Arts, culture, & academic opportunities

4CULTURE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE CONDUCTIVE GARBOIL GRANT (July 27 - Seattle only)

CALL FOR ARTISTS

New annual award celebrates innovative artists with a connection to Pioneer Square neighborhood and community

(King County, WA) – The Estate of Su Job, 4Culture and Artist Trust are delighted to announce a Call for Applications for the 2009 Conductive Garboil grant. This new annual, non-restricted award of $3,000 is open to Seattle artists who have a connection to the Pioneer Square neighborhood. The grant acknowledges artists who have "Demonstrated a profound ability to challenge the limits of conductive creative discourse and its effects on our society, pushing the creative act beyond the accepted limits, definitions, or purposes of art while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex."

Applications are due July 27, 2009. The call and application may be found on the 4Culture website at: www.4culture.org/publicart/calls/default.asp

Details may be found at www.garboil.org

Artist Trust is a not-for-profit organization whose sole mission is to support and encourage individual artists working in all disciplines in order to enrich community life throughout Washington State. Learn more at www.artisttrust.org

CFP: Wasafiri New Writing Prize (deadline: 31 July 2009 - international)

Wasafiri New Writing Prize -- opportunity to be published in this international magazine and win £300. The deadline has been specially extended to 31st July 2009. Further details can be found at:

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/rwas_writing_prizel.pdf

National Endowment for the Humanities (August 26, 2009 and January 13, 2010 - United States)

The Division of Public Programs at the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities funds radio, television, and digital projects in the humanities that are intended for public audiences. New application guidelines are now posted on the NEH Web site (www.neh.gov) for America's Media Makers: Development and Production grants. The next two deadlines are August 26, 2009, and January 13, 2010. Program officers in the Division of Public Programs are available to assist you, whether it is to discuss project ideas or to read a draft proposal. Please call the NEH Division of Public Programs (202-606-8269) or contact a program officer directly. Below are the names and contact information for the Division's program officers: Barbara Bays, 202-606-8290, bbays@neh.gov Jeff Hardwick, 202-606-8287, jhardwick@neh.gov Clay Lewis, 202-606-8288, clewis@neh.gov David Martz, 202-606-8297, dmartz@neh.gov John Meredith, 202-606-8218, jmeredith@neh.gov Karen Mittelman, 202-606-8631, kmittelman@neh.gov Kathleen Mulvaney, 202-606-8270, kmulvaney@neh.gov Danielle Shapiro, 202-606-8241, dshapiro@neh.gov Michael Shirley, 202-606-8293, mshirley@neh.gov David Weinstein, 202-606-8304, dweinstein@neh.gov Thank you.

Public Programs National Endowment for the Humanities Room 426 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506 202/606-8269 Email: publicpgms@neh.gov Visit the website at http://neh.gov

2010 OAH ERIK BARNOUW AWARD (December 1, 2009 – Canada, United States)

The Erik Barnouw Award, first given in 1983, honors the late Erik Barnouw, Columbia University, a historian of the mass media. One or two awards are given annually in recognition of outstanding programming on network or cable television, or in documentary film, concerned with American history, the study of American history, and/or the promotion of history.

The winning film or video program will be screened and the award will be presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the OAH in Washington, DC, April 7-10. Only films and video programs released January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 are eligible for entry. Films and videos selected as "honorable mention" will be shown at the annual meeting, along with the Barnouw winner, as part of the OAH Screening History film series.

One copy of each entry must be received by each committee member and the OAH by December 1, 2009. No late submissions will be accepted. One copy of each entry, clearly labeled "2010 Erik Barnouw Award Entry," must be mailed directly to:

Elspeth H. Brown (Committee Chair)
CSUS/Munk Centre
University of Toronto
1 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 3K7
Canada

Lary May
88 Arthur Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
[Affiliation: University of Minnesota]

Gerald E. Shenk
Until November 1, 2009
Social & Behavioral Sciences
California State University, Monterey Bay
Seaside, CA 93955
After November 1, 2009, films must be sent to Professor Shenk in the Philippines. Address will be available at a later date.

