Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
Duriel E. Harris @ South Dallas Cultural Center
When: Thursday, February 21, 7:30 pm
What: African Diaspora-New Dialogues, Season 5
Where: South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S. Fitzhugh Ave, 75210
Local Paired Reader: Nero
Books Available: Interabang Books – Thank You!
WordSpace is honored to partner with South Dallas Cultural Center to present this Series.
When: Thursday, May 16, 7:30 pm
What: African Diaspora-New Dialogues, Season 5
Where: South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S. Fitzhugh Ave, 75210
Books Available: Interabang Books – Thank You!
Photo: Beowolf Sheehan
Roger Reeves was born and raised in southern New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia. He earned a B.A. in English from Morehouse College, an M.A. in English from Texas A & M University, an MFA from the James A. Michener Center for Creative Writing and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Tin House, Best American Poetry, and the Indiana Review, among other publications, and he was included in Best New Poets 2009. Reeves has been awarded a 2015 Whiting Award, a 2013 NEA Fellowship, a 2013 Pushcart Prize, a 2008 Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, two Bread Loaf Scholarships, an Alberta H. Walker Scholarship from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, two Cave Canem Fellowships and a Hodder Fellow of Princeton University. Reeves is currently an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
About South Dallas Cultural Center: The South Dallas Cultural Center (SDCC) is a City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs owned community center with a wide variety of programs inspired by the vibrancy and diversity of the African Diaspora. The SDCC seeks to educate and inspire through the visual, media, literary and performing arts. SDCC has presented some of the most dynamic visual and performing arts in Dallas. Retired manager,Vicki Meek’s decades of service to promote art and racial equity have profoundly influenced the cultural life of Dallas and the development of a whole new generation of African American artists. She is the co-developer of The Institute for Creative Investigation in Puerta Viejo, Costa Rica; Board Chair of Friends of the South Dallas Cultural Center; serves on the Advisory Board of WordSpace and co-founder of African Diaspora–New Dialogues with Karen Minzer and Dee Mitchell of WordSpace. Marilyn Clark, SDCC’s Education Director arranges special DISD school visits for the visiting writers of this series. John Spriggins is the manager of SDCC. Daniel Hanchett, SDCC Theater Director, produces the technical presentation.
About WordSpace: WordSpace (WS) is a nonprofit literary arts organization made up of artists that support artists. Our board and team are comprised of volunteer working writers, educators and artists. WS presents world-renowned performers, supports artistic development in Dallas and prioritize programs for cultural equity. Since 1994, WS has presented and paid honoraria to over 2,000 artists. Many award winning writers had their start reading for WordSpace. TransNational Impressions is partnered with Latino Cultural Center. Artists have included Natalia Toleda Paz, Natalie Diaz, Yuri Herrera-Gutierrez, and upcoming: Tim Z Hernandez and Rosemary Catacalos. WS also hosts an annual literary festival; other writers participating in WS programs include Nikki Giovanni, Andrei Codrescu, Sandra Bernhard, John Waters, Anne Waldman, Dan Savage, Walter Mosley and Laurie Anderson. The 2019 Dallas Lit Hop will include Anne Waldman and many many more.
Partial funding for this program is made possible by City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts and Moody Fund for the Arts.
Poets On X+ at MFA
Who: Tejana Còsmica
When: Friday, November 9, 8 PM
What: Poets on X+ Feature and Open Mic
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 N. Tyler St. 75208
Hosted by: Opalina and Carlos Salas
A beginning of an experimental performance with Latina poets from the Dallas area, interweaving our stories in poetic form to learn more about ourselves, each other and the ground on which we stand. In doing so we hope to present a more rich and realized version of the varied Tejana experience.
Tamitha Curiel is a writer, actor and educator. Her work has appeared in the White Rock Zine Machine, Inverse/Looped, Mad Swirl, Decolonize Dallas and she is currently co-hosting Pleasant Groove, a poetry open mic with Priscilla Rice and her husband, Chris Curiel. She is in post-production for two short, experimental films, Weren’t We and Dreamgirl and is in the pre-production stage for a short documentary about the neighborhood where she grew up, Pleasant Grove, Dallas.
