Who Yo People Is

Florinda is an interdisciplinary artist, activist and educator that I’ve been art-family with since 1998. Here she talks about tending not only to her art, and her communities, but to her own mental, physical, spiritual health. A Texas gurl who calls Austin home, Florinda has worked with Salvage Vanguard Theater, the Rude Mechs, the Vortex, Paper Chairs, Theater en Bloc and Teatro Vivo in Austin, TX and the Ensemble Theater in Houston.

Influenced by nature, the earth, Spirit and early experiences with Douglas R. Ewart and Laurie Carlos. Mankwe says she found herself in Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge, which was filled with Black folk from all over the world. There she grew herself as a creative musician and composer - working to hear an expanded audio palette of color.  https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-3

In this conversation Renita speaks about being from Terry Mississippi/feeling the Angels, Ancestors, animal Life and Trees playing “all up in my head.” Renita talks about learning how to navigate Spirit, and growing towards her mission of advancing social and economic development in our communities through the creation and promotion of world-class art. More at: whoyopeopleis.com/season-3

Aimee speaks of being from Detroit, raised southerners that migrated there. A founding company member of Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago, Aimee encourages emerging artists to build a Life and career centered in being kind, empathic, compassionate and Loving. She says, “Take a leap of faith, move towards what you want, what feels good - even if it is scary.” https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-3

Sonja Parks has stayed true to her spirit by staying free, curious and expansively true to who she is professionally and in Life. After being an outsider - as a Black person in prominently White spaces - Sonja is dedicating her work to decolonizing artistic spaces. She wants to make certain that the “entire artist” is taken care of and respected. https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-3

Stacey Karen Robinson shares that her work is “about the emotional and Spirit-Life of Black FOLX.” She speaks about walking with the Ancestors - being an improvisor, stewarding what is coming through - while creating time, space and containers for listening, vesseling, and allowing during the creative process. At the end of our conversation you will hear Stacey’s performance of the excerpt from “bull-jean & dem dey back/Dreaming”. Visit: whoyopeopleis.com

Season 3 will drop soonsoon! Stay tuned for more...

Today we honor anthologized writer, regional theatre director, and Off-Broadway Obie Award winning performer Diane Rodriguez. Diane transitioned April 10, 2020 from cancer. May God Bless her Soul in Flight. May all the Love Beauty and Divine Blessings that she so Brilliantly and generously gave the world/carry her in Light with Love. I am SO grateful to have received Diane's support/encouragement and generosity, and that she made time for a conversation with me. You can Listen to episode 18 and receive her wisdom/and Glory.  More about Diane at: https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/04/10/diane-rodriguez-a-light-and-a-fire Season 2 of "Who Yo People Is" has come to a close. THANK YOU TO/YOU - TO ALL who worked/supported/are a part of this podcast series. How PERFECT that/in closing - our very own Marine Mammal Apprentice/Alexis Pauline Gumbs reminds us, "We are powerful in what we say yes to and hold close." Now is a Divine Time to hold each other close/with Love, in Light, in Seeing, in Heart, in Virtual space, in Memories, in Prayer, with Intention. Alexis says, "one foot in the water one foot in the sand is where I hear the best." May we each find the space to Listen . . . and Receive. As I Dream and Listen/I want to thank Season 3 donors!  See the list of donors and join in/if you can in helping$ to bring Season 3 to Life  HERE Stay tuned at http://whoyopeopleis.com Wishing you/yours/and ALL safety-wellness-resource-Blessings-Beauty-and Love. Till soonsoon!!

