It is always exciting to think about a new year approaching. We make resolutions and think about what we will do differently, given the prospect of a fresh start.
The following nine people don’t just think, they do all they can to bring their love of the arts to the Triad. They are a diverse and passionate lot. Brimming with ideas and innovations, these folks are going to shake up and inspire the Triad’s arts community in 2010. Here’s a look at the creative projects they hope to launch in the new year.
Maria Sanchez Boudy: Executive director of the Hispanic Arts Initiative
Maria Sanchez Boudy is a cultural ambassador with a multifaceted mission to show the public a window into the Latino community and to be a bridge for Latino youth through multidisciplinary teaching programs. Boudy advocates for grounding youth culturally to create a strong sense of cultural pride as they assimilate. So when the Children’s Theatre of Winston Salem (www.childrenstheatrews.org) and Twin City Stage (www.twincitystage.org) decided to present the play “Esperanza Rising,” opening Jan. 6, they knew exactly who to partner with to help maintain the play’s cultural authenticity. Boudy jumped at the chance. She and her team at the Initiative choreographed the opening dance sequence, recruited Latino youth in the community for casting and assisted in set design and music selection.
The play, based on the novel of the same name, reveals a more human side of immigration that was all too familiar to Boudy. “I’m Cuban, and I came to this country when I was 8,” Boudy says. “I’m almost 60 now, and I still feel in the middle of cultures.”
Contact Maria Sanchez Boudy at latinconnection@triad.rr.com or hispanicartsinit@yahoo.com.
Leander Sales: Filmmaker
Leander Sales remembers the last time a film brought awareness to sickle cell anemia, a disease that produces sickle-shaped red blood cells. The film, “A Warm December,” starred an idol of his, Sidney Poitier.
“That was in 1973. I thought it was time to start the conversation again,” says Sales, a Winston-Salem filmmaker, who has worked with Spike Lee in nine feature films and runs the production company No Shuckin’ and Jivin’ Productions.
The lack of information and awareness about the disease led Sales to his most personal project to date, “The Life I Meant to Live,” released in February. The feature film was inspired by a friend who had the disease and focuses on the simple act of living your life to the fullest. “The film is a conversation starter because this can be a terminal disease,” Sales says.
He plans to continue to promote the film by sending DVDs to churches and traveling to various towns showcasing the movie in 2010 because “there are more living rooms than movie theaters,” he says.
Contact Leander Sales at Lsales1755@aol.com.
Princess Howell: Dancer
Since age 15, Princess Howell had a dream to open her own dance company. That dream came to fruition on June 1 when she founded Royal Expressions Contemporary Ballet (www.royalexpressions.org) in Greensboro.
“I want to have people experience dance,” says Howell, a graduate of UNCG with a double major in dance and business. “I feel like the arts add another layer to life. It’s really touching to see live art, and it’s something young people can consider for their own lives as an option.”
Housed at the Campaign for a Better Greensboro (CFBG), Royal Expressions is divided into three parts: a professional company comprising five performers; a teaching school for children; and an outreach program for the elderly, at-risk youth and mentally and physically challenged individuals.
The company’s first production, “Journey to Become,” will debut in April 2010. It is based on Howell’s life.
“This production is everything coming together for me. I show the different phases of my life through music and movement.
At the end of the production Howell will dance to Etta James’ “At Last” signifying the culmination of her hard work, spunk and determination.
Contact Princess Howell at princess@royalexpressions.org
Zeke Vantreese: Glass artist
In September, Zeke Vantreese helped spearhead Greensboro’s First Friday Indie Market, where local artists and crafters sell their wares. A proponent of locally owned businesses, Vantreese plans to move the Indie Market from its outdoor location on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and South Elm Street to a permanent, indoor location in the new year. Vantreese hopes to make the new location a “normal retail store open Monday through Saturday.”
“I think programs like ours strengthen the local economy and the local environment,” Vantreese says. “Our city’s downtown will benefit because our plan has the means to support the vibrant retail scene. I don’t want people to look at other cities for a cool arts scene. We have it here.”
