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PGCC Unveils Performing Arts Center

THE AFRO — Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) is set to cut the ribbon on the centerpiece when the Center for the Performing Arts opens to the public on Sept. 26. The grand opening is a weekend long event featuring performances and shows at the Largo campus. PGCC is upgrading its facilities to attract and retain a diversified student body through graduation. The new Queen Anne Building will be the academic hub for the humanities program and will feature three theatres, a broadcast studio, radio station, and a recital hall. Theater, dance, and mass communications majors will call this building ‘home’ for the next four years.

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By Mark F. Gray

Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) is set to cut the ribbon on the centerpiece when the Center for the Performing Arts opens to the public on Sept. 26. The grand opening is a weekend long event featuring performances and shows at the Largo campus.

PGCC is upgrading its facilities to attract and retain a diversified student body through graduation. The new Queen Anne Building will be the academic hub for the humanities program and will feature three theatres, a broadcast studio, radio station, and a recital hall. Theater, dance, and mass communications majors will call this building ‘home’ for the next four years.

Plans also call for the Center for Performing Arts Grand Theatre to become a venue that hosts contemporary entertainment and community events. Local fans will have an opportunity to view the venue during comedy shows, blues and jazz concerts.

The Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) will officially open the Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 26. (Courtesy Photo)

The Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) will officially open the Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 26. (Courtesy Photo)

After the official “ribbon cutting” ceremony on Sept. 26, PGCC presents comedians Nate Jackson, Rip Michaels, and Jeremy Alsop for a night of laughter in the Proscenium Theatre. These nationally acclaimed comedians have appeared on a variety of hit shows, including MTV’s “Wild N’ Out,” BET’s “Comic View,” and Comedy Central’s “Laugh Out Loud.” They have also opened for comedic stars, including Dave Chappelle, Damon Wayans, and Jay Pharoah.

On Sept. 28, PGCC continues the tradition of the blues during the 24th Annual Bluebird Blues Festival. The Bluebird Blues Festival has been a staple in the Prince George’s County community for nearly a quarter of a century. With a new state of the art venue, it is being touted as back and bigger than ever before. This year’s festival will feature eight bands, workshops, kids’ activities, food trucks, craft vendors, beer, and wine.

PGCC will also serve as the site for the Xfinity presents “1 VOICE Regional Gospel Showcase.” Five choirs and praise team finalists from the Washington region will perform live for an evening co-hosted by NBC 4 Reporter Shomari Stone. This year’s showcase features Gospel Icon Dr. Bobby Jones and Praise 104.1FM’s Cheryl Jackson with performances by celebrity judge and noted gospel songstress Kierra Sheard, Grammy-nominated 1 VOICE Musical Director Tim Bowman, Jr., and his house band. Multi-award-winning gospel icon Fred Hammond has been added as a late addition to serve as a celebrity judge.

On Sept. 29, the weekend concludes in partnership with Lake Arbor Jazz. Avery Sunshine and Chelsey Green and the Green Project will perform in the Center for Performing Arts Grand Theatre. The evening begins with a pre-concert reception at 6p.m. and the show starts at 7:30p.m.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Art

Artist Highlight: TJ Walkup “Iconoclast, Cartoon Illustrator, Filmmaker”

Born in 1970 in Napa, California, TJ has studied and practices in multiple creative and technical disciplines, MIDI and Sound Design, Stagecraft, Art and Graphic Arts in LA, Napa, Central Coast and San Francisco. TJ is a solo artist and a contributor and collaborator in various forms from art shows, published in activist rags advocating for homeless with Street Spirit, Street Sheet and Homeless in the Homeland.

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Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures. He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.
Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures. He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

Born in 1970 in Napa, California, TJ has studied and practices in multiple creative and technical disciplines, MIDI and Sound Design, Stagecraft, Art and Graphic Arts in LA, Napa, Central Coast and San Francisco. TJ is a solo artist and a contributor and collaborator in various forms from art shows, published in activist rags advocating for homeless with Street Spirit, Street Sheet and Homeless in the Homeland. As a musician and recording technologist he has played on college radio and on underground pirate radio.

TJ recalls “I had a one-man painting show at the last club with a cabaret license in SF and Edward Snowden was in attendance”. Locally TJ produced the Punk and Edge Arts Festival “Mocktoberfest,” the first of its kind in Vallejo.

Children received instruments and lessons free of charge in their chosen genre. This was in partnership with the Mira Theater and included 2 stages at the Empress and Mira theaters with 13 bands as well as a showing of “Afropunk” and an art show. Former museum director Jim Kern’s set list sheets from “The Cramps” appeared in the art show as well as an “Otaku Patrol Group” Cyberpunk leather jacket as artifact displays.

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedy’s was in attendance and a presenter through Schroom Custom Guitarworks, Consumer music and Ernie Ball were sponsors.

Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures.

He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

This Artist Highlight was brought to you by the Vallejo Commission on Culture and the Arts.

