Press Release Below:
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“In the dark of these times, art lights the way,” says Patricia Nicholson Parker, co-founder of Arts for Art (AFA).  Nicholson, William Parker and AFA team have reimagined the renowned Vision Festival as a limited-capacity outdoor event with a professionally filmed livestream.  Vision Festival:  Healing Soul will begin Thursday, October 8 at 7:00pm ET with a livestream solo performance by Wadada Leo Smith, followed by in-person / livestream events October 9 through October 12, all taking place outdoors at La Plaza at the Clemente in NYC (the parking lot on Norfolk Street, north of Delancey).  Artists include Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Amina Claudine Myers, William Parker, with the full schedule below.
 
The outdoor Vision Festival will be limited capacity, socially-distanced and in compliance with all CDC and New York City guidelines.  Daily outdoor tickets are $75, and virtual tickets are $15.  Both are available here.
 
Founded in 1996, AFA and Vision has held the belief that music and the arts can inspire and uplift people.  It has been rooted in a commitment to social justice and equity. This is evident in all of AFA’s festivals and events where the focus is on the work of groundbreaking African American artists. AFA has been organizing conferences and panel discussions that respond or foretell issues around social justice and equity.  In January 2017, AFA initiated the Artists for A Free World project. (https://www.artsforart.org/advocacy)   
 
Vision Festival will return in 2021.
 
VISION FESTIVAL:  HEALING SOUL
 
THURS, OCTOBER 8
VIRTUAL
7:00pm ET  Wadada Leo Smith - solo trumpet, solo piano
 
8:00pm  Panel discussion on protest and jazz with Amirtha Kidambi, JD Allen, Gerald Cleaver, Jean Carla Rodea, Andrea Wolper, William Parker, Mixashawn Rozie
                       
FRI, OCTOBER 9
LIVE Outdoors in La Plaza at The Clemente, 114 Norfolk St, NYC
5:00pm ET The Healing Force
Patricia Nicholson – text, movement, voice
Voices: Ellen Christi, Jean Carla Rodea, Amirtha Kidambi, Andrea Wolper
Ava Mendoza - guitar / Val Jeanty - electronics, percussion
 
6:00pm Afro-Algonquin Trio 
Lee Mixashawn Rozie – voice, sax, mandolin / Rick Rozie – bass / Royal Hartigan – drums
 
7:00pm  Oliver Lake Organ Quartet
Oliver Lake - alto sax / Jared Gold - organ / Freddie Hendrix – trumpet /Chris Beck- drums
 
SAT, OCTOBER 10
LIVE Outdoors in La Plaza at The Clemente, 114 Norfolk St, NYC
 
1:00pm ET Children’s Music is Mine Workshop (free)

4:00pm OPEN SPACE
Hamid Drake – drums / Brandon Lopez – bass / James Brandon Lewis – sax /
Alexis Marcelo – keyboards
 
5:00pm Fay Victor's Mutations for Justice
 Fay Victor - voice, composition / Mazz Swift – violin / Chris Williams - trumpet
 Luke Stewart – bass / Jason Nazary - drums
 
6:00pm Amina Claudine Myers Trio
Amina Claudine Myers – Keyboards / Jerome Harris – bass, voice / Reggie Nicholson
                       
SUN, OCTOBER 11
LIVE Outdoors in La Plaza at The Clemente, 114 Norfolk St, NYC
 
1:00pm ET  Childrens Music is Mine Workshop (free)
                       
4:00pm Andrew Cyrille Quartet
Bill Frisell -guitar / David Virelles – piano /  Ben Street – bass / Andrew Cyrille - drums
 
5:30pm POET Tyehimba Jess
 
6:00pm Gerald Cleaver's Black Host    
                       
MON, OCTOBER 12
LIVE Outdoors in La Plaza at The Clemente, 114 Norfolk St, NYC
 
4:00pm ET David Murray Trio
David Murray - tenor sax, bass clarinet / Luke Stewart – bass / Ronnie Burrage – drums
 
5:30pm POET Latasha Diggs
 
6:00pm William Parker’s In Order to Survive Quintet
Rob Brown – alto sax / James Brandon Lewis – tenor sax / Cooper-Moore – keyboards /
​Hamid Drake - drums

“In the dark of these times, art lights the way,” says Patricia Nicholson Parker, co-founder of Arts for Art.  She and William Parker have expanded AFA to include the activist arm Artists for a Free World (AFFW).  Its purpose is to take a stand for racial and economic justice to create a world where peace is possible. 
 