Organization of American Historians
PO Box 5457 (111 North Bryan Avenue)
Bloomington, IN 47407-5457

Call For Entries – Award New Media Foundation Liedts-Meesen (November 1, 2009 - Belgium)

Update III

Zebrastraat

Zebrastraat 32/001
9000 Gent
Belgium
Phone: 0032/(0)477/7898098
Contact: Isolde De Buck
award@zebrastraat.be

www.zebrastraat.be
At the occasion of the Update III exhibition that is organised as a Biennial event at the Zebrastraat Gent, the Liedts-Meesen Foundation will award for the second time, a work by a living artist distinguishing himself or herself in the field of digital art. This award will consist of a cash purse and a showcase in the Update IV to be held in 2012.

Entry forms and guidelines available at http:// www.zebrastraat.be
http://www.zebrastraat.be/kunst_3_91.html

Deadline November 1 2009- Final Deadline

The upcoming exhibition, Update III (in 2010), will be held in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, under the artistic direction of the exhibition's commissioner Christine Van Assche.
At the same time, the 10 works selected for the Liedts-Meesen Foundation award will be exhibited and integrated into the publication accompanying the exhibition.

Update's mission
Update's mission is to expand the scope of contemporary artistic creations and traditional media with works dedicated to employing contemporary and new technologies in an original and intelligent way: treatment of sounds and light, use of new media, application of innovative evolutions in communications, telecommunications and broadcasting, centred on the world of information, communication, and computers and interaction.
These descriptions are in no way restrictive and should be interpreted in a broader meaning

General guidelines for entry in the competition
The aim of the competition is to present works in accordance with Update's objectives. The submitted work can have been previously exhibited, but the jury reserves the right to choose creations that are proven to be practically realisable within the possibilities of the Liedts-Meesen Foundation, keeping in mind that the works will be displayed during the exhibition.

Calendar and conditions of the competition
The choice of the 10 projects selected by the jury will be rendered public at the occasion of the Lineart Art Salon (Ghent) from the 4th to the 8th December, 2009.
Those projects that have been retained will then be installed in order to be exhibited alongside of the Update III exhibition from March to June 2010 and published in the exhibition catalog. The basic equipment is available to be used by the selected artists; specific and special equipment must be provided for, and lent by the artists for the duration of the exhibition.
During the Update exhibition, one of the nominees will be chosen for the prize award given by the Liedts-Meesen Foundation. A people's choice award is also foreseen.

Eligibility and submission details
This international competition is open to all age groups and to all nationalities. English is the working language. Deliverables: A general portfolio of the artist including a CV and a detailed description of the work submitted, accompanied by visual material is demanded. The material must be provided either in an uploadable format or must be easy to reproduce as the jury's decision will be primarily based on the visual documentation. Submissions are to be sent to Foundation Liedts-Meesen, Concours Nouveaux Médias, Zebrastraat 32/001, 9000 Gent, Belgium.

The Jury
The jury will be composed of ten members:

o Peter Weibel (Director of ZKM Karlsruhe)
o Jean-Marie Dallet (Professor and Commissioner of Update I)
o Philippe Van Cauteren (Director of SMAK Gent)
o Francoise Meesen (Fondation Liedts-Meesen)
o Dirk De Wit (Director of IBK-IAK)
o Stef Van Bellingen (Consultant for Zebrastraat-artistic leader VZW Warp)
o Christine Van Assche (Curator New Medias Nouveaux Medias Centre Pompidou-Paris)
o Art Yan (Organiser of the exhibition E-Arts Festival, Shangai)
o Nick Ervinck (artist), winner of the Update II public award 2008
o Julien Maire (artist), winner of the Update II jury's award 2008

Prize
For 2010, a 5000 euro cash award is foreseen by the Liedts-Meesen Foundation. This indivisible cash award will be allocated to a work and to its creator.
Moreover, the jury reserves the right to award an honourable mention to an artist.
The Liedts-Meesen Foundation and the jury reserve the right to not award a prize and to transfer it to the next exhibition.

Partnership-in-Scholarship Grants launched to support collaborative projects between African American Historic Places and college/university scholars (September 30, 2009 – United States)

Thanks to funding from the Ford Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation will be launching Partnership-in-Scholarship Grants to support collaborative projects between African American Historic Places and college/university scholars. This year, four grants of $15,000 each (no match required) will be awarded in fall 2009 to projects that help sustain current or attract new audiences at historic sites or enhance the interpretation of challenging topics at historic sites. Eligible projects include: * improving public access to African American historical and cultural resources at historic places, * strengthening teaching and education at colleges and universities through historic places, * promoting research and original scholarship of a significant theme related to African American history and culture to support joint public programs, * providing opportunities for lifelong learning through a collaborative program, * strengthening each institution's humanities programming in order to preserve, enhance, or enjoy significant African American historic places. Guidelines for the Partnership-in-Scholarship Grants are available online or through the NTHP Regional Office near you. National Trust Historic Sites and elementary and secondary schools are not eligible to apply. Deadlines for applications is September 30, 2009; applications will be available in July.

