Black Splendor: 10 Episode Series (creative director)
Black Splendor, like air, still rises throughout the Pacific Northwest. Black Splendor testifies the living tradition of Black Art Music. Black Splendor is already represented and already canonized, for it is the consequence of an inevitably thriving Black Community. Black Splendor is the understanding that jazz is a way of living; that sounds born in the Black Church hit different; that opera is African. Black Splendor cherishes Black Realities manifested through Black Compositions.
Black Splendor, done with the trouble of the world, is a balm of our own creation ― supersonic and boundless. Possibilities for healing become abundant when I simply adorn myself with the Black Splendor that surrounds me. Black Splendor, like Lorde, is deliberate and afraid of nothing. In other words, Black Splendor towers above the self-limiting horizon of Being and rests on the apex of Wholeness for all to see!
Black Splendor is part ancestral, part dream. Sankofa. Black Splendor exists in proximity to itself. Sankofa.Black Splendor is the name of Frances Walker-Slocum, who allowed me to allow myself. Black Splendor is Pan-African. It is multivalent, ineffable. Black Splendor assumes genetic gestures of praise and honor. Black Splendor is Heka. Black Splendor is queer. Black Splendor Ra-imagines love in these gardens and beyond. Black Splendor nods back at you; Black Splendor is reflected in you, beloved.
In The Garden of Sonder (producer)
This film stars soprano Ibidunni Ojikutu dramatizing Moments in Sonder (2017), a song cycle by Dr. B.E. Boykin which is set to poetry by Dr. Maya Angelou. With the musical support of pianist Jessica Evotia Andrews-Hall and harpist Mona Terry, Ibidunni guides viewers on an emotional journey as she navigates love, loss and pain. In part two of the film, "A Legacy Continued", Dr. Maxine Mimms and Dr. William Chapman Nyaho reflect on their personal relationships with Dr. Angelou. In the Garden of Sonder highlights the agency and power of Black Womanhood. The film is directed by Texas-born, Seattle-based curator, choreographer, and dance artist Jade Solomon Simmons.
A Long Way from Home (creative director)
A Long Way from Home, filmed in 2020, elucidates the enduring relevance of Negro Spirituals. The film weaves together commentary from five cultural leaders with performances by Tacoma-raised artists Andrew Turner and Joe Williams. The film invokes music of Jacqueline Butler Hairston (b. 1932) & John Daniel Carter (1932-1981) as a soundscape for healing.
William Chapman Nyaho (producer)
A docu-performance highlighting the advocacy and artistry of scholar-pianist Dr. William Chapman Nyaho. The film features music by 10 Black composers and commentary from six celebrated contributors in the fields of pedagogy, academia and composition. Points of discussion include Nyaho’s 5-volume anthology Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora published by Oxford University Press and his most recent solo piano album, Kete.