An academic guided by intellectual practices inspired by Black liberation and Love, Alexis is a 2020-21 National Humanities Center Fellow. She says she is a Marine Mammal Apprentice...one who is carrying on blood line traditions of listening to whales. Alexis says, "one foot in the water one foot in the sand is where I hear the best." Alexis speaks of coming from mental health and spiritual workers...shoreline people, oyster workers, church founders, freedom practicing people/and a grandmother who designed the revolutionary flag for Anguilla, and is founder of the Caribbean Mental Health Association. Always thinking about birthing, Alexis became a doula because her Mom (who is a therapist) is a doula - and she wanted to do mother-daughter doulaing. Early on in her academic career Alexis asked herself, "what is the best way for me to do my intellectual work in community...what is a way that I can understand how this work has been happening...and how can I make those histories more visible". When I ask her what her Soul's mission Work is, she says she is here to help us know that "we are Loved, infinity Loved. That we have access to all the Love". Alexis Pauline Gumbs is the author of Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity, M Archive: After the End of the World, Dub: Finding Ceremony and the co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines. She was dramaturg for the world premiere of dat Black Mermaid Man Lady by Sharon Bridgforth, is the literary advisor for the Ntozake Shange Estate and the creative writing editor for Feminist Studies. Alexis, along with partner Sangodare, is in the midst of building the Mobile Homecoming Living Library and Archive in Durham, NC which sustains the lives and legacies of Black Feminist elders their legacy bearers and caregivers. whoyopeopleis.com Alexis's website Mobile Homecoming Project Brillance Remastered  

Sangodare speaks of learning how to sermonize, study, have critical analysis, deep thinking about sacred texts/and how to have integrity as a spiritual leader - from her preacher father, and other preachers in her family. Creating energy and vibrational fields to open space for people to be more of who they are, Sangodare makes connections between the vocality of Black preaching styles, and Ifa oriki traditions and tonalities. Sangodare and her partner, Alexis Pauline Gumbs are actively visioning building an intergenerational assisted living, residential space. In addition to investigating sustainable models for collective economic practices and re-imagining collective wealth and investing - they are asking: what are the cultural practices, the sacred texts, the strategic plans, the songs, the welcomes and goodbyes - and how do we build trust. Sangodare creates media and art for healing and transformation. Sangodare is an artist, filmmaker, composer and preacher. Along with primary collaborator, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Sangodare co-created Mobile Homecoming (a national intergenerational experiential archive project that amplifies generations of Black LGBTQ brilliance) and Black Feminist Film School (which facilitates access to and discourse about Black Feminist films and provides film production opportunities to those most under-represented in film and media fields). As artist in residence at UMN (2017-19) and visiting faculty in Film Studies at Lawrence University (2017-18), Sangodare shared Black Feminist Film School approaches through teaching, events and exhibition. More about Sangodare and all dem Guests at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Sangodare's website https://www.sangodare.com Black Feminist Film School https://blackfeministfilmschool.wordpress.com Mobile Homecoming https://www.mobilehomecoming.org    

Amara speaks of having family members who were Seers/that didn't talk about it - and how she learned to navigate her own Seeing. She names that we are living in present day traumatic stress syndrome as she talks about her walk with depression, learning to hold both grief and sorrow, and valuing what she has come to view as an opportunity to be bought into a space of darkness - darkness that holds possibility. Orisha traditions gave Amara a feeling of coming home and helped her move towards becoming more herself. Amara says that all her work is about healing. She says, "I am a death doula for patriarchy. Every piece is I make is really in service of helping patriarchy die." Amara Tabor-Smith is a dancer, choreographer, and the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater.  Tabor-Smith’s work, as described by the artist, is Afro Futurist Conjure Art. Her dance making practice utilizes Yoruba spiritual ritual to address issues of social and environmental justice, race, gender identity, and belonging.  Tabor-Smith is a recipient of the 2018 USA Artists Award, the 2016 Creative Work Fund grant, the 2017 MAP Fund grant, and the 2017 Kenneth Rainin Foundation grant, and a co-recipient of the 2016 Creative Capital Grant with longtime collaborator, Ellen Sebastian Chang. In 2017, she received the UBW Choreographic Center Fellowship. Her work has been performed in Brazil, the Republic of the Congo, New York, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area where her company is based. Tabor-Smith is an Artist in Residence at Stanford University and faculty at UC Berkeley. More about Who Yo People Is: http://whoyopeopleis.com Amara's Ed Mock Tribute: He Moved Swiftly but Gently Down the Not Too Crowded Street | Ed Mock and Other True Tales in a City that Once Was: http://www.deepwatersdance.com/portfolio/hemovedswiftly Support Amara and her collaborator Ellen Sebastian Chang's "New ChitlinCircuitry: Reparations Vaudeville": https://www.gofundme.com/f/ReparationsVaudeville Check out Amara's website: http://www.deepwatersdance.com  