Max A. van Balgooy Director of Interpretation and Education National Trust for Historic Preservation 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 Email: max_vanbalgooy@nthp.org Visit the website at http://historicsites.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/partnership-in-scholarship-grant-program-announced/

FLORIDA CONFERENCE OF HISTORIANS WAKULLA SPRINGS, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 18-20 2010 AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTH SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION (SIS) on MEDIA ARTS AND CULTURE (December 18, 2009 - Florida, USA) The Florida Conference of Historian Special Interest Section on Media Arts and Culture wishes to encourage scholarship aimed at African-American experience in the United States. The FCH-Media Arts and Culture SIS wishes to encourage scholars examining African-American agency and autonomy since Reconstruction in the South. Key to our concerns are scholars investigating community, family, and organizations that sought to further African-American inclusion in U.S. society. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions on or concerning African-American history, culture, literature, theory, and media to the FCH annual meeting. The Media Arts and Culture SIS encourages graduate students, undergraduates, and independent scholars who wish to participate. All conference invitees are eligible for review for inclusion in the FCH refereed published proceedings. 1. Paper title and abstract/proposal (300-500 words) 2. Brief vita or biography (one page max) 3. Complete personal information: name, department, academic affiliation, mailing address, and e-mail address. Worthwhile topics include (but are not limited to): African-Americans and Gender since Reconstruction African-Americans and Nationalism since Reconstruction Religion and the African-American Experience since Reconstruction African-Americans and the Media since Reconstruction African-American Townships in Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Georgia since Reconstruction African-American Literature since Reconstruction African-American and Frontier Mythos Abstracts and panel proposal should be sent to Emily Russell:erussell@rollins.edu Deadline for submission is December 18th

Emily Russell Co-coordinator, Special Interest Section on Media Arts and Culture for Florida Conference of Historians Email: erussell@rollins.edu

Opportunities & Events

Reel Queer (deadline June 30 - Seattle, WA)

A video production and media literacy training course for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Queer, Questioning and Allied teens of all genders.

[hosted by Reel Grrls - reelgrrls.org]

This summer, Reel Grrls is hosting our very first Queer-focused video production and media literacy training course for LGBTQA-identified youth ages 13-19.

In this four-day course, participants will:
*learn the basics of video production and visual storytelling.
*enhance their understanding of queer-based media literacy
*work in a safe environment with queer, media-professionals
*use professional camera and editing equipment
*create a short video that will be screened at the 2009 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival!

As a program for queer youth, we honor the following principles:
· We value the power of video as a means to create personal and social change
· We value efforts that actively expand opportunities for LGBTQ youth.
· We value positive approaches to fighting homophobia
· We value integrity, honesty and respect
· We value appropriate sharing of resources, cooperation and collaboration
· We value using our collective voice to further our mission
· We value diversity

If these principles speak to you as well, join us! We're looking for:
-LGBTQA participants - all genders aged 13-19
-LGBTQA mentors - all genders
-supporters!

DATES AND TIMES FOR REEL QUEER:
July: 20, 22, 27, and 29th! 10am-4pm

Applications are available now at: reelgrrls.org/programs - we have 16 spaces available and will be accepting participants on a first-come first-served basis. Application deadline: June 30th.

Please contact us for more information!

Downtown Community Television Center / PRO-TV Professional Youth Media Training (Event on July 7 -- New York, NY)
MEDIA FELLOWS 2009 FINAL SCREENING
TUESDAY, JULY 7, 6PM, DCTV

Please join us Tuesday, July 7th as we celebrate the accomplishments of the Media Fellows Class of 2009 in the screening of their final works in the PRO-TV program. We will be screening their autobiographical pieces as their culminating works of art in the "Reflections of Me" series. The program will begin at 6PM on the first floor of DCTV.

To RSVP, please contact Chinisha Scott at 646-484-4642 or chinisha@dctvny.org.

