“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

Devin Brahja Waldman is a New York saxophonist, drummer, synthesizer player and composer who leads the band BRAHJA, whose sixth album was released by RRGEMS Records in September, 2019. Waldman has accompanied his aunt, outrider poet Anne Waldman, since the age of ten. He has performed with Patti Smith, William Parker, Nadah El Shazly, Malcolm Mooney, Thurston Moore, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Charles Hayward, Mette Rasmussen and Yoshiko Chuma. Waldman is a member of New York City’s Heroes Are Gang Leaders (led by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis) as well as Sam Shalabi’s Land of Kush (Constellation Records), and the Norwegian hardcore group MoE; he is a co-founder and producer for the Moroccan music ensemble Ziad Qoulaii Allstars— whose debut album will be released by Akuphone in 2020— and the NYC/Philly duo Notable Deaths. As a youngster, Waldman was taken under the wing of pianist Paul Bley. Waldman is a co-producer for Fast Speaking Music —a NYC poetry and music label which has released the works of Amiri Baraka, Meredith Monk, Eileen Myles, CAConrad, Fred Moten, Daniel Carter, Thurston Moore, Joanne Kyger and many others. 

Website: ​http://www.brahjawaldman.com/

Hilliard Greene has been studying music for more than 30 years and has been playing professionally over twenty. His emphasis is in classical, jazz, rock, blues, R&B, Tango as well as the music of other continents and US regions, and solo performances.

Greene studied at the University of Northern Iowa and at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been teaching private students and classes for over 25 years. He continues to teach privately and to do workshops and master classes in upright and electric bass for both children and adults.

He performs widely in the New York City area: recitals, nightclubs, concert halls (including Carnegie Hall), recording studios, radio and television. Also performs in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Europe east and west, Asia, the West Indies, and South America.

Greene performed and recorded with Jimmy Scott for 20+ years, serving as his Musical Director from 1995 to 2013. Greene was also Cecil Taylor’s Concert Master for his group “Phtongos”. He was in residence at Minton’s a.k.a. legendary Minton’s Playhouse as the house bassist.

Greene works / worked with Rashied Ali, Barry Altschul, Lucian Ban, Billy Bang, Kenny Barron, David Berger, Karl Berger, Cindy Blackman, T.K. Blue, Dougie Bowen, Joanne Brackeen, Oscar Brown Jr., Uri Caine, Roy Campbell, Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Skin, Daniel Carter, James Carter, Carla Cook, Akua Dixon, Dave Douglas, John Esposito, Bobby Few, Erik Friedlander, Camille Gainer, Eddie Gale, Charles Gayle, Eddie Gladden, Electric Symphony, Alex Harding, George Haslam, Jon Hendricks, John Hicks, Jason Kao Hwang, The Inkspots, Yoron Israel, Vijay Iyer, Klaus Kugel, Leroy Jenkins, Howard Johnson, Frank Lacy, Gloria Lynne, Michael Marcus, Sabir Mateen, Jason Moran, Bern Nix, Greg Osby, Jimmy Ponder, Don Pullen, Lenore Raphael, Matana Roberts, Perry Robinson, Josh Roseman, Vanessa Rubin, Nipsy Russell, Warren Smith, Steve Swell, Grady Tate,  Jacky Terrasson, Gebhard Ullman, Marlene VerPlanck, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Petras Vysniauskas, Jack Walrath, Bobby Watson, Mars Williams

​Website: hilliardgreene.com

In December 2016, Arts for Art hosted a holiday fundraiser at the Lowline Lab in NYC featuring Jason Kao Hwang’s Spontaneous River Orchestra performing the compositions “New York” by Leroy Jenkins...More  

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

​Michael Bisio, bassist/composer, has eighty five recordings in his discography, twenty four of these are split evenly between leader/co-leader, ten of them document his extraordinary association with modern piano icon Matthew Shipp. Michael has been called a poet, a wonder and one of the most virtuosic and imaginative performers on the double bass. Nate Chinen in the New York Times writes : "The physicality of Mr. Bisio's bass playing puts him in touch with numerous predecessors in the avant-garde, but his expressive touch is distinctive;..." As a composer Michael has been awarded nine grants and an Artist Trust Fellowship Collaborators include Matthew Shipp, Joe McPhee, Charles Gayle, Connie Crothers, Whit Dickey, Ivo Perelman, Barbara Donald, Newman Taylor Baker, Rob Brown, Sonny Simmons and Sabir Mateen.

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.
​
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

Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his time, both for his music and his writings. For the last five decades, Mr. Smith has been a member of the historical and legendary AACM collective. He distinctly defines his music as “Creative Music.” Mr. Smith’s diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered around important issues that have impacted his world. Mr. Smith’s awards and commissions include: DownBeat Magazine’s 65th Annual Critics Poll: Artist, Trumpet, and Album of the Year (America’s National Parks). Mr. Smith is featured on the cover of the August 2017 issue of DownBeat. And in the 2016 Jazz Times’ Critics Poll, he was honored the Artist of the Year. His America’s National Parks earned wide praise as one of the best albums of 2016 from media like The New York Times, the NPR Jazz Critics Poll, The Wire and many other publications. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, he received the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award and earned an honorary doctorate from CalArts, where he was also celebrated as Faculty Emeritus.

Recent AFA Performance: October 8, 2020 Vision Festival Healing Soul
Website: https://wadadaleosmith.com/

Wadada Leo Smith shares his philosophy on music, leadership and successful collective models, education, and more in this interview for AFA Artist Talks...More