Artists for a Free World is announcing the September Music and Poetry Protest Performances, an outdoor event series that will take place in downtown New York City at the Clemente, La Plaza (the parking lot on Norfolk Street north of Delancey). The events will be socially-distanced and in compliance with all CDC and New York City guidelines.  Admission is free and donations are appreciated.   Additional information can be found here. 
 

Artists for a Free World Outdoor Protest Concerts
Outdoor at The Clemente La Plaza (Norfolk St. between Delancey and Rivington)
107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002 

Mon, September 7
3:00pm: Bisio / Lewis / Knuffke / Holmes
James Brandon Lewis, sax / Michael Bisio, bass / Patrick Holmes, clarinet
/ Kirk Knuffke, trumpet 
4:00pm: Thomas Sayers Ellis / Steve Swell
Thomas Sayers Ellis, poet / Steve Swell, trombone  
4:30pm: William Parker’s Celestial Lighthouse performs Urban Revolution  
William Parker, composition, bass / Rob Brown, alto sax / Darius Jones, alto sax / Isaiah Barr, tenor sax / Steve Swell, trombone / Francisco Mela, drums 
 
Saturday, September 12 
1:00pm: Music is Mine co-produced with The Clemente Outdoors in La Plaza 
Free workshop for young musicians age 5-10 
3:00pm: Dickey / Swell
Whit Dickey, drums / Steve Swell, trombone
4:00pm: Larry Roland Trio
JD Parran - reeds / Larry Roland - bass, poetry / Jackson Krall - drums 
5:00pm: Sam Newsome Trio 
Sam Newsome, soprano sax / Hilliard Greene, bass / Reggie Nicholson, drums
 
Saturday, September 26 
Outdoor Event at St. Mark’s Churchyard (131 E. 10th St.)
Co-produced with the Poetry Project 
1:30pm  Poetry Reading
Sheila Maldonado - poetry
1:45pm Tomato & Peach  
Sana Nagano - violin / Leonor Falcon - violin
2:30pm Poetry Reading
Jesus Papoleto Melendez - poetry
2:45pm  Melanie Dyer Trio
Melanie Dyer - viola / Gwen Laster - violin / Ken Filano - bass
3:30pm Poetry Reading  
Patricia Spears Jones - poetry
3:45pm Jason Kao Hwang's Human Rites Trio
Andrew Drury, drums / Ken Filiano,  bass/ Jason Kao Hwang, composer/violin/viola
4:30pm Jason Hwang / Melanie Dyer / Ken Filiano / Andrew Drury

New York City based collective Arts for Art (AFA) is proud to present FreeJazz Works in a Time of
Crisis, a weekly livestream series that celebrates and acknowledges the music and art that emerged
from the Civil Rights movement by African American artists as part of the great tradition of aesthetic and social liberation.   Every Thursday in August (and beyond), Arts for Art will stream performances from legendary FreeJazz musicians with socially relevant conversations on Zoom and its YouTube channel.
 
All of the events are free with an optional donation, and all performers are paid.  Register for free
at https://www.artsforart.org/onlinesalon.
 
“Arts for Art brings the power of FreeJazz to lead and inspire in the face of attacks on truth, freedom,
democracy and on justice for all people, especially people of color,” says co-founder and curator, Patricia Nicholson.  
 
