Friday, July 23, 2010
Nasty Weather
Weather permitting, i'll be going to the workshop at the cultural arts center in Liberty City tomorrow...let's see what happens
Workshop Tomorrow
Workshop seeks to assist artists
Written by ERICA LORET de MOLA
Florida International University
Artists, non-profit organizations and business owners can learn how to map out their futures at a workshop Saturday, July 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, 6161 Northwest 22nd Ave. in Miami.
Sponsored by the Diaspora Arts Coalition, the workshop will focus on how to adjust to an ever-changing economy and how to use individual strengths to develop future business models.
“This is part of a workshop series we’ve been doing for a while, and this one in particular centers around the current economic climate,” said Johnny Sanders, the coalition president.
The Diaspora Arts Coalition, made up of more than 50 cultural organizations and artists of color, works to support the arts in the African-American community. It works to help artists and organization create joint marketing and advertising programs and to promote facilities such as the Cultural Arts Center and the Joseph Caleb Auditorium, which offer multicultural programming.
One workshop goal is to help African-American artists learn the skills to market and sell their work.
“We help them maximize their art and make a platform for themselves,” Sanders said.
The cost of the workshop is $10 for coalition members and $20 for non-members.
For more information or to RSVP for the workshop, call 305-244-2158 or email diasporaartscoalition2009@gmail.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Written by ERICA LORET de MOLA
Florida International University
Artists, non-profit organizations and business owners can learn how to map out their futures at a workshop Saturday, July 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, 6161 Northwest 22nd Ave. in Miami.
Sponsored by the Diaspora Arts Coalition, the workshop will focus on how to adjust to an ever-changing economy and how to use individual strengths to develop future business models.
“This is part of a workshop series we’ve been doing for a while, and this one in particular centers around the current economic climate,” said Johnny Sanders, the coalition president.
The Diaspora Arts Coalition, made up of more than 50 cultural organizations and artists of color, works to support the arts in the African-American community. It works to help artists and organization create joint marketing and advertising programs and to promote facilities such as the Cultural Arts Center and the Joseph Caleb Auditorium, which offer multicultural programming.
One workshop goal is to help African-American artists learn the skills to market and sell their work.
“We help them maximize their art and make a platform for themselves,” Sanders said.
The cost of the workshop is $10 for coalition members and $20 for non-members.
For more information or to RSVP for the workshop, call 305-244-2158 or email diasporaartscoalition2009@gmail.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Monday, July 19, 2010
MCI
So my latest article was an update about one i had written before about the Miami Children's Initiative...I'm hoping to be getting a lot more information about that tomorrow after an important meeting that's scheduled to take place. I'm actually excited about this project. It seems really interesting and that it would really bring some much-needed help to the children and families of Liberty City (read previous posts). I hope it gets moving fast because it has the potential to make a huge difference
I also plan on attending a business/financial workshop being held at the cultural arts center on Saturday. Hopefully a good group will show up...let's see what i can get (fingers crossed)
Oh, and yes, i'm getting the hang of this :)
I also plan on attending a business/financial workshop being held at the cultural arts center on Saturday. Hopefully a good group will show up...let's see what i can get (fingers crossed)
Oh, and yes, i'm getting the hang of this :)
Dancing and Plagerism
So i waited to write this particular post because a string of events have happened since one of my articles was published. My article on National Tap Dance Day was by far one of my best reporting experiences up to now. I found a 2-line announcement about an event being held at the Liberty City cultural arts center that celebrated the art of tap dancing.
I decided to go...i had nothing to do that Sunday so i thought it might be a possible story. I got in contact with event coordinator Mary Archer, and after speaking to her, i got a little more excited about the event. She told me she had been tapping for 60+ years, so right away i was hooked.
I got to the small auditorium and sat in one of the back rows and just waited...
I ended up having a lovely time. Music and danced filled the room and the energy was joyful and exciting. I introduced myself to Mary Archer in the middle of the show and interviewed some very talented and wonderful people.
I'm extremely proud of my story, and all the work i put into it, so you can imagine how a felt when a week later i got about 7 google alerts about my story....it was exciting until i discovered the links led to a story in the Herald, which was almost word for word what i had written.
My heart stopped for a second, mind racing, thinking back to whether there had been a Herald reporter there that day. I knew there hadn't been, so what was i looking at? Had someone really plagerized my work? Could this be done? As far as I know plagerism is a Cardinal sin.
So i quickly e-mailed Reisner, and the next few weeks, everything hang in the balance. The South Florida Times executive editor got involved and i got a call from Reisner telling me they were ready to go to war. WHAT?? Me? My story? I couldn't believe it!
I had all my notes, photos and video to back it up, and i was ready for anything. Although the person who claimed it as theirs is very well-respected, I was infuriated. I didn't care who it was. I thought what if i had been the one to plagerize someone else's work? And the simple answer was, i'd be screwed. My career over before it's even begun!
Thankfully, the issue was resolved without any bloodshed, and all is well.
But as Brad Bennet put it in an e-mail he wrote me:
"This was an important lesson in the ethics of journalism, and I’m glad you came out on the right side of it. I’m sure you will be talking about this one for years to come."
Indeed i will
I decided to go...i had nothing to do that Sunday so i thought it might be a possible story. I got in contact with event coordinator Mary Archer, and after speaking to her, i got a little more excited about the event. She told me she had been tapping for 60+ years, so right away i was hooked.
I got to the small auditorium and sat in one of the back rows and just waited...
I ended up having a lovely time. Music and danced filled the room and the energy was joyful and exciting. I introduced myself to Mary Archer in the middle of the show and interviewed some very talented and wonderful people.
I'm extremely proud of my story, and all the work i put into it, so you can imagine how a felt when a week later i got about 7 google alerts about my story....it was exciting until i discovered the links led to a story in the Herald, which was almost word for word what i had written.
My heart stopped for a second, mind racing, thinking back to whether there had been a Herald reporter there that day. I knew there hadn't been, so what was i looking at? Had someone really plagerized my work? Could this be done? As far as I know plagerism is a Cardinal sin.
So i quickly e-mailed Reisner, and the next few weeks, everything hang in the balance. The South Florida Times executive editor got involved and i got a call from Reisner telling me they were ready to go to war. WHAT?? Me? My story? I couldn't believe it!
I had all my notes, photos and video to back it up, and i was ready for anything. Although the person who claimed it as theirs is very well-respected, I was infuriated. I didn't care who it was. I thought what if i had been the one to plagerize someone else's work? And the simple answer was, i'd be screwed. My career over before it's even begun!
Thankfully, the issue was resolved without any bloodshed, and all is well.
But as Brad Bennet put it in an e-mail he wrote me:
"This was an important lesson in the ethics of journalism, and I’m glad you came out on the right side of it. I’m sure you will be talking about this one for years to come."
Indeed i will
Follow Up Story
Miami Children’s Initiative moving forward
Written by ERICA LORET de MOLA
Florida International University
Health officials are scrambling to move forward on a program intended to bring kindergarten-to-college educational, developmental and health care programs to Liberty City children and youth.
The Miami-Dade County Commission approved the program in May, and now comes a complex process to turn the Miami Children’s Initiative into a fact on the ground.
“We are moving towards incorporation, and doing all the things to get up and running,” said Irene Taylor Wooten, special assistant for social services for Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess.
According to Wooten, more clear and definitive answers about how things will proceed will be available after a meeting on July 20 with the Tallahassee-based Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, the partnership in charge of managing the initiative.
The Florida Legislature has authorized similar children’s initiatives throughout the state, as well as a process to identify neighborhoods in which they would be based. The legislation allocated $3.6 million to pay for the first three years of the Miami program.
The project will be based in the state Department of Children and Families, and managed by the OPFF, the 20-year-old public-private partnership that supports community-based programs for at-risk children and their families.
Local officials are scheduled to meet with OPFF later this month, Wooten said.
The initiative is modeled after the successful Harlem Children’s Zone in New York. That program serves more than 17,000 children, providing them, as well as their parents, with developmental and educational programs from childbirth to adulthood.
Written by ERICA LORET de MOLA
Florida International University
Health officials are scrambling to move forward on a program intended to bring kindergarten-to-college educational, developmental and health care programs to Liberty City children and youth.
The Miami-Dade County Commission approved the program in May, and now comes a complex process to turn the Miami Children’s Initiative into a fact on the ground.
“We are moving towards incorporation, and doing all the things to get up and running,” said Irene Taylor Wooten, special assistant for social services for Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess.
According to Wooten, more clear and definitive answers about how things will proceed will be available after a meeting on July 20 with the Tallahassee-based Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, the partnership in charge of managing the initiative.
The Florida Legislature has authorized similar children’s initiatives throughout the state, as well as a process to identify neighborhoods in which they would be based. The legislation allocated $3.6 million to pay for the first three years of the Miami program.
The project will be based in the state Department of Children and Families, and managed by the OPFF, the 20-year-old public-private partnership that supports community-based programs for at-risk children and their families.
Local officials are scheduled to meet with OPFF later this month, Wooten said.
The initiative is modeled after the successful Harlem Children’s Zone in New York. That program serves more than 17,000 children, providing them, as well as their parents, with developmental and educational programs from childbirth to adulthood.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
#3!- National Tap Dance Day
Show celebrates National Tap Dance Day
Written by ERICA LORET DE MOLA
Florida International University
Tribal drums, gospel and the clicks and clacks of tap echoed through the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend as troupes of young people danced their way through black history to commemorate National Tap Dance Day.
Titled “Routes to your Roots,” the performances showcased African-American dance styles from their origins in Africa to present-day hip-hop.
The event was coordinated by Mary Archer of Breath of Life, Creative Arts, a long-time tapper who hopes to preserve and spread an art form she said is uniquely rooted in African-American culture.
“It’s not just about the tap dancing, it’s deeper than technique, said Archer, 73, who’s been tapping for 64 years. “When you get a group of people who love what they do, it creates a spirit of unity and love.”
Archer, who has a doctorate in performing arts and taught at the center 20 years ago, said she wanted to “tell the story of tap dancing.”
May 25, the birthday of renowned tap dancer Bill “Bo Jangles” Robinson, was declared National Tap Dance Day by Congress in 1989. It was first officially celebrated in South Florida last year.
Performers on Sunday danced to everything from old African tribal beats to gospel to hip-hop, and even Lady Gaga, in a program that included interpretive dance, ballet, swing and, of course, tap.
Children from schools and dance studios in Liberty City participated in the event.
Girls from Charles Drew Middle performed an interpretive dance in flowing skirts to a spiritual song.
Reanaldo Farrington entertained the crowd with four different tap dancing solos, to the beat of drums, a gospel handclap, an ode to Harlem’s Cotton Club and a
hip-hop number.
Dancers from the Next Generation Dance Academy on Seventh Avenue performed an African dance, tapped their feet to a 1930’s big band song called “Sing, Sing, Sing” and banged long wooden sticks to match their dance steps in a hip-hop number.
Third graders from Walker Elementary, a performing arts magnet school in Fort Lauderdale, donned top hats, red sequin tops and their tap shoes for their performance to “Dancing Machine” by the Jackson 5.
Enjoli Paul, who teaches dance at Walker, said she learned about the event after Archer taught a workshop to students at the school.
It took the children about six weeks to learn the routine, she said.
“Art feeds into so many walks of life,” Paul said. “If they have discipline for dance, they have discipline for school.”
Nevaeh Sanders’ parents could not have been more proud of their third-grader, whom Paul praised as her most accomplished student.
“She talks about the class every day,” said her mother, Leah. “It drives her to do good in school.”
Sherard Lasster, a Liberty City native who remains in the neighborhood, has been tap dancing for 22 years. Although he had recently retired his tap shoes to focus on his landscaping business, he said Archer convinced him to perform at the event.
“Dance to me is a way of community, a way of vibing with one another,” he said. “For me, tap was a way to escape. Tap is the beat of the heart.”
Written by ERICA LORET DE MOLA
Florida International University
Tribal drums, gospel and the clicks and clacks of tap echoed through the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend as troupes of young people danced their way through black history to commemorate National Tap Dance Day.
Titled “Routes to your Roots,” the performances showcased African-American dance styles from their origins in Africa to present-day hip-hop.
The event was coordinated by Mary Archer of Breath of Life, Creative Arts, a long-time tapper who hopes to preserve and spread an art form she said is uniquely rooted in African-American culture.
“It’s not just about the tap dancing, it’s deeper than technique, said Archer, 73, who’s been tapping for 64 years. “When you get a group of people who love what they do, it creates a spirit of unity and love.”
Archer, who has a doctorate in performing arts and taught at the center 20 years ago, said she wanted to “tell the story of tap dancing.”
May 25, the birthday of renowned tap dancer Bill “Bo Jangles” Robinson, was declared National Tap Dance Day by Congress in 1989. It was first officially celebrated in South Florida last year.
Performers on Sunday danced to everything from old African tribal beats to gospel to hip-hop, and even Lady Gaga, in a program that included interpretive dance, ballet, swing and, of course, tap.
Children from schools and dance studios in Liberty City participated in the event.
Girls from Charles Drew Middle performed an interpretive dance in flowing skirts to a spiritual song.
Reanaldo Farrington entertained the crowd with four different tap dancing solos, to the beat of drums, a gospel handclap, an ode to Harlem’s Cotton Club and a
hip-hop number.
Dancers from the Next Generation Dance Academy on Seventh Avenue performed an African dance, tapped their feet to a 1930’s big band song called “Sing, Sing, Sing” and banged long wooden sticks to match their dance steps in a hip-hop number.
Third graders from Walker Elementary, a performing arts magnet school in Fort Lauderdale, donned top hats, red sequin tops and their tap shoes for their performance to “Dancing Machine” by the Jackson 5.
Enjoli Paul, who teaches dance at Walker, said she learned about the event after Archer taught a workshop to students at the school.
It took the children about six weeks to learn the routine, she said.
“Art feeds into so many walks of life,” Paul said. “If they have discipline for dance, they have discipline for school.”
Nevaeh Sanders’ parents could not have been more proud of their third-grader, whom Paul praised as her most accomplished student.
“She talks about the class every day,” said her mother, Leah. “It drives her to do good in school.”
Sherard Lasster, a Liberty City native who remains in the neighborhood, has been tap dancing for 22 years. Although he had recently retired his tap shoes to focus on his landscaping business, he said Archer convinced him to perform at the event.
“Dance to me is a way of community, a way of vibing with one another,” he said. “For me, tap was a way to escape. Tap is the beat of the heart.”
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