He sold his entire Black Fire catalogue a year ago and those albums are being reissued by Strut Records in London, which has helped raise the artist’s international profile. For example, after playing the Dogwood Dell this August, he jets off to play Paris a week later.

There’s also a new film, “Black Fire: The Documentary,” made with a grant from Home Rule Music and Film Preservation Foundation which documents Washington, DC music history. The movie is co-directed by Kia Freeman and Richmond’s Patrick Mamou (also a producer) while Branch is listed as an executive producer. Recently, that doc had its premiere at a DC festival, and Branch says it will definitely screen at Richmond’s own Afrikana Film Festival, he thinks in September – though there will likely be other opportunities to see it as well.

[embedded content]

Black Fire Documentary Trailer from Black Fire Culture on Vimeo.

Soon, you should be able to watch Branch and his group featured on television in the PBS series, “The Elevator Pitch,” he says. He also recently wrote his second book of poetry and recorded an album setting the poems to music, just releasing a new single, “Blackness,” last week. And if that wasn’t enough, he says he just completed a new album of material for the fall.

Going back to discussing the Xaba and the Natives album, Branch says that own life’s musical message is not too different from his mentor.

“My music is R&B, Afrofunk and jazz music and all of it, to me, is one. Which is the name of my group, Oneness. For me, Black music is all African-oriented; it’s polyrhythmic, improvisational to varying degrees, and it’s all about this idea of social interaction and music serving the people,” he notes. “That’s what I got from Ndikho and that’s what I infused in all my genres – it’s always about the spirituality of this moment, and how can I make those principles serve the community. That’s all lofty and noble, but its’ really what I believe and try to convey.”

click to enlarge Branch holds up his recent book of poetry, "Juju Jazz Poetics." - SCOTT ELMQUIST

  • Scott Elmquist
  • Branch holds up his recent book of poetry, “Juju Jazz Poetics.”

With growing consternation at home and around the world among a population of nearly 8 billion human beings, Branch still has hope that there are people who have an understanding of where things are going “planetarily” speaking.

“We’re all interconnected. You can’t do something in one place that doesn’t affect another place. You can’t say … who cares if the icebergs fall in? Or who cares about mowing down a million acres of trees a month in Brazil that function as our lungs?”

And while organized religion continues to fade in this country, he believes there are other arts “that open up our consciousness and causes us to think in those kinds of terms.” Branch believes that this all factors into why there is a need for spiritual jazz or progressive music, in general.

“That’s where people have congregated who are looking for uniqueness, who are looking to punch through. To say, ‘I’m confronting you and making you have to deal with me, pro or con. You might not like it, but you’re not going to ignore it.’”

Plunky and the Oneness will be performing for First Fridays at the VMFA in the sculpture garden this Friday, July 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. On Aug. 5 he will be playing at Dogwood Dell before heading to Paris, France for a show on Aug. 12.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Sam Gilliam, US abstract artist, dies at 88

US abstract painter Sam Gilliam, who was the first Black artist to represent his country at the Venice Biennale fifty years ago, has died at the age of 88, his gallery said Monday.

“Sam Gilliam was one of the giants of Modernism,” said Arne Glimcher, the founder of the Pace Gallery in New York.

He said Gilliam, who lived most of his life in Washington “was able to convey the shared torments and triumphs of life through the universal language of abstraction” and made a name for himself with “revolutionary work that freed the canvas from its support.”

An acclaimed colorist, Gilliam was hailed in the 1960s and ’70s for taking the abstract canvas off the wooden stretcher and hanging it like a drape, or between two sawhorses, adding a spatial dimension that spanned the gap between painting and sculpture.

Glimcher said he had “painted right up until the end of his life and his most recent works are among his best.”

Gilliam was born in Mississippi in 1933 but became a leading figure in the Washington Color School in the 1950s. He represented the US in the Venice Biennale in 1972.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Artist Jade Meyers talks NFTs, art, and AT&T’s Dream in Black with ESSENCE

Artist Jade Meyers talks NFTs, art, and AT&T’s Dream in Black with ESSENCE

Black art matters. And longtime ESSENCE Festival of Color partner, AT&T, knows this. With ESSENCE’s new Tech Summit, AT&T is able to connect with the ESSENCE Fest audience through art, NFTs, and collaboration with Black artists. One way AT&T supports Black artists is with their Dream in Black initiative, which highlights those making waves in their respective industries. One of the creatives that work closely with AT&T Dream In Black is Jade Meyers, an artist out of New Orleans aka the home of ESSENCE Fest. Jade has created countless activations throughout her hometown and now with AT&T as their resident artist for ESSENCE Fest Tech Summit. ESSENCE got a chance to speak with Jade and get her thoughts on the intersection between NFTs and art, as well as how she believes Black artists can ensure they don’t get left behind in this new wave of technology.

Before we jump in, let’s give you a quick explanation of what an NFT is. I’m sure you’ve heard it by now, but maybe you never really grasped what it is and why it’s important for Black artists to utilize them. An NFT, or ‘non-fungible token’, is defined as a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art and music. They can only be bought and sold online, typically with cryptocurrency and feature specific coding to ensure that the person who bought the NFT can be confident it is the original. If you’re still confused, a quick Google search would be your best friend. Now let’s get into the interview with Jade Meyers.