Opalina Salas is a poet, a former Oak Cliff bookstore owner, an editor of the femme lit zine, Let It Bleed, and creator and host of Poets on X+ reading series held in her beloved home of Oak Cliff, TX. She is a host and co- conspirator for ATTACK OF THE POETS, an annual multi-day festival—hosting poets from around the US, bridging the gaps between various literary communities far and wide. She has been writing and performing in and around the DFW area for 20 years with her comrade, partner and fellow poet, Carlos Salas, and got her start at the legendary Club Clearview Dallas Poetry Slam.
Amy Zapien explores the relationships of time travel, catharsis, magic, and personal narrative to healing. She experiments with visual and performing arts, rituals, soundscapes, installations, lighting, and illustration to excavate the ways in which stories are shared. Her alias Cocoatlicue artistic process is inspired by her B.A in Anthropology from UNT, rooting her poetry and performance in ethnographic documentation. She is currently collaborating with the Espinas Collective, and in the past has displayed work at The Houston Lawndale Art Center, The Oak Cliff Cultural Center, and Casa De Locos.
Priscilla Rice is a Dallas-based poet, storyteller and actor. Some of the shows she has performed in include: “Crystal City 1969,” “The House on Mango Street”, “Milagritos”, “The Dreamers Part 1: A Bloodline,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “Zoot Suit,” “Where Earth Meets the Sky”” and “Yana Wana’s Legend of the Bluebonnet”. She co-founded “Verse & Rhythm” with B. Randall and Rafael Tamayo, and is currently involved in several projects in her Pleasant Grove neighborhood, including “Voices of Pleasant Grove,” a free Summer Program for teens, and “Pleasant Groove,” an open mic founded by Tamitha Curiel.
Photo By Rosie Lindsey Photography
WordSpace is honored to sponsor Poets on X+ Reading Series, created by Opalina and Carlos Salas, an ongoing series since 2007.
Poets On X+ at MFA
Who: Griselda Jane Castillo
When: Friday, December 14, 8 PM
What: Poets on X+ Feature and Open Mic
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 N. Tyler St. 75208
Hosted by: Opalina and Carlos Salas
Griselda J Castillo is a bilingual poet and creative nonfiction writer from Laredo, Texas. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, a first-generation American and explores her bi cultural identity through poems and stories.
Photo by Lucia Palmarini
Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in Ocotillo Review, Sparkle + Blink, and Chachalaca Review. She also performs her poetry as part of Five Voices One Brush, a improvisational art and jazz collective. Griselda lives and works in Austin.
WordSpace is honored to sponsor Poets on X+ Reading Series, created by Opalina and Carlos Salas, an ongoing series since 2007.
Poets on X+at MFA
When: Friday, February 8, 8 PM
What: Poets on X+ Feature and Open Mic
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 N. Tyler St. 75208
Hosted by: Opalina and Carlos Salas
WordSpace is honored to sponsor Poets on X+ Reading Series, created by Opalina and Carlos Salas, an ongoing series since 2007.
Oak Cliff Bike Crawl @ Dallas Lit Hop
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DALLAS LIT HOP SCHEDULE!
WHAT: OAK CLIFF BIKE CRAWL
WHEN: April 20 from 1pm to 7pm
1:00 – 2:00 MERCADO 369, 369 W. Jefferson Blvd
Hilda Mendoza
Megan Martinez
Tammy Melody Gomez
2:00 – 4:00 OAK CLIFF CULTURAL CENTER, 223 W. Jefferson Blvd
Dallas Poetry Slam
Verse and Rhythm
4:00 – 5:00 LUCKY DOG BOOKS, 911 W. Jefferson Blvd
Griselda Castillo
Tim Cloward
5:00 – 6:00 CHUCK AND GEORGE, 516 S. Marlborough Ave.
Lily Taylor
Chris Merlick
6:00 – 7:00 MIGHTY FINE ARTS, 409A N. Tyler St.
Karen X Minzer
Chuck Taylor
Admission: All events are free because it’s Wordspace!
Non-cyclists also welcome, though some distances may require short drives.
