2023 Events and Performances
Spring 2023: Dream Machine
Nona Hendryx’s collaborative 3D animation music-driven game, “Dream Machine” with the Berklee School of Music will return for a 3rd iteration in Spring 2023. Stay tuned for more updates!
5/20 Queen of the Night Event | Black Arts Movement @ The Armory
MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY | HAPO NA ZAMANI (Black Arts Movement Past and Present)
The Black Arts Movement was a cultural movement in the 1960s and 1970s led by Black artists, activists, and intellectuals that shaped the ideologies of Black identity, political beliefs, and African American culture. Past and present meet to reflect, examine, and point to the full experience and culture of the Black Arts Movement in a celebratory concert hosted by Carrie Mae Weems and Carl Hancock Rux with musical direction by Vernon Reid.
Co-presented with Harlem Stage as part of their Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference, examining the relationship of the Black Arts Movement to race, gender, sexuality, music, photography, film, poetry, theater, and dance as well as the larger Black Power Movement.
5/19: Music & Struggle Conversation with Toshi Reagon & Nona Hendryx @ Black Arts Movement Conference
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT: EXAMINED PART VII—THEN AND NOW CONFERENCE DAY 2
Friday, May 19, 2023
10:00 AM 9:00 PM
Harlem Stage @ 150 Convent Avenue, New York
12 – 1:30PM EST
Music & Struggle with Toshi Reagon & Nona Hendryx
Revolutionary activist and iconic art-rock, new-wave goddess Nona Hendryx (Joe’s Pub Vanguard Award recipient, GRAMMY/Emmy-nominated vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, author, and Ambassador of Artistry in Music for Berkelee College of Music) joins award-winning singer/songwriter/composer/activist Toshi Reagon (Alpert Award Fellow 2022), to discuss the radical power of music in the lives and work of Black women and music's contribution to the Black Arts Movement from a feminist perspective.
Tackling social issues, love, and politics, these groundbreaking musicians discuss how music influenced their lives and helped them address urgent social issues as well as helped shape their collective modes of political Black consciousness, artistic production, and feminism. From blues, jazz, soul, funk, and R&B to hard rock, new wave, and new age music, they take a critical look at how Black women have historically negotiated intersectionality, feminism, activism, and critical thinking as well as maintained agency against male dominant power structures (including that of the Black Arts Movement), in order to contribute a socially conscious womanist perspective to its to long-lasting legacy.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Inspired, imagined, and curated by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director/Artist-in-Residence, Carl Hancock Rux, the Black Arts Movement Conference is a three-day event featuring a keynote address by poet, music critic, and arts administrator A.B. Spellman. The conference includes panels, discussions, essays, and performances, featuring pioneers and visionary artists including Nona Hendryx, Sonia Sanchez, Henry Threadgill, Stew, Toshi Reagon, and more, as well as a closing-night concert co-presented with Park Avenue Armory, curated by Carl Hancock Rux, Tavia Nyong’o, and Vernon Reid, with contributions by Carrie Mae Weems.
Employing roundtables, public dialogues, and screenings, the convening will explore controversial areas of tension between the intellectual, ethical, and commercial imperatives of the Black Arts Movement. In conversations between pioneers of the Black Arts Movement and a contemporary generation of artists and scholars, the Black Arts Movement Conference centers itself within a dialogue that is both historically and culturally relevant in our ever-changing world. TICKETS & INFO
4/1: Wall to Wall Women of Soul @ Symphony Space
A celebration of the great women who have contributed to soul music’s past, present, and future.
DATE | Sat, Apr 1, 2023 | 3pm | 5pm | 7pm | 9pm
PRICE | FREE
THEATER | Peter Jay Sharp Theatre | Symphony Space NYC
Wall to Wall Women of Soul shines a light on the incredible women artists of soul's past, present, and future. Join us for the classic soul you know and love—and discover fresh interpretations and new artists—in this high-energy, multi-genre, pure-joy celebration of the iconic women who defied the odds and defined the genre.
Curated by Monique Martin.
3-5:
Kick off the day with the rousing sounds of gospel soul with Marcelle Davies Lashley and a gospel choir, a Celia Cruz-infused Latin soul set by Lulada Club, and an unforgettable musical tribute to Chaka Khan by Xavier Smith and band.
5-7:
Revel in a 90's mixtape of classic soul with The Soapbox Presents, dance along with The Ladies of Hip Hop, bask in the poetry of Mahogany L. Browne, and enjoy a gorgeous tribute to the music of Whitney Houston by Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter J. Hoard.
7-9:
Celebrate Indigenous music's influence on soul with Martha Redbone, immerse yourself in soulful ballads with lyric tenor Anthony Mills' tribute to Anita Baker, listen in on an engaging conversation with Kimberly Nichole, Thembisa Mshaka, and Nona Hendryx, and get down with an iconic diva set by GLR¥A & The Rakiem Walker Project.
9-11:
Singer, songwriter, producer, and Labelle member Nona Hendryx is joined by an all-women orchestra to perform the mind-blowing music of the trailblazing queen of soul and funk, Betty Davis.
...and many more!
3/6: Nona Hendryx rocks the stage at Joe’s Pub Annual Gala
Monday, March 6, 2023
6:00PM Cocktail Reception in The Library
7:00PM Dinner & Performance in Joe's Pub
Co-Chairs: Eric Ellenbogen & Dominic Ramos-Ruiz
Benefit Committee: Kurt Chauviere & BJ Sullivan, Judy Collins, Bridget Everett, Kathleen Hanna, Taylor Mac, and Shaina Taub
The evening will feature an exciting slate of Joe's Pub favorites including Nona Hendryx, Larry Krone, The Hot Sardines, and more. The featured artists represent a wide breadth of the Joe’s Pub community, including members of the Joe’s Pub Working Group (JPWG) and the NY Voices commission program. We'll also celebrate the life of Barbara Maier Gustern, our posthumous Vanguard Honoree, who was a vocal coach to many Joe’s Pub artists.
The full list of performers includes Sita Chay, Machine Dazzle, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Lama El Homaïssi, Olivia K, Nona Hendryx, J. Hoard, Sunny Jain, Larry Krone, treya lam, Roshni Samlal, and The Hot Sardines. For more information go to Joe’s Pub website