gina talks about the grief work that she currently does as being rooted in her people's histories of keening and wailing/as a way to move grief...grief being sometimes distant, sometimes intimate,  and sometimes lineages old. gina says sound has helped her turn, dive into and surrender to the waves of grief - feeling it - as a way to release it. gina says, "I am deeply and profoundly interested in your freedom." With that in mind, she asks herself what is the sound that will set you free, what is the sound that will bring you back to yourself, your body and the absolute miracle of the cells in your blood/and what runs through that. gina says that all the work that she does is ritual. If you have ever experienced gina's Work, you know the truth of that. Medicine woman gina Breedlove is a sound healing vocalist, composer, actor, & abolitionist from Brooklyn, NY. gina began her walk with spirit and music when she was 15 yrs old, singing behind the incomparable Phyllis Hyman, and then went on to tour with legendary artist and activist, Harry Belafonte. She created the role of "Sarabi", in The Lion King on B'way, and has appeared in 2 Spike Lee Joints; "Livin Da Dream", & "Chi-Raq", as an actor, and working on set as a Healer. gina tours the world with her music that she calls "folksoul", holding sound healing circles in every city she visits.  She shares, "sound is the medicine that you walk with, and can bring you to presence in an instant" In Goddess culture gina Breedlove is a vocal priestess, think Dianne Reeves & Minnie Riperton having a prayer circle, you will leave lifted.  More about gina and all dem Guests at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Check out gina's websites at: http://ginaBreedlove.com http://vibrationofGrace.com

Ron shares some of his Journey growing up in Perry, Georgia being from story telling historians who primed him to be a critical thinker with things like post school pre-homework sermon sessions with his grandfather - centered on questions like "what does it mean to be a man and how can you grow into that all areas of your life?" Growing up singing as part of congregational choirs, Ron speaks about time traveling through song/Shape Shifting imposed assumptions. Ron is co-shaper - with Rebecca Mwase - of Vessels - a seven-woman harmonic meditation on the transcendental possibilities of song during the Middle Passage…that asks, “What does freedom sound like in a space of confinement?” Junebug Productions is presenting Vessels, March 26-29. Ron says, "I write, sing, compose, and make interdisciplinary performance work that integrates sound, text, and movement. My creative practice incorporates music of the African Diaspora, embodied ancestral memory, improvisational creative processes, liberation aesthetics, and the development and maintenance of spiritual technologies. My artistic work centers around the role of sound, and the un-amplified human voice in particular, in transforming our environment, our selves, and each other. I grew up in Perry, Georgia and received my earliest musical training at the Saint James Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. I live in New Orleans, make a mean red velvet cake, and can throw down on some biscuits." More about Ron and all dem Guests at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Ron's website: https://ronragin.com Vessels http://www.vesselsperformance.com Junebug Productions https://www.junebugproductions.org/2020      

Rebecca speaks about: coming from deep connection to Spirit; growing up African in rural Arkansas; navigating belonging; finding fortitude through literature and the arts; and the work of crafting ritual in performance. Rebecca is Creator of "Vessels" a seven-woman harmonic meditation on the transcendental possibilities of song during the Middle Passage - that asks, “What does freedom sound like in a space of confinement?” Junebug Productions production of Vessels, co-shaped by Ron Ragin, opens  March 26, 2020. Rebecca is a Zimbabwean-American theater and performance artist, consultant, and cultural organizer working at the intersection of art and social justice. They craft performance, processes, workshops and curriculum that investigate possibilities for embodied revolution. Rebecca's work creates spaces to reckon with and release the impacts of oppression while deepening connection, healing and belonging. More about Rebecca and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 More about Vessels: http://www.vesselsperformance.com

Stephanie speaks about: being from singers and medicine people; growing through self-doubt imposed by the public school system;  creating life-long friendships in art making spaces; her determination to make and hold space for Black creatives; and being part of a second generation of connection and partnerships between Junebug Productions and Urban Bush Women. Stephanie is a performer, choreographer, educator, facilitator and cultural organizer based in New Orleans, LA. She is the Artistic Director for Junebug Productions Inc., the organizational successor to the Free Southern Theater (FST), which was formed in 1963 to be a cultural arm of the Civil Rights Movement and was a major influence in the Black Theater Movement. Stephanie is a member of Alternate ROOTS, a New Voices emerging leaders alumnus and has been a faculty member and facilitator for the Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute for over 10 years. As an artist, Stephanie believes art is for everyone and is deeply committed to creating art that substantively reflects disparate conditions, and leveraging that art as a powerful tool for change. More about Stephanie and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Junebug Productions: https://www.junebugproductions.org

