ARTS FOR ART
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  • EVENTS
    • Joëlle Léandre: Life - Struggle - Music
    • EVENTS ARCHIVE >
      • Special Events >
        • Jo Wood-Brown's 'Dreaming Woman'
        • Vision Festival 2022, New York City
        • InGardens 2022, FREE Outdoor Concert Series in NYC
        • FreeJazz on a Saturday Afternoon
        • No Joke! Record Release
        • Studio Rivbea Revisited 2023
        • Jazz Libre! Celebration
        • Outdoor Concerts
        • Vision Festival Healing Soul
        • Amina Claudine Myers Birthday Celebration
        • Bringing on the Hallelujah: Kidd Jordan Film
        • Artists for a Free World Protest Concerts
        • Earth Arrival Day Celebration >
          • Arts for Art at The Town Hall | March 4
        • Patricia Nicholson Birthday Benefit
        • Steve Cannon Tribute
        • Arts for Art at Weeksville
        • AFA at H0L0 Xennial
        • OPEN DOORS / OPEN STUDIOS
        • Arts for Art at the Kitchen
        • Cecil Taylor Memorial
        • FreeJazz at Weeksville
        • Vision at Tufts
        • Sonny Simmons Tribute Concert
        • Tribute to Hamiet Bluiett
      • Vision Festival Archive
      • On_Line Salons
      • Under_Line Salons >
        • Amina Claudine Myers Salon 1/07
        • Jemeel Moondoc Salon 4/18
        • Andrew Cyrille Salon 1/9
        • Under_Line Salon w/ Dave Burrell March 8, 2018
        • AFA Fundraiser Honoring Cecil Taylor
        • Under_Line Salon December 6
        • Canceled - Under_Line Salon ft. Eric Revis & Alvin Fielder
        • Under_Line Salon ft. Cooper-Moore
        • Canceled - Under_Line Salon ft. Alvin Fielder
        • Holiday Salon at the LOWLINE Lab
        • Under_Line Salon ft. Marshall Allen
      • Evolving >
        • Peace and Justice Celebration
        • Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
        • Arts for Art at El Taller
        • Arts for Art at H0L0
        • Arts for Art at Nublu
        • Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
        • Raza y Resistencia 2018
        • Justice is Compassion 12/7 - 1/12
        • Raza y Resistencia 2017
        • Justice is Compassion / Not a Police State
        • Raza y Resistencia
        • NYC FreeJazz Summit
      • Artist Meeting
      • InGardens >
        • InGardens 2021
        • InGardens 2019
        • InGardens 2018
        • In Gardens 2016
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12/11/2019

Amina Claudine Myers Artist Profile

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Amina Claudine Myers (b. 1942 in Blackwell, Arkansas) is the 2020 Arts for Art / Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. Myers is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and arranger. Her career in music began in her preteens with directing church choirs, singing, and playing gospel and rhythm & blues. Myers majored in music education at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. After graduation, she moved to Chicago in 1963, where she taught music at an elementary school, became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and began composing for voice and instruments. (Myers performed at the AACM's second concert.) She also attended classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway productions. She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist. Around 1978 she began touring in Europe with the Lester Bowie Quintet and his New York Organ Ensemble. 
 
She first recorded with the saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, and developed a rapport performing and recording with fellow AACM members including Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Henry Threadgill.  She has also performed with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Rahsaan Roland Kirk  and other well known artists. 
 
Eleven albums have been recorded under her leadership featuring players like Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson, Pheeroan akLaff. Her recording career combines her gospel and blues inspirations with an improviser's freedom and includes classic albums like The Circle of Time, Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith, and solo piano and voice effort, Sama Rou (Songs From My Soul).
 
Relocating to New York City in 1976, Myer's further developed her work involving voice choirs, voice and instrumental ensemble, and a robust exploration of the pipe organ. Her compositions include large-scale works for orchestra and choir, and collaborations with writer Ntozake Shange and choreographer Dianne McIntyre.​
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12/5/2019

Fay Victor & Gerald Cleaver Duo | December 15 Preview

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Fay Victor & Gerald Cleaver
Vocalist Fay Victor and drummer Gerald Cleaver perform on December 15 for the final Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon the Clemente. These free performances are a great opportunity to introduce friends and family to improvisation!

