First Place winner Julianne, Second Place winner Dennis G. Donoho, and Third Place winner Ralston will perform at the Trinity House Theatre. Come hear these wonderful songwriters and performers in the best small concert venue in the Detroit area. For more information and reservations, go to www.TrinityHouse.org or call the theater at (734) 474-6304.
Julianne will be accompanied by Kris Kurzawa.

Trinity House Theater
38840 W. Six Mile
Livonia, MI 48152-2605

The seminar is for all who wish to write movies and songs that complement scenes for movies. Learn what’s happening in Detroit’s world of opportunities in film, how to write movies and develop theme music. Be enlightened by Ms. Erica Hill, Film Detroit; Zelmer Bothic III, Screenwriter-worked with Spike Lee; Guitar Center Representative and Herbert Metoyer-, Musician/Poet and Author, topic Music Scoring Equipment & Software

Early Registration: $50.00
Registration at the Door: $70.00

Register on-line www.detroitwritersguild.com or Make money order payable to: DWG, 18508 Greenlawn, Detroit, MI 48221 Attn: Sharon Floyd
(313)213-7329

Wayne State University; 573 Student Center at 5221 Gullen Mall and Reuther Mall

E. Ray Scott

It was Saturday, Feb. 6, when the cheerful, tuxedoed members of Detroit’s Players Club gathered for their monthly show of plays at their historic Playhouse. The mood quickly sobered when they heard that Player E. Ray Scott had died at 86. As Executive Director of the Michigan Council for the Arts from its inception in 1966 to 1985, and as Director of Michigan’s Commission on Art in Public Places until 1991, E. Ray was the solidifying voice and personality of the arts in Michigan.

E. Ray Scott was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1923, and the gentle tones of his Southern childhood never left him. Echoing erudition wherever he went, with a tongue he used as both rapier and unguent, E. Ray earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Speech and Theatre from the University of Southern California. He then spent six years in the United States Army as the Producer and Director of Army Entertainment for the Armed Forces in Germany.

In pursuit of a Ph. D. in Theatre and Communication Arts, Ray moved to Michigan in 1961. It was as a lobbyist for the State Medical Society and a popular figure in Lansing that Scott became aware of the need for a central figure who could gather the many tributaries of Michigan’s artistic life into one coherent, persuasive and forceful voice. E. Ray had found his life’s work.

As former Governor William Milliken remembers, “I was a State Senator when I first met Ray. He was omnipresent in Lansing and, from then on, Ray gave me advice on when and how far we could go in supporting the arts in the state.” It was when Senator Milliken became Lt. Governor that E. Ray approached his wife, Helen Milliken, with his idea for an art train. Mrs. Milliken describes it as “the genius idea which was soon thereafter copied all across the continental United States.”

As noted by his long-time friend Robert O’Leary III, “Yes, if there was one defining moment in which Ray took the most pride, it was in the establishment of Artrain, Inc.” (the official name of the art train concept). Launched in 1971 Artrain was a rail car equipped as a traveling art gallery. With great support from the railroads, the original mission of bringing art to under-served communities throughout Michigan expanded and eventually traveled over the whole country, Artrain, Inc. continues today and has provided arts and cultural programs for over 3.2 million people in cities, towns and villages across the country. Artrain’s exhibitions have become the catalyst for the development of local community cultural programs and the artists who have been nurtured by these programs.

Close behind the Artrain project, E. Ray was also instrumental in creating the enabling legislation that created the Michigan Council for the Arts – only the second state arts council in the country. Getting the State Legislature to approve a reasonable appropriation for the Council was his greatest task made easier perhaps by his warm and personal relationship with Governor William Milliken, which lasted for the 17 years he was governor of Michigan. In a meeting during his first year in office, Gov. Milliken told E. Ray, “If you can encourage the Appropriations Committee to allocate more than I have designated in my budget, I will not veto it.,” and he never did.

Though Artrain became the flagship program of the Michigan Council for the Arts (MCA) when E. Ray served as the Council’s Executive Director, his tenure, on all levels, was always marked by his passionate, intelligent and persuasive lobbying for state support of artists, all cultural institutions, artists and arts in education programs. On a national level, he established a warm working relationship with Nancy Hanks, Director of the National Endowment Arts, and served on numerous boards and committees of the NEA. E. Ray will always be remembered, however, as the tireless and determined advocate for the arts and artists in Michigan. He oversaw major growth in the arts council, which became one of the leading – and largest supporters—of public arts in the country.

Under Ray’s tenure, the arts council pioneered the concept of mini-grants – smaller grants to initiative local community arts activities. A large network of community arts councils that provided grass roots support to all areas of Michigan was a direct outgrowth of Artrain and Ray’s own commitment to Michigan artists and cultural institutions. The arts council provided significant support to every major arts institution in the state – supporting commissions, artistic seasons, premiers, new work, major museum shows, and a wide array of arts education projects.

Scott used his own resources to work with ArtServe Michigan to establish the Michigan Artist Award, which awarded $3000 prizes to three Michigan artists for two consecutive years. The purpose was to provide them with a level of economic freedom that allowed them to concentrate all of their energies on their art. In 2007, E. Ray received the Arts Advocate of the Year award from ArtServe Michigan.

E. Ray Scott is survived by his sister, Jo Ann Cole, and his daughter Dana (Mrs. Scott Tschirhart), seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. A memorial service will be held for E. Ray at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 27th, at the GEM Theatre at 333 Madison Avenue in downtown Detroit. The service will be followed with a light lunch. Once more stories and legends about E. Ray will be passed around among as many of his friends and admirers who can be there.

Family requests memorials to support the arts in Michigan and Michigan Artrain. To make a contribution in E. Ray’s honor, please go to www.artrainusa.org.

All nonprofit organizations are welcome to apply, including schools, municipalities, churches, civic cultural & art groups and libraries.

Applicants may apply for up to $4,000.00. Funded activities include art activities for students; exhibits, readings, performances, workshops and broadcasts; artist residencies, consultancies and design activities; the commissioning or restoration of public art; video and film production and screening; and the publication of limited edition, original works of an independent, non-profit press.

Round 2 Minigrant applications must be postmarked by February 24, 2010 in order to be eligible to receive funding, for activities occurring between April 1, 2010 and September 30, 2010. Guidelines and applications are available on the center’s website, www.theartcenter.org.

Anton Art Center Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Callans will lead a free grant writing workshop Wednesday, January 27, 2010, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. at the Anton Art Center. Interested attendees should RSVP to Dr. Callans at 586-469-8666.

The Anton Art Center, the hub for the arts in Macomb County, is located in historic downtown Mount Clemens on the southeast corner of Southbound Gratiot Avenue (M-3) and Macomb Place. Convenient public parking is located in the adjacent Roskopp Parking Lot. For more information please visit www.theartcenter.org.

The State of Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), an agency of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), serves to encourage, develop and facilitate an enriched environment of artistic, creative, cultural activity in Michigan. The Council’s Regional Regranting program utilizes a network of nonprofit organizations to distribute small arts and cultural projects grants (Minigrants).

For more information about the Anton Art Center, or to make a donation or become a member, call the center at 586-469-8666 or visit www.theartcenter.org. The Anton Art Center is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; Friday, 10 am to 6 pm; and Sunday, 12 noon to 4 pm. The center is closed on Mondays.

The Anton Art Center, the hub for the arts in Macomb County, is located in historic downtown Mount Clemens on the southeast corner of Southbound Gratiot Avenue (M-3) and Macomb Place. Convenient public parking is located in the adjacent Roskopp Parking Lot. For more information please visit www.theartcenter.org.

“Detroit a-go-go” is An all new original, multi-media comedy that follows one family through 300 years of Detroit history.

