Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg in Concert at Real Art Ways

An experience of music imagined and created in real time. This series runs from September 2023-May 2024. Check out the full schedule here!

May’s Performance

Tomeka Reid

Described as a “New Jazz Power Source” by the New York Times, cellist and composer, and MacArthur Genius Grantee Tomeka Reid has emerged as one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community over the last decade. Her distinctive melodic sensibility, always rooted in a strong sense of groove, has been featured in many distinguished ensembles over the years. Reid released her debut recording as a bandleader, Tomeka Reid Quartet, in 2015 featuring herself (cello), Jason Roebke (bass), fellow MacArthur Genius grantee Mary Halvorson (guitar), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). The album they released provided a vibrant showcase for the cellist’s improvisational acumen, as well as for her dynamic arrangements and compositional ability. For more information, please visit her website.

Melanie Dyer

“An outstanding modern violist.” – The Strad

Melanie Dyer is a violist who moves across free jazz, jazz, orchestral, and experimental music. She has studied with William Lincer, Lee Yeingst, John Jake Kella and Naomi Fellows. Recently she performed and recorded with William Parker, Henry Grimes, Tomeka Reid, Heroes Are Gang Leaders, New Muse 4tet, Women with an Axe to Grind, and other luminous musicians in the United States, Europe, and South Africa.

She founded WeFreeStrings, a string/rhythm collective rooted in creative improvisation, and plays viola in Gwen Laster’s New Muse 4tet.

To Learn More About Melanie Dyer, please visit her website.

Joe Morris

“The preeminent free music guitarist of his generation.” – Downbeat Magazine

“One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

“The guitar revolutionary to pay attention to.” – The Boston Phoenix

Joe Morris born in New Haven Connecticut in 1955. He began playing guitar at the age of 14 first playing rock music, progressing to blues, then to jazz, free jazz and free improvisation. He released his first record Wraparound (riti) in 1983. He has composed over 200 original pieces of music. Joe Morris and Real Art Ways have a longstanding creative relationship. Joe has performed multiple times since the 1980’s and has organized concert series of improvisational music for several years.

To learn more about Joe Morris:

Earth Day Community Clean Up

In celebration of Earth Day, meet at Real Art Ways for a clean up of George Day Park and our local neighborhood.

Help care for your community, meet new people, and prepare the community garden. Snacks and pizza will be provided!

DISCLAIMER: Volunteerism may include participating in physical activities such as walking, raking, lifting, etc.

Sign up for the community clean up here!

An experience of music imagined and created in real time. This series runs from September 2023-May 2024. Check out the full schedule here!

April’s Schedule

William Parker: bass, flutes, n’goni, guimbre.

William Parker is a bassist, improviser, composer, writer, and educator from New York City. He has recorded over 150 albums, published six books, and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists.

He has been called “one of the most inventive bassists/leaders since [Charles] Mingus,” and “the creative heir to Jimmy Garrison and Paul Chambers…directly influenced by ‘60s avant-gardists like Sirone, Henry Grimes and Alan Silva.” The Village Voice called him, “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time” and Time Out New York named him one of the “50 Greatest New York Musicians of All Time.”

Parker’s current active bands include the large-band Little Huey Creative Orchestra, the Raining on the Moon Sextet, the In Order to Survive Quartet, Stan’s Hat Flapping in the Wind, the Cosmic Mountain Quintet with Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, and Cooper-Moore, as well as a deep and ongoing solo bass study. His recordings have long been documented by the AUM Fidelity record label and on his own Centering Records, among others. He also has a duo project “Hope Cries For Justice” with Patricia Nicholson Parker which combines music, story telling, poetry and dance

He has been a key figure in the New York and European creative music scenes since the 1970s, and has worked all over the world. He has performed with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Peter Brotzmann, Milford Graves, Peter Kowald, and David S. Ware, among many others.

