Category: education

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Berklee College of Music education Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez jazz music United States world world jazz

Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez to receive honorary degree from Berklee College of Music

According to a recent news release, multi-Grammy Award winning drummer and composer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, will be awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music on Thursday, July 15, 2010, in recognition of his extraordinary musicianship and many career achievements. The honorary degree will be presented on the main stage of the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, by Berklee’s vice president, Larry Monroe.
El Negro has been the power behind the most popular and influential Latin music of the past decade. Since leaving Cuba and arriving in New York, he’s driven the efforts of Grammy Award-winners Listen Here (Eddie Palmieri), Live at the Blue Note (Michel Camilo), Supernatural (Carlos Santana), No Es Lo Mismo (Alejandro Sanz), and Crisol (Roy Hargrove). El Negro has also recorded with Chucho Valdes, Paquito D’Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Robbie Ameen, among others. His performance Live at the Modern Drummer Festival 2000 (Hudson Music), with Allman Brothers’ percussionist Marc Quiñones and late saxophone great Michael Brecker, lives on explosive video footage.
 As a follow up to their last recording, Italuba II (Cacao Musica), El Negro’s band will be releasing Italuba III, a double album melding World Jazz with the legacy of Latin Music. The first disc will present Italuba celebrating the Afro-Cuban big band legacy, as the quartet performs both stateside with the Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and in Rome, Italy with the Parco Della Musica Jazz Orchestra, turning in big band arrangements of Italuba and Italuba II repertoire. The second disc will offer new material performed by the original Italuba quartet, with each track featuring a different percussion maestro of El Negro’s generation: Marc Quiñones, Luis Conte, Karl Perazzo, Luisito Quintero, Richie Flores, and Giovanni Hidalgo. The album, produced under his own record label, “El Negro and Reusing Records Inc.”, will hit the streets in late 2010.
 El Negro has appeared as the cover of over fourteen of the major percussion publications worldwide in countries that include the United States, Brazil, China, South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Japan, Italy, and more.

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arts education Grove Oklahoma the playmakers theatre theatre United States workshop

Laurette Willis featured in Playmakers Youth Theatre Workshop July 12-16, 2010

Laurette Willis, the Woman of 101 Voices, will be featured in a week-long youth theatre workshop, “Turn Tale and Perform,” from Monday, July 12, 2010 to Friday, July 16, 2010 at The Playmakers’ Theatre, 121 W. 3rd St., Grove, OK. 
The workshop is for students from third grade to 12th grade.
Ms. Willis has been praised by teachers and students alike in her storytelling workshops, and by many others who have seen her original “Women of…” series: “Women of the Frontier,” “Women of Shakespeare,” and “Women of the Oil Fields.” Her interpretations of Emily Dickenson and Belle Starr have also drawn praise. 
“We are pleased to be able to bring Ms. Willis to the participants in the workshop,” said Sandy McCabe of The Playmakers in a news release. “She will work with students once they have developed a folktale for the stage, prior to the performances. She will present a story for them, also, and as a special component, teach them the skills involved in ventriloquism.
Storytelling is an art form that has a basic kinship with theatre and the stage actor. The skills prevalent in both disciplines will give students a foundation in building a character, interpreting that character vocally, and improving breath control as well as in types of story-telling and their influence in other cultures. The students will learn to adapt a folktale for the stage and these creative theatre pieces will be presented for parents and friends on the last day of the workshop.
Sandy McCabe and Suzanne Boles will lead the workshop on other days. The fee for the 5-days is only $80/ student. Some scholarships will be available. For more information, call (918) 786-8950 on specific times and curriculum content. Students in the workshop will be grouped by age where necessary.
This workshop will be the first of more workshops to be part of the 2010-2011 after-school program. 