Next, head over to the Oak Cliff Cultural Center for the Dallas Poetry Slam. The Dallas Poetry Slam has earned respect and distinction for over 25 years. Their poets have enjoyed national awards and they have hosted and promoted myriad slam events in venues across Dallas. Wordspace is honored to have their presence on the tour.
Afterwards, stick around for a special edition of Verse and Rhythm, a venerable spoken word series hosted by Brenda Randall. For the Lit Hop tour they will be featuring readings by Barbara Audacity, Brandan L.Jackson, Alex Gurley and Sin.
Then head west on Jefferson to Lucky Dog Books for readings by Griselda Castillo and Tim Cloward. Accalimed Austin poet Griselda will be reading from her book Blood and Piloncillo winner of the Premio for Best Poetry Book from the NACCS Tejas Foco. Tim Cloward is a mainstay of the Dallas Literary Scene. He is founder of performance group Dancing Tongue and has also collaborated with poetry ensembles Poetry Circus and Question Authority.
Next, head over to the infamous Art house of Brian Scott and Brian Jones for performances by Chris Merlick and Lily Taylor. Chris Merlick will be perfoming with his Duchampaphones, his unique inventions based on Duchamps found object bicycle wheel sculpture. Avant chantueuse Lily Taylor will work her elegant magic with angelic vocal enchantment mixed with techno embellishments. Her music is ethereal and captivating and simply beautiful.
Finally, wind up the afternoon at Mighty Fine Arts for Poets on X+ with Karen X Minzer and Chuck Taylor. Karen X Minzer is one of the great influencers and shapers of the Dallas Literary scene and her immense contributions in promoting and producing events and opportunities for the community are legendary. She was a confidant of Allen Ginsberg, Robert Trammel, Roxy and Judy Gordon. She is also a gifted poet and writer and is currently finishing up her studies at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Boulder. Chuck Taylor is one of the pillars of Texas Poetry who has received numerous awards and critical acclaim for his career achievements. He is also a publisher and teacher and has nurtured the free spirited independence of Texas Bohemia. This will be a once in a blue moon chance to catch readings by these legendary figures.
Dallas Young Makers Club WordSpace edition and the Dallas Lit Hop 2019 Performance Showcase!
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DALLAS LIT HOP SCHEDULE!
Dallas Young Makers Club Art Track WORDSPACE edition
WHERE: 5th floor! J Erik Jonsson Central Library 1515 Young St. Dallas 75201
WHEN: April 13, 2019, 10:30am to 2:30pm
WHO: ages 8-18
ADMISSION: FREE
Join WordSpace for a FREE Dallas Lit Hop Event at DALLAS YOUNG MAKERS CLUB! This special edition will feature a youth poetry, story-writing and calligraphy workshop in the Art track of the club, especially for Lit Hop! DYMC is a youth workshop founded and facilitated by WordSpace President Monika Bell, WordSpace calligraphy queen, Andrea Tosten, computer brainiac Max Bell, Lego robotic gurus, Buddy Whittenburg and Greg Biggs and is held on the 5th floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library twice a month!
More about DYMC: The Dallas Young Makers Club is a nonprofit community educational organization based in Dallas, Texas. The Club is committed to helping students age 8-18 in the Dallas area to expand their minds and skills by creating things instead of just buying things.
The club’s immediate goals are to provide a workspace, mentors and equipment along with free and regular access to these resources in a central shared workspace. The long-term goal is to help new generations of all income levels create things of their choosing with community support rather than spending their time consuming media/things created by for profit organizations or preparing for standardized tests. Two citywide Maker’s Faires will be held twice annually in December and June. Workdays will be held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.
Also happening: Writers Garret walk through Deep Ellum, with Kendra Green. Click here for more information to register!
Dallas Lit Hop 2019 Performance Showcase!
WHERE: Deep Ellum Art Company, 3200 Commerce St. Dallas TX 75226
WHEN: APRIL 13, 2019 from 4-8 p.m.
4:00 p.m. Rafael Tamayo
4:45 p.m. Laney Yarber
5:15 p.m. Monika Bell
6:15 p.m. Insecto-Ray Orchestra
7:00 p.m. the Amazing Hancock Brothers
ADMISSION: FREE
The WordSpace Performance Showcase celebrates some noteworthy talents who exemplify the attribute of multi-talented. WordSpace has always sought to acknowledge performers who are adept at expressing themselves through a number of disciplines. This showcase will highlight some folks who are redefining and expanding the assumptions about “Word”.