Arts for Art is also presenting the weekly Artist Diaries series, featuring multimedia videos by AFA
artists that reflect their artistic practice in isolation. Watch the diary of William Parker &  Patricia
Nicholson on Facebook / YouTube. 
 
Upcoming Artist Diaries:
August 11 Jaimie Branch
August 18 Zak Sherzad

The Screening Vision series on YouTube features content from Arts for Art’s extensive 25-year
archives.  Here’s one from the vaults: Amiri Baraka’s “Something in the Way of Things (in Town)” from
Vision 4 in NYC, 1999.  
 
New from the Archives: 
Out now:  Hamid Drake Solo Drum, Under_Line Salon, 2015
Out now:  Song of Silver Geese, Vision Festival 21, 2016
August 16:  Andrew Cyrille & Stefan Roloff, Vision Festival 24, 2019 
 
About Arts for Art 
Founded in 1996, AFA’s work is rooted in a commitment to social justice as equity and the promotion and advancement of FreeJazz, an African American indigenous art form in which improvisation is principle. FreeJazz embodies music, dance, poetry and visual arts. It is recognized for its variety of highly developed and personalized improvisational languages. AFA works not only to preserve the legacy of FreeJazz as an African American multicultural art form, but to ensure a vital future through its re-imagination by new generations of artists. AFA offers multi-arts programs throughout the year that fulfill the role of arts in society, that is, to reflect and respond to the world. Our programming brings together multiple generations of vibrant, diverse and highly skilled artists, including the Artists for A Free World project that includes a band directed by William Parker.  AFA cultivates new audiences to protect this unique aesthetic so as to remain contemporary and available. To further our goals of diversity and accessibility, we foster education through our youth programs.

emergency funding opportunities, health and safety guidance, and other resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

THE LATEST

RENT HELP
The deadline for New York State’s new COVID Rent Relief Program is July 30. Tenants who have lost income during the COVID-19 crisis are eligible to apply and will benefit from a one-time rental subsidy paid directly to landlords. Learn more and apply here. 

HEALTH INSURANCE
The deadline for NYS health insurance special enrollment has been extended to August 15. New Yorkers without health insurance can apply for coverage through the NY State of Health / Health Plan Marketplace.

GRANTS AVAILABLE
The Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency COVID 19 Grants

​Equal Sound Corona Relief Fund – musicians who have lost income due to a canceled gig as a result of the coronavirus outbreak can apply to receive money.

Artist Rescue Trust (A.R.T.) exists to provide support to musicians and artists whose ability to perform, tour and earn a living has been negatively affected by COVID-19. A.R.T. will provide $1,500 over three months to artists in need and amplify the stories, performances and creations they had hoped to share with the world before the pandemic limited their ability to do so.

Artist Relief will distribute $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19; serve as an ongoing informational resource; and co-launch the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, designed by Americans for the Arts, to better identify and address the needs of artists.

Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Emergency Fund  is intended to help those pursuing careers as artists or arts administrators whose income has been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund is for those who self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).

CERF+ COVID-19 Relief Grant - As part of CERF+’s broader COVID-19 crisis response strategies, this special program will provide one-time $1,000 grants to meet urgent food, housing and/or health insecurities. The grants will be awarded in two cycles: the application opens July 8th and the deadline for the first round will be July 29th, the second round will open August 19th and the deadline will be September 9th. The program will focus on those facing the most severe financial pressures.

Emerging Artist Relief Fund - To be eligible you must be under 30 (OR) within three years of receiving a degree or certification (OR) within three years of beginning work as an arts professional; involved in making art (from any discipline) happen, whether you create or administrate; have been displaced as a result of COVID-19: cancelled internship, apprenticeship, events, performances, readings, exhibitions, fairs, and any other arts position (OR) You lost a "survival job" outside of the arts or experienced a significant reduction in hours; be in dire financial need. Deadline: July 23. 

leveler: peer to peer wealth distribution - leveler is a tool for people with job security to help people whose work status has been impacted by COVID-19. The list includes freelancers, service industry, and gig economy workers. Click the "receive" button if you're seeking assistance.