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arts Clark Theatre education Heller Theatre Oklahoma perforrmances tulsa United States

Heller and Clark Theatres to offer home-school drama classes at Henthorne Performing Arts Center

Heller and Clark Theatres will offer two home-school drama classes in the fall for youth interested in theater. 
The first class, Home School Drama, taught by Genie Reiman, is designed for home-schooled students ages 10-17. Goals are to provide students with an introduction to theatre through individual and group drama experiences. The class will culminate with a final presentation that will demonstrate the performance skills and talents of the students. Classes are 9 to 11 a.m., Sept. 14 through Nov. 16. Cost is $85 total for 11 classes.
Reiman is a teaching artist with the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa. She is an Oklahoma A+ fellow and is on the Oklahoma State Arts Council’s roster of teaching artists. She has also acted and directed in the Tulsa area for over 25 years. She has also served as costume designer for Clark theatre as well as many Harwelden productions. Before coming to Tulsa, Genie received her BFA in Theatre from the University of South Dakota and her MFA in Acting/Directing with an emphasis in Child Drama from the University of North Carolina/Greensboro.
The second class, Advanced Home School Drama, taught by Sara Phoenix, is designed for home-schooled students that have previously attended the Home School Drama class at Clark Theatre. Goals are to provide students with an advanced approach to theatre through individual and group drama experiences. The class will culminate with a final presentation that will demonstrate the performance skills and talents of the students. Class times are 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays,, Sept. 8 through Nov. 17. Cost is $85 total for 10 classes. Ages 10-17. Instructor authorization will be required to enroll in this class.
Phoenix is an award-winning actress, dancer, director and choreographer with a BFA in Theatre from the University of Oklahoma. Having worked in many community theatres, high schools, and recently at Clark Youth Theatre, she has experience with all ages of performers. Sara was the director of John and Jen, the 2009 AACT Region VI winning production, which performed at the National AACT Festival in Tacoma, Wash.
For more information on the courses, call Julie Tattershall at (918) 746-5065, e-mail jtattershall@cityoftulsa.org or go to  www.clarktheatre.com.

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arts Black Liberated Arts Center Inc. education Oklahoma Oklahoma City teachers

Teacher Randy Barron to conduct arts education workshop in Oklahoma City


Randy Barron, a 25-year teacher specializing in arts education, will be in Oklahoma City Oct. 19-22, conducting teacher training at Wilson Elementary School in the Oklahoma City Public Schools District and at Highland Park School in the Mid-Del Schools District. The announcement was made today by Anita Arnold, executive director of Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC) Inc.

Barron has conducted more than 100 professional development workshops and more than 75 in-school residencies in 23 states. Barron has written arts curriculum reaching more than 250,000 students in urban and rural school districts. He is a founding member and current curriculum coordinator for the Rio Gallinas School, an elementary charter school in Las Vegas that is focused on ecology and the arts.

As a professional dancer, Barron has choreographed, performed with and directed ballet and modern dance companies throughout the United States and Europe. He is a co-founder and former artistic director of City in Motion Dance Theater in Kansas City, Mo.

While in Oklahoma City, Barron will conduct the workshop, “Scientific Thought in Motion,” at Highland Park School and will spend three days coaching teachers at Wilson Elementary School. This is his third trip to Oklahoma City to work with classroom teachers.

This project, a part of BLAC Inc.’s arts education program, is funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council and the Oklahoma Department of Education.

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african tales arts BLAC Inc. Black Liberated Arts Center Inc. education Oklahoma Oklahoma City storytelling

African Storyteller Dylan Pritchett returns to Oklahoma City


Anita Arnold, executive director of BLAC Inc., announced today that African Storyteller Dylan Pritchett will return to Oklahoma City after a long absence to do a number of educational activities with schools and with the Pauline E. Mayer Shelter.
For 20 years, Pritchett worked in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, where he trained staff to present stories as well as interpretive and musical programs to the public. Currently, he presents storytelling programs in more than 100 elementary and secondary schools each year and leads numerous workshops for teachers. Pritchett also presents programs in museums for both children and the adult public.
The Kennedy Center trainer will present storytelling programs at Highland Park School in the Mid-Del Schools District, for 7th and 8th graders at Douglass High School and children at Pauline E. Mayer Shelter. While in the city, Pritchett will conduct teacher workshop, “Storytelling: Involving Students in African Tales.”
Arnold said, “We are always excited to have Dylan come and spend time with our teachers and children. He is, especially effective with students and has the unique ability to engage children despite their circumstances. BLAC Inc. provides this service to our community through The Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education Program that BLAC Inc. brought to Oklahoma City in 1995. BLAC Inc.’s school partners are Oklahoma City Public Schools and Mid-Del Schools.”
This program is sponsored in part by Mid-Del Schools, Oklahoma Department of Education, Oklahoma Art Council, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and BLAC Inc.