ArtsGreensboro Announces 2016 Fabric of Freedom Series, Presented in Conjunction with the National Folk Festival and 17DAYS

The series celebrates Greensboro’s unique history as a crucible for freedom & social justice

"Greensboro, N.C., August 18, 2016 — ArtsGreensboro President and CEO Tom Philion and Fabric of Freedom Coordinator Katy Clune today announced the schedule of free Fabric of Freedom arts events taking place throughout September during both the National Folk Festival, running September 9 – 11, and the 17DAYS Arts & Culture Festival running September 9 – 25.

During the announcement, gospel singer Mary D. Williams of Garner, N.C., who will lead a Fabric of Freedom event, “Music from the Movement,” on Sunday, September 18, at the O.Henry Hotel, provided a preview of her performance.

In its second year, the Fabric of Freedom series celebrates Greensboro’s history as a crucible for freedom and social justice. It is presented by ArtsGreensboro and funded by a National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town” grant, with major support from the AJ Fletcher Foundation and Lincoln Financial Foundation.  

“Freedom movements and social justice activism are as integral to Greensboro as its railroads,” explained Philion. “Fabric of Freedom is a series of arts programs that celebrate the diversity and cultural history of Greensboro. We are thrilled to be able to present Fabric of Freedom events in association with the National Folk Festival, which showcases the rich traditions of all Americans, and 17DAYS, which shines a light on our city’s diverse art organizations.”

Even before Greensboro was founded in 1808, freedom was a rallying cry for its residents. Greensboro is named for Revolutionary War Major General Nathanael Greene, a “fighting Quaker” who led American troops against the British at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781. In the early 1800s, Quakers established the southern-most point of the Underground Railroad on the campus of present-day Guilford College. On February 1, 1960, four North Carolina A&T students asked to be served at the downtown Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter. Since the 1970s, the city has welcomed new immigrants and refugees. In 2014, the Greensboro City Council passed a resolution naming Greensboro a Welcoming City “that celebrates the growing diversity of its residents.”

Upcoming Fabric of Freedom programs include:

Fabric of Freedom First Friday Kickoff

Fri., Sept. 2, 5 – 9:30 pm

Tour the International Civil Rights Museum for free from 5 – 6:30 pm. Then head over to Government Plaza at 7 pm for a one-night-only throwback concert by N.C. soul legends from Odyssey 5 and The Eliminators.

ON SITE AT THE NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL

Freedom in the Gate City Timeline

See key moments in Greensboro’s history of social justice.

#WeaveTheTent Hands-on Activity

Sat., Sept. 10 & Sun., Sept. 11, 12 – 5 pm

N.C. Folklife Area

Lend a hand and help weave a “Fabric of Freedom” for Greensboro. No skills or materials required. Community weavings will become part of Welcoming the Stranger, an exhibit opening at Guilford College, on September 14.

What’s Your North Carolina Story?

Sat., Sept. 10 & Sun., Sept. 11, 12 – 5 pm

N.C. Folklife Area

Step into our storytelling Airstream trailer and share your N.C. experience. The photos and stories collected will be added to the collection of the Greensboro Historical Museum.

THROUGHOUT 17DAYS

Objects from the Borderlands: The U.S.-Mexico Border Anti-Archive

Fri., Sept. 2 – Sat., Oct. 1

Reception: Sat., Sept. 17, 5 – 8 pm

Since 2007, artist Susan Harbage Page has walked the Texas-Mexico border, collecting the ordinary objects people leave behind on their journey into the U.S.

Greensboro Project Space | 219 W Lewis Street

Traditions of Protest in North Carolina

Fri., Sept. 2 – Sun., Oct. 2

This exhibit places Greensboro’s protest history into a larger state context. Organized by the North Carolina Folklore Society.

PB & Java | 616 North Elm Street

Greensboro is Our Home: Storytelling

Tues., Sept. 13, 7 – 9 pm

Several of the city’s voices for freedom—from the 1960s to now—reveal the true tales of triumph and danger they faced.

Gibb’s Hundred | 117 W Lewis Street

Welcoming the Stranger

Wed., Sept. 14 – Sun., Oct 30

Opening reception: Wed., Sept. 14, 5:30 – 7 pm

Inspired by the parable of Abraham welcoming strangers into his home, artist Jo Israelson seeks to turn strangers into friends.

Hege Library, Guilford College | 5800 W Friendly Ave.

Artist Talk: Hank Willis Thomas

Thurs., Sept. 15, 7 pm

The artist discusses his current exhibition, Unbranded, A Century of White Women, 1915 – 2015. RSVP: weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

Weatherspoon Art Museum | 500 Tate Street

The Allen Boys: Sacred Steel of North Carolina

Fri., Sept. 16, 6 – 8 pm

The Allen Boys, our state’s only touring sacred steel guitar band, bring their rollicking sound to Greensboro.

Lawn, Greensboro Historical Museum| 130 Summit Ave.

Underground Railroad Walking Tour

Sat., Sept. 17, 11 am

The southern terminus of the Underground Railroad was established in the forests of present-day Guilford College. RSVP: nationalfolkfestival.com/fabric-of-freedom.

