Facilitating Pandemic Healing
Facilitating Pandemic Healing and Wellness through the Arts
Community-based Residency at University of Central Arkansas
March 28 - April 5, 2022
In response to a changed and ever-changing world since COVID-19 entered our lives, this project brings together textile art, drumming, and dance/movement as tools to teach, to question, to connect, to inspire and, ultimately, to heal through the arts. Ever aware that more than two years of isolation, anxiety, frustration, and grief over lost loved ones have passed, we propose a series of workshops and public performances designed to assist teachers and students as well as essential workers in the healthcare professions—occupational therapists, and physical therapists—learn how to decompress through arts-based experiences and how to celebrate our humanity. During March 28-April 8, 2022, this project will bring to campus a trio of national and international artists: Nigerian fiber artist Gasali Adeyemo, Nigerian drum maker and drummer Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi, and Core Dance led by choreographer Sue Schroeder.
Join us for the following events that are open to the public: ​
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The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life Community Performance
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When: April 7th at 1:30-2:30PM
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Where: Harding Fountain Plaza, University of Central Arkansas
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Click to view poems that will be shared during this live performance
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The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life
Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director and UCA Artist in Residence
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In collaboration with:
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Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi acclaimed drum maker and drummer and UCA Artist in Residence
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Gasali Adeyemo, World renowned fiber artist and UCA Artist in Residence
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Core Dance Artists: Humlao/Shawny Evans, Iman Siferllah-Griffin, Jaqueline Hinkson
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Marcus Montgomery & Chauncey E. Williams-Wesley, Spoken Word Artists
Alongside students from:
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UCA ‘s Gender, Race, and Class: Philosophical Issues taught by Dr. Taine Duncan
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UCA’s Honors Core IV: Theatre and Social Justice taught by Professor Adam Frank
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UCA’s Music Appreciation: Music for Social Change taught by Jaimee Jensen-McDaniel
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Morrilton High School Spanish IV class and officers of the Latino Student Association
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Morrilton High School Band, Percussion Section
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Indigo flags created by Dr. Trina Harlow and Gasali Adeyemo
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Puppets are on loan from Ozark Living Newspaper Theatre Company
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This project is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Additional funding is provided by the Arkansas Arts Council, Delta Kappa Gamma Kappa State Education Foundation, and the UCA Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Ayanniyi and Adeyemo are supported by UCA Arts Fees through the Artists in Residence program administered by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
These flags were created by BOST consumers under the guidance of Arts at BOST Creative Coordinator and Artist Cathy Mason and are utilized in the Planetary Dance event at Ft. Smith and The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life performance at UCA.
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Hope - Stephanie K.
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Happy - Jenny F.
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Family - Katrina N.
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Peace - Olivia R.
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Joy - Sean L.
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Freedom - Carolyn S.
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Love - Rose K.
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Unity - Josh M.
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Survive - Laura W.
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Party - Damion I. & Denise C.
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Bost - Cathy Mason
About the Artists
Gasali Adeyamo
Nigerian-born Gasali Adeyamo is a world-renowned indigo fiber artist known for his work in batik, tie dye, and cassava paste resist methods. Beginning in 1990, he carried out six years of intensive training and teaching at the Nike Center for Arts and Culture in Osogbo, Nigeria. Adeyamo has taught workshops at the World Batik Conference (Boston), Cross Culture Collaborative Inc. (Ghana), Snow Farm (Williamsburg), and the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (Española).
Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi
Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi, an acclaimed drum maker and drummer, is from the Western Nigerian town of Erin Oshun, near the historic art center of Oshogbo. The “Ayan” prefix of his name indicates that he can trace his family lineage back 700 years to the Yoruba deity of drumming, Ayan Agalu. Ayanniyi is the ninth-generation member of his family to play the traditional Yoruba talking drum, having performed since the age of five. His fame as an artist and performer has led him to tour much of Africa as well as Germany, Brazil, Sweden and the United States.
Sue Schroeder and Core Dance
Sue Schroeder and Core Dance. In more than 40 years of work in the arts, Sue Schroeder has created 110 original dance works for theaters, museums, green spaces, architectural works, and water environments. Her work has appeared throughout the United States as well as Mexico, Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Georgia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Iceland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Guatemala, and Hungary. Schroeder is recognized as a leading arts activist and mentor, and the founding artistic director of Houston/Atlanta-based Core Dance. As a contemporary artist and dance maker, Schroeder focuses on the creative process, movement research & exploration, and dance-making as a catalyst for social change.
The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life Poems
Novel Strain, Novel Hope
by Chauncey E. Williams-Wesley
Blessed beyond measure
it is a pleasure to stand
with you
arms and cognizance intertwined
flocking in unison; heart beats vein forth
the blood of ancestry
and snare rhythmic solutions of clarity
into malleable minds, birthing
new melodies, new causes
for celebration, new cures to heal
broken nations, new methods
of innovation - resurrecting
our world from apathy
and healing
the scratches, cuts, nicks
countless losses caused
by COVID
and senseless war.
We are sore, seeking refuge
as we ride wave lengths
of pulsating strings plucked
poignant by angels' finger tips
played by essential workers
harping in the key
of sacrifice
as leaves rustle, tumbling into
new shades as the change-winds
croon in whispered syllables:
We will survive
Watch us thrive
We will survive
Watch us thrive
Selah!
TO THRIVE
by Gayle McMillan
I may have had much taken
But I still have much to give
Every kind deed I can possibly do
Gives life meaning, to live
To live beyond my sorrow
To be the best that I can be
The painful things, the hard things
Only made a stronger me
They added depth and character
They revealed what lies inside
The will to live, to love, to rise
When I let my heart be my guide
I opened up my heart to see
Expanded my whole world
When my life; Like a rosebud
Became unfurled
Now I live to see
To thrive, to be
To reach for dreams
Untethered and free.
I Dream A World
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by Marcus Montgomery
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I Dream a world
Where there’s no Travon Martin and no George Floyd
Where people really mean it when they call on the Lord
I Dream a world
Where fathers are stars
I Dream a world
Where there’s no need for cars
I Dream a world
Where countries where at peace
So there’s no need for wars
I Dream a world
Where there were no terrorists
And there was no drama
I Dream a world
Where young boys grows up in house holds
With a daddy and not only a momma
I Dream a world
Where the truth outweighs the lie
I Dream a world
Where the world responds to the hurting people’s cry
I Dream a world
Where we can reach Stevie Wonder’s
Ribbon in the sky
I Dream a world
Were the sun was just about to rise
And you could see the light of hope shine on your dark skies
I Dream a world
Were the sun was still shining
And giving me the motivation to keep on rhyming
I Dream a world
Like Ray Charles
Where people see the truth
And use the light of love as a guide for our youth
I Dream a world
Where people graduate high school
And as freshmen enter college not knowing that over the next four years they’ll acquire much
more than merely book knowledge
I Dream a world
Were all of God's children weren’t pushed to conform
I Dream a world
Were hate was abnormal
And love is the norm
I Dream a world.