Written by Shawn Handlon & Mikey Brown.
Running at Planet Ant Theatre March 5th-27th, 2010
8pm Fridays and Saturdays, One sunday matinee, TBA
rehearsals will begin January 17th, 2010

About the authors:

Shawn Handlon has returned to Detroit from three years at sea working with The Second City on the Norwegian Cruise Lines. Prior to that, he was a member of the The Second City-Detroit’s resident company (in Novi and downtown) where he co-wrote and performed in “Bobbleheads of State,” “In iPod We Trust”, “Woodward to your Mother” and The Second City Detroit’s tenth anniversary revue, “Ten.” Prior to joining the resident company, he spent two years as a member of The Second City’s Michigan Touring Company. He co-wrote and directed the Wilde Award winning “Cancer: The Musical,” which enjoyed runs at the Abreact in Detroit, Planet Ant, and the New York International Fringe Fest. Handlon is also a member of the Improv Colony at Planet Ant Theatre. In all, Handlon has been involved in creating (as a writer, director or performer) twenty-five original comedies in Detroit in the last 10 years, including the Wilde Award nominated “BloodBath and Beyond,” “Deceptions to the Rule,” and “Bottle of Red: Uncorked.”

Mikey Brown directed the first feature movie adaptation of a Planet Ant original play, “Garage: A Rock Saga” as well as dozens of shorts, commercials, industrial films, music videos and the youtube webisode “CednTeri”. He won a 2009 Wilder Award for “A Very CednTeri Xmas” at Planet Ant. He was nominated for a Wilde Awards for his work in the original musical comedy “Out of The Running” and “The Bannister’s Wholesome Family Fun Hour” both at Planet Ant. Other musicals he has performed in include “Cancer: The Musical”, at the Abreact, Planet Ant and New York Fringe Fest, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” at 1515 Broadway, and “Night of the Living Dead the Musical” at the Greenwhich Street Theatre, New York. As a member of NPFC he co-composed original scores for Tony Hawk’s Gigantic Skatepark Tour and OP King of Skate, ESPN; Lifetrack, BET; Detroit Public TV station ID’s and others. Mikey has performed with many bands including The Lincolns UK and The Twilight Babies (2004 Best House Band, Real Detroit; 2003 Detroit Music Award-Best Electronic Group).

Planet Ant Theatre • 2357 Caniff • Hamtramck MI 48212
for reservations call 313.365.4948

The Metro Times Blowout is the largest local music festival in the nation, with more than 5,000 annual attendees over three days in Hamtramck, Mich. Each year, Blowout celebrates 200 local musicians in 15 different Hamtramck venues. Blowout continues to be the longest-running local music festival by highlighting the hottest talent and helping local artists into the spotlight. 2010 marks the 13th year of Blowout and will showcase some of the most talented up-and-coming local artists.

Past Blowout performers have gone on to achieve higher levels of success, including Eminem, the Silent Years, the White Stripes, the Dirtbombs, the Ruiners, the Singles, Gore Gore Girls, Chuck Flask, the Hard Lessons, the Questions, the Grande Nationals, the Von Bondies, Obie Trice, Paradime and many more.

To be considered for a performance slot at Blowout, an act must possess a nativity to Michigan, either current or long-term. There is no fee for submitting a Blowout application. All applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28. Applications are available at metrotimes.com/blowout.

All applications will be confirmed via e-mail within 30 days of submission. Metro Times receives more than 500 applications and reviews each one individually. Only selected acts will be notified of their status by Jan. 25, 2010.

For additional Blowout information, visit metrotimes.com or contact Maria Stella Jewett at (313) 202-8061 or by e-mail at blowout@metrotimes.com.

Jazz is dead! Here we go again. The recent Wall Street Journal article by Terry Teachout, (the journal’s drama critic? Why is he writing about jazz? With all their resources they couldn’t find someone to write on jazz?) declaring that no one is listening to jazz and featuring a prominent cartoon of a “black Jazz musician” being wheeled out on a cart speaks volumes to a continued bourgeois, arrogant Eurocentric lack of understanding of jazz.

Mr. Teachout’s methodology is the classic case of someone going out to investigate the flowers, but never getting off the horse to “smell the flowers.” Hence the article is so “lightweight” I had to keep a paperweight on it to keep it from elevating and floating away on its own. Put another way, as Amiri Baraka in his latest book “Digging” would say, “The lack of knowledge about America’s richest contribution to world culture is a reflection as well of the deadly ignorance which stalks this country from the New York City Hall to the halls of Congress to the corporate offices to academic classrooms, like a ubiquitous serial killer…”

Teachout uses a number of useless (without context!) numbers from a National Endowment of the Arts survey to conclude that only those with their head in the sand cannot see a larger picture of “lack of mass support for jazz” leading to its demise. There were fewer people attending a jazz concert; the audience is (graying) growing older; older people are less likely to attend jazz performances today than yesterday; and the audience among college-educated adults is also shrinking. On the surface, this kind of approach can scare or misinform a great many people into following the ever present “jazz is dead” attacks upon the music. This kind of approach is not the approach of someone who wants to help jazz survive, but one that serves to drive people away from exploring and learning about jazz.

How about we come at the non arguable “less than healthy’ state of jazz another way? Once again we call on America’s foremost jazz critic for guidance. Why not investigate and raise the question as to the “domination of US popular culture by an outrageously reactionary commercial culture of mindlessness, mediocrity, violence and pornography means that it is increasingly more difficult for the innovative, serious, genuinely expressive, or authentically popular artist to get the same kind of production and the anti-creative garbage that the corporations thrive on.” (Digging, Amiri Baraka). I suggest that this is the inquiry that the Wall Street Journal should be making into the subject matter, the health state of jazz. But when you’re part of the problem, it’s difficult. From the standpoint of the WSJ, jazz’s mystery can/cannot be solved by market forces. “Look here are the numbers!”

From the great work “Blues People,” to his other book, “Black Music,” and the latest contribution from the peoples’ critic, “Digging,” there is one thing that stands out. Amiri Baraka insists that the music, from blues to jazz, is a creation and reflection of the struggles of the Afro-American people. The music is an expression of a people’s culture and cannot be separated from such. Jazz, Afro-American in origin, universal in content and expression, is nonetheless tied to a people, expressing their greatest fears and joys, hopes for the future and repository of the past, that it can said, “the music is the people.” Hence the music can never die, because the people live. Bill Cosby is quoted in Digging as saying, “There’s a wonderful story I like to tell. It’s the end of the world…gray, blowing, turbulent… and there is this tombstone that says, ‘Jazz: It Broke Even!’ The music has its high and lows, but it can never die.”

” a fundamental contradiction, sharp, at times antagonistic, existed between American Classical Music (jazz), its creators, mainly black, and the majority of commentators, critics, critical opinion about the music, which historically are not.”

Art is a reflection of a people’s culture. As Baraka says, “Whether African Song, Work Song, Spiritual, Hollers, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, etc., no matter the genre, the ideas contained in Afro-American art, in the main, oppose slavery and desire freedom.” (Digging). For jazz to die, the entire history and Afro-American people would have to die. This is the content that an interloper like Teachout cannot understand. Jazz is as vital and fighting for its existence today as it was in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s. Jazz is currently experiencing the “tale of two cities.” On the one hand, due to the advances and demands of the black liberation movement, Jazz enjoys a newfound bourgeois respectability. This is evidenced by the fact that very many colleges and universities have jazz departments (some led by the creators of the music) that produces very rich programs and new venues for the jazz musicians to play. On the other hand, many of the formerly most popular jazz venues have “moved” downtown and have become inaccessible not only to the supporters of the music, but also its creators. Many of the new downtown venues only showcase the “jazz superstars” of the music, hence subsidizing many new young white jazz musicians, while the new black creators and continuators of the music can’t get gigs. This is a sorry state of affairs that must be investigated. Couple with the new thrust in white jazz criticism, the old (black) cats aren’t playing anything new (like in Europe), but just continue to “swing.” How ironic, given that it’s the swing that is the heart of the music. Whatever happened to the maxim…it don’t mean a thing?

I often joke with Amiri that two months after he dies, the jazz powers that be are going to call a meeting declaring jazz dead, or a European creation. As long as he lives this can’t happen, because they know he’ll light fire under their asses.

