 |
| Brainstorm! Teaching (May 06, 2010) |
Brainstorm! Teaching
Thursday, May 06, 2010
DESCRIPTION:
Brainstorm! is a new series of lively discussions about strategies for artists to earn revenue. Each event features the case study of an artist who receives feedback from three discussants and input from the audience, leading to spirited exchanges, peer learning and new connections. "Teaching", features the case study of Kaoru Watanabe, musician and founder of the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center. Come hear Kaoru talk about how he integrates teaching into his career to support himself, as he receives feedback from discussants Kamala Cesar, founder of Lotus Music and Dance, Alice Mizrachi, educator and co-founder of Younity Arts Collective, and Michelle Rae Pinzon, executive director of the Capoeira Center of New York.
Brainstorm! is produced by the Asian American Arts Alliance, in collaboration with New York Foundation for the Arts and Queens Council on the Arts.
Brainstorm! is generously supported in part by Con Edison, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.
PANELISTS:
Kaoru Watanabe is a practitioner of various fue (Japanese traverse bamboo flutes) and the taiko drum as well as Western flute. His music can be best described as an ever-shifting blend of the folk and classical traditions of Japan with contemporary improvisational and experimental music. Kaoru was born in St. Louis, Missouri to symphony musician parents. After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music with a BFA in jazz flute and saxophone performance, he moved to Japan and joined the internationally renowned taiko drum ensemble KODO, serving as one of the ensemble’s artistic directors from 2005 to 2007. In late 2006 Kaoru returned to New York to teach and perform in a variety of musical and artistic settings. Recent projects have taken him across the US, Canada, Japan, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Mongolia. In New York, Kaoru has been curating an ongoing series of music, art and dance inspired and influenced by Japanese culture, as well as running his Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center in Brooklyn and co-teaching a course on taiko at Princeton University this coming fall. www.watanabekaoru.com
Kamala Cesar is the founder and artistic director of Lotus Music & Dance, a not-for-profit organization that supports multicultural programs that further the understanding, appreciation and preservation of traditional arts and the creation of new works that evolve from traditional art forms. Ms. Cesar was born in Brooklyn, New York and is Native American (Mohawk Tribe) and Filipino. She studied Bharata Natyam (the classical dance of South India) both in the United States and in India, under T. Balasaraswati, Bharata Natyam's legendary and foremost exponent. Ms. Cesar is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Folk Art Apprenticeship, and has performed extensively in the United States, Europe and India and produced numerous cross-cultural productions. www.lotusmusicanddance.org
Alice Mizrachi is an artist, curator, social entrepreneur, educator and community organizer born and raised in Queens, New York. Since her graduation from Parsons School of Design in 1999, she has exhibited her works in galleries worldwide, created commissioned work for a list of iconic companies, and has also been featured in a variety of niche publications. She continues to paint murals all over the world as an additional part of her artistic ventures and collaborative partnerships. She currently works with youth in central Harlem as an art teacher, and she is a co-founder of the YOUNITY Arts Collective, uniting female artists and entrepreneurs. www.am-files.com
Michelle Rae Pinzon is the executive director of the Capoeira Center of New York. Michelle received her BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In addition, she obtained a Juris Doctorate degree from St. John’s University School of Law and graduated cum laude. She has performed nationwide and has taught dance and coordinated youth after school and summer programs in East Harlem, Flushing, Queens, and Honolulu, Hawaii. She began training Capoeira (the Afro-Brazilian martial art) in Honolulu with Capoeira Batuque Hawaii and later joined Capoeira Luanda in 2003. www.capoeiracenterny.org
|
|
