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RestorationArt Inaugurates the Harry Belafonte Artist and Activist Achievement Award with First Honorees Marjorie Moon and Ruben Santiago-Hudson

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RestorationArt Inaugurates the Harry Belafonte Artist and Activist Achievement Award with First Honorees Marjorie Moon and Ruben Santiago-Hudson

 

The Harry Belafonte Artist and Activist Achievement Award, inaugurated by RestorationArt, will be launched this season, it was announced yesterday by Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Executive Director, the Billie Holiday Theatre and RestorationArt.

The new annual awards’ 2017 honorees are two great legends of theater: Marjorie Moon, Executive Director Emeritus, Billie Holiday Theatre for over four decades and esteemed Tony and Obie Award-winning actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who just received a Tony nomination for his revival of August Wilson’s “Jitney” play.

“The Billie Holiday Theatre stood at the crossroads of art, social justice and community development for 45 years,” said Dr. Entwaroo, “and I stand on the shoulders of American theater pioneers … whose leadership ensures that there is a torch to carry forward.”

“I offer my deepest gratitude to two leaders who have been in the ranks of those of us who understood the critical importance of the prophetic voice of the artist in a global sea of injustice and inequity;” said Harry Belafonte, global humanitarian, artist and activist, “voices needed to claim our individual freedom while helping others to claim theirs.”

To honor the revolutionary ethos of its namesake, the Billie Holiday Theatre relaunches with the voices of Black women at the forefront during its opening weekend of events from Friday, May 12 through Monday, May 15, 2017. Highlights include Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson; monologues of 50 Black women and girls between the ages of 6 and 83 years old from near and as far as Holland, Canada, Missouri and Georgia, curated by renowned playwright Dominique Morriseau; and a Brooklyn celebration of Lynn Nottage, the first woman to receive two Pulitzer Prizes in drama.

The newly completed renovation has equipped the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre with new lighting, stage-rigging, audio and visual equipment, an extended stage to accommodate dance performances and improved ADA accessibility. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit: www.restorationart.org.

 

Oldies But Goodies Dance Party to Raise Funds for Magnolia Tree Earth Center

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Oldies But Goodies Dance Party to Raise Funds for Magnolia Tree Earth Center

On Friday, May 19th 2017 hundreds of Brooklyn community members will celebrate legacy and dance the night away at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple for Magnolia Tree Earth Center’s Spring “Oldies But Goodies” Fundraising Dance Party.  Founded 45 years ago by Mrs. Hattie Carthan, Magnolia Tree Earth Center continues to evolve into an epicenter for learning, environmental stewardship and community development. The site is on now of the list of the National Registry of Historic Places.

The dance party will benefit Magnolia Tree Earth Center’s programs and help raise vital funds to provide maintenance of its three-brownstone complex on Lafayette Avenue.

Honorees at this event will be Professors Safiya Bandele founder and former Director for the Women’s Development Center Medgar Evers College and Dr. Evelyn Castro is Dean of School of Professional & Community Development.

She is known as the “inexhaustible hands-on and visionary leader.” Professor Castro will be receiving the Educational Leadership Award.

Keynote speaker will be one of Magnolia Tree’s longtime supporters, Mr. Al Vann a well-known Brooklyn, NY politician.  Tickets are available now at MagnoliaTreeEarthCenter.com

Dance & Buffet

Friday May 19, 2017

7pm – 12:00 Midnight

with DJs Harry Black, ZJ Cutter and Father Quest

And a scrumptious Buffet plus a Silent Auction

Tickets Table of 10/$500.00

or Individual tkts @ $50 per person

Dress Semi-formal

Held at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple

317 Clermont Avenue corner of Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205

Celebrating Arbor Day 2017 in Bedstuy!

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Celebrating Arbor Day 2017 in Bedstuy!
Yesterday, 500 Men Making a Difference recruited men from the Anchor rehab program to assist in the cleanup of the garden area of the Eubie Blake School, PS 25, in preparation for the May 5th tree planting program of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant, Inc.
A part of the Project Green community involvement initiative, the men were assisted by neighborhood activist Bruce Green, President of the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition and Bernice Green and David Greaves from the community newspaper Our Time Press.
Principal Anita Coley a nd special education instructor Ms. Newman came in on Saturday to encourage and thank the men for their work.
The school is at the corner of Marcus Garvey Blvd. and Lafayette Avenue.  The May 5th program starts at 12:30pm.

Celebrate Legacy: Magnolia Tree Earth Center Honors Exceptional Role Models on May 19th Dance Party

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Celebrate Legacy: Magnolia Tree Earth Center Honors Exceptional Role Models on May 19th Dance Party

Forty-five years ago Hattie Carthan, Bedford Stuyvesant resident and among the nation’s first African American community-based ecology activist, founded Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant., Inc.