ESSENCE: What influences your art?
Jade Meyers:
Life and everyday people, nature, my childhood of growing up in New Orleans, and African Heritage influence my artwork.

ESSENCE: How has growing up in New Orleans impacted the type of art you create?
JM: Growing up in New Orleans has a great impact on the artwork I create. My foundation and knowledge of art started there as a little kid. My lively and diverse environment inspired my imagination on an unexplainable level. From early morning walks to the corner store, Tap Dance lessons in Treme, Track & Field meets all summer and everything else in between. Those roots prepared me for a life long journey of artistic expression.

ESSENCE: What has it been like working so closely with AT&T as a Dream in Black artist?
JM: Working with AT&T as a Dream in Black Artist has been an incredible learning experience. The level of detail and effectiveness from their team and counterparts set a standard of excellence.

ESSENCE: How did you first learn about NFTs?
JM:
I first learned about NFTs on the internet and through friends.

ESSENCE: What made you decide to join other artists in this new wave of technology?
JM: I decided to join this new wave of technology because it is a challenge that forced me to go beyond my comfort zone and it’s also lucrative

ESSENCE: How can other Black artists participate in the NFT community? And why is that important?
JM: It’s important for other Black Artists to participate in the NFT community because as artists we are apart of the foundation of how things are seen. If we continue to learn and connect on this new level of art technology, our creations will pave the way for the next generation artistically and financially.

ESSENCE: What was your inspiration behind the 2022 AT&T Dream in Black NFT?
JM: My inspiration behind the 2022 AT&T Dream in Black NFT was the freedom to create and dream, peace -despite trials, and gratitude for life.

ESSENCE: What advice can you give other young, Black creatives who are looking to make a career out of being an artist?
JM: The advice I can give to Artists who are looking to make a career out of art is to believe in its limitless possibilities. There are so many career paths in art that you have to discover through research, networking, and travel. The only artists who starve are artists who don’t work purposefully and effectively.

Jade Meyers will showcase her amazing artwork during the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Color, bringing a custom NFT and mural background to the Tech Summit space presented by AT&T Dream In Black. Purchase your tickets here. Think you’ve got what it takes to be a Dream in Black Future Maker? Apply here.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Sam Gilliam, groundbreaking abstract artist, dies at 88

Sam Gilliam, the groundbreaking abstract artist known for his work with draped canvas, died Saturday at 88, the galleries that represented him confirmed in a joint statement on Monday. 

“Sam Gilliam was one of the giants of Modernism. He was a great friend and great artist who was able to convey the shared torments and triumphs of life through the universal language of abstraction,” Arne Glimcher, the owner of one of the galleries that represented Gilliam, said in the statement. 

Gilliam was born in 1933, in Tupelo, Mississippi, the statement said. He made his debut in the art world in Washington, D.C., as a leader in the Washington Color School. In the 1960s, he began creating his signature work: stained, draped canvases that were suspended from ceilings and walls. 

District of Columbia artist Sam Gilliam
District of Columbia artist Sam Gilliam photographed on June 22, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“By suspending his stained canvases from ceilings and walls, Gilliam transformed the medium of painting and its relationship to the spatial and architectural context in which it is viewed,” the statement said, saying his work “changed the history of art.”  

The statement also highlighted how Gilliam’s work was influenced by the social revolution of the time. One of Gilliam’s representatives, David Kordansky, said in a statement that “It is no accident that Sam’s breakthroughs came during the height of the civil rights movement. He demanded that art, however abstract or resistant to discursive language, serve as nothing less than an artist’s primary means of engaging with the world.” 

“The year 1968 was one of revelation and determination,” Gilliam once said, according to the joint statement. “Something was in the air, and it was in that spirit that I did the Drape paintings.”

barn sale at Frederick
Artist Sam Gilliam oversees the installation of one of his art works, a draped canvas named “Flower Mill,” which is placed behind a staircase at the Phillips Collection, in January 2011. ASTRID RIECKEN for The Washington Post via Getty Images

In 1972, he was the first Black artist to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale, an international cultural exhibition, according to The New York Times. 

He continued to innovate in the decades that followed, the statement said, incorporating new forms, textures and materials — like thick acrylic paint in geometric, abstract shapes and large paintings on paper and wood. His work can be found in major museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in France. 

Portrait Of Sam Gilliam
Portrait of American painter Sam Gilliam as he poses in his paint-splattered studio, Washington DC, 1980. Getty Images

“I am deeply honored and blessed to have known Sam Gilliam through the last decade of his journey. To serve his vision has been a life-defining privilege,” Kordansky said in the joint statement. “It has been about more than work or even passion-it is a form of devotion to principles that represent what is good, abiding, and true. Sam changed the course of my life, like he inspired the lives of many others, as a generous teacher, mischievous friend, and sage mentor. Above all, Sam embodied a vital spirit of freedom achieved with fearlessness, ferocity, sensitivity, and poetry.” 

Kordansky said Gilliam is survived by his wife, Annie; and three children, Stephanie, Melissa, and Leah Franklin. 

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment