..ahead of the current production premiere of Philip Glass's opera APPOMATTOX, I was asked by Washington National Opera to sculpt a thread of narrative to give some context to music, and resonant issues of civil war/civil rights.
..it was in 2010 when I was first at Cedar Hill having created an enrichment program for Washington National Opera, in collaboration with DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. That presentation was called Black Women In Opera Celebrate Black Women In Community. On October 24 2015 there is to be another gathering at Cedar Hill, with new partners and ongoing collaborators.
Creating. Unique. Programming. …set against one another each of those words can wreck havoc in that they speak to something without precedent; something out of the ordinary; something, yet to be in an index table for “standard”. One of the perks for being my age is that creating unique programming falls well into my paradigm of permissions I’ve embraced as ..well, as being my age. It also comes while walking a fine line between ‘hubris’, ‘experience’ and ‘facilitation’.
..an amazing program continues at the National Portrait Gallery, here in DC -and wonderfully enough, I was brought back as a facilitator this summer.
A very talented group of students grappled to find meaning deep behind the 'portrait plaques', and in the character of their chosen sitter - inevitably meaning a journey of their own in discovering the dynamic complexities of 'success', and empowerment.
..’creating’ family is a process we all come to at some point to form the sustainable and nurturing relationships that embolden us to reach into our dreams, and manifest exceptional events.. The circumstance of making this occur connects friends in a tighter bond of interrelationships, that deepens through listening and advising –and, on occasion, allowing for not being heard, and not being understood; but always, ever, with undeterred support, engagement, embrace and ..a gravitational commitment to being ..family.