On Friday, May 19, 2017 the Board of Directors and staff of Magnolia Tree Earth Center will celebrate Ms. Carthan’s foresight and activism with a fundraising “Oldies but Goodies” Dance at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 317 Clermont Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205, from 7 pm to midnight.

Ms. Bandele is retired from professorship at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York (CUNY) and also as director of the College’s Center for Women’s Development. She served as an “exceptional role model for students on campus and a tireless advocate for women everywhere,” said the college’s President William L. Pollard at the time of Professor Bandele’s retirement in 2011 having served the College 34 years. Her activism and commitment to community-building continues in a variety of ways. A lead project is the creation and performance of pieces on the late Ida B. Wells-Barnett: educator, lynching abolitionist, journalist, and women’s advocate.

Dr. Evelyn Castro is Dean of the School of Professional & Community Development, Medgar Evers College, CUNY. Her success in pre-kindergarten through high school public education is a tremendous benefit to the students of New York City. She has been described by many as an “inexhaustible, hands-on and visionary leader.” Dr. Castro will receive the Educational Leadership Award.

Today, Magnolia Tree Earth Center has evolved into an epicenter for learning, environmental stewardship and community development, and we will be using technology and creativity to bring positive change to the community like never before.

The Center’s goal is to be urban America’s leader in creating community awareness of ecological, horticultural and environmental concerns and to introduce inner city children to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) that foster urban beautification, earth stewardship, and community sustainability.

Visit www.magnoliatreeearthcenter.com for your invitation and to purchase your tickets.

All proceeds will benefit initiatives of Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant, Inc.

Black Lives Matter, Too; All Lives Matter

Bernice Elizabeth Green
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Black Lives Matter, Too; All Lives Matter

Of Law & Order: The actors portraying justice seekers and court personnel are, from left to right, Merieta Bayati (The Stenographer); Brittany Dias (Attorney); Marcelo Ringold (Judge); Fulton Hodges (Attorney) and Graham Weatherspoon (The Bailiff).

 

Success: Production started early on “Black Lives Matters, Too,” but some cast members and singers worked double duty: on Chad Cooper’s “Family Mess” play presented to SRO audiences at the Brooklyn Music School and on Saturday afternoon rehearsals for “Black Lives” at the Free Will Church of God in Christ on Jefferson Avenue. Chad and Alicia Cooper, center, are seen with cast members and friends including stellar gospel group Soul Tempo members Jerry Brunson, Anthony Burnett, brothers Kevin & Phillip Mitchell.
Success is a family affair for the Coopers Florida natives and alumnae of FAMU where they met 22 years ago. Now, the multi-gifted recording artists, preachers and writers’ stage presentations are standing-room-only.
Mr. Cooper’s original plays have enjoyed a million attendees nationwide over more than 10 years. He promises to reveal his under-the-radar infused-with-the-spirit business formula in a future book, but for now you can see all Cooper family members — Chad, Alicia and their children, Celebrity (as Angela Davis),17, Chad Jr. (portraying Emmett Till), 16, and Caleb,9, who appears in the production and handles (behind the scenes) production assistant chores — in Black Lives Matter, Too, this weekend and in Manhattan June 29, 30 and July 1 at a venue to be announced.

Gospel recording artist/actress Alicia Cooper stands backstage in character as Harriet Tubman for her husband Chad Cooper’s “Black Lives Matter, Too; All Lives Matter” play which premiered in Brooklyn
at Medgar Evers College, Saturday, April 22. The SRO drama moves to Manhattan for performances in late June.

Tubman’s North Star: Florida native Alicia Robinson Cooper, legendary gospel singer and musician, stars as Harriet Tubman in her husband Chad’s anticipated production of Black Lives Matter, Too; All Lives Matter, performing this weekend at Medgar Evers College. “It’s the role of lifetime,” Ms. Cooper told us. The production resurrects the lives of Tubman, Emmett Till and Medgar Evers to place the Black Lives Matter contemporary messaging in an historical context. Chad fuses his original compositions with traditional gospel favorites. If you miss the production this weekend, don’t worry. Black Lives will have a run in Manhattan, June 29, 30 and July 1. Also the Coopers recently relocated their home base and office headquarters from Atlanta to New York, so plan to be a witness to more of their talents. Mrs. Cooper, whose voice is compared to Stephanie Mills and Whitney Houston, will reprise her role in the June production with an original song for her character: “Go Down Moses,” written by Chad Lawson Cooper & Justin Farrah. Ms. Cooper, in character, also performs her special arrangement of “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

 

Bedford-Stuyvesant native Robert Nance, entrepreneur and actor, is seen here inside the Medgar Evers College Library, just before the presentation of “Black Lives Matter, Too;
All Lives Matter” in which he portrayed the great Civil Rights leader, the colleges namesake. The play premiered April 22
at Medgar Evers College, and moves to Manhattan in June.
Actress/Singer/Writer Siasha Nance portrays Medgar Evers’ daughter.
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