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Art

Choreographer, Poet, Playwright Robert Henry Johnson, 54

Robert Henry Johnson, a Bay Area dancer, choreographer, and playwright, passed away on Dec. 16, 2022. His body was identified in March. Johnson will be missed deeply. He worked in the Bay Area for decades, teaching a generation of Black artists.

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Robert Henry Johnson. Facebook profile photo.
Robert Henry Johnson. Facebook profile photo.

By Zoe Jung

Robert Henry Johnson, a Bay Area dancer, choreographer, and playwright, passed away on Dec. 16, 2022. His body was identified in March.

Johnson will be missed deeply. He worked in the Bay Area for decades, teaching a generation of Black artists.

He was born Jan. 30, 1968, to Robert Gonzales, a guitarist, and jazz singer Lady Mem’fis. He grew up in the Western Addition neighborhood showing early talent in theatre and dance.

One of the first students to graduate from the San Francisco School of Performing Arts, Johnson went on to receive a full scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School in 1985, where he studied for four years. After graduating, he moved further into the world of writing and choreography.

He applied for a playwrights’ residency at Sugar Shack Performance Gallery in 1992 where he staged, directed and developed several of his plays. For his poetic and lively writing style, he was honored with the Levi’s & Strauss Certificate of Literary Appreciation that same year.

In 1993, he founded the Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company the same year his first play, “Poison Ground,” was featured in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and was produced by the Hartford Stage Company two years later.

Over time he created works for the Bavarian State Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Oakland Ballet, and others.

Although his troupe performed for several years, earning local and national acclaim, he disbanded it to focus on solo efforts.

Among those efforts were writing plays and poetry. In the months before his passing, he had taken up a challenge to create poems just for his Facebook audience.

At the turn of the year, Facebook posts from friends showed they were concerned that they couldn’t get in touch with him, especially around his birthday.

When his death was announced, there was an outpouring of grief on social media.

On March 27, Wanda Sabir of Wanda’s Picks radio held an online memorial for Johnson. Each person attending was given a five-minute window to remember Johnson, tell stories about him, speak to his passing, and celebrate his life.

More than 80 people came to watch the memorial on YouTube, which ran for about two hours.

Dancer, teacher, and author Halifu Osumare began the memorial with a libation, invoking the spirits of the ancestors to help mourners through their grief and help Johnson’s spirit find its way.

Raissa Simpson, the founder of PUSH Dance Company, said, “He was young, gifted, and Black, the epitome of it. And he also mentored so many of us, so many of us young Black choreographers. He stood up for us, he protected us . . . he did a lot for us.”

Sherrie Taylor, Johnson’s cousin, said, “He was such an inspiration to everyone here. He will always be a bright light in my life because that’s what he did. He shined like a bright light. He was a wonderful person, and I just wish I could have spent some more time with him.”

Antoine Hunter said it was “a time to celebrate that light that was lit from the day I met him.” At the end of his speaking window, Hunter shared that the last words he said to Johnson were “I love you.”

Another celebration of Johnson’s memory will be held April 8 at the Zaccho Dance Theatre at 1777 Yosemite Ave., San Francisco, and another on May 27 at the African American Art and Culture Complex at 762 Fulton St, San Francisco. Time to be announced.

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Art

Oakland Museum of California to Feature Works of NIAD Artists

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is partnering with Richmond’s NIAD Art Center and other Bay Area organizations serving artists with developmental disabilities to present “Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD,” a large-scale, multimedia exhibition Fri., May 19, 2023, through Jan. 21, 2024.

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Luis Estrada at work at the NIAD Art Center. (Photo courtesy of OMCA)
Luis Estrada at work at the NIAD Art Center. (Photo courtesy of OMCA)

By Kathy Chouteau

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is partnering with Richmond’s NIAD Art Center and other Bay Area organizations serving artists with developmental disabilities to present “Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD,” a large-scale, multimedia exhibition Fri., May 19, 2023, through Jan. 21, 2024.

OMCA said it will be “a major exhibition celebrating the myriad works of world-renowned contemporary artists with developmental disabilities producing work of incredible power, exuberance, humor, complexity and joy across multiple mediums and styles.”

Artists from Creativity Explored in San Francisco and Creative Growth in Oakland will join NIAD in the exhibition, sharing their “powerful work across multiple artistic disciplines” including painting, sculpture, film, multimedia, textiles and more, per the museum.

Photo courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

Photo courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

It’s the largest museum exhibition to date featuring artists from the three Bay Area organizations, including: Saul Alegria, Peter Cordova, Tranesha Smith-Kilgore, Marlon Mullen, Dorian Reid, William Scott, Dinah Shapiro, Nicole Storm and Marilyn Wong.

“Our organizations were founded under the premise that everyone has creative potential that deserves to be nurtured and celebrated,” said Creativity Explored, Creative Growth and NIAD Art Center in a collaborative statement.

The organizations added that the existing and emerging artists from their studios “are powerful members of the Bay Area art scene who provide an important lens into how art is a tool for communication, expression and connection.” They said they’re excited “to bring this show to life” with OMCA.

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