To learn more about William Parker:

Joe Morris: guitar, banjouke, banjo, bass

“The preeminent free music guitarist of his generation.” – Downbeat Magazine

“One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

“The guitar revolutionary to pay attention to.” – The Boston Phoenix

To learn more about Joe Morris:

Kelly Andrew’s Book Launch Celebration

Riverwood Poetry Series

Join us for this in-person reading! An open mic will precede the featured reader—one poem, one page.

Since we are always trying to perfect our open mic, this month we will draw 10 names from all those who sign up by 7 PM.

The series is also updating their contact list!

If you would like to receive email notifications of upcoming events, please leave your name and preferred email address at the book sales table.

The authors’ books will be available to buy for book signing & conversation, and beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks will be available for purchase. Bring a friend! Free of charge. Ample parking available at Real Art Ways.

April’s Reader:

John Murillo

John Murillo is the author of the poetry collections Up Jump the Boogie (Cypher 2010, Four Way Books 2020), finalist for both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Pen Open Book Award, and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way 2020), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the Poetry Society of Virginia’s North American Book Award, and finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, Believer Poetry Award, Maya Angelou Book Award, Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award and the NAACP Image Award. His other honors include the Four Quartets Prize from the T.S. Eliot Foundation and the Poetry Society of America, two Larry Neal Writers Awards, a pair of Pushcart Prizes, the J Howard and Barbara MJ Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation, an NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Cave Canem Foundation, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Murillo’s poems have appeared in publications such as American Poetry Review, Poetry, and Best American Poetry 2017, 2019, and 2020. Currently, he is an associate professor of English at Wesleyan University.

About Riverwood Poetry Series

The Riverwood Poetry Series, Inc. is a non-profit arts organization committed to the promotion and appreciation of poetry in Connecticut. RPS, Inc. is invested in providing entertaining and thought-provoking programming, while responding to the needs of our neighbors through community outreach and collaboration. From their Facebook page: “The Riverwood Poetry Series has innovated many programs since our inception, all of them free to the public. We provide entertaining and thought-provoking poetry in a relaxed atmosphere.”

No Bodies: Artists in Conversation

A discussion about Real Art Way’s new exhibit No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor involving visual artists, poets, designers, and curator Alva Greenberg. Within this conversation, participants will discuss the use of written language within the exhibit, assumptions of materiality, cultural identity, and other elements that can make clothing a Disruptor.

No Bodies: Artists in Conversation will be held at Real Art Ways, Hartford, on March 29th, 2024 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.

Discussion Panelists

Carlos Estévez was born and raised in Cuba and moved to Miami in 2004, where he lives and works. He graduated from the University of Arts (ISA) in Havana and solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana and in solo and group exhibitions around the US and abroad. His work is included in numerous prestigious collections, such as those of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; The Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany; The Bronx Museum, New York; Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida. Estéves is a featured artist in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor.

Susan Clinard is a contemporary American sculptor. Her life-scale figurative sculptures combine found objects, carved wood elements and ceramic portraiture. Her compositions tell stories, helps us connect and speak to our shared humanity.

Susan’s sculptures were recently acquired by the Fenix Museum in Amsterdam, a major new museum inspired by stories of global migration. She is the winner of the National Hammerschalg carving

award and the Art by the Northeast award for sculpture. She has been the artist in residence at the Eli Whitney Museum for the past twelve years. Susan has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts. She has received substantial public commissions, and her sculptures can be found in many private and public collections worldwide. Clinard is a featured artist in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor.

Neville Wisdom is the Head Designer and Owner of the Neville Wisdom clothing label based in New Haven, Connecticut. Neville began designing and creating clothing at the age of fifteen, and learned many aspects of the trade from watching a local tailor in his small rural town in Jamaica. Neville has been designing clothing for both men and women for over twenty-five years. In 2008, Neville entered the USA fashion scene opening a tiny boutique in Westville and selling assorted small brand clothing.

Reginald Dwayne Betts Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, lawyer and the Founder & CEO of Freedom Reads, an initiative to radically transform the access to literature in prisons.