I am proud to share my conversation with one of the most Beloved artist/scholar/community members of our times - Dr. E. Patrick Johnson! Patrick talks about growing up in North Carolina in communities where everyone made sure everyone was taken care of. He says that he owes who he is/how he moves in the world/how he theorizes/and what is possible in his life to his mom, her side of the family, and the sacrifices they made. Patrick says that in these perilous times, he feels art is the thing that is going to save us and keep us sane...and so will grace. All who know him know - he not only is one of the hardest working/fiercely advocating/ground breaking/door openers...Patrick is the embodiment of Grace. Patrick Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. A scholar, artist, and activist, Johnson has performed nationally and internationally and has published widely in the area of race, gender, sexuality and performance.  He is the author of several books, including, Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women. His stage play, Sweet Tea—The Play, premiered in Chicago at About Face Theater in 2010.  He is also the co-executive producer of the documentary film, Making Sweet Tea. More about Patrick and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Patrick's website http://www.epatrickjohnson.com Patrick's award winning film https://sweetteafilm.com Patrick's newest book https://www.dukeupress.edu/honeypot    

I am proud to offer this conversation with my Soul Brotha, Nick Slie. Here, Nick shares some of his Cajun family history as he speaks of being Spiritually rooted in his instincts and the ancestral connections therein. An artist that creates work that lives outside, Nick says "we are nature," so returning to being in the great mysteries and gentleness of outdoors returns him to his goal of being a better person. He speaks of harm done through lack of vulnerability, and not allowing people to show up and help and he talks about what doing his "sacred man work" that his Mom charged him with looks like. Nick does this work in formal and informal ways, such as a piece he is director of titled, "Esell: Ballad of a Land Man" - with Robert Martin - that looks at domination behavior and patriarchy: https://www.clearcreekcreative.net/ezell Nick Slie is a New Orleans-born performer, producer and cultural organizer and the Co-Artistic Director of Mondo Bizarro. Since 2002, Nick has toured a wide array of imaginative projects to art centers, universities and outdoor locations in 38 states across the country and abroad. However, he is most proud of the work he does at home, in Southeast Lousiana, where the water kisses the land. Nick’s creative endeavors range from interdisciplinary solo performances to large-scale community festivals, from innovative digital storytelling projects to site-responsive productions. For more than a decade, he has been passionately engaged in rebuilding his hometown of New Orleans, collaborating across sectors on a vast array of local performance and arts-based civic engagement projects. From 2004- 2008, he served on the Executive Committee of Alternate ROOTS and is the former board chair for the Network of Ensemble Theaters. He currently serves on the board for Goat in the Road. Nick is thrilled to be currently directing Ezell: Ballad of a Land Man in addition to launching a new project with Mondo Bizarro called Invisible Rivers. More at: http://mondobizarro.org More about Nick and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 Listen/subscribe and share: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com

In this conversation Lisa speaks of growing up in a Louisiana based family with a long history of music and education traditions. She shares her Journey as someone with a life mission of creating synergy/serving connection . . . and the fruits of that, which include RedBone Press. One of the architects of the Fire & Ink writers festival for GLBT people of African decent, Lisa talks about the work and research that went into working with Joseph Beam's mother, Dorothy Beam, to re-print, Brother to Brother and In the Life. Always graceful, humble and fierce, Lisa lays down words of wisdom for people trying to be in their Yes in the face of no. Lisa C. Moore is the founder and editor of RedBone Press which publishes award-winning work celebrating the culture of black lesbians and gay men and promoting understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream. Moore is the editor of does your mama know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories, co-editor of Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity, and co-editor, co-compiler and co-publisher (with Vintage Entity Press) of Carry the Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Books. In addition to her work as a publisher, Moore is a reference archivist at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans.  More about Lisa and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 More about RedBone Press: http://redbonepress.com