But since jazz is what the great trumpet player Ahmed Abdullah calls, “the music of the spirit,” it can never die. While the WSJ declares jazz dead, refuses to get off the horse and smell the flowers, the music continues to thrive and fight for its life, for its expression. In New Jersey, new small clubs are opening up all over the place, anchored by Cecil’s in West Orange. You have the work of Newark’s own Stan Myers, who has run a successful Tuesday night Jam session at Crossroads for years;  Papillion, Skipper’s, the Priory, Trumpets, John Lee’s annual concerts in South Orange, and countless other venues all testify to the fact that the “spirit” is alive. This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, the Oskar Schindler jazz program in the park in West Orange will take place with some of the greatest musicians in the world. This annual event continues to grow larger every year. You can’t convince the people attending these venues that “jazz is dead.” In NYC, the opening of Creole’s uptown that now has a dynamite line up of jazz performances, to Sistas’ Place in Brooklyn; the great work of Bob Myers and the Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, the Lenox Lounge and St. Nick’s in Harlem, the reopening of Minton’s demonstrates that there are real soldiers in the field fighting to keep jazz alive in our communities. Countless other new, small venues in Brooklyn is a further testament that “jazz lives, will never die, and continue to find outlets for its expression.”

Jazz is not popular culture. To compare and demand that Jazz be equated with the lowest common denominator cultural expression, packaged for the most extreme exploitation by monopoly capitalism is to have no understanding of the music. By its very nature it is “rebel” music. Teachout complains that it is not the music of the masses, of the youth, as determined by corporate measuring sticks. Well of course. I like hip-hop but I’m not going to any concerts. That’s youth music. Not particularly challenging. Jazz is a challenging experience, for all of the reasons stated above and yes must be able to attract younger listeners. But the commonly referred to model, “jazz must return to its 1930’s swing era roots, when big bands like Benny Goodman’s ruled the roost and young and old danced their lives away to the music. Most reputable jazz historians recognize that period as one of the worst in jazz history, as monopoly capital stripped the music of its vitalness, repackaged it to the public in a sanitized (racist) endeavor. Be-Bop was a rebellion against this co-modification and bastardization of the music.

When we say jazz is “a music of the spirit,” sitting in on a jazz program has the possibility of elevating the listener to heights never experienced by a poplar culture event. For many it is a shared communal experience, as witnessed by the common clapping in appreciation of a musical interlude, or the strictly individual experience of the music. Some can appreciate the full recipe of musical virtuosity on display, some may connect deeply in an emotional way with the music, some relate to the democratic display of the skills of the musicians, and some may not have liked the particular performance. Jazz is a broad palette, some things we don’t like, some things we like better than others. All of this is part of the learning curve as people come to appreciate jazz. It’s great when a young brother or sister after leaving their first jazz experience, say “I really liked what I heard.” Or to say, I didn’t understand what I heard. This too is part of the learning process.

McDonald’s is popular fast food. Many like it, many do not. But McDonald’s is not the only food on the market. There is other food, much tastier, much more healthful in the long run, more beautiful in its presentation, that people should be exposed to, for a more elevating food experience. This is the difference between jazz and popular music.

Often times when inviting someone to a jazz club, you get the usual question? “How’s the parking, how’s the security, etc.? I usually chuckle to myself because this person has no clue to the different vibe in a jazz club than at a popular musical event. Because the music is so elevating and brings a different emotional approach given its history, the experience, as I said before is much more a shared and communal experience. Jazz does not attract the kinds of persons prone to antagonistic conflicts with others, but just the opposite, in that it attracts the kinds of persons prone to spiritual connections with the music and other patrons. I’ve never seen a “weapons detector” at a jazz club or venue. As we used to say back in the day, “we ain’t about that!” This music means something else.

The WSJ approach to “summing up the current state of jazz” has the open or hidden affect of driving people away from the jazz experience. “Who wants to go hear music that no one attends anyway?” It can’t be any good if as the market numbers show that no one is listening.