TrickleUp - An artists helping artists network. With 10,000 subscribers at $10 a month, they can give $10,000 to 10 different artists affected by the Covid-19 cancelations. And every month 10 new artists in need will get $10,000. If the goal is surpassed, more people will get help.

​MORE RESOURCES
Get involved with the NYC Artist Coalition and join the Music Workers Alliance.

More Grant News on:
SoundExchange site
NYFA HERE
Emergency Funding Database - Compiled by Music Works International
International Opportunities - Compiled by Composers Forum
Artist Resources - Compiled by Creative Capital

Jazz Near You - Complimentary advertisements for live streaming events uploaded to their event calendar
For reliable health information
NYC Well, for trouble coping
NYC Department of Health
New York State Dept of Health
The Centers for Disease Control

Donate to the AFA CRISIS FUND today.

Arts for Art takes a Stand for Racial & Economic Justice to create a World where Peace is possible. 

AFA stands in solidarity and support of the current protests against the ongoing dehumanization, violence, and murder targeting Black men and women. There is no room for ambivalence in a society that criminalizes the daily lives of any segment of its population.

No one is Free unless All are Free

Pianist/Composer/Educator Angelica Sanchez moved to New York from Arizona in 1994. Since moving to the East Coast Sanchez has collaborated with such notable artists as: Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Motian, Richard Davis, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Nicole Mitchell, Rob Mazurek, Tim Berne, Mario Pavone, Ben Monder amongst others. Sanchez leads numerous groups, the most recent being her Nonet which features Chris Speed, Michael Attais, Thomas Heberer, Kenny Warren, Ben Goldberg, John Hebert, Omar Tamez and Sam Ospavot.

Her music has been recognized in national and international publications including Jazz Times,The New York Times,Chicago Tribune amongst others. She was also the 2008 recipient of a French/American Chamber Music America grant and the 2011 Rockefeller Brothers Pocantico artist residency. Sanchez’ debut solo CD “A Little House” was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and her recording “Wires & Moss” featuring her Quintet was chosen as one of best Releases of 2012 in “The New York City Jazz Record (formerly All About Jazz-New York).”  Her recording “Twine Forest” a duo with Wadada Leo Smith received Honorable Mention as one of the best releases of 2013 in "The New York City Jazz Record." Her latest trio project “Float The Edge” features Michael Formanek and Tyshawn Sorey and has garnered wide critical acclaim. Sanchez has a Master's degree from Willam Paterson University in Jazz Arranging. She is currently a lecturer at Princeton University.
      
Recent AFA performances:
May 1, 2020 On_Line Salon w/ Tony Malaby

Website: http://www.angelicasanchez.com/home.html

Nasheet Waits, drummer/music educator, is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits. Over the course of his career, Freddie Waits played with such legendary artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, and countless others.
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Nasheet’s college education began at Morehouse in Atlanta, GA, where he majored in Psychology and History. Deciding that music would be his main focus, he continued his college studies in New York at Long Island University, where he graduated with honors, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Music. While attending Long Island University, Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist, Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation upon which Waits added influences from his father, as well as mentor Max Roach. It was Max that first gave Nasheet’s formidable talent international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the famed percussion ensemble M’BOOM. One highlight of Nasheet’s tenure with M’BOOM was the live concert performance of M’BOOM with special guests Tony Williams and Ginger Baker.

Most recently Nasheet has been a member of Andrew Hill’s various bands, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, and Fred Hersch’s trio. As an originating member of pianist Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, Jason, bassist Tarus Mateen, and Nasheet have been deemed, “the most exciting rhythm section in jazz” by JazzTimes, The 2001 recording “Black Stars” with the Bandwagon, featuring Sam Rivers was named the “Best CD of 2001” in (Jazz Times, Jan 2002) and “The New York Times”.