Rafael Tamayo’s skill-sets are overwhelming. Actor, Artist, Musician seem to be on the shortlist of his abilities. And somehow he also gets around to being manager of the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. For the showcase he will be tapping into the musical side of his talents and will be laying down some beats to get the day going. WordSpace is down with getting the groove on!
Acclaimed veteran performance artist Laney Yarber has presented her theatrical vignettes in a multitude of art venues across Dallas-Fort Worth. She is thoroughly original and one of those founding spirits of the Dallas Avant Garde. She will perform a “Pedestrian Dance” for the showcase that will undoubtedly capture your intrigue.
Monika Bell is an Artist/Musician who makes those disciplines seem effortless. Her work emanates so guilelessly from her that it belies her ardent work and craft. For the showcase she will do a set of handmade songs filled with grace and melody and poetry and touched with the sublime.
Marco Villalobos is one of those unfairly gifted people who can play all the instruments and then some. Along with cohort Werner Heimlich they comprise the Insecto Ray Orchestra dedicated to Psychedelic, Electronic, Funk, Jazz music that sprouts songs like mushrooms in a verdant haze. Be prepared for some spatial sonic displacement!
The Amazing Hancock Brothers will headline the Showcase with a righteous blend of music and hair raising spoken word. The Brothers are infamous Art Printmakers whose notorious work has been the subject of legend across the State of Texas. They are also mad dog poetic holy men bent on disrupting everyone’s assumptions on everything. This will be a rare opportunity to experience the Brothers and one that will definitely amaze and confound!
So come out and enjoy the grand patio back yard of the Deep Ellum Art Co where adult beverages will be available and share some fellowship with the good folks of WordSpace! This is a free event!
One Page Salon @ Lit Hop
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DALLAS LIT HOP SCHEDULE!
What: Coming in from Austin TX, A monthly gathering of writers and creators sharing ONE PAGE of a work-in-progress. The rest of the time will be a chance to chat and enjoy! Quick readings, slow drinking – a hell of a good night!
Where: THE WILD DETECTIVES back patio, 314 W. 8th St., 75208
When: Saturday, April 6 at 7:00 P.M.
Who: Owen Egerton, Weina Dai Randel, Heather Harper Ellett, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Owen Egerton is an author, performer, and filmmaker. He is the writer/director of the horror/comedy BLOOD FEST and the psychological horror FOLLOW. He’s the author of several books including The Book of Harold, the Illegitimate Son of God, Everyone Says That at the End of the World, the short story collection How Best to Avoid Dying, and Hollow which NPR listed as one of the best books of 2017. He also wrote and starred in the Zach Scott produced play The Other Side of Sleep. As a screenwriter he has written for Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney and many others. Egerton is also the host of public radio’s The Write Up and the reading series One Page Salon. Egerton and his wife, poet Jodi Egerton, wrote the writing craft book This Word Now. Egerton has been honored as one of Austin’s top comics performing with The Sinus Show and Master Pancake Theater.
Oral Fixation @ Moody Performance Hall
Nicole Schlesinger’s Oral Fixation (An Obsession with True Life Tales) is back with the Best of Season 6. Story Themes will include “Jump off a Cliff,” “Close to Home,” “Stick Together,” “Out from Under the Rug, True Life Tales of Abortion,” “Broken Record,” and “All Over the Map.” The Oral Fixation mission is to bring together the community through sharing true, personal stories. This collection of the best is not one to miss!
Oral Fixation @ Moody Performance Hall
Oral Fixation’s last show of 2018 is around the corner! That’s right. On Wednesday, October 24th, 2018 @ 8pm, seven of the audience’s favorite stories from Season 6 flesh out a simply sensational evening. Whether you’re a longtime fan of true stories told onstage or a total newbie, get ready to be taken on a wild emotional ride. Make a night of it in the Arts District while catching up on the best stories from Season 6. $35 tickets are on sale now!