Alicia Bauman-Morales is an Oakland born Boricua tomboi, a queer woman, a dancer/organizer/performer/trouble maker. During our conversation Alicia brings the wealth of her Ancestry forward by calling the names of many in her blood lineage as she speaks of coming from fantastical storytellers, people committed to doing things on their own terms. Alicia shares a bit about her piece: huracán: storm medicine - a personal dance story, living altar and town hall about destruction, translation, and the transformative power of storms. And she names some of her influences, as she shares her Journey of learning how to nurture/and be in her body. Alicia's performance practice is shaped by Oakland turf dance (she grew up in Oakland and her first studio was the sidewalk), tomboy physicality, house dance, martial arts, kitchen and backyard salsa, altar building, western modern forms and, recently, Step. She is or has been a proud collaborator/performer with Arthur Aviles Typical Theater, NWA Project, Renegade Performance Group, MBDance, Brown Girls Burlesque, Roots and River Productions and PISO Proyecto, and has shown work in four of the five boroughs of New York and Puerto Rico. She is a proud organizer with ACRE, Artists Co-Creating Real Equity. Regarding organizing in solidarity with people in Puerto Rico right Alicia suggests, "direct support of our people in PR via donations of money and supplies, and by writing notes...and putting political pressure on politicians in the U.S" and check out: Colectivo Ilé https://colectivo-ile.org, a women's collective doing racial justice work and community sustainability through women's entrepreneurship. During our conversation Alicia names some of her teachers and influences/including: Amara Tabor-Smith http://www.deepwatersdance.com Arthur Aviles http://www.baadbronx.org/arthur-aviles-typical-theater.html jumatatu m. poe https://www.jumatatu.org Luisah Teish https://www.yeyeluisahteish.com Marc Bamuthi Joseph https://www.kennedy-center.org/artist/B305518 More about Alicia at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2

"Who Yo People Is" jingle sanga, episode editor, season 2 producer - my daughter - Sonja Perryman is Guest Host for this episode!! Sonja interviews my wife/her other Mama - Omi Osun Joni L. Jones!!! Omi talks about growing up in Chicago's Southside suburbs - the youngest in a Black middle class family/raised by folks that migrated from the South - and their protocols. She shares about what initially moved her towards her long term/ongoing connection to Yoruba spiritual practices; she names her gratitude to the Ancestors as a source of Inspiration that she leans into when she is afraid or overwhelmed by her work and goals. And after 40 years of teaching (28 of which was at University of Texas at Austin) Omi speaks about walking with herself post retirement/discovering and activating her work now . . . and her role models for how to be an academic without being connected to (one) institution/which include: Alexis Pauline Gumbs (https://www.alexispauline.com), Celeste Henry.   Omi Osun Joni L. Jones’ work is committed to exploring strategies for promoting healthy communities through personal Joy. She is an artist/scholar/facilitator who employs Black Feminist aesthetics in her performance work, her pedagogy, and her consulting. She has performed at The New Black Fest (NYC), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), and Links Hall (Chicago), and has served as a workplace facilitator with Thousand Currents (Oakland) and NoVo Foundation (NYC). Her scholarship has appeared in The Drama Review, Obsidian, and Theatre Journal as well as solo/black/woman and Blacktino Queer Performance. Her most recent book is Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power for the Present Moment (Ohio State University Press). She is Professor Emerita from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin. https://www.theatricaljazzbookparty.com https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/caaas/faculty/jij2555 Guest Host: Sonja Perryman is a screenwriter, producer, performer, and facilitator, with an MPH from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. She has a passion for telling female-driven, diverse stories that explore socially relevant issues in unexpected ways. Her work includes: Director of Research & Development at Wise Entertainment, where she also served as associate producer on Hulu’s six-time Emmy-nominated television show, East Los High; associate producer on Time 2 Surrender, an award-winning short film written, directed, and starring actor Elvis Nolasco and executive produced by Spike Lee; and season 2 staff writer for the Facebook Watch show, Five Points, executive produced by Kerry Washington. Sonja serves on the board of FYI Films, a non-profit that teaches filmmaking to incarcerated youth, and has been a guest lecturer and keynote speaker at institutions around the country. More at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/jingle