Guilford College | 5800 W Friendly Ave

“Stacked” ACTIVIST Art Receptions

Sat., Sept. 17, 5 – 8 pm

See Peace and Restoration for Self-Determination at Bennett (artist remarks at 6 pm), then take a complimentary shuttle to GPS to view Objects from the Borderlands (artist remarks at 7 pm).

Bennett College and Greensboro Project Space

Peace and Restoration for Self-Determination

Sat., Sept. 17 – Sun., Oct. 30

Opening reception: Sat., Sept. 17, 5 – 8 pm

Through photo collage and installations, artist Shani Peters honors past social resistance and motivates today’s activists.

Steele Hall Gallery, Bennett College

900 E. Washington St.  | Open by appt. | 845-405-9159

Music from the Movement

Sun., Sept. 18, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Join singer Mary D. Williams on a journey through the songs of the Civil Rights era. RSVP: NationalFolkFestival.com/fabric-of-freedom

O.Henry Hotel | 624 Green Valley Road

Curator Talk: Media and Message

Fri., Sept. 23, 12:15 pm

Weatherspoon curator Emily Stamey places Hank Williams Thomas’ artwork in the context of other artists who use media images to address social activist themes.

Weatherspoon Art Museum | 500 Tate Street

Hidden Histories of Greensboro

Sat., Sept. 24, 1– 5 pm

Take tours of the South Elm Street neighborhood created by artists Chloë Bass and Samara Smith (1 – 3 pm). At 3 pm, return to Elsewhere for an artist presentation and a neighborhood reception.

Elsewhere | 606 South Elm Street

Dislocate: Contemporary Dance and Conversation

Sat., Sept. 24, 7 pm

Sarah Council’s Dislocate is a physical inquiry into stories of courage, expectation, disappointment, and sacrifice.

Little Theatre, Bennett College | 900 E. Washington St.

Asian Pacific American Celebration

Sun., Sept. 25, 2 – 5 pm

Celebrate the Smithsonian traveling exhibition, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story.

Greensboro Historical Museum | 130 Summit Avenue

For more information, visit NationalFolkFestival.com/fabric-of-freedom

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About ArtsGreensboro: With an annual budget of approximately $3.5 million, ArtsGreensboro is a catalyst for innovation to build recognition and support for the arts. Through its ArtsFund-supported grant programs, the 17DAYS Arts & Culture Festival, the Levitt AMP Greensboro Music Series, I HEART ARTS Month, and other opportunities including the National Folk Festival and the soon-to-be-opened Van Dyke Performance Space, ArtsGreensboro is driving the health and vitality of our community by supporting arts education, celebrating the diversity of Greensboro, and driving economic impact through excellence in arts programming. artsgreensboro.org

About the 2016 National Folk Festival: Co-produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and ArtsGreensboro, the National Folk Festival is celebrating the second year of its three-year residency in downtown Greensboro in 2016. The FREE, three-day event is America’s longest-running festival of traditional arts. nationalfolkfestival.com

About 17DAYS: Hosted by ArtsGreensboro, the 17DAYS Arts & Culture Festival is a public-service, collaborative listing of fall arts and cultural events produced by dozens of independent organizations, artists, and presenters. Now entering its sixth year, 17DAYS has become North Carolina’s largest collaborative festival, featuring more than 100 events, exhibitions, and performances each year. The 2016 festival will take place from September 9 through September 25. For more information, visit 17DAYSGreensboro.org or call Kaitlin Smith at 336-373-7523, x246."

- A Press Release

National Folk Festival Adds Six Artists to Lineup; 29 Performers Announced to Date

Free Festival runs in downtown

Greensboro from Sept. 9 – 11, 2016

Greensboro, N.C., June 30, 2016 — Today the National Folk Festival announced six additional artists who will perform in downtown Greensboro from Sept.9 – 11, 2016. The 76^th National Folk Festival in 2016 marks the event’s second year of its three-year residency in Greensboro.

Last fall, the 75^th National Folk Festival attracted more than 102,000 attendees to downtown Greensboro for the FREE, three-day weekend. Based on survey data, organizers expect attendance to grow substantially in 2016—by as much as 30% or more.

Approximately 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on as many as seven outdoor performance venues throughout downtown Greensboro. The four artists announced today are:

·      Alberti Flea Circus – Flea Circus: Third-generation flea circus impresario Jim Alberti and his talented troupe of charismatic performers have been entertaining audiences with their astonishing acrobatic feats for nearly 30 years. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the Alberti Flea Circus was brought to the United States in the 1880s by Jim’s great-great uncle, but the tradition is much older, first documented in 16^th-century Europe. Jim delights in introducing this age-old art to new generations of children, who cheer for the fleas, help with their props, and even provide musical cues for their incredible feats.

