February 2022 Cultural Work Roundup

/// February 2022 ///

Easing into the New Year, we’re celebrating Lunar New Year, Black History (all day, every day), and more while we also continue to navigate pandemic worries and concerns. Here's your monthly dose of BIPOC makers, radical thinkers, and resources featuring recommendations by Cultural Work Coordinator, Roshani Thakore. If you would like to include an item to a future Cultural Work Roundup, email Roshani at roshani@apano.org by the 20th of that month.

WATCH

• 
  
• Shirley Chisholm: The first Black woman to run for US president – “Congresswoman Chisholm was a trailblazer, a champion of the poor and marginalized, and a role model to me and so many other women in politics, especially Black women,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. “It brings me great joy to celebrate Congresswoman Chisholm’s legacy 50 years after her historic presidential run. Fifty years after her presidential campaign, we are still facing some of the same challenges she sought to defeat. From voting rights, to eradicating poverty and dismantling gender and racial injustice, we must keep Congresswoman Chisholm’s philosophy of being ‘unbought and unbossed’ with us as we fight for a more just future.” Check out the short BBC Television documentary about Congresswoman Chisholm’s work and legacy.
• 
  
• Jeremy Dutcher - Mehcinut – Check out the first music video from singer Jeremy Dutcher, whose work celebrates Indigenous joy and multidimensionality in a song that is both a, “call back and a reach forward.” You can also check out the process and the many people included in the film.

PRACTICE

• Monthly Keaton Otis Vigil – Keaton's father Fred Bryant started the monthly vigil on the 12 of the month after his son's murder on the spot where Keaton's life was taken. Fred Bryant passed away October 29, 2013. His family and community have committed to continuing the vigils every month on the 12th, until justice is achieved for Keaton, for Fred, for our whole community. Vigil is online on September 12th. If you would like log-in information, please message this page or Justice For Keaton Otis here on Facebook
• 
  
• Lunar New Year Celebration at O82 – Wondering what the Orchards of 82nd Mural crew is up to? Join Lillyanne Pham and Paola De La Cruz on February 1st at 6:00pm at the Orchards of 82nd playground (and mural site!) for a Lunar New Year Celebration! Enjoy some local Chinese food from HK Cafe, music, Art making activities, Photo booth and campfire stories and we talk about harvesting community safety and support. Masks required! For more information, check out their instagram @muralatO82.
• 
  
• Sharita Towne & A Black Art Ecology of Portland – The exhibition provides a glimpse into Towne’s burgeoning project “A Black Art Ecology of Portland” (BAEP), an initiative she launched in 2019 to bring together community organizations in support of creating, reclaiming, and redefining spaces for Black art and audiences in Portland. BAEP remaps historical and contemporary Black creative life in Portland and beyond. Activities have included developing co-creative spaces for art, murals, public art activation, video, COVID relief, residencies, DIY publishing, a comedy show, memorials for Black life, and more. Towne’s ongoing research has led the artist into Black geography and assistance in local organizations that center Black life. Towne’s artistic foundation and vision in working with neighborhoods aligns with Project Row Houses in Houston, Art + Practice in Los Angeles, Dorchester Projects in Chicago, and The Black School in Harlem and New Orleans. The work presented here shows projects within affordable housing, city streets, art venues, forged through institutional and community collaborations. Tuesday - Sunday, 10 am - 5 pm. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue.

LISTEN

• Co-creating a Future Where Everyone Belongs – In this episode of the Who Belongs podcast, Reverend Ben McBride, a spiritual leader and longtime activist for peace and justice in the Bay Area who serves as a national leader around reconstructing public safety systems and gun violence prevention work is interviewed. In the interview McBride shares how he conceptualizes the building, bridging, belonging, and becoming frameworks.
• 
  
• Co-Creating Public Spaces of Belonging – Debbie Lacy, the founder of Eastside for All, which serves communities outside of Seattle, WA, talks about its mission to transform East King County into a place where racial, economic and social justice are realized and belonging is made possible for communities of color. Debbie shares about her Build for Belonging Initiative and specifically her use of the co-creation framework as she advocates to build a cross-cultural center with belonging in mind.
• 
  

READ

• A Tribute to bell hooks – George Yancy, Karlyn Crowley, Joy James, Bettina L. Love, john a. powell, Stephanie Troutman Robbins, and Gloria Steinem contribute in this collection eulogizing bell hooks in the LA Review of Books.
• Why Embedding an Artist in Your Nonprofit Is a Sound Investment – Pittsburgh native, painter, muralist, and community advocate, Janel Young, talks about her Community Artist Residency at the UrbanKind Institute and the value artists have when integrated within an organization.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES

APANO is hiring! – APANO is currently looking for a Community Space Coordinator, a Finance Assistant and a Field Manager! For a complete listing go to https://apano.org/join-us/jobs-at-apano/

This programming brought to you by APANO Communities United Fund, a 501(c)3 non profit organization.