Contact Zeke Vantreese at zeketreese@gmail.com or visit www.etsy.com/shop/bodhicitta.
Selena Wolf and Charla Duncan, educators
Selena Wolf and Charla Duncan are powerhouses for youth advocacy. The two became friends while attending UNCG and have used their experiences in life and in work (Charla is a high school teacher, and Selena is working on her MFA in creative writing) to form Fearless Voices Youth Arts Collaborative. The free workshops for teens ages 13 to 18 are composed of poetry, dance and writing classes geared toward helping students find their voice.
Beginning in January, the writing workshops will be held noon to 2 p.m. every second and fourth Saturday at the HIVE, 1214 Grove St., in Greensboro. Students do not need to register. “They can just come in ready to write,” Wolf says.
Dance workshops will be held 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every second and fourth Saturday for ages 8 to 18 and will feature lessons in a variety of dance forms including hip-hop, ballet and ballroom.
“Saying arts programs are being taken out of the schools is not cliché; it’s true,” Duncan says. “Some children never even know they have a knack for the arts.”
Contact Selena Wolf and Charla Duncan at fearlessvoicesgso@gmail.com or visit www.gsohive.org.
Sean Coon, founder of the dotmatrix project
Since 2008, the dotmatrix project (www.dotmatrixproject.com) has hosted local music shows with a team of volunteers who record, videotape and photograph live bands for free. But the project experienced a bump in the road when its venue, The Green Burro, recently closed.
Now, Sean Coon is ready to revamp the project he created.
In 2010, the project will scale down to four shows a year with two bands per show. Coon says he is looking to partner with one or more venues in the downtown area to host the shows.
“This new format allows us to be more choosy and have a clear and direct focus,” he says. “I want to build community and bring artists together by trying to figure out ways to help the bands.
“There is a big gap in the music scene: tons of talent and nowhere to play and get paid. I want to see what we could do to fill that void.”
Contact Sean Coon at sean@dotmatrixproject.com.
Lawren Desai, curator of a/perture cinema
Located at 311 West Fourth Street in Winston-Salem, a/perture cinema (www.aperturecinema.com) will open in January 2010. The independent movie theater will showcase “independent, art, foreign, documentary, local and festival films.”
A longtime film lover, Desai plans to debut three films Jan. 8 : “An Education,” “A Town Called Panic” and “New York I Love You.” She also plans to screen “The Messenger” Jan. 15.
“I hope that the theater helps downtown and that people come to see films you can’t see in other places,” Desai says.
There are only a few things left to do, Desai says, albeit important ones.
“We need to hire and train staff and our projectors just went in; it was so exciting watching the first images light up the screen.”
Contact Lawren Desai at lawren@aperturecinema.com.
Casey Hazelman, President of the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society
Casey Hazelman signs off on his e-mails with a phrase that he lives by: “Blues it or lose it.” Hazelman grew up with music in his soul thanks to his father, Herbert Hazelman, a local legend and band director of Grimsley High School for 42 years. Today Hazelman honors his father’s memory by continuing to spread the tradition of blues music through the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society (www.piedmontblues.org).
In April 2010, Hazelman will welcome to Greensboro blues legend and the recipient of the prestigious “Keeping the Blues Alive Award,” Fruteland Jackson (www.fruteland.com). Jackson will conduct a workshop for music teachers in Guilford County, as well as perform at two undecided schools and two community centers as part of “Blues in the Schools.”
“How better to preserve the art of blues than to teach it to future generations,” Hazelman says.
On April 23 Jackson will perform for the public at the Greensboro Cultural Center.
“Fruteland Jackson is an amazing performer,” Hazelman says. “It will be a delightful evening of storytelling, music and narrative.”
Contact Casey Hazelman at tcasethebass@hotmail.com.
Contact Erin Rainwater at eringrey718@yahoo.com.