In “Jazz and the White Critic (Thirty Years Later),” Baraka in Digg says, the theme of one of his former articles was that,” a fundamental contradiction, sharp, at times antagonistic, existed between American Classical Music (jazz), its creators, mainly black, and the majority of commentators, critics, critical opinion about the music, which historically are not.” Sadly, the WSJ article confirms his observations, then and now.

Jazz, like the Afro-American people: We got problems, but still we rise. The music of the spirit will never die. “It may break even!”

Marcus Belgrave, Photo by John M. Galloway/Special to The Detroit News

Master jazz trumpet player Marcus Belgrave — who has enthralled audiences world-wide with his musical virtuosity and mentored scores of aspiring young musicians — has been named the 2009 Kresge Eminent Artist by The Kresge Foundation.

The award and $50,000 prize recognizes Belgrave’s lifelong musical achievements and his personal and professional contributions to music performance and education in Metropolitan Detroit. The foundation, through its Kresge Arts in Detroit initiative, annually supports the Kresge Eminent Artist Award, Kresge Artist Fellowships, and Kresge Arts Support grants. The Eminent Artist Award is administered by the College for Creative Studies.

Reflecting on his decades-long career, the 73-year-old Belgrave says, “I was designed to be a musician. It gave me a good personality, because I was always around people who made you humble. Music also gave me much character. And I was able to open many doors through music.”

His selection as this year’s Kresge Eminent Artist is “the ultimate appreciation,” he continues. “The award is a culmination of a period of my life and shows me that the work I’ve been doing has been appreciated. Most of the young people I’ve touched are now quite famous. I told them the same thing my father told me: Music will take you places you could never imagine. And that has happened.”

Marcus with wife and vocalist Joan Belgrave,
Photo by Jean-Claude Quenum

Inspired at a young age by Louis Armstrong, Belgrave grew up in a poor, but musically talented, family living in the steel-mill town of Chester, Pennsylvania. He cut his teeth on the jazz circuit touring with Ray Charles in the late 1950s, and embraced the Motown sound when he moved to Detroit in 1963 to begin recording with Berry Gordy Jr., founder of Motown Records, at the Hitsville U.S.A. recording studio on West Grand Boulevard. Over the years, Belgrave has played with the top names in jazz and many legendary entertainers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett and Aretha Franklin.

In the mid-70s, Belgrave established the Jazz Development Workshop in Detroit and began working with youngsters to develop their musical talent. A dedicated educator and mentor, he has taught jazz classes and lessons at elementary, middle, and high schools in the city and at a dozen colleges nationwide. He also serves as an international jazz ambassador, traveling all over the world to share the music he loves. In 1997, for example, he and five other Michigan jazz masters made a six-nation tour of Africa and the Middle East, funded as a cultural exchange effort by the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal agency providing economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.

From 2000 to 2007, Belgrave took an eight-piece band on the road to 50 American cities where they performed “Tribute to Louis Armstrong,” in observance of the world-renown trumpet player’s 100th birthday. The next year, in 2008, the city of Detroit named him its Jazz Master Laureate, one of the many honors, awards, and tributes he has received in his lifetime.

“Through his dedication and virtuosity as a jazz trumpeter and teacher, Marcus Belgrave has fanned the flames of musical greatness in Detroit and sown the seeds for successive generations of talented musicians,” says Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation. “We are proud to claim him as a Detroiter and to salute him as an artist of the highest order.”

Marcus Belgrave in the 70’s, Photo by Leni Sinclair

The foundation will publish a monograph to commemorate Marcus Belgrave’s work and distribute it to organizations, institutions, and libraries in the region.

The Kresge Eminent Artist Award recognizes an exceptional artist in the visual, performing, or literary arts for his or her professional achievements and contributions to the cultural community, and encourages that individual’s pursuit of a chosen art form as well as an ongoing commitment to Metropolitan Detroit. The award is unrestricted and is given annually to one artist who has lived and worked in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb Counties for a significant number of years. The first-ever Kresge Eminent Artist Award was presented last year to Detroit visual artist Charles McGee.

