VISION RESIDENCY THE BLACK BEGINNING APRIL 16 @ 7PM ET Curated & Produced by LEGACY: A BLACK QUEER PRODUCTION COLLECTIVE Curated by Vision Resident STARR BUSBY THE BLACK BEGINNING APRIL 16 @ 7PM ET CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS BASIT ANYA CLARKE THE DRAGON SISTERS ALEXANDER PARIS XIMONE ROSE THE TEAM Curated & Produced by LEGACY: A BLACK QUEER PRODUCTION COLLECTIVE Shot & Edited by SOMAD Audio Engineer ALEX BRADFORD Curated by Vision Resident STARR BUSBY Ars Nova operates on the unceded land of the Lenape peoples on the island of Manhahtaan (Mannahatta) in Lenapehoking, the Lenape Homeland. We acknowledge the brutal history of this stolen land and the displacement and dispossession of its Indigenous people. We also acknowledge that after there were stolen lands, there were stolen people. We honor the generations of displaced and enslaved people that built, and continue to build, the country that we occupy today. We gathered together in virtual space to watch this performance. We encourage you to consider the legacies of colonization embedded within the technology and structures we use and to acknowledge its disproportionate impact on communities of color and Indigenous peoples worldwide. We invite you to join us in acknowledging all of this as well as our shared responsibility: to consider our way forward in reconciliation, decolonization, anti-racism and allyship. We commit ourselves to the daily practice of pursuing this work. ABOUT THE ARTISTS XIMONE ROSE (Contributing Artist) (she/her) is a performer/singer-songwriter from New Orleans. She is grateful to this pause in her regularly scheduled programming so she could finally focus on her music... and also religiously play candy crush. Stream her music on all platforms. Instagram: @simonewithanx ANYA CLARKE (Contributing Artist) (they/them/she) Born and raised in Brooklyn, with roots hailing from Trinidad & Tobago, Anya Clarke-Verdery is a queer choreographer, dance artist and educator. They received their BFA in Dance from Long Island University, where they began their choreographic career, choreographing for the American College Dance Association. Anya has worked with choreographers such as Matthew Rushing, Sidra Bell, Earl Mosley, Clifton Brown and Holly Blakey, among others. Anya won 1st prize for Choreographic Excellence in the 11th International REVERBDance Festival. Described as movement that “moves between lucid and fluid to downright jarring in the most effective way,” Anya’s work has spread nationally at venues such as Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol Museum and Gelsey Kirkland Theater, among others. Alongside partner Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, they were selected as the 2019 Guest Lecturers and Resident Artists at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Art & Drama and 2018 PearlDiving Movement Resident Artists. Anya currently serves on the Junior Board and as guest faculty for Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance. With MICHIYAYA, Anya creates highly physical and visceral choreography that molds with each dance artists’ voice. THE DRAGON SISTERS (Contributing Artist) (Issa & Odessa) are a multidisciplinary nightlife duo based in Brooklyn. They are equal parts hip hop, pop and classical. Conceived in the dance theater world, the sisters have stormed stages stages across the country at events and venues including Bushwig, The Box, The Paradise Club, The Diamond Horse Show, the Park Avenue Armory, Lady Fag’s Holy Mountain and various Voss Events productions. Their creative collaborations have included projects with Darrel Throne, Spencer Ludwig and Ariana & the Rose. Their work as musicians and creators and performers has been featured in publications including Elle Magazine, Vanity Fair and Billboard.com. CAIN (ODESSA) COLEMAN (Contributing Artist, The Dragon Sisters) (he/him/his/she/her/hers/they/them/theirs) is an artist, curator and director. They have performed nationally and internationally as a company member with Philadanco, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company and The Metropolitan Opera. Cain is a founder and co-Artistic Director of Coleman Collective, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the arts through performance, collaboration and education. ISSA PEREZ (Contributing Artist, The Dragon Sisters) (he/him/his/she/her/hers/they/them/theirs) was most recently featured in the cast of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, and is the co-Artistic Director of ColemanCollective. They spent four years as a company member with Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance, and have worked with choreographers including Loni Landon, Amy Gardner, Chuck Wilt, Kate Skatpetowska and Damani Pompey. Perez has been featured as a model in campaigns by Adidas, Alexander Wang, Daniel Vosovic’s The Kit and on