African American Music and Activism: Vanessa Johnson and World Be Free

Time: Jan. 31, 2018, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Location: Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library

Music and Activism in Syracuse: A Music & Discussion Series

This event series explores how local artists in Central New York use music to accomplish political ends in our local communities. From critiquing policy to fostering democratic participation, reaching out to oppressed groups or working with refugee children to tell their own stories, these musicians draw from deeply-rooted, culturally specific forms of music and performance to connect with others, improve their world, and expand answers to the question of who “belongs” in Syracuse, New York, and the USA.  The series of discussions will combine short music performances with Q&A sessions facilitated and led by students from Professor Sydney Hutchinson’s spring course, HOM 400 – Music and Activism.

Sessions are free and open to all, on these last Wednesdays of the month:

• January 31, "African American Music and Activism: Vanessa Johnson and World Be Free"
• February 28, "Spoken Word and Activism: Signature Soul"
• March 28, "Musical Theater and Activism: Dream Freedom Resistance"
• April 25, "Latin American Music and Activism: Colleen Kattau"

Additional supporters:

1. Art and Music Histories
2. Latino and Latin American Studies
3. Women’s and Gender Studies

Sydney Hutchinson, Art & Music Histories