“Marcus Belgrave, Detroit’s premier jazz trumpeter, is a natural choice as the first performing artist to receive the Kresge Eminent Artist Award,” says Richard L. Rogers, president of the College for Creative Studies. “Marcus’ exceptional career and ongoing commitment to our community deserves significant recognition and sets an example to all aspiring musicians. Visual artists, writers and performers like Marcus serve as potent forces in bringing change to Detroit and are exactly the kind of people that Kresge Arts in Detroit was developed to recognize.”

Nominations for the award are made by the Kresge Arts in Detroit Advisory Council, a 19-member volunteer group of leaders in the Metropolitan Detroit cultural community who provide external oversight to Kresge Arts in Detroit. The award recipient is selected by an independent review panel composed of well-respected, knowledgeable artists and arts professionals from the Detroit area.

The 2009 review panel included Ian Ding, assistant principal percussionist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and founding member of New Music Detroit; Aku Kadogo, Wayne State University faculty member and director of the Black Theatre Program; Anne Parsons, president of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Lynn Crawford, founder and editor of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit journal; and George Tysh, poet and faculty member at The Roeper School.

artsJAM Detroit! is an after-school program offered by VSA arts of Michigan. This opportunity enhances the learning experience for teens living with disabilities by encouraging creative expression through the arts to develop life enhancing and pre-vocational skills as they prepare to enter the workforce. Students work with professional artists to learn creative processes, in addition to gaining production, management, and marketing skills. School districts may offer credit toward high school graduation to student completing a required number of hours of study. This program is funded in part by VSA arts of Michigan, Highland Park School District, City of Detroit Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, and Pfizer Global Research and Development Fund.

VSAMI is a member of the international network of VSA arts, an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. VSA arts was founded in 1974 by Jean Kennedy Smith, and has been designated by the U.S. congress as the nation’s coordinating agency for arts programs for people with disabilities. VSA has 52 affiliates in the U.S. and over 55 international affiliates, and annually serves millions of people worldwide.

VSA arts of Michigan supports its programs and services across the state through grants from national VSA arts under an award from the United States Department of Education Office of Special Education; the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs; and through contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals.

For further information, please contact Jessica Guzmán at 313-832-3303, or email jessica@vsami.org.

The African Diaspora is varied and dynamic, but on the third weekend in
August the commonalities converge in Detroit. Presented by the Charles H.
Wright Museum of African American History, the African World Festival will
unite with the International Caribbean Festival & Parade on Hart Plaza.
Celebrating its 27th year, the event will be held from August 14 until
August 16.

This year¹s festival expects to bring over 350,000 people to the city of
Detroit. The event features entertainment, parades, ethnic delicacies in the
food court, artwork and cultural activities. Featured performers include
Detroit¹s own Funkmaster Amp Fiddler, Reggae¹s ³Black Cinderella² vocalist
Sister Carol and the outstanding Senegalese bassist Pathe Jassi. Saturday
morning¹s Caribbean Parade will highlight amazing large-scale costumes and
floats created by award winning Caribbean designers. In addition, master
craftsmen, visual artists and unique importers from the global African
communities will exhibit and sell their works throughout the weekend.

For more information call 313-494-5824 or visit www.maah-detroit.org

Here’s a couple of special interests

SATURDAY: AUGUST 15TH, 6:30 pm -7:30 pm, NILES RIVER STAGE
BOB ST. THOMAS, with Bill Meyer, Robert Lowe, Reggie Wilson, Thomas Hale

SATURDAY: AUGUST 15TH, 9 pm -11:30 pm, NILES RIVER STAGE
Detroit Jazz Musician’s Co-Op Jazz Jam – Hosted by Joan Belgrave
With Bill Meyer, Gayelynn McKinney, Pathe Jassi and MARCUS BELGRAVE
PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS, & VOCALISTS, BRING YOUR AXE, BRING YOUR VOICE!!

HOSTING NEXT WEEK AT BERTS JAZZ MARKETPLACE, 2727 RUSSELL IIN THE EASTERN
MARKET
AUGUST 20th, 8:30 PM ­1:30 AM, $3 COVER, FREE PARKING
THE ALWAYS AUDACIOUS, CUBIE!!