The Voices of New York (VONY) movement is evolving beautifully. VONY's founder, Suzie and I have been given an opportunity to talk about our work at Rise Up Radio - WBAI-FM, New York a couple of months ago (This was actually my second time at the radio. Back in December, I had a chance to talk about my solo show the Secret Lives of Samurais on this dope program). The show this time focused on education and on some of the flaws inherent in the public educational system, and it touched on some less serious tabloid stories. We came in at the second half of the show discussing the alarming phenomenon of the reduction of funds from art education and how VONY tries to counteract the negative effects of this by creating and implementing mentoring workshops that encourage creativity at an early stage of child development. I believe that art, among other things, is the foundation of culture, and it is the voice of a community; hence it has a powerful political potential. So if you take away the arts, you practically undermine a community's (and of course the individual's) creative power for self-determination and expression. This is why I think as artists it is very important for us to give back and nurture the next generation of visionaries to create, dream and believe in their vision...to have a VOICE! Big shout out to our lovely hosts TastyKeish & the boys Digo and Divino for having us on the show and doing a great job with the program. Thank you!You can listen to the show on RiseUp Radio HERE (we come in on the second half of the show.)
You can see some of the video footage from our first youth media arts conference & fundraiser concert with BILAL, 88-Keys, Jesse Boykins & Honey LaRochelle from this past summer here. Check the VONY blog for more info and become a fan of Voices of New York on facebook. New website coming soon.
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