• Article

    Lil’ Buck and the art of jookin’

    Published January 23, 2015 by

    Lil' Buck performs during the YoungArts Salon. Photo by World Red Eye.  The question to dancer and choreographer Charles “Lil’ Buck” Riley laid out what many in the room had been wondering: “How do you do this? Are you Superman?”  “I’m really glad you asked. The cat’s out of the box,” Riley deadpanned, without missing a beat. “I came here from Saturn …” The audience at the sixth National YoungArts Foundation Salon exploded in laughter. The Tuesday night conversation, one of a series sponsored by Knight Foundation, provided a short introduction to Riley’s graceful and athletic style. But for anyone familiar with his astonishing mix of classical dance and jookin’, a style of hip-hop dancing developed in Memphis, Tenn., the question, and the answer, sound perfectly logical and possible. In full flight, Riley, 26, glides across stages with a liquid ease. He mixes fluid movements with sharp angular breaks, and arms evoking classic ballet swan gestures. He constructs narratives mixing freestyle steps and en pointe work in high-top sneakers, often bending and twisting his ankles in impossible angles. At pauses, his body seems to vibrate to the music like a plucked string.  
  • Article

    Short shots of exhibits at the Bakehouse

    Published January 23, 2015 by

    One of the original art outlets in Miami, the Bakehouse Art Complex. There seems to be a trend at galleries these days, to throw weekly events or happenings, to keep movement flowing. Gallery Diet, Emerson Dorsch and now the Bakehouse Art Complex are examples. The Bakehouse...
  • Article

    Frederick Wiseman discusses “National Gallery” at the DFT

    Published January 23, 2015 by

    I had the privilege of joining a member of the DIA’s educational department for the Detroit Film Theatre’s first screening of the documentary National Gallery by filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. Wiseman was in attendance for a discussion following the three-hour film, which details the inner workings of London’s National Gallery. As...
  • Article

    Knight staff helps expand community garden in Miami service project

    Published January 23, 2015 by

    Knight Foundation staff and their friends and family members joined some Liberty City residents to work on a garden project Jan. 16. Sixty Knight Foundation employees, friends and family members recently joined Miami community residents and the nonprofit Health in the Hood to dedicate a day to gardening and observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The Jan. 16 project took place in the Liberty City neighborhood, where the group built new vegetable beds, planted seeds and seedlings, and harvested vegetables, including broccoli, collard greens, cherry tomatoes, okra and edamame.  The neighborhood kids brought their interest and enthusiasm. While the adults placed cinderblocks and moved sod, the younger gardeners built trellises for the cherry tomatoes and helped move topsoil.
  • Article

    MUSAIC, a musical meeting house for the world

    Published January 22, 2015 by

    Gil Shaham leads a master class of Brahms' violin concerto, 1st movement. It’s a place where, a few keystrokes away, you can find cellist Yo-Yo Ma offering insights about the structure and interpretation of Bach’s “Suite No. 5 in C minor” for unaccompanied cello; have a...
  • Article

    Arts & Business Council amps up marketing artitude

    Published January 22, 2015 by

    By Laura Bruney, Arts & Business Council Join Miami’s most influential marketing minds for the Arts & Business Council’s 2015 Miami Arts Marketing Project (MAMP) where you’ll discover new ways to meet marketing challenges and maximize your communications strategy. MAMP brings together thought-leaders from marketing, design, the arts and technology...
  • Article

    FilmGate: inspiring Miami filmmakers to create

    Published January 21, 2015 by

    FilmGate Interactive. FilmGate Interactive, a Knight Arts grantee, returns with another week-long event "at the crossroads of film, technology and interactive storytelling." The festival, which runs from February 1-8, is the brainchild of Executive Director Diliana Alexander. Alexander, whom I interviewed last year, spoke with me...
  • Article

    Jonathan Harwell-Dye helps the Macon Arts Alliance get a seat at the table

    Published January 21, 2015 by

    Jonathan Harwell-Dye. Photo by Matthew Odom. This article is cross-posted with permission from Creative Exchange.  Jonathan Harwell-Dye’s career in the arts didn’t start out in the most obvious way. The Director of Communications for the Macon Arts Alliance began as a science illustration major at the University of Georgia, where he worked with scientists doing etymological illustrations, translating the world of science into the artistic world. “It’s a fascinating field,” he says. “It also gave me a foundation of being able to translate art to people who aren’t in artistic fields. I feel like today I’m able to use that to translate on a regular basis.” He intended to go on after college to work as a science or medical illustrator, but decided to go into the professional world and work as a graphic designer instead, eventually becoming creative director of a local newspaper where he worked for seven years.
  • Article

    Weathervane Playhouse premieres new play set in Akron

    Published January 21, 2015 by

    Weathervane Playhouse, a Knight Arts grantee, commissioned Cleveland area writer Michael Oatman to create a play. That he did. His “Crazy Man,” which is set in south Akron, deals head on with some uncomfortable situations about race relations. Oatman’s play begins with two young African-American students coming on stage talking...