·      Bouncing Bulldogs – Precision Jump Rope: Be inspired by the boundless creativity and intense athleticism of North Carolina’s own Bouncing Bulldogs, who have been crowned the top international jump rope team for the past five consecutive years at the World Jump Rope Championships! Founded by Coach Ray Fredrick in 1986 and based in Chapel Hill and Durham, the Bouncing Bulldogs field a competitive team of 140 girls and boy ages 7-19, with 200 other jumpers ages 4 and older participating in a club program. Fresh off defending their title at the 2016 World Championships in Portugal in July, 15 jumpers will perform at the National Folk Festival, amazing audiences with their skills in Double Dutch, speed jumping, and freestyle.

·      Chico Simões – Brazilian Mamulengo: “I don’t speak Portuguese, I don’t speak English; I speak puppet,” says mamulengueiro Chico Simões, who began studying this Brazilian puppet tradition in 1981. Since founding his own puppet theater in 1985, Simões has become an international ambassador for this Brazilian tradition, which has connections to the English Punch and Judy shows, the Italian pulcinella, and the French guignol—all rooted in the Italian 16^th-century commedia dell’arte. Simões has performed thousands of puppet plays around the world, from street corners to prestigious puppetry festivals, using his performances—many featuring trickster Benedito the Vaquiero, a cowboy, who bests a series of mythological and human opponents—to “hold up a mirror to the public.” His raucous performances delight children and adults alike.

·      Dancing On Air Crew – B-boying: Gravity-defying head spins, twirling windmills, and rapid-fire footwork are hallmarks of breaking, an urban dance style that—along with graffiti, MC-ing, and DJ-ing—is the expressive core of hip-hop culture. Dancers are called breakers, b-boys, or b-girls, and they prefer the terms “breaking” or “b-boying” to “breakdancing.” The members of the Dancing On Air Crew (DOA) live in Charleston, S.C., where they have been friends since middle school. Inspired by popular movies and the moves of older b-boys, they formed DOA in 2010. DOA’s current roster of eight b-boys, ages 17-26, travels to competitions around the Southeast and beyond, dazzling crowds, sharing a message of “hope, perseverance, and teamwork,” and inspiring the next generation of b-boys and b-girls.

·      Joe Bruchac – Abenaki Storytelling: With a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Joe Bruchac is an award-winning author of more than 120 fictional and non-fictional works, most featuring Native American protagonists, history, and values. Descended on his mother’s side from the Abenaki, an Algonquian-speaking Native people living in New England and Eastern Canada, Bruchac has dedicated himself to partnering with Native elders to collect stories from Abenaki and other Native cultures. “When a good story is told, it goes into a person’s heart, and it remains there,” Bruchac says. His stories inspire audiences to appreciate and protect the earth and all who dwell upon it.

·      Mangum & Company – Gospel Brass “Shout Band”: The United House of Prayer for All People congregations take to heart these words from Psalm 150:3-6: “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet…Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Mangum & Company, a group of outstanding musicians representing many United House of Prayer congregations from Charlotte, N.C., brings the unique African American sacred “shout band” tradition to the National Folk Festival. Charlotte-based shout trombonist Cedric Mangum joined his congregation’s band at age 7, learning to play all the shout instruments before becoming lead trombonist of the Charlotte Mother House’s legendary Bailey Clouds of Heaven at age 13, a position he continues to hold today at age 55. “Our music feeds the soul,” Mangum says. “…That’s what draws the people.”

  

These outstanding artists join the following performers, who have already been announced:

·      The Alt – Irih

·      Bahamas Junkanoo Revue ­– Bahamian Parade

·      Balsam Range – Bluegrass

·      Bill Kirchen  – Master of the Telecaster

·      Chaksam-pa – Tibetan Opera, Folk Song, and Dance

·      The Chankas of Peru – Andean Danza de las Tijeras (Scissors Dance):

·      Clinton Fearon & the Boogie Brown Band – Reggae

·      DJ Grandmaster Flash – Hip Hop

·      Grupo Rebolú – Afro-Colombian

·      Hula Halau ‘O Lilinoe – Hawai’ian Hula

·      Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys – Zydeco

·      The Jerry Grcevich Tamburitza Orchestra – Tamburitza

·      Joshua Nelson ­­– Kosher Gospel

·      Leonardo Sandoval – Tap

·      Le Vent du Nord – Québécois

·      Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano – Mariachi

·      Paperhand Puppet Intervention – Giant Puppet Pageants and Parades

·      Nathalie Pires – Portuguese Fado

·      The Quebe Sisters – Texas Fiddling & Western Swing

·      Sahba Motallebi – Persian Tar

·      Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga – East African Rumba, Soukous, and Benga

·      Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks – Delta Blues

·      Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band ­– New Orleans Jazz

To learn more about all these artists, their traditions, and their stories, please visit nationalfolkfestival.com/performers. Throughout the summer, the National Folk Festival will feature individual artists on its Facebook page (Facebook.com/NationalFolkFestivalNC) and on social media:

·      #NCFolkFest  #WeAreFolk

·      Twitter: @NtlFolkFestNC

·      Instagram: NationalFolkFestNC

·      YouTube: National Folk Festival NC

More performers will be announced as they are confirmed."

- A Press Release