As a long time fan of Diane Rodriquez's work, grace, tenacity, generosity and passion driven service/I am thrilled to share our conversation. During our conversation Diane shares some of her experiences growing up in San Jose - during which she learned early on/from her parents how to serve in community...she talks about her history with Teatro Campesino, her experiences as a Chicana actress in Hollywood, her more than twenty years of work on artistic staff at Center Theatre Group, and much more! Be sure and listen to the end, so you can receive the gold that drops throughout our conversation. Diane Rodriguez is an anthologized writer, regional theatre director, and Off-Broadway Obie Award winning performer. For over twenty years,  she was on artistic staff of one of the largest regional theatres in the country, Center Theatre Group,  where most recently she served as Associate Artistic Director.  Under her tenure, she commissioned and developed over one hundred theatre artists to create new work for the theatre. Currently, she helms her own company, Rodriguez Projects, in which she directs, writes and produces artistic endeavors and projects for and with other companies.  In 2016 President Obama appointed her to the National Council on the Arts, a body to which she still serves.  This season she directs  productions in Los Angeles, Provincetown, R.I. and San Francisco. Special thanks to Alex Meda and Teatro Luna West (in Boyle Heights) who was kind enough to open their space to us.  And shout outs to Minerva Jazmin Zapata for connecting me to Tatiana Gutierrez who edited out some of the background happenings that lovingly surrounded us during our talk (thanks Tatiana). More about Diane Rodriguez at: https://www.diane-rodriguez.com More about Diane and all dem Guests at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 More about Alex Meda & Teatro Luna West at: https://www.teatrolunawest.org/about #whoyopeopleis #dianerodriguez

Ananya Chatterjea is Ananya Dance Theatre founder, artistic director, choreographer, dancer. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, 2012 McKnight Choreography Fellow, 2016 Joyce Award recipient, 2019-2020 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Fellow, and a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow. In this interview Ananya speaks of growing up in Kolkata, India learning about transnational feminist & women’s movements, urban beats, social justice and the drum beat of women's daily life in dance. She speaks of coming to the US to study at Columbia university (NY), and later temple University where she received her (Ph.D). Ananya shares her Journey with what it means to make a dance and the how her commitment to social justice taught her to choreograph. With Social Justice roots learned in India Ananya  speaks of balancing the weight of loneliness and work as a young working single mother by building her own company - teaching dance to women of color, making work, and building community - while creating space for WOC to share their stories and histories of colonialism, violence and resilience through dance.  More about Ananya at:  http://www.ananyadancetheatre.org/bios/ananya-chatterjea More about Ananya and all dem Guests at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2  

Alexis De Veaux, Ph.D, is one of a stellar list of American writers highlighted by LIT CITY, a public art initiative of banners bearing their names and images in downtown Buffalo, New York, in recognition of the city’s renowned literary legacy. Co-Founder of The Center for Poetic Healing, a project of Lyrical Democracies (with Kathy Engel), and of the Flamboyant Ladies Theatre Company (with Gwendolen Hardwick), Alexis De Veaux is an activist and writer whose work in multiple genres is nationally and internationally known. In this interview Alexis talks about: reaching back to bring it forward; Black Diasporic ways of being; and growing up with elders deeply steeped in re-imagining while making due. Alexis talks about being from New York, and her recent return to a family home place - New Orleans. She says that she learned early on that if you are going to survive, you have to be creative... and that if you tap that source/you’ll be tapping back and you’ll be tapping forward. She names some of her mentors and speaks about her RedBone Press book Yabo and Warrior Poet, A Biography of Audre Lorde. http://www.alexisdeveaux.com http://whoyopeopleis.com  

A critically acclaimed, award winning artist, Daniel Alexander Jones is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow. In this interview Daniel speaks about: some of his mentors; his gender being a constant unfolding/and revelation; becoming a vessel for Jomama Jones; everyday acts of family making/being in community and more. Daniel exemplifies the artist as energy worker. Daniel’s wildflower body of original work includes plays, performance pieces, recorded music, concerts, music theatre events, essays, and long-form improvisations. Energy is his true medium. The Herb Alpert Foundation wrote that he “creates multi-dimensional experiences where bodies, minds, emotions, voices, and spirits conjoin, shimmer, and heal.”  This is part 2 of a two part interview. https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 http://www.danielalexanderjones.com

Daniel Alexander Jones exemplifies the artist as energy worker. Daniel’s wildflower body of original work includes plays, performance pieces, recorded music, concerts, music theatre events, essays, and long-form improvisations. Energy is his true medium. The Herb Alpert Foundation wrote that he “creates multi-dimensional experiences where bodies, minds, emotions, voices, and spirits conjoin, shimmer, and heal.”  This is part 1 of a two part interview. https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-2 http://www.danielalexanderjones.com