December 15, 2019 3:00pm
The Clemente, Room 203
​107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002

​Free Admission

Fay Victor and Brandon Lopez at AFA's In Gardens series, 2018. By Don Mount
The final Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon concert of 2019 is upon us. We are excited to welcome vocalist Fay Victor and the always inspiring drummer Gerald Cleaver to close out the series. Although Fay and Gerald have worked together before, this will be their debut as a duo. Given Fay's record of premiering groups at AFA events, it would be wise to pay attention to this one.  Here's a quick rundown of two groups Fay first presented in concert at Arts for Art.

In 2017 she debuted the SoundNoise Trio with Sam Newsome and Reggie Nicholson at the InGardens series. That group, with the addition of guitarist Joe Morris has gone on to release the critically acclaimed Wet Robots. Wet Robots was listed as one of NPR Music's top albums of 2018 and received praise from the New York Times, Downbeat, and JazzTimes. The group Mutations for Justice, the vehicle for Victor's collection of minimalist compositions, or mutations, debuted at the Evolving series and performed at Vision Festival 2018. Victor has since been awarded a Headlands Center for the Arts residency to continue composing work for this group. With a goal of 45 compositions, expect to hear a lot more of this project.  


Fay Victor - voice / Gerald Cleaver - drums

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These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.
See the Full Schedule

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12/4/2019

Whit Dickey Trio | December 8 Preview

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Whit Dickey at the 2018 Vision Festival by Ken Weiss.
Whit Dickey, Daniel Carter, Brandon Lopez

December 8, 2019 3:00pm
The Clemente, Room 203
​107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002

​Free Admission


Drummer Whit Dickey, bassist Brandon Lopez, and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter perform on December 8 at the Clemente. These free performances are a great opportunity to introduce friends and family to improvisation!

Whit Dickey, Brandon Lopez, and Rob Brown at AFA's In Gardens series, 2019. By Don Mount
Whit Dickey Biography

Whit Dickey grew up in Bennington, VT, where he was introduced to the music of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald through his father’s record collection.  He was also exposed to the music of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, and was captivated by the drumming of Mitch Mitchell and Jack deJohnette. Seeing Sam Rivers perform with drummer Freddie Waits while studying at UMass in 1974 opened his mind to the possibilities of creative improvisation.  Le Roi Jones’ compilation of writings on 60s jazz scene,
Black Music, and the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Elvin Jones, and Sunny Murray, further pushed Dickey’s interest toward the avant-garde.  He became a regular audience member during the NYC “loft scene” of ‘76 and ‘77, and in 1978 began to seriously pursue the drums.  


Whit joined the Creative Music Studio, where he studied combinations of rhythm units – taki and gamala – invented by Don Cherry and Karl Berger, played with many visiting artists, and in Karl Berger’s free jazz ensembles.  He would move to NYC, where he continued to play with musicians from CMS, and spent time studying with Andrew Cyrille. He later attended Bennington College, where he studied and performed with professors Milford Graves and Bill Dixon.  During this time, Dickey began developing his free approach to drumming.  

After earning a Masters in Third Stream Studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, Whit met fellow NEC alum and pianist Matthew Shipp, who would introduce him to alto saxophonist Rob Brown. Whit and Rob were formative members of the Matthew Shipp Quartet, who along with William Parker, would release the album Points in 1990.  In 1992, the trio of Dickey, Shipp, and Parker put out the recording Circular Temple, inspired by a mutual love for the short story, “The Circular Ruins,” by Jorge Luis Borges.

Whit soon joined Matthew and William in the David S. Ware Quartet.  He recorded 5 albums and toured frequently as part of the quartet until 1996. In 1997, Whit recorded his first album as leader, the trio date Transonic with Rob Brown and bassist Chris Lightcap. He soon moved north of NYC to refocus his studies in private.  He continued to record while developing a personal style cradling syncopation and free improvisation, drawing from Billy Higgins, Milford Graves, and Elvin Jones. Dickey linked back up with Matthew Shipp and joined his trio in 2007, resulting in several critically acclaimed records.  In 2014, Whit retreated from the scene in pursuit of stillness, which lead him to embrace silence and space in his playing. Fierce Silence and Drone Dream, duo records with cornetist Kirk Knuffke, exemplify this approach. In 2019, Aum Fidelity released the 2-CD set, Peace Planet -&- Box of Light.

Whit Dickey - drums / Brandon Lopez - bass / Daniel Carter - horns

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These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.
See the Full Schedule

Share

12/3/2019

Support the Artists and Friends Campaign | #GivingTuesday

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Did you know that the Artists and Friends Campaign was founded by artists in our community as a way to give back to AFA?

