DOPE SWAN
DOPE SWAN is a community arts organization focused on providing outlets that support and engage emerging creative talents within the visual and performing arts. Through collaborations with underrepresented artists and partnerships with educators, activists and community leaders, DOPE SWAN works to strengthen the connections between art, livelihood and community.
Artists
DOPE SWAN has worked with a diverse selection of creative talents that represent a vast mixture of mediums. Specializing in tailoring services to fit the needs of the individual artist, DOPE SWAN is focused on helping our artists market themselves while meeting their professional goals.
Visual Arts
Akintola Hanif, documentary photojournalist & filmmaker
kolks, mixed media artist
Lichiban Szatmari, painter & illustrator
Lorenyetta Strickland, fine arts photographer
Toofly, painter & illustrator
Raquel Wilson, curator & art director
Jamel Shabazz, photographer
Younity, female artist collective
Peter Hadar, singer & songwriter
Performing Arts
Liza Garza, spoken word artist & vocalist
Grow, emcee & spoken word artist
Jyvonne Haskins, cellist
Sallomé Hralima, live performance artist
Amir Sulaiman, spoken word artist & emcee
Initiatives
DOPE SWAN is dedicated to ensuring strong ties between the community and it’s artists by creating programs that not only enhance our member artists, but provide insight and direction for our communities.
aesthetic
An arts education program, aesthetic’s goal is to bring and keep the arts in underserved communities. aesthetic develops and programs workshops and classes for organizations and schools around the globe.
A Great Day in Brooklyn
www.agreatdayinbrooklyn.org
Shot by renowned documentarian Jamel Shabazz, A Great Day in Brooklyn is a photography and video project featuring Brooklyn residents who eloquently merge the worlds of art, activism and entrepreneurship. Participants included Michael K. Williams from HBO’s “The Wire”, hip-hop emcee, actor and community activist Mos Def and Black Girls Rock! founder DJ Beverly Bond.
for colored girls: an abbreviated reading & colored colored girls speak
A reading and discussion panel that used Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf as a tool to address body image and self-esteem for young women, ages 10-18. The production included a post-show dialogue with Sheron “Umi” Smith (author, educator and mother of Mos Def), Julia Chance (journalist), Kevicha Echols (educator, psychologist) and Roopa Singh (educator, lawyer, journalist and poet).
Fight!: Being Mad & Angry Enough to Change
Stories of Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things
Fight! is the story of women who grew weary of waiting for change to come to their communities and decided to impact their own lives through active participation. A mix of first and third person accounts, Fight! hopes to serve as a blueprint for other women and girls who are mad and angry about the substandard living conditions women deal with globally.
The project will include a book, art exhibit and interactive CD component. All proceeds from the project will be donated to organizations working hands on to make changes in quality of life issues affecting women and girls in the areas of education, healthcare, career training and housing.
SWAN Day
On 29 March 2008, in celebration of SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day, DOPE SWAN brought together several female artists, working in a diverse group of mediums, to a special roundtable discussion focused on women in the arts. The long term goal of SWAN Day is to inspire communities to find new ways to recognize and support women artists as a basic element of civic planning. For more info on SWAN Day visit www.swanday.org.
To learn more about DOPE SWAN and its initiatives, visit www.dopeswan.org.
PARTNERS
Brooklyn Museum of Art, www.brooklynmuseum.org
Fifth Element, www.myspace.com/5thel
The Green Circus, www.greencircus.org
Parallel MVMT, www.parallelmvmt.com
Partnerships for Parks, www.partnershipsforparks.org
powerHouse Arena, www.powerhousearena.com
The Re:Construction Period, www.thereconstructionperiod.org
Jamel Shabazz, www.jamelshabazz.com
So Live! Arts Movement, www.solivearts.com
Sistas’ Place, www.sistasplace.org
Red Eye Studios, www.redeyebk.com