The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, he has transformed his latest collection of poetry, the American Book Award Winning Felon, into a solo theater show that explores the post incarceration experience and lingering consequences of a criminal record through poetry, stories, and engaging with the timeless and transcendental art of papermaking. Betts’s moist recent work, released 2023, Redaction, a collaboration with artist Titus Kaphar, is based on their 2019 exhibition “The Redaction” at MoMA PS1 about the U.S. cash bail system–the state and federal court system’s conditions by which those arrested, but unable to afford bail, remain incarcerated even though they have been neither tried nor convicted.

In 2019, he won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for his New York Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. He is also a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, has been awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emerson Fellow at New America, and most recently a Civil Society Fellow at Aspen. Mr. Betts holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

In 2020, after staying in New Haven post-graduation, Betts founded Freedom Reads with a $5.25 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. Freedom Reads, headquartered in Hamden and employing several formerly incarcerated individuals, is the only organization in the country with a mission to provide libraries to prisons, and thereby support the efforts of incarcerated individuals to imagine new possibilities for their lives. To date, Freedom Reads has opened over 253 Freedom Libraries in 35 prisons and juvenile detention facilities across 10 states. These libraries provide a locus where conversation and community can begin inside and outside of prison walls. They are objects of beauty, handcrafted by teams that include people who themselves have served time in prison and populated with a 500-book, carefully curated collection that includes poetry, literature, non-fiction, and more. As Betts often declares, “Freedom begins with a book.” Betts is a featured artist in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor.

No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor Curator, Moderator

Alva Greenberg is a curator based in Connecticut. She started her career as the co-owner and editor of The Gazette, a weekly newspaper in Old Lyme, CT. From 1997-2009, she ran ALVA Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in New London, CT dedicated to promoting mid-career artists working in all disciplines. In 2006, Alva Greenberg was a recipient of the Eugene O’Neill Center’s “25 of Connecticut’s most Uncommon Women” award and in 2018 she received the State of Connecticut Governor’s Patron of the Arts award. Ms. Greenberg currently serves on several boards including the French American Museum Exchange (FRAME), Romare Bearden Foundation and the Connecticut Arts Foundation. Past boards include the Florence Griswold Museum and Arttable. Alva Greenberg is the curator of No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor.

Join us on April 6 at 6:00 PM at Real Art Ways to celebrate the release of YOUR BLOOD, MY BONES by local author Kelly Andrew!

Set in the same sinister New England as The Whispering Dark, YOUR BLOOD, MY BONES is a New England gothic, perfect for anyone who love the darkness that lurks in the woods and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers.

To learn more about the book, please click here!

Kelly will be in conversation with fellow young adult author, M.K. Lobb. This event is in collaboration with River Bend Bookshop.

Each ticket comes with a copy of YOUR BLOOD, MY BONES and will include all the swag from the exclusive River Bend pre-order campaign. There are also a limited number of 2 ticket, 1 book bundles.

Please purchase tickets through the eventbrite portal below. Books bought through the River Bend website do not automatically come with a ticket

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!

IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PRE-ORDERED AND WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT, please email events@riverbendbookshop.com with your name and order number, with the subject “Kelly Andrew – Eventbrite Pre-order”

IF YOU ARE A RBB MEMBER AND WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT and have NOT yet pre-ordered, please email events@riverbendbookshop.com with the subject “Kelly Andrew – Eventbrite RBB Member)

Your Blood, My Bones book cover.

CCH

Real Art Ways’ monthly social hour. Featuring a DJ, performances, art exhibitions, and more. Come as you are.

Everybody is welcoming, conversations abound, people connect.

Come with friends, come by yourself, hangout. Creative Cocktail Hour is a great way to meet new people!

8-10pm DJ: Kasey Cortez

Kasey Cortez is a multidisciplinary artist currently working to merge her many realms of creative expression. She has delved into worlds of music, theatre, photography, design, fashion, & installation art. Her work across mediums is inspired by a deep fascination with collective trends/culture, the minutiae of human choice & the mundane passing of time. She’s also a yoga teacher of nearly 10 years, & DJing has become her new favorite form of expression!