Billboard.com with rap duo, The Dragon Sisters. ALEXANDER PARIS (Contributing Artist) (they/them) is a multidisciplinary writer, performer, visual artist and curator based in Brooklyn. The work they create exists typically at the intersection of autofiction and surrealism, with a strong concentration on aesthetics. They are drawn towards world building, deconstructed narratives, high camp, futurism, meta theatrics and nostalgia. They are currently in The Lark’s Beyond the Binary Writers Group. In 2019 they had artistic fellowships with the Performance Project at University Settlement and Clubbed Thumb. Most recently, in December 2020, they curated La MaMa’s Squirts: Generations of Queer Performance online, where they put a queer intergenerational group of 20 artists to the task of presenting video performances that were personal reflections in response to the pandemic. For more: @parishiltonals on Instagram. For scripts or booking inquiries: [email protected] ALEX B (Audio Engineer) (they/them) is a musician, music producer and engineer. As a musician, they’ve been featured locally (Cafe Wha, Pianos, B.B. Kings), regionally at SXSW and internationally at the Royal Albert Hall. As a producer, they work with emerging artists aiming to define their sound and share their sonic story. Artists they’ve worked with include Basit, Ezra Miller, Jack Mogi and many more. They’re dedicated to empowering black, POC, femme, trans, queer artists and uplifting authentic voices through music. @southernbellestudios SOMAD (Video & Editing) is an independent art platform, studio and gallery built on the premise of fostering community through art. The namesake comes from the location, just South of Madison Square Park, but also from our frustration with the lack of support for emerging artists. Our ethos is based on a collaborative process enabling artists, curators and clients access to necessary resources to actualize their vision from production to presentation. We open our doors to artists, commercial rentals, curators and productions on a project-by-project basis. Our facilities offer a fully equipped photography and video production studio, printing resources for artists and a space to host gallery shows, film screenings, group critiques, live performances and events. SARA ARNO (SoMad Team) (she/her) is a photographer, filmmaker, producer and the founder of SoMad, a female and queer- led independent art platform, studio and gallery in the heart of downtown New York. She studied Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and Photography, Video and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts. Sara has recently joined the board of Upstate Films, and has served on the board of the Amy P. Goldman Foundation and Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust since 2010. Sara is passionate about cultivating a supportive community in the arts that will foster wider care for our human and ecological communities at a larger scale. CARLA MALDONADO (SoMad Team) (she/her) is a multimedia artist working with photography, video, site-specific installation and the multimedia experience of their intersection. Her work responds to socio-political issues and the environmental crisis, engaging with Ecofeminism as a political movement. At SoMad, she has developed strategic programming in collaboration with curators and artists coordinating in-house exhibitions, film festivals and national art fairs. She has recently exhibited at the Thomas Erben Gallery in NYC (2020); Satellite Art Show in Miami and Brooklyn; Film Fest at the Farm, Rhinebeck, NY; School of Visual Arts, NYC, SoMad, NYC (all 2019); Barcelona Planet Film Festival, Spain (2018); Photo Independent and Fathom Gallery in LA, CA (2018); The Knockdown Center, Brooklyn (2017) and Nowolipki Gallery in Warsaw, PL (2017). She is currently a Fellow Artist of the Bronx Museum. Her personal practice has led her to working with political and arts organizations, promoting art as a means to advance social change. SERICHAI TRAIPOOM (SoMad Team) (he/him) is a portrait and documentary photographer working in fashion, art, music and cultural stories. A core value of his work, especially in fashion, has been a pioneering for visibility of marginalized individuals within a corporate system. Through SoMad, he produces commercial shoots and events and helped build a studio made to meet artist’s needs, including professional printing and production resources. His words and photographs have illustrated stories for W Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Dis, Wonderland, Paper, Out Magazine and THEM, while also working with clients including Performa Arts, The Standard Hotel, Marriott Hotels, Michael Kors, Adidas, G Star Raw, IMG and the CFDA. JAKE FRISBIE (SoMad Team) (they/them) is a creative professional and Queer artist based in New York City working primarily with moving image, text