What is PRO-TV (http://www.protvny.org/abouttheprogram.html)

PRO-TV is the most successful youth media arts training program in the nation. Offering free training to the youth of New York City since 1978, PRO-TV provides positive creative outlets for young people to address the issues affecting their lives and their communities. Students are paired with top teaching artists who guide them through a rich curriculum of media arts training using state-of-the-art equipment. In programs ranging from one day to three years in duration, students have the opportunity to:

• The Program
• Staff / Instructors
• Students
• DCTV
• Funders

• Practice the art of storytelling using design, lighting, sound and image

• Attend seminars on media literacy and the history of media arts

• View and deconstruct films in roundtable discussions

• Master cameras, audio equipment, and digital editing systems

Awards & Recognition

PRO-TV wins more awards than any similar program in the nation. Students frequently participate in film festivals and events worldwide. Recent film festivals and awards include:

• Student Emmy® Awards

• Sundance Film Festival: Special Jury Prize

• Tribeca Film Festival

• San Francisco International Film Festival

• The Los Angeles International Film Festival

• The American Black Film Festival

• Women in the Director’s Chair Festival

• Hot Springs International Film Festival

Almost 100% of PRO-TV Media Fellowship students go on to attend college and/or gain employment in the media industry. PRO-TV provides support throughout the college application process, and each year PRO-TV students are awarded numerous acceptances and scholarships. Recent grads are currently enrolled at schools as diverse as:

• NYU/Tisch School of the Arts – Lewis Rudin City Scholarship; University Scholars Program; New York Times Full Scholarship

• Claflin University – Emma Bowen Foundation Scholarship

• Kingsboro Community College – Future Latino Filmmakers Scholarship

• And many more, including Penn State University, Syracuse University, Emerson College, Ithaca College, Pace University, and SUNY/CUNY colleges.

PRO-TV students can put the technical skills they learn to use in internships with major media companies. Recent internship sites include NBC, The New York Times, and NY International Latino Film Festival.

Academic Opportunities


Call for papers: Issues in Critical Investigation (deadline June 30)

Issues in Critical Investigation: The African Diaspora (ICI), a new initiative devoted to critical thinking and writing about the African Diaspora and the pursuit of a cross-generational dialogue on issues related to it -- http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ICI/ -- is pleased to announce our inaugural 2009 competition for the two best unpublished, single-authored manuscripts or manuscripts of linked essays. The winners of the two prizes—the Anna Julia Cooper Prize in the Humanities and the Ida B. Wells Prize in the Social Sciences—will each receive $3,000 and the option for a book contract with Vanderbilt University Press. Each manuscript must be written by an untenured professor on the general topic of the global African Diaspora and produced in any field of the Humanities and the Social Sciences.

Manuscripts will be read and closely evaluated by senior professors in the relevant fields, and the winners announced each spring. In the fall, an annual symposium will be convened at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. during which winners and finalists will present seminars on their topics.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• African, African-American or African-Canadian studies
• Anthropology
• Atlantic African slave trade
• Black European studies
• Black popular culture
• Caribbean studies
• Cinema and film studies
• Economics
• Education
• Ethics
• Latin-American studies
• Media
• Philosophy
• Religion
• War and peace

All submissions must be emailed to ici@vanderbilt.edu, between June 1 - 30, 2009, with the subject line “Submission.” Do NOT send full manuscripts at this time. Please include the following:

-cover letter
-CV
-proposal with a prospectus and book outline

Candidates will be notified by July 15 if they are invited to submit a full manuscript. All submissions must be exclusive submissions to ICI for the duration of the contest.

For information contact:

Hortense J. Spillers, executive director
Brenna Hansen, program coordinator
Vanderbilt University
Station B # 351654
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235
ici@vanderbilt.edu
615-322-3421
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ICI/

CFP: Wasafiri New Writing Prize (deadline: 31 June 2009)

Wasafiri New Writing Prize -- opportunity to be published in this international magazine and win £300. The deadline has been specially extended to 31st July 2009. Further details can be found at:

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/rwas_writing_prizel.pdf



ARTS

The James & Janie Washington Foundation is happy to have two new Artists in Residence. Esther Ervin and Romson Bustillo are starting their residencies at the same time.

Esther Ervin is a dedicated working artist who

currently uses the gourd as her primary sculptural

medium. She has recently finished an Artist in Residency and the Pathways Scholarship at Pratt Fine Arts Center, where she has learned to work with metals. Her aesthetic is grounded in the use of multiple media.

