Hi, everyone!
We are super excited for our first concert of the new Cafezinho series – Black Lives Matter! Below you will find our program with links for more information. Explore them to dig deeper into these amazing texts and artwork! Please join us on our homepage, Anima Vox Facebook Page, or YouTube channel Monday, June 22 at 4:40pm for our first cafezinho!
by Leslye Colvin
Lord, have mercy.
George Floyd of Minnesota.
Your nation failed you.
Rest in God’s peace.
Kyrie eleison.
Christ, have mercy.
Breonna Taylor of Kentucky.
Your nation failed you.
Rest in God’s peace.
Christe eleison.
Lord, have mercy.
Ahmaud Arbery of Georgia.
Your nation failed you.
Rest in God’s peace.
Kyrie eleison.
Christ, have mercy.
Tony McDade of Florida.
Your nation failed you.
Rest in God’s peace.
Christe eleison.
Justice Arts Coalition Artwork
Art by Greg Bolden
The JustUS System
Rest in Power
Art by Harry Ellis
Do We Matter?
Stand Up!
by Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
let there be new flowering
in the fields let the fields
turn mellow for the men
let the men keep tender
through the time let the time
be wrested from the war
let the war be won
let love be
at the end
Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954)
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
‘Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on ’til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Notes
The Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) unites teaching artists, arts advocates, currently and formerly incarcerated artists, and allies, harnessing the transformative power of the arts to reimagine justice. Through the sharing of resources, stories, and learning opportunities, JAC is building a nationwide collective of people who are committed to increasing opportunities for creative expression in carceral settings and shaping public dialogue around the intersection of the arts and justice.
#gregBOLDeNtheARTist, the youngest of three siblings, is a D.C. Native that was reared in the N.E. quadrant of the city. Obviously birthed with a natural gift that only GOD can give,
it was at the tender age of six, by the instruction of his 1st grade teacher to complete a drawing assignment before the end of class, that he discovered that inherent gift for drawing.
By 8th grade, his apparent love and knack for art grew into a better understanding of the craft and was thus introduced to a medium that he would later become to favor, pastel. It was under the guidance of his art instructor Ms. Ewing that he learned the discipline of art, the tools of the craft and their usage, laying the fundamental foundation to be 2nd place winner for portraiture, in the Duke Ellington Art contest.
As time passed, Gregory continued to draw earning a reputation for his craftmanship creating t-shirts and hats for friends. However, along with that passage of time, something happened. Counted amongst the disenfranchised inner city youth, housed in an underdeveloped drug infested neighborhood, with a single mother who faithfully relied on public assistance, presented its own set of challenges. To add to the complexity of those challenges, one that would wreak havoc on the psychological well-being of all the siblings, the late revered Arnita Boyd, his mother (who later became clean) struggled with an all too common yet unrelenting crack addiction that extinguished all embers of his creativity. Instead of ripening into an auspicious and flourishing artist, those aspirations were quickly overridden with a desire to survive matriculating into a knack for making money by illegal means which was consistently being honed by the environment that he would eventually succumb to.
Now, after spending 14 years in prison and still presently incarcerated, Greg has had enough time to assess his situation involving his circumstances, irrational thinking and the negative influences that contributed to the life he once succumb to. The impact that it has had on his life, family, and the lives of others, to empathize with them showing remorse and accepting responsibility, to find purpose in this new life, live it out; and continue to be the change that he wants to see while evolving into the man, that you know today as #gregBOLDeNtheARTist. Never having any formal tutelage he considers his gift a blessing that he is obligated to share with the WORLD as an illustration to GOD’s Glory.
BOLDeN has done and continues to do just that….Literally! Bolstered with redemptive efforts to reform and give back to society, he along with fellow inmates Harry Ellis, Kevin Burno, Antonio Nero, Jaren Holley, Brian Marsh and Keith Thomas have founded and formulated a Youth Mentoring Program and Curriculum called P.U.S.H. an acronym for Persistent Until Success Happens. The P.U.S.H. program is wholeheartedly committed to the uplifting of our youth, by helping them to identify who they are in this world and assist them in obtaining the highest degree of mind, body and soul, which are recognized as three of the five dimensions. As P.U.S.H. facilitators they’re dedicated to fitting our youth with the fortitude to become responsible and productive men, while holding firm to their integrity and humility, thus they may have what it takes to say “NO” to crime and destructive influences, enabling them to strive in a positive, crime-free and drug-free lifestyle. Our youth will be equipped to P.U.S.H.
As a prisoner and soon to be former prisoner, that has been through the fire and able to emerge, heeding the lifelong lessons of his actions, he is in a unique position to better understand what works in terms of change and lowering recidivism. When asked about what one can expect from his art and future endeavors, #gregBOLDeNtheARTist states thus:
“You can expect me to continue to create art that expresses my identity and to introduce Black themes into American modernism. To portray my experiences and spontaneity in my art as well as inspire and evoke thought. I am emBOLDeN to emerge from the ashes of ignorance, poverty, crime and desecration that once choked my very existence, into a vital force that would contribute to art, change and the uplifting of humanity.”
Bolden’s most acclaimed titles above that of creative are those of loving husband and father, in addition to being an artistic “engineer” whose reach magnifies beyond sometimes even his own imagination. Look out for the expansion of his dexterities as he embarks as an author of art comedy coming to media outlets everywhere soon.
Harry Ellis “I create whatever my mind and talent will allow. Honestly I believe adversity has been my greatest inspiration and helped me become an artist.”