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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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.

Kickin It Old Skool

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, Micheal Jackson’s 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 Tyler Perry’s latest blockbuster. There is always beauty for ashes. The house of the eighties has burned down, but the frame has remained intact. Hip Hop found its heartbeat during the eighties, pumping out hits such as Paid In Full, Roxanne Shante, and BDP’s By Any Means Necessary. The Hip Hop elite are quick to pay homage to the pioneers that cropped up during this decade. Fat Joe claims to be LL Cool J’s number one fan. …I mean, LL Cool J is, you know, my idol in hip-hop and, you know, every time I rap, after I do songs, I be, like, 'I hope LL likes this. Back in the eighties, Mr. Ladies Love Cool James planted Def Jam on the map with hits such as I Need Love and I Can’t Live Without My Radio. …crack, a cheaper and more potent offshoot of the drug (cocaine), turned the inner cities into war zones Crack made the hood the new location for warfare. The battlefield resembled school playgrounds and street corners. Local dealers and gangs battled for the blocks that drew in the most revenue. The battleground was also in the living room. Children lost their fathers, mothers, and grandmothers. The hood became fat with skinny crackheads who bumped into children on their way to school. Jamaal Shabazz’s book, A Time Before Crack, chronicled via photographs, the hope and promise of black folk before crack moved in and shut us down. This drug, that is smoked through a glass pipe or an aluminum can, caused black folk to wax reflective about their communities. It shined light on how fragile our neighborhoods were, be it economic, social, and political. It charged community groups and churches to stage marches in front of crack houses and dealers. …My Adidas cuts the sand of a foreign land… The eighties gave birth to a new term, urban wear. For the first time, fashion, homegrown from the streets, took over the runway. The look of Hip Hop and the inner city found its way onto the front covers of magazines. Fat laced Adidas, big hoop earrings, and blue jeans became the norm. The sneaker took over the loafer as the shoe of choice and even white boys traded in their Dockers for a white tee and a fresh pair of baggy Levis. The eighties made the look of the hood, fly, and companies such as FUBU, ROCA WEAR, and Phat Farm cleaned up on Wall Street. The look is so potent that the corporate world screams bloody murder as they watch baggy pantsed job applicants sashay into an interview with a fresh pair of Jordans. The eighties is no doubt the Old Skool. However, this skool opened itself up to a new global cannon called Hip Hop. The eighties taught us how to love and cherish what we hold so dear, when folk started folding under the weight of crack. The eighties gave the hood props for having its own style – just check out Kanye West, one of the new crop of Hip Hop bred ultra millionaires, kickin it on the mic, with a clean pair of Jays. Article Sources Fat Joe Says That LL Cool J is His Idol. Yahoo Music. (2002) 25 March 2009. <http://new.music.yahoo.com/fat-joe/news/fat-joe-says-ll-cool-j-is-his-idol--12057038> 1980’s.Wikipedia. (2009) 23 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighties> Run DMC. My Adidas. Raising Hell. Arista, 1986 MTK Entertainment 4 U and Buttafly Communications Presents Sister of Da Soul Open Mic Series Hosted by Marilyn Thomas-King @ La Pregunta Arts Café 1528 Amsterdam Avenue (135th St.) New York, NY 10031 Five dollars per person Wednesday, May 27th, 2009/ 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Featured Poet/Writer: Cynthia Toronto Check out Cynthia Toronto’s bio..... CYNTHIA TORONTO, a California transplant, is a seasoned character actress who has appeared in most mediums including stage,film, television, voice-overs, radio, video, and nightclubs. She is versatile, having developed original productions and performed extensively in experimental theatre, theatre for young audiences, dance theatre, and improvisation-based-on-audience suggestion companies on both coasts, as well as stand-up, sketch comedy and as a singer/lyricist in alternative rock music bands. Recognized as a forerunner of cutting-edge Spoken Word Performance on the West Coast, she has pioneered a form combining elements of poetry, music, theatre and media in work that portrays unique glimpses of urban life. Her poetry has been called ‘jolting, shocking, Dr. Seuss-like, relevant, profound, and often hilarious’. An award-winning poet, she has written eight books of poetry and been published in several anthologies and literary magazines, as well as being featured in three documentaries on Los Angeles poets. She has also been featured in several New York poetry venues including, Four Horsemen and Pink Pony readings at The Cornelia Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brownstone Poets, Stark, Nomad’s Choir, The Green Pavillion, Gathering of the Tribes, Time Out/Shout Out and the national Poets for Peace readings amongst others. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University, and as a Teaching Artist, has created and implemented performance education programs in residencies sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Arts Council and Arts Alaska, in addition to public and private schools, and arts/community organizations in California and New York. For the past seven years she has taught at several colleges in the greater New York area, including Spoken Word Performance at New York University; and currently teaches Acting and Speech as an Adjunct Professor at City College of New York and Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York sites, as well as continuing to perform her solo shows and pursue an acting career. To book Ms. Toronto for an event, performance, etc email her at ct347@nyu.edu.

Buttafly Is Looking For Community Partners

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