Ms. Ervin has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from

California State University at Long Beach and a

Bachelors Degree (BS) in Biology from the University of

California at Irvine.

Her work in the local arts community includes

being curator at Festival Sundiata Art Exhibits and serving as an On Site Evaluator for 4Culture. She was the curator for the Art Gallery at South Seattle Community College for four years.

Romson Bustillo returns to the foundation after nearly a year of travel in Central American and Spain. He will be working with the Foundation staff to develop a Youth Workshop in printmaking and Social Awareness.

Romson Regarde Bustillo was born on the island of Mindanao in Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines. He moved to the US when he was a young boy. He grew up in Columbia City in the south part of Seattle.

His work is represented in private and public collections nationally and internationally, including ArtCol Trust, the Washington State Art Commission, and the Wing Luke Asian Museum. He has been an artist in residence and instructor for Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, the Seattle Art Museum, and an NEA supported Artist in Residence for the Tacoma Art Museum.

CALLEJON - a production of the African ConeXion project: original, bilingual Afro-Peruvian musical

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
Special Events

Callejon

Date: June 3 - June 14
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $12 Adults, $6 Students & Seniors

An original bilingual musical with Teatro Del Milenio of Peru. Blends Afro-Peruvian rhythms with African American beats. Shows are Thursday thru Sunday from June 3rd to June 14th, 7:30pm.

Tickets may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com.

Voices Rising - LGBTQ of Color Arts and Culture

Celebrate Pride with us at this evening of spoken word, hiphop, breakin’ and drag performance.

More info: voicesrising@gmail.com; advance tix will be available at Brown Paper Tickets.

RICHARD HUGO HOUSE: 1634 11th Ave., Seattle, WA

JUNE 6 7 PM Doors $10-$25 Sliding Scale

myspace.com/voicesrising

With Special Guests: Mami Watu & Emiko Sugiyama

Mami Watu, Spoken Word Emcee, haijin and community activist has been writing and speaking her truth since 1989. Mentored by Black Arts Movement writers Robert Earl Price, Malkia M’buzi & Askia M. Toure, Mami first found her poet’s voice with the WordSong collective of Atlanta, Georgia. During her eleven year sojourn in Germany, Mami Watu benefited from the presence of other Black womyn writers in Berlin, such as Audre Lorde, Gloria Joseph, Storme Webber. • Born in Tokyo, Japan, Emiko Sugiyama has been dancing since the age of seven. In 2004, she moved to NYC and became a member of Illstyle & Peace Production, a Philadelphia based Hiphop dance company.

Featuring:

Storme Webber
Crystal Ybarra
Mikeya Harper
Dakota Camacho
THEE Satisfaction
Landon Longhill

2009 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Winners Announced

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (LHAAFF), an annual presentation of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle, Washington gives Northwest audiences a chance to view a diverse array of irreverent, poignant, provocative documentary and narrative films on topics such as youth, politics, history, social justice and relationships.

Films in the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (LHAAFF) combine both call-for-work entries and curated films selected by the curator and committee. Awards are given to

call-for-work entries in three categories; Audience Award, Jury Award and Local Filmmaker Award. In 2009 the festival gave an additional nod to Short films as a separate category.

AUDIENCE AWARD - BEST SHORT FILM

PRODUCTION-USA 2008

Director: Lenny Payan, Writer/Producer Carmen Scott Payan

In 2006, Carmen L. Scott was beginning her first season as a writer's assistant at "Law & Order: Criminal Intent". When a rough draft of a script for a hip-hop themed episode of the show crossed her desk in December of 2006, one month after the Sean Bell shooting, she began blogging about the 16 days it took to shoot the episode and the uneasiness she felt helping the stereotype-laden script get filmed. Ultimately she would turn the blog into a screenplay, and with the help of husband and partner, Lenny Payan, into a short film.

AUDIENCE AWARD BEST FEATURE FILM

US: A LOVE STORY USA 2008
Director. Alrick Brown

JURY AWARD - BEST FEATURE FILM

US: A LOVE STORY USA 2008
Director. Alrick Brown
This haunting film explores impact and consequences of a union consecrated in blood. One couple's love story is a metaphor for the history of White/Black race relations in the USA. Filmmaker Alrick Brown continues to reveal himself as a "filmmaker to watch" winning two of the festival's most prestigious awards. Previous films by Brown include "Death of Two Sons", based on the lives of Amadou Diallo and Jesse Thyne, "Familiar Fruit" a modern day Greek tragedy that leaves the audience holding the torch, and "The Adventures of SuperN----", an allegory about the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.
All of these films have screened at the LHAAFF.