We pay artists guaranteed fees. There are no thresholds to meet or hidden costs to cover before they get paid out.  We value the art and artists we present, and know that you do too.  We ask our community to "support what supports them," and this campaign is the perfect example of our close relationship with all of our community.         

Today is #GivingTuesday, a great day for you, the Artists and Friends of Arts for Art, to make your tax-deductible gift to support our work of strengthening the presence of these freedom loving, creative arts. 


Arts for Art is a forward thinking community of musicians, dancers, poets, filmmakers and visual artists. Your support today will help AFA to continue to grow our community and build awareness of the amazing contributions by this diverse and freedom seeking cohort of artists.

We are a small, ideal-driven organization which accomplishes a great deal by using our limited budget wisely. So you can be sure that your generous support will go a long way towards helping us to become sustainable and for this we are grateful.
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​Patricia Nicholson Parker
Founder, Artistic Director
Donate to Support AFA
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    The Vision Festival is the world's premier showcase of Free Jazz music, dance, poetry, and visual art. 

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MISSION: Arts for Art is dedicated to the exceptional creativity that originated in the African American multi-arts jazz culture that utilizes improvisation to express a larger, more positive dream of inclusion and freedom.
​​ARTS FOR ART, INC.
107 Suffolk Street, #300, New York, NY, 10002
212-254-5420 | info@artsforart.org

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Programs
    • AFA Artists
    • Annual Reports
    • Board & Staff
    • Vision Circle
    • Safe(r) Space Code of Conduct
    • About CoSA
  • EVENTS
    • Joëlle Léandre: Life - Struggle - Music
    • EVENTS ARCHIVE >
      • Special Events >
        • Jo Wood-Brown's 'Dreaming Woman'
        • Vision Festival 2022, New York City
        • InGardens 2022, FREE Outdoor Concert Series in NYC
        • FreeJazz on a Saturday Afternoon
        • No Joke! Record Release
        • Studio Rivbea Revisited 2023
        • Jazz Libre! Celebration
        • Outdoor Concerts
        • Vision Festival Healing Soul
        • Amina Claudine Myers Birthday Celebration
        • Bringing on the Hallelujah: Kidd Jordan Film
        • Artists for a Free World Protest Concerts
        • Earth Arrival Day Celebration >
          • Arts for Art at The Town Hall | March 4
        • Patricia Nicholson Birthday Benefit
        • Steve Cannon Tribute
        • Arts for Art at Weeksville
        • AFA at H0L0 Xennial
        • OPEN DOORS / OPEN STUDIOS
        • Arts for Art at the Kitchen
        • Cecil Taylor Memorial
        • FreeJazz at Weeksville
        • Vision at Tufts
        • Sonny Simmons Tribute Concert
        • Tribute to Hamiet Bluiett
      • Vision Festival Archive
      • On_Line Salons
      • Under_Line Salons >
        • Amina Claudine Myers Salon 1/07
        • Jemeel Moondoc Salon 4/18
        • Andrew Cyrille Salon 1/9
        • Under_Line Salon w/ Dave Burrell March 8, 2018
        • AFA Fundraiser Honoring Cecil Taylor
        • Under_Line Salon December 6
        • Canceled - Under_Line Salon ft. Eric Revis & Alvin Fielder
        • Under_Line Salon ft. Cooper-Moore
        • Canceled - Under_Line Salon ft. Alvin Fielder
        • Holiday Salon at the LOWLINE Lab
        • Under_Line Salon ft. Marshall Allen
      • Evolving >
        • Peace and Justice Celebration
        • Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
        • Arts for Art at El Taller
        • Arts for Art at H0L0
        • Arts for Art at Nublu
        • Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
        • Raza y Resistencia 2018
        • Justice is Compassion 12/7 - 1/12
        • Raza y Resistencia 2017
        • Justice is Compassion / Not a Police State
        • Raza y Resistencia
        • NYC FreeJazz Summit
      • Artist Meeting
      • InGardens >
        • InGardens 2021
        • InGardens 2019
        • InGardens 2018
        • In Gardens 2016
  • EDUCATION
    • Music is Mine
  • SUPPORT
    • Donate
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • Volunteer
  • AFFW
  • VIDEOS
    • Screening Vision
    • ARTIST DIARIES
  • PRESS
  • FOLLOW
  • STORE
  • NEWS