Hosted by Sharon Bridgforth, Who Yo People Is features conversations with artists whose Work and artistic practices are rooted in serving our communities through healing/creative/Spiritual and cultural traditions - centered in Love. Season 2 of Who Yo People Is drops December 16!! Meanwhile check out this BONUS TRACK in which Leigh Gaymon-Jones takes the seat as guest host and interviews me. We talk bout family, art, Divine service and Love. Leigh Gaymon-Jones is a people-centered creative -- she is a mover, a maker and a grower. She is committed to ecology and land-based movements, and has worked in farming and sustainable food systems for a decade AND she is my daughter YAYYYYYY!! More about Leigh at: leighgaymonjones.com The podcast that I mentioned loving is Jesus and Jollof Stay tuned for more/and please subscribe and share  whoyopeopleis.com    

Hosted by Sharon Bridgforth, "Who Yo People Is" features conversations with artists whose Work and artistic practices are rooted in serving our communities through healing/creative/Spiritual and cultural traditions - centered in Love. This episode introduces our NEW podcast jingle! Lyrics: Sharon Bridgforth Composer & Musician: Renita Martin Singer: Sonja Perryman Engineer: Owen Modamwen, Beyond Studios DC Copyright (c) 2019 Geeched Out Productions http://whoyopeopleis.com

In 2003 I produced the Finding Voice Productions Radio Show in Austin, TX (aired on UT Austin’s KVRX FM's, Radio Caraco). This episode features an excerpt from an interview with Rajasvini Bhansali, recorded in 2003 for Finding Voice Productions. Rajasvini  reads some of her poetry…shares a bit about how growing up in India shaped her sensibilities of the arts, and offers lessons she learned from June Jordan about “relentless imagination, political clarity and revoluntionary trust.” Currently Rajasvini is Executive Director of Solidaire. Check out more about her at:  https://solidairenetwork.org/2018/12/20/biography-rajasvini-bhansali. http://whoyopeopleis.com  

In this conversation Marjani speaks about revolutionary Blackness; taping into the prayers that have been prayed for us; the alchemy of Black folks finding our spiritual fortitude and power through our creative energies; the vulnerability of imagining that you can do something; and getting Sun’d in the dance. Crowned a Prayer Warrior early in life by her elders . . . Marjani encourages us to be courageous - to “fail and frolic dopely.” (#fail and frolic dopely::)). Marjani Forté-Saunders is a Mother, choreographer, performer, a collaborative artist, community organizer and most recently a 3 time Bessie award winning choreographer.  Anchored in a steady collaboration with partner and composer Everett Asis Saunders the duo have produced seven award-winning works over the last 10 yrs. Marjani is an Inaugural recipient of the Jerome Artist Fellowship, the UBW Choreographic Center Fellowship and a two-time Princess Grace Foundation awardee. Humbly, she defines her work by its lineage stemming from culturally rich, vibrant, historic, loving, irreverent conjurers! More about Marjani and all dem Guests: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/guest-artists Links for work that we mentioned during our conversation: MEMOIRS OF A…UNICORN (Marjani’s website): http://marjaniforte.org The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond: https://www.pisab.org

In this conversation Virginia Grise & Shayok Misha Chowdhury talk about longing, Love and the Moon…migration histories…shared lineages…real time collaborations/and just doing the work.  Virginia Grise is a recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, Princess Grace Award in Theatre Directing and the Yale Drama Series Award. Publications include: Your Healing is Killing Me (Plays Inverse Press), blu (Yale University Press) and The Panza Monologues co-written with Irma Mayorga (University of Texas Press). More at: http://virginiagrise.com Shayok Misha Chowdhury is a queer Bengali director, writer, and theater-maker based in Brooklyn. Misha is currently in residence at Ars Nova, Soho Rep, the Drama League, and The Flea, and was recently a Directing Fellow at New York Theater Workshop. Misha was featured on the Grammy-winning album Calling All Dawns.  More at: shayokmishachowdhury.com

In this episode Ebony Noelle Golden speaks of being from People who fight for justice and practice Love as action . . . Love in the DNA, and Seeing at the Cross Roads.  Ebony is an artist, scholar, and culture strategist. Her creative work consists of site-specific performance rituals and live art installations that explore relationships between creativity and liberation. She is the founder of Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC a culture consultancy and arts accelerator based in NYC.   More about Ebony and all dem Guests HERE. Ebony's Website HERE. Ebony on YouTube HERE.