JURY AWARD - BEST SHORT FILM

5 Days in July revisits the 1967 Newark Riots, an important cataclysmic moment in American history. This civil disturbance began when African American cab driver and musician John W. Smith was arrested, beaten and dragged into Fourth Precinct for a minor traffic infraction. This action triggered rebellion among the African American community that spread throughout Newark. To quell the unrest, government officials mobilized the New Jersey State Police and National Guard.

LOCAL FILMMAKER AWARD

THIS IS...206 ZULU (USA 2009)
Director Georgio Brown

Local filmmaker Georgio Brown takes a detour from 18 years of producing Coolout TV to create an intimate look at hip hop and social justice collective, the 206 Zulu Nation. The 206 Zulus are multicultural family of artists who form the Seattle chapter of the larger 206 Zulu Nation, and international social justice hip hop movement founded by Afrika Baambata. Candid discussion, performance and interviews with members of the collective.

About the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival:

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival supports community building by providing opportunities for artists and audiences to connect using the medium of film as a catalyst for dialogue that leads to social change. The festival creates year round opportunities to enhance media literacy, self reflection, and community discussion. By creating the shared experience of films that are by and about Black people, the festival is a creative and collaborative opportunity to build cultural competency across the aisle and across neighborhoods in greater Seattle. www.langstonblackfilmfest.org

Quick link to film festival schedule

See the full festival schedule with updates here:
http://langston.bside.com/2009

2009 Festival News

Join us for nine days of thoughtful, inspiring and irreverent films featuring
filmmaker talkbacks, screenplay readings, workshops, panel chats and
provocative discussions –from across the aisle and across neighborhoods.

· Sixth Annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival: Saturday April 18, 2009 - Sunday April 26, 2009

· Single Tickets Available March 30, 2009: Opening/Closing Night: $15;

Regular Showtimes: Adults: $7; Seniors: $5; Youth Under 16: $2.

· AVAILABLE NOW - “Langston Pass” All Festival Pass $75 at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/59800

· Single tickets Available at www.BrownPaperTickets.com OR LHPAC Box Office.

· All screenings held at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center: 104 17th Avenue South, Seattle, WA.

· Updated film details, schedule and information is available at www.langstonblackfilmfest.org

or by calling 206-326-1088.

· Check out the blog at http://lhaaffbside.blogspot.com/

For up to the minute festival updates Twitter: http://twitter.com/LHAAFF

Festival Highlights

· Celia the Queen- (West Coast Premiere) The story of the legendary Afro Cuban Diva Celia Cruz. Partnership with CineSeattle, the Seattle International Latino Film Festival – Closing night gala follows. www.celiathequeen.com

· Us: A Love Story- (Seattle Premiere) A beautiful and haunting allegory exploring the relationships between Blacks and Whites. Filmmaker Alrick Brown in attendance. www.usalovestory.com

· Prince of Broadway- (Seattle Premiere) Sean Baker’s award winning film showcases the underbelly of the wholesale fashion district through the eyes of Lucky and Levon; two immigrant men struggling to confront what is real and what is fake. www.princeofbroadway.com

· Hip Hop Film Mini-fest. Features B-Girl Be and 206 Zulu by local filmmaker Georgio Brown and Masizake: Building Each Other by local filmmaker Scott Macklin.

· Carmen and Geoffrey- (Seattle Premiere) An intertwined video history that explores the devoted relationship of dancers Geoffrey Holder and Carmen De Lavallade.

· 13th Amendment-(Seattle Premiere) This documentary short follows a 90-year-old great-great-grandmother on her trek to vote for Barack Obama in the 2008 Pennsylvania primary. Having voted all her life, this is her first opportunity to vote for a black man for President of the United States.

· Production (Seattle premiere) - Danielle's job as script coordinator for a popular TV drama changes when the producers plan to shoot an ill-conceived "urban" episode.

2009 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, April 18 - 26

· The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (LHAAFF) is an annual event presented by the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Central Seattle. The LHAAFF presents films from independent filmmakers from around the world. The LHAAFF features panel discussions, screenplay readings, matinée screenings for middle and high school youth and in-depth discussions with filmmakers, industry professionals and local community leaders.