Art Exhibitions:

6-8pm Exhibition Opening: Greenness by Alex Dolores Salerno

No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor, Curated by Alva Greenberg

Meaningful Adjacencies by RJ LaRussa

Food Truck:

Samba’s Cuisine: Brazilian and Spanish food truck!

Hands-on art making activities led by Real Art Ways staff

The Silent Book Club

The Silent Book Club: The Introverts Happy Hour at Real Art Ways

Good news, book lovers! The Presidents’ College and Alumni Engagement at the University of Hartford are partnering with Real Art Ways bringing you the Silent Book Club. Bring a favorite book and a favorite friend. Thirty minutes to mingle. An hour to read quietly [maybe near a work of art that pleases you], and a final half-hour to chat with other lovers of the written word – or explore the galleries or duck into a late evening film at RAW’s cinema.

Co-sponsored by Real Art Ways and the River Bend Bookshop.

Beverages and popcorn for purchase at the concession stand. Admission includes a $5 River Bend Bookshop gift card, plus snacks to keep your brain happy.

Click here to register!

CCH

DJ, performances, art exhibitions, DJ. Come as you are.

Everybody is welcoming, conversations abound, people connect.

Come with friends, come by yourself, hangout. Creative Cocktail Hour is a great way to meet new people!

DJ:

Our house DJ Mr. Realistic!

Dance Composition Roulette with the Hartford Dance Collective.

Create & compose a dance with The Hartford Dance Collective. In this interactive experience, audience members have an opportunity to write down words or phrases on pieces of paper that will be dropped into a bucket. The facilitator of the group will pick out four phrases from the bucket for the performers to create with. Watch as the dance unfolds before your eyes as you help create the style, emotion, quality, setting, music of each dance piece.

Photo: Nicole Stevens

Art Exhibitions

Soft Opening: No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor

Get a sneak peak into Real Art Ways’ next exhibition No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor. Curated by Alva Greenberg.

Join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday, February 17 from 5-8pm. More information here.

Unknown, Unknowns by Steven DiGiovanni

Meaningful Adjacencies by RJ LaRussa

Food Truck

Nibbles n’ Noms: a Connecticut based taco truck!

Hands-on art making activities led by Real Art Ways staff

Riverwood Poetry Series

Join us for this in-person reading! An open mic will precede the featured reader—one poem, one page.

Since we are always trying to perfect our open mic, this month we will draw 10 names from all those who sign up by 7 PM.

The series is also updating their contact list!

If you would like to receive email notifications of upcoming events, please leave your name and preferred email address at the book sales table.

The authors’ books will be available to buy for book signing & conversation, and beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks will be available for purchase. Bring a friend! Free of charge. Ample parking available at Real Art Ways.

March’s Readers:

Daniel Donaghy

Daniel Donaghy is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Somerset, which was named co-winner of the 2019 Paterson Poetry Prize. His previous poetry collections are Start With Trouble (University of Arkansas, 2009), winner of the University of Arkansas Poetry Prize and the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence and a Finalist for the Connecticut Book Award and the Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award, and Steetfighting (BkMk Press, 2005), a Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist.

He earned a BA in English from Kutztown University, an MA in English/Creative Writing from Hollins College (now University), an MDA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Cornell University, and a PhD in English from the University of Rochester. Donaghy was awarded the 2022 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize and a 2019 Artist Fellowship by the Connecticut Office of the Arts. He is a professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he edits Here: a poetry journal with his students, and serves as Poet Laureate of Windham, CT. He grew up in the Kensington section of Philedelpha, PA, which has inspired many of his poems.

Frederick-Douglass Knowles II

Frederick-Douglass Knowles II is a professor of English at Connecticut State Community College (Three Rivers Campus). He is a Hartford Poet Laureate Emeritus. Knowles has been the recipient of the Nutmeg Poetry Award and the Connecticut Office of the Arts Fellow in Artistic Excellence for Poetry/Creative Non-Fiction. He is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of BlackRoseCity.

