Press & Media
A Black Anthology of Music: The Resilience of Jazz Shifts to Virtual Performance
In response to the continuing CoVid-19 pandemic, this epic performance will be filmed by LTA's regional EMMY-winning production team and made available virtually in the Fall of 2021.
CINCINNATI, OH – Today, Learning Through Art, Inc., (LTA) in partnership with the Cincinnati Arts Association, announces that the collaborative expanded performance concert A Black Anthology of Music: The Resilience of Jazz (BAM) will no longer take place on September 12 at the Music Hall Ballroom, but instead will be recorded and made virtually available later in the Fall of 2021.
Kathy Wade, Learning Through Art, Inc.'s Co-Founder and CEO, shares her insight into the decision to pivot from this much-anticipated live event to a virtual performance:
"After discussing safety concerns with our fellow performance partners and arts administration colleagues, we agreed that while sharing this moving, multi-faceted event with the community means so much to all of us, there is no reason to put any of our young performers, families and school groups attending the Books Alive For Kids!® Family Adventure at any increased risk.
We do not take lightly the decision to adapt A Black Anthology of Music from an in-person experiential concert into a virtual production. We look forward to producing a quality, immersive, engaging virtual experience to share with the community.
The Learning Through Art, Inc. production team, who were named the 2021 regional EMMY winners for best Long-Form Content for Youth earlier this August, will help us to capture the magic of A Black Anthology of Music: The Resilience of Jazz. This will enable us to adhere to all health and safety protocols diminishing any increased risk of CoVid-19 as our schools and communities continue to adapt to fight the spread of this virus and its variants.
We continue to be deeply grateful to all of our sponsors and our dedicated production team, who have worked with such care and concern for each other's safety under challenging circumstances to bring books alive through sight, sound and touch."
BAM is the pinnacle of the multi-faceted Story Quilts project and will remain the capstone of the project's Summer of Healing event series with its musical exploration of reconciliation.
The concert will trace the historical resilience of Jazz and its parallels to the framing of America. The Books Alive! For Kids® Family Adventure features Kathy Wade with the Cincinnati Boychoir, Revolution Dance Theatre, Elementz, and the Cincinnati Public School Jazz Academy.
Story Quilts is made possible through the generous support of The Ralph V. and Carol Ann Haile Foundation, 7 Principles Foundation, ArtsWave, Metro, The Cincinnati Herald, and the Center for Community Resilience at George Washington University.
Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Kathy Wade, and members of the Women of Color Quilters Network open the Story Quilts exhibition 𝗪𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: 𝗔 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺
The first element of Kathy Wade's 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙨 project is now available to the public with the opening of the exhibition 𝗪𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: 𝗔 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺, through September 24 in the Skirball gallery of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and admission to the special exhibit is 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 on Sundays and Wednesdays!
We invite you, in the words of exhibit curatorial director Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, to gain insight through the experience of others – and their stories in quilts – at this internationally acclaimed textiles exhibition.
Share your thoughts, impressions, and truths with #MyStoryQuilt
Members of the media, project partners and supporters, and museum members experienced an exclusive preview with the artists of the upcoming exhibition We Are the Story: A Visual Response to Racism on Thursday, July 1. Organized and curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi courtesy of the Women of Color Quilters Network and part of Story Quilts, a program initiative created by Kathy Wade, We Are the Story showcases 53 quilts highlighting the history of civil rights, police brutality and racism in America.
Curated in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the exhibition presents an alternative visual media to approach sensitive social issues embedded in American memory, such as race, class, gender, and shared cultural trauma, in a way that emphasizes storytelling and encourages healing.
“As an artist and curator, I firmly believe art has the capacity to touch the spirit, engage, educate and heal in ways that words alone cannot,” said Dr. Mazloomi.
"Cincinnati Edition" interview with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi & Kathy Wade
Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and Kathy Wade speak to "Cincinnati Edition" host Michael Monks on Monday, June 28, 2021 about the Story Quilts project and the upcoming exhibition We Are the Story: A Visual Response to Racism. Listen to the full interview HERE.
(Interview Intro):
Few artforms can lay claim to the power that quilting possesses. Seemingly mundane objects, quilts are both deeply personal -- with us in our most vulnerable moments as we sleep -- and woven tightly into America's history.
-- Listen Here --
That duality makes them a perfect vehicle for examining America's painful history with race, and a new exhibition coming to Cincinnati in July called Story Quilts aims to do just that. Organizers hope the exhibition and related art, music and dance events can spur conversations that can lead to meaningful and lasting change.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss the exhibitions and events are Story Quilts creator Kathy Wade and artist Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, who founded the Women of Color Quilters Network.
Use this toolkit – with sample language and graphics for social media posts, websites, or e-newsletters – to spread the word and invite your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues to get engaged with Story Quilts!
