It's Time To Get Back To Art...

It's Time To Get Back To Art

Buttafly Arts uses “creativity” as a platform for community “harmony” with its 2014 Summer Arts Series

Louisville, KY-- May 21, 2014-- On March 16, 2014, Me'Quale Offut was fatally stabbed on a public bus. He had joined a group of teens in savagely assaulting a lone straphanger. Me'Quale paid the price of kickin it with a raucous crew of young folk; when a quiet, soft spoken father, decided to stand up to an evil that was swathed in Aeropostle, blue jeans, and kicks. All Anthony R. Allen, 44, wanted to do was to take advantage of the affordable, safe transportation that was provided by what a visible city campaign has coined as “Possibility City.” However, the possibilities for some folk in this “promising river town” may prove trivial, as residents find it hard to enjoy a peaceful bus ride home.

It's time to get back to art... Buttafly Arts, a local agency that partners with other community agencies, schools, and arts related nonprofits to provide creative workshops for youth and adults , believes that Its time to get back to art and is kicking off this initiative with the 2014 Summer Arts Series, which will run from June 23^rd to August 8^th. The agency embraces the practice of art as a quality, that in some cases, has saved a community on the brink of chaos. This quality is summed up by quotes from a recent article titled Art and Expression as a Catalyst for Change and Development... the article goes on to state... This quality is key for any individual, especially for youth of color that have too often been the victims of a failing school system, an unfair judicial system, and a scapegoat for mainstream society. Yet, to transcend victimhood, one must develop a new positive identity, not rooted in deficits, but anchored in one’s strengths and abilities...Art and expression, when encouraged and praised by a supportive community, provides an ideal outlet for developing a toolbox of skills that can be useful throughout one’s life.

Art as activism... The agency prides itself with being involved with projects that pushes the individual to combine art with social and communal change. Buttafly just finished hosting the “Freedom Mic Series” which was a series of open mics sponsored by New Legacy Reentry Corp, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing reentry services for ex-offenders and returning veterans. Many of the featured artists and support staff for this series were ex-offenders who have created news paths of progress for their lives.

It's time to make it happen... The agency has appealed to churches, ministries, and other community agencies to make “community restoration” happen via a partnership with Buttafly. The agency hosts an extensive catalogue of workshops and classes which are posted on its website.

The classes can also be accessed via its Facebook page @ Facebook.com/ButtaflyArts. In addition, Buttafly also has a growing Artist Registry which can be viewed from a link on the page, as well. If you are interested in partnering with Buttafly Arts, or you would like to become a teaching artist via their registry; please forward an email to buttaflyarts@gmail.com or call 502-354-3496.

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Excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book..The Food Stamp Bandit.... (The Christianity of The Land)

Excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book..The Food Stamp Bandit.... (The Christianity of The Land)

Are we in the business of wielding the true power of God? Or are we just in the business of creating more buildings; waiting for folks to waltz into? This old way of thinking is shrinking churches and exposes the true nature of service. Churches are closing and losing their buildings, because they no longer have inhabitants to minister to. However, just because folk are no longer coming into the building, doesn't mean that they don't need the ministry.

The needs of the community continues to fester. The ministries that are calling these empty churches continue to show its face as disrespectful litter. Folk continue to throw their empty Heineken Beer Bottles, used condoms, and hallowed out heroin needles onto church doorsteps and parking lots. The ignored and disengaged continue to leave their excrement on church grounds while the church leadership continues to whine and complain yet not realizing that these cues may be the very ministries that the church needs to bring their dying ministries back to life.

Buttafly is blogging about Music As Beauty..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

Buttafly is blogging about Music As Beauty..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

It’s beautiful…

There is still trash in the hood. Some folk argue that the barrage of empty soda two liter bottles, old dollar store advertisements,  pissed out diapers, wind worn plastic bags, and  abandoned fast food to-go boxes has stepped up over the years. Some hoods have become like encased urban islands, bordered by poverty, red lines, and wore out housing.

 These hoods are passed, swiftly, by suburban, non-city folk, who swear that there’s no beauty worth stopping for. Yet, there are times when you can hear the thump of a base speaker that was placed in the trunk of an old Impala, or you can hear the melodies of Mary J. Blige, flowing from a half open second floor window.

You can still hear the music. The volume is turned up, and it’s drowning out the things that we don’t want to hear, and covers up the things that we don’t want to see. Go ahead, turn the music up louder; it’s beautiful.

Buttafly is blogging about Music As Beauty..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

Buttafly is blogging about Music As Beauty..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

by T. Semakula

Hip Hop music became the cultural essays that were written inside project apartments. These essays were drafted on legal paper with blue ink. Hip Hop music beautified the complexity of hood intellect and caught the attention of educators and scholars.…While mainstream American media consistently portray urban youth of color from a stereotypical, deficit-based, and deleterious standpoint, these images run in startling contrast to portrayals in rap music. Rap music artists, instead, consistently document the neglect and abandonment of youth of color in America's devastated inner-city landscapes…

Buttafly's blogging about ..An Audacious Mind..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

Buttafly's blogging about ..An Audacious Mind..an excerpt from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled..The Food Stamp Bandit

Those who lack audacity are mediocre, functional, average, cowardly and retarded in their thinking. Jesus is a perfect example of an audacious thinker. Jesus had the audacity to claim that he was the Son of God. He had the audacity to walk the earth, with his disciples, twelve deep, determined to deliver a message that was defined by hope and salvation. He had the audacity to be homeless, yet, all the while, knowing, that in his father’s house, there are many mansions.

Jesus was also an early proponent of utilizing critical thinking skills. He thought it barbaric to answer a question with an open ended response. He welcomed critical thinking with his numerous parables and made it clear that he had no tolerance for lazy minds. He approached simple folk with metaphors and challenged them to develop more strategic ways of applying the practicality of God’s word.

Kickin It Old Skool..an excerpt from T.Semakula's upcoming book titled "The Food Stamp Bandit"

Kickin It Old Skool

by T. Semakula

The eighties. Blue Adidas with fat white laces, Gazelles, and furry white Kangols. Members Only jackets and painted on Sergio Valente. Crack was roaming the hood like a crooked cop, taking out aunties, friends, and mamas. Hip Hop gave birth to a new canon that spit out stars such as Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, and Special K.

Nowadays, the eighties are considered Old Skool. The folk that used to rule this decade have faded like the memory of Rodney King being slapped with the police batons. Let’s face it, before he died, the late Micheal Jackson was looking for a sponsor, Prince pushed past fifty, and sweet little Rudy, from the Cosby Show, kicked off her old persona, and portrayed a cracked out hooker in one of Tyler Perry’s blockbusters.

Starlight, Starbright, In Search of Madonna... excerpts from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled "The Food Stamp Bandit"

Starlight, Starbright, In Search of Madonna...excerpts from T. Semakula's upcoming book titled "The Food Stamp Bandit"

Has anyone seen Madonna? She was the material girl that kicked it in thrift store clothes, lace hand gloves with the cut out fingers, mismatch earrings, and a fake mole. She was the one that sashayed across the stage in her lace drawers, worn out Doctor Martins, and a bullet bra. I’m talking about the Madonna, the one that had me hooked when she belted out “Borderline” and showed any respectful black chic how to wax poetic to an r&b cut. She was the New Yorker that was from upstate, an undercover Italian who was too cool for her hometown. She was soo fly that the diehard urban Nuyoricans claimed her as the queen of the city.

...So, where is she?  It would be a joke to say that she has popped up inside the guises of Lady Gaga. Any diehard Madonna fan would be quick to say that there is no comparison. Lady Gaga, the new Madonna? What?