About Riverwood Poetry Series

An experience of music imagined and created in real time. This series runs from September 2023-May 2024. Check out the full schedule here!

March’s Performance:

Sam Newsome – Soprano Saxophone

“Newsome expands the sound of a single soprano into a one-man band.” – All About Jazz

Sam Newsome is a saxophonist, music professor, and accomplished writer. Newsome’s avant-garde approach, particularly in the realm of prepared saxophone, has positioned him as a sought-after player in New York’s improvised music scene. His innovative voice has resonated in collaborations with notable artists such as Elliot Sharpe, William Parker, Fay Victor, Daniel Carter, Joe Morris, and Dave Liebman. For more information, please visit his website.

Nick Neuburg – Percussion

Nick Neuburg is is a drummer/percussionist, pianist and composer originally from the greater Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Nick attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the legendary drummers Rakalam Bob Moses and Billy Hart and studied composition and improvisation with pianist Anthony Coleman and Guitarist Joe Morris. Upon graduating in the spring of 2014, Nick remained in the greater Boston area until the summer of 2018, during which time he both remained active in the creative music scene as a performer and became busy working and teaching. Now living in NYC, Nick has performed as a part of the bands Aykroyd, Letter Castle, Particulars, Ryan Power, Los Greys, Every Kim Parcell, Listening Woman and Creative Healing, among others.

Taylor Ho Bynum – Cornet, Brass

Taylor Ho Bynum is a musician, teacher, and writer, with a background including work in composition, performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, production, organizing, and advocacy. Bynum plays with friends in collective ensembles like his duo with Tomas Fujiwara, Illegal Crowns (with Fujiwara, Benoit Delbecq, and Mary Halvorson), and Geometry (with Kyoko Kitamura, Tomeka Reid, and Joe Morris), and as a sideperson in Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double and Shizuko, Jim Hobbs & the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, and Bill Lowe’s Signifyin’ Natives.

Bynum has worked for two decades with Anthony Braxton. This partnership is recognized as one of the most generative partnerships of that legendary composer’s career, with projects ranging from duos to orchestras and everything in between. During Bynum’s stewardship of the Tri-Centric Foundation (which he served as executive director from 2010-2018), he produced many major Braxton projects, including two massive Trillium operas, two immersive Sonic Genome performances, and multiple festivals, box sets and albums. Bynum also worked closely with such departed masters as Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, with other collaborative credits including The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Nels Cline, Emily Coates, Bill Cole, Kris Davis, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Stephen Haynes, John Hebert, Fred Ho, Jason Kao Hwang, Titus Kaphar, Ingrid Laubrock, Living by Lanterns, Nicole Mitchell, Joe Morris, Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, Mali Obomsawin, William Parker, Matana Roberts, Eliott Sharp, Wadada Leo Smith, Tyshawn Sorey, Yo La Tengo, and Zemog El Gallo Bueno. For more information, please visit his website here.

Joe Morris – Bass

“The preeminent free music guitarist of his generation.” – Downbeat Magazine

“One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

“The guitar revolutionary to pay attention to.” – The Boston Phoenix

To learn more about Joe Morris:

Tomeka Reid Quartet // Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio

Riverwood Poetry Series

Join us for this in-person reading of 6 Poets Laureate! An open mic will precede the featured reader—one poem, one page.

Since we are always trying to perfect our open mic, this month we will draw 10 names from all those who sign up by 7 PM.

The series is also updating their contact list!

If you would like to receive email notifications of upcoming events, please leave your name and preferred email address at the book sales table.

The authors’ books will be available to buy for book signing & conversation, and beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks will be available for purchase. Bring a friend! Free of charge. Ample parking available at Real Art Ways.

This month’s readers include:

Andrea Barton, Tony Fusco, Ben Grossberg, Anthony Paticchio, Virginia Shreve, and Faith Vicinanza.

Click here to view the reader’s bios!