Nasheet’s recording and performing discography is a veritable who’s who in Jazz, boasting stints with jazz notables such as Geri Allen, Mario Bauza, Hamiett Bluiett, Abraham Burton, Ron Carter, Marc Cary, Steve Coleman, Stanley Cowell, Orrin Evans, Stefon Harris, Andrew Hill, Bill Lee, Jackie McLean, The Mingus Big Band, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Greg Osby, Joshua Redman, Vanessa Rubin, Antoine Roney, Wallace Roney, Jacky Terrason, Bunky Green, and Mark Turner. Waits has recorded and toured extensively in Africa, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States.

Recent AFA Performances:
July 10, 2020 On_Line Salon w/ Antoine Roney & Taurus Mateen

“Patt'n Mouth, like cat and mouse, is a 17th Century English language idiom meaning "constant pursuit, near captures and repeated escapes stemming from a contrived action"...More

Joe McPhee, born November 3, 1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician.
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He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. He continued on that instrument through his formative school years and later in a U.S. Army band stationed in Germany, at which time he was introduced to performing traditional jazz. Clifford Thornton’s Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 on the Third World label, is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music.
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His first recordings as leader appeared on the CJ Records label, founded in 1969
by painter Craig Johnson. These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger release Black Magic Man by McPhee, on what was to become Hat Hut Records
In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of “deep listening” strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono’s book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by “disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle.” de Bono’s theories inspired McPhee to apply this “sideways thinking” to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of “Po Music.” McPhee describes “Po Music” as a “process of provocation” (Po is a language indicator to show that provocation is being used) to “move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones.” He concludes, “It is a Positive, Possible, Poetic Hypothesis.” The results of this application of Po principles to creative improvisation can be heard on several Hat Art recordings, including Topology, Linear B, and Oleo & a Future Retrospective.

In 1997, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen. The trio premiered at the Vision Jazz Festival in 1998 but the concert went unnoticed by the press. McPhee, Duval, and Rosen therefore decided that an apt title for the group would be Trio X. In 2004 he created Survival Unit III with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang to expand his musical horizons and with a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections while reaching for music’s outer limits.

In 2012 he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vision Festival

Recent AFA Performances:
June 5, 2020 On_Line Salon

Website: ​http://joemcphee.com/

Daniel Carter is an American experimental saxophone, flute, clarinet, and trumpet player active mainly in New York City since the early 1970s. One of the legendary masters of creative music. Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in 1945.
Carter is a prolific performer and has recorded or performed with William Parker, Federico Ughi, DJ Logic, Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, scientist/musician Matthew Putman, Patrick Holmes, Sabir Mateen, Cooper-Moore, Sam Rivers, David S. Ware, Yoko Ono, Medesky Martin and Wood and Jaco Pastorius among others. He is a member of the cooperative free jazz groups TEST and Other Dimensions In Music.

Recent AFA Performances:
August 13, 2020 On_Line Salon w/ Matt Lavelle, Mara Rosenbloom, Warren Smith

Website: https://www.577records.com/danielcarter

Cooper-Moore came of age as a musician and active member of the civil rights and peace movements. He became a pivotal member of the Free Jazz movement beginning with the collective Apogee with David S. Ware in the 70s. He has led his own bands Triptych Myth and Digital Primitives and has also been a central figure in William Parker’s In Order to Survive and Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host. Cooper-Moore has written and performed for playwrights such as Rita Dove and Laurie Carlos, and choreographers Joan Miller, Rod Rogers, Marlies Yearby, and Judith Jackson. He is also an important educator, inspiring generations of young artists through Head Start and other music programs around the world. At the Vision Festival in 2017, Arts for Art celebrated Cooper-Moore's lifetime of Achievement with performances by In Order to Survive, Digital Primitives, and Black Host.

Recent AFA Performances:
July 17, 2020 On_Line Salon

​Website: ​http://www.aumfidelity.com/cooper-moore.html

​Cooper-Moore has been a pivotal member of the Free Jazz movement since the early 70s. His primary instrument is the piano, though the variety of instruments he has designed and built are part of his trademark...More