· The 6^th annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival takes place April 18-26, 2009. All screenings take place at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (LHPAC), 104 - 17th Avenue South, Seattle WA 98144 at the intersection of 17th Avenue South and Yesler Way (Metro bus route #27).

· Visit our website, http://www.langstonblackfilmfest.org or blog, http://lhaaffbside.blogspot.com/ for festival updates. Recorded updates are also available on our telephone Info Line: 206-326-1088.

· Program schedule and film screening show times will be made public in March; there are screenings each day of the festival. Matinees take place on Saturdays and Sundays. There are evening screenings each day of the week. Filmmaking workshops will take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There will be one after-school youth film screening on a weekday afternoon. Late night screenings take place on Friday and Saturday nights.

· Tickets and festival passes will be available online via BrownpaperTickets.com, http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/55821, or at the LHPAC box office after March 20, 2009.

· The address of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center is 104 - 17th Avenue South, Seattle WA 98144 at the intersection of 17th Avenue South and Yesler Way (Metro bus route #27).

· We are pleased to attract diverse audiences every year. All are welcome.

FEBRUARY ONE Civil Rights Era doc shows February 19th

FEBRUARY ONE
Documentary: 61 mins
Directors: Dr. Steven Channing & Rebecca Cerese
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Location:MezzaLuna
2608 S Judkins St
Seattle, WA 98144
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $5 suggested donation
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Info line: 206-326-1088

ABOUT THE FILM


Organization of American Historians Erik Barnouw Award Honorable Mention Recipient

In one remarkable day, four college freshmen changed the course of American history. February One tells the inspiring story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that revitalized the Civil Rights Movement and set an example of student militancy for the coming decade. This moving film shows how a small group of determined individuals can galvanize a mass movement and focus a nation’s attention on injustice.

The Greensboro Four, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil, were close friends at North Carolina A&T University before they became political activists. Two of the four had grown up where segregation was not legal, while another’s father was active in the NAACP. They recount how the idea for the sit-in grew out of those late night “bull sessions” that make college years so rich. Prof. William Chafe helps set the historical context the four young men confronted: the Civil Rights Movement had stalled since the Brown decision and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On the night of January 31, 1960 the four dared each other to do something that would change the South and their own lives forever. They decided to sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro the next day.

On February 1st, dressed in their Sunday best, the four men sat down at the lunch counter. Frank McCain remembers that he knew then this would be the high point of his life, “I felt clean...I had gained my manhood by that simple act.” The four were refused service; when they did not leave the store the manager closed the lunch counter. In the days that followed they were joined by more students from local Black colleges and a few white students who also sat-in at other lunch counters in Greensboro. Prof. Vincent Harding reminds us that the Civil Rights Movement was the first major social movement to be covered by television news so word of the events in Greensboro spread across the nation like a prairie fire. Within just a few days students were sitting in at lunch counters in fifty-four cities around the South.

Greensboro’s civic leadership pressured the President of North Carolina A&T to halt the protests but he counseled the students to follow their own consciences. Finally after months of protests the Woolworth management quietly integrated its lunch counter. The wave of direct action started by the Greensboro Four coalesced in the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. February One not only fills in one of the most important chapters in the Civil Rights Movement, it reminds us that this was a movement of ordinary people motivated to extraordinary deeds by the need to assert their basic human dignity. It provides an eloquent argument to today’s generation of students that involvement in the politics of our own time is a vital part of any college education.

SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP FEBRUARY SAFE HOUSE SCREENING

REBIRTH OF A NATION
Experimental - 94min
Director-Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky
Date: Sunday, February 8
Time: 2PM
Location: Seattle Art Museum
Pletscheeff Auditorium
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101-2003
FREE

In honor of Black History Month, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival and the Seattle Art Museum are partners in presenting a special free screening of the film Rebirth of a Nation by Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid).

The film is a 'remix' of D.W. Griffith's 1915 "Birth of a Nation" that was highly controversial due to its graphic portrayal of racism in the post-Civil War south. Miller's remix deconstructs one of the most influential and inflammatory movies ever made, while drawing striking parallels to present socio-political conflicts in America. The film includes Paul's original score, performed by Kronos Quartet.

Community post-screening discussion facilitated by Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Seattle Art Museum Kayla Skinner Deputy Director of Education + Public Programs/Adjunct Curator