About Riverwood Poetry Series

On Sunday, February 25 at 3pm, Real Art Ways presents a performance from Tomeka Reid Quartet and Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio. Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for RAW members, $5 for students.

Tomeka Reid Quartet

Tomeka Reid is one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians to emerge from Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community over the last decade. As a cellist, composer, and bandleader, Reid melds the Western classical tradition with modes rooted in the African diaspora and avant-garde to produce a rich and textured palette of sounds. She participates in several musical groups as a member or bandleader and composes and arranges works for small and large ensembles with varied instrument combinations.

Reid released her debut recording as a bandleader, Tomeka Reid Quartet, in 2015 with the Tomeka Reid Quartet, featuring herself (cello), Jason Roebke (bass), Mary Halvorson (guitar), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). The album provided a vibrant showcase for the cellist’s improvisational acumen, as well as for her dynamic arrangements and compositional ability. The quartet’s second album, Old New (2019) has been described as “fresh and transformative…striking out in bold, lyrical directions, with plenty of Reid’s singularly elegant yet energetic and sharp-edged bow work.” A new record is anticipated in spring 2024.

Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio

Tomas Fujiwara assembled his 7 Poets Trio with Patricia Brennan and Tomeka Reid for the first time during his residency at The Stone in April 2018, after having previously played with Patricia in Michael Formanek’s Ensemble Kolossus, and with Tomeka in her Quartet. As has been the case with his past ensembles (Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, The Tomas Fujiwara Trio, Triple Double, and the Tomas Fujiwara Percussion Quartet), Fujiwara brought together two musicians who had never played together before, creating a brand new combination of musical personalities. The rapport was instantaneous and their debut was described by All About Jazz as “a meshing of chamber jazz, modern classical composition and improvisation, although most of Fujiwara’s music sounded well organized in advance. All three players rose to an individual expression, working as a composite unit to deliver solo embellishments. Roles were malleable, as the listener decided whether everyone was soloing, or no-one. All three members were devoted to establishing a sensitive group consciousness, and they succeeded eminently.” Their eponymous debut came out in 2019 on Rogue Art, with a follow up album, Pith, released in September 2023 on Out of Your Head Records.

Saturday Soup with Simon Benjamin

Please join us on Saturday, January 13th at 3pm for Saturday Soup; a discussion with Simon Benjamin and writer Gervais Marsh about Benjamin’s current exhibition sub–marine: Jeweler of Memory.

Real Art Ways presents an artist talk with Jamaican artist Simon Benjamin on Saturday, January 13 at 3PM. The exhibition is on view through Sunday, January 14 2024. Gallery hours are everyday from 2-9pm. Admission is free. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street, Hartford.

Join Simon Benjamin and writer, curator, and scholar Gervais Marsh for Saturday Soup, an informal conversation on the occasion of Benjamin’s solo exhibition at Real Art Ways—and the culminating event of his 2022 Real Art Award Exhibition. In the spirit of his Jamaican roots, cups of soup will be served. Catered by Fire & Spice in Hartford.

For more information on Simon and his exhibition at Real Art Ways, click here.

About Gervais Marsh

Gervais Marsh is a writer, curator and scholar whose work is deeply invested in Black life, concepts of relationality and care. They received a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and are currently a Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow with the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

Their writing has been published in several books and exhibition catalogs including Denzil Hurley (monograph), Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Forgotten Lands Vol. 5, KMAC Museum Triennial (2022), as well as online art publications such as Hyperallergic, C Magazine, Brooklyn Rail, ARTS.BLACK, Musée Magazine, and PREE: Caribbean Writing, among others.

Community Film Screenings: In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., you are invited to experience a day of film programming and community building. Free admission!

Come for one film or stay all day!

Programming

11 AM | Mighty Times: The Children’s March (40 min.)

The mostly unheard story of the youth of Birmingham, Alabama, who braved fire hoses police dogs and jail in 1963 to bring segregation to its knees.

This film is a part of our Film Field Trip Program. All children are welcome. (Sensitive images are used in the film).