In this episode Ni'Ja talks about forgiveness, Love and healing…finding home on a cellular level…the functions of nomadism….and the work of exploring Ancestral stories - centralizing dark matter, dark energy and Blackness as everything. An interdisciplinary artist and writer - Ni’Ja is and Creative Capital, MAP Fund, Bessie-Award winning artist currently teaching experimental choreography at the University of California, Riverside. http://www.nijawhitson.com https://vimeo.com/nijawhitson #whoyopeopleis #nijawhitson #crossroadsleadershiplab  

In this episode, D’Lo and I are joined by Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones (my wife). The three of us talk about shining light on queer narratives and the work of growing into our rolls as elders too soon. We revisit some of my back in the day craycray that D’Lo witnessed me grow through, and we speak on the power of staying in it with each other/finding our messy way forward with patience and kindness and Love. D’Lo is an actor/writer/comic who in addition to touring his own solo works, has been in many films and series including: TRANSPARENT (Amazon), SENSE 8 (Netflix), Mr. ROBOT (CW) BRUISING FOR BESOS, DYKE CENTRAL and his own web series PRIVATE DICK. Omi is an artist/scholar whose work focuses on performance ethnography, theatrical jazz, Yoruba-based aesthetics, Black Feminisms, and activist theatre.   More about D'Lo and all dem Guests at https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/guest-artists D’Lo's website: https://www.dlocokid.com More about Omi at: https://www.theatricaljazzbookparty.com

Originally from San Antonio, Tejas, Adelina is the eldest daughter of eight. She grounds her work in Indigenous tenets, especially the practice of story as medicine.  Adelina is an award-winning and critically acclaimed artist working primarily in the areas of acting, writing, producing and directing in theater/television and film.   In this raw, open conversation Adelina talks about Breaking cycles, healing trauma, and reclaiming medicine…by looking at the roots of wickedness and sacredness. She considers the realities of help from the other side in her Journey of being an artist/carrying her Mama’s medicine. More about Adelina and all our guests at: http://whoyopeopleis.com More about Adelina at:  http://www.adelinaanthony.comhttp://www.aderisaproductions.com    

Samia Abou-Samra creates music as Wailing - the cry, the longing prayer to inspire the deepest love. Samia os founder of Whale Wonder: a playspace that incubates incubators for the elevation of consciousness. Samia and is co-founder of Turtle Tank: an incubator for Radical Love and Freedom that supports radical creators, entrepreneurs and leaders in creating wealth and well-being. In this conversation Samia talks about civil unrest, Arabic Jazz, the evolution of consciousness, land and stories of land, and music that comes from revolution, political satire and longing. At the end of our conversation Samia Wails for us. More about Samia HERE.  

GABRIELLE CIVIL is a black feminist performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered fifty original performance art works around the world tackling race, body, politics, grief, and desire. She is the author of the performance memoirs Swallow the Fish and Experiments in Joy. She teaches Creative Writing & Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts. The child of Haitian and African American parents – in this episode Gabrielle speaks on education, revolutionary heroes, family legends and Black experimental fem women art makers. More about Gabrielle HERE.    

Maria Bauman-Morales is a NY-based “Bessie” award winning multi-disciplinary artist and community organizer. With her company, MBDance, Maria presents work that centers the non-linear and linear stories and bodies of queer people of color. She is a 2018 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Fellow and is currently Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. In this episode Maria speaks of Florida Water people, and Works that tether...giving witness participants the opportunity to embody knowing that we are not alone, that we don’t have to do it alone. We talk about openness, vulnerability, Joy in making work and hard working Black woman fiery empathy and Love. More about Maria at: http://www.mbdance.net

In this episode, Sharon introduces the series and talks about how it came to be. Don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is supported by The Crossroads Leadership Lab at The University of Vermont's Leadership for Sustainability Masters Program in the Rubinstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. More deets at: http://whoyopeopleis.com