Interview

Khadijah & Samantha will be talking about SPACE with Rafael FJ Alvarado on Friday 4/30 at 11am EST.
Listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword

Khadijah Queen's performance

Touch will take place at Pass-a-Grille Beach in St. Petersburg, FL, 11:30 am.

Touch explores issues of public intimacy as well as physical, racial and cultural boundaries when it comes to touching hair. The interactive performance ritualizes (makes sacred) the touching of hair. The point is to increase awareness of the importance of personal space, but also make it a transformative experience via ritualization.

Partial Roster of Participating Artists+ Documentarians

Samantha Thornhill
Khadijah Queen
Francis Marquez
Laura Hartmark
ariel robello
Naomi Benaron + 20 writing students
Yolo Akili
Daricia Mia Demarr-Mcbeth
Jessica Scott-Felder
Shine Blackhawk
Diedre R. Gantt
Alan King
Phillip Williams
Natasha M. Marin
Ai Kobi
Crystal Goodwoman
Qwantu Amaru
M.L. Brown
Peacemaker the Poet (AKA Tariq, age 10)
...and more!

SPACE: Simultaneous Public Acts of Creative Expression

Happening in:
NYC * L.A. * D.C. * Baltimore * Tampa Bay * Tallahassee * Charleston, WV * Kansas City * Seattle * Tucson, AZ * Detroit * San Francisco Bay area * Albany, NY * Santa Barbara

Samantha Thornhill and Khadijah Queen have both done this before. Samantha stood up on a subway one weary day and belted out a poem that freed her from its weight. As a result, Samantha formed PUP -- Poets in Unexpected Places. In 2007 Khadijah set up canvas and easel in the middle of downtown Atlanta, painting words passersby used to describe themselves and creating a forever love affair with performance art.

When we met up earlier this month at a writing conference and discussed our respective acts, we brainstormed further: What if all the creative people we knew around the country were doing what they do in public, all at the same time? The possibility was too electrifying to ignore.

Rationale:

April is Poetry Month. But we believe poetry and the creative arts should be celebrated beyond official designations. Let's bring the arts to the people in unexpected places with the intention of connecting positively, to use the arts to energize the public sphere.

Who:

Dancers. Writers. Artists. Musicians. Famous or not. Professional or not. Children and mothers and fathers and grandparents. Your poem or Walt Whitman's. Your song or Lady Day's. If you have a desire to participate in a live act of mass creativity, join in.

When:

Saturday, May 1.

Suggestions:

Choose creatively, but be respectful of the place. We want this to be an act of honoring the arts and presenting it to people when they least expect to see/hear it. Getting arrested or thrown out is counterproductive. Do ballet on the beach at sunset. Sit cross-legged and paint on top of your parked car in a parking lot. Bust out a haiku at the drive-thru. Be safe, and -- well -- creative!

Capturing:

If you can have a photographer or videographer document your act, great! Send us the images via email, along with a note about the experience and what it meant to you. We are creating a website where images and videos and stories can be posted.

Follow our blog, or send us an email!

Contact:

art.creates.space@gmail.com