Hall will lead those present in a discussion about Mighty Times: The Children’s March after the film.

12:30 PM | The First Rainbow Coalition (55 min. Suitable for teens and adults.)

This film charts the history and legacy of a groundbreaking multi-ethnic coalition, “The Rainbow Coalition” that rocked Chicago in the 1960s. It sparks new dialogue about the 1960s, providing an unparalleled platform for contemporary discussions on race and class in an increasingly divided United States.

1:30-2:30 PM | Guided Discussion led by Film Facilitator Derek Hall

Hall will lead those present in a discussion about The First Rainbow Coalition

2:30PM | Rustin (106 min. PG-13)

This 2023 biographical film tells the story of the charismatic, gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Despite incredible odds, he managed to organize the March on Washington in 1963, one of the high points of the civil rights movement in the United States.

Art-Making Activities Throughout the Event!

There will be a table with art activities open throughout the event! Great for all ages – drop in at any time!

Lunch

Bagged lunch will be available for purchase or bring your own lunch! $5 donation recommended.

About Derek Hall:

Derek Hall is a dynamic anti-racist intergroup dialogue facilitator, public speaker, and activist committed to challenging beliefs and institutional culture rooted in systemic racism and other forms of oppression. Derek has worked in the diversity, equity, and inclusion field for over fifteen years, partnering with public and private school systems, for profit and non-profit organizations both locally and nationally.

His passion for decolonized education, human connection, and implementation of racial equity strategies has inspired sustainable change at the internal, interpersonal and institutional levels within the organizations he works with. Derek uses his gifts of facilitation, storytelling and community building to increase the racial & social consciousness of individuals and organizations.

Thousands of students view these films in Real Art Ways’ Film Field Trip Program.

CCH

Live music, art exhibitions, DJ. Come as you are.

Everybody is welcoming, conversations abound, people connect.

Come with friends, come by yourself, hangout. Creative Cocktail Hour is a great way to meet new people!

Music/DJ:

DJ Kasey Cortez

Tarot and Palm Readings from Adam Latin!

Limited Space available from 7-9pm.

Adam Latin is a tarot and palm reader who has been working professionally since 2001. He has read for tens of thousands of people since he started reading. He offers support in areas around personal empowerment, relationships, career, family communication, love, and trauma. He wants a deeper sense of victory and passion for his clients.

Art Exhibitions

Exhibition opening from RJ LaRussa.

Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) by Bhen Alan

Unknown, Unknowns by Steven DiGiovanni

Tubular Times curated by Terri C. Smith

Food Truck

Muncher’s International, authentic Jamaican cuisine.

Hands-on art activities led by Real Art Ways Staff

An experience of music imagined and created in real time. This series runs from September 2023-May 2024. Check out the full schedule here!

Febuary’s Performance:

Matthew Shipp – Piano

“Monumental.” – Chicago Tribune

“Shipp is the connection between the past, present and future for jazz heads of all ages.” – Downbeat

Matthew Shipp is a pianist, bandleader, and composer who creates an animated melodic tone by using a mix of traditional and free jazz. Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware where he began playing piano at six years old. Shipp attended the University of Delaware for one year, then the New England Conservatory of Music. He has since gone on tour around the world and has created, recorded, and performed with numerous musicians while simultaneously improving his repertoire.

To Learn More About Matthew Shipp:

Jerome Deupree – Drums

Jerome Deupree is an American musician, based in Massachusetts. He is best known as the original drummer in the alternative rock band Morphine. Deupree started playing drums at the age of six, with the help of his two older brothers. Deupree has played frequently with jazz guitarist and Improvisations Now curator Joe Morris, performing at Real Art Ways several times in the past.

To learn more about Jerome Deupree:

Instagram

Joe Morris – Guitar

“The preeminent free music guitarist of his generation.” – Downbeat Magazine

“One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

“The guitar revolutionary to pay attention to.” – The Boston Phoenix

To learn more about Joe Morris: