November 2021 Cultural Work Roundup

/// November 2021 ///

Here’s your monthly dose of BIPOC makers, radical thinkers, and resources - featuring the final events for this year’s East Portland Arts & Literary Festival, a.k.a. QUEERPALF! 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

• Another World Is Possible: Afro-futurism, Transformative Justice, & Pleasure Activism – adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha -- both authors, activists, and educators -- sit down for a conversation about anti-racism and inclusivity in higher education at Portland State University’s Inclusive Frameworks Conference.
• The Masculinity Project – Actor, activist, and producer, Tonatiuh, is an impassioned advocate of storytelling for social change, and believes that it is the artist's responsibility to create a more inclusive and tolerant society through storytelling. The Masculinity Project was conceived through an understanding and acknowledgment of men’s own responsibility to challenge patriarchy; to deconstruct and reshape our collective definitions of manhood and masculinity, and provide a blueprint for generational shifts in consciousness that encourage both young and adult men of color to build healthier relationships with their masculinity.

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
• East Portland Arts & Literary Festival 2021: Presenting QUEERPALF – As we enter into another fall with COVID-19, EPALF — this year, aka QUEERPALF — is focusing on reconnection. This month, check out the QUEERPALF Marketplace, Spatial Realities with Ariella Tai, Work from the East Portland Art + Justice Lab’s Artists-in-Residence, and a Write Around Portland Workshop celebrating QTBIPOC poets and writers. Led by APANO’s Arts & Media Project’s (AMP) Queer and Trans Asian and Pacific Islander subcommittee, we hope to shape a collective narrative for our community through a QTBIPOC lens. Fridays: November 5 and 12. Free and online. For more information and the festival line up click here.
• Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable– At a time when LGBTQ rights are advancing, why are attacks against trans, queer and/or gender-nonconforming people of color increasing? Join Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 5pm PT / 8 pm ET to hear from a panel of artists, organizers, and academics, including Angela Davis, who will discuss this question and others posed by Eric A. Stanley's new book Atmospheres of Violence. Register here.
• Adàwàning: Indigenous Women’s Virtual Art Market– This 3-day online event will highlight the work of 50 Indigenous artists and artisans from across the country. Come browse the virtual booths from November 26-28, where you can learn more about these amazing vendors and support the work of Indigenous artists. The Indigenous Women’s Virtual Art Market features the diverse work of Métis, Inuit and First Nations makers including fine art, beadwork, moccasins, cards, crafts, music, materials and much more. Come and enjoy the fun!

LISTEN

• Hope, Questioning, and Getting Lost with Bayo Akomolafe– In this episode, author, poet, and professor, Bayo Akomolafe digs into the very notions of activism, hope, and living a life of questioning. This conversation with Prentis and Bayo challenges us to investigate perspective and to peak into the cracks of realities ruptured.

READ

• Redefining Who Belongs – Recent acute instances of failed political leadership—particularly around the pandemic and an ongoing lack of action to protect Black lives—have shone a bright light on questions essential to our future as a country: Who are we? Who are we becoming? Who must we become if we are to create a different world where everyone belongs? The purpose of this brief is to understand how movement actors can create and put forth new salient strategic narratives that address underlying dominant beliefs while offering an alternative story line that fosters the political and economic victories we want to see. More info here.
• Eda Yu: how ash wood fertilizes the earth– how wood ash refertilizes the earth is a work that interrogates whether or not there has really ever been a safe space for Asians in America. Featuring photography by Ash Alexander, the work uses negative space and movement to illustrate the ebb and flow of how Asians were given and then had land taken away from them throughout U.S. history. In a year of staggering anti-Asian violence, this piece aims to remind folks that safety is something Asian Americans have always been, and must keep, fighting for — everywhere we are.

 

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LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES

APANO is hiring! – APANO is currently looking for a Communications Manager, a Community Development Manager, and more! For a complete listing go to https://apano.org/join-us/jobs-at-apano/

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