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We are so excited to install our Little Free Library at the ArtsXchange! Thanks and gratitude to Aileen Loy of Little Free Contentious Library, Little Free Library and Read 4 Unity for this gift. Appreciation to our installation helpers Tia Davis, Lamont Loyd-Sims and Theresa Davis for their expertise. We look forward to the community taking a book or leaving a book at the Little Free Library at the ArtsXchange! 📚Watch a short video of the instillation! Little Free Library at the ArtsXchange Installed August 29th 2023 Little Free Library https://littlefreelibrary.org/ https://read4ynity.com Little Free Contentious Library https://www.instagram.com/littlefreecontentiouslibrary/ @littlefreecontentiouslibrary Read4Unity https://www.instagram.com/read4unity/ @Read4Unity Woman creates pop-up libraries around metro Atlanta to expand access to banned books - 11 ALIVE https://www.11alive.com/article/features/woman-creates-pop-up-libraries-expand-access-banned-books/85-292fdb41-2526-49e6-99d3-304a1655c983

Theme The world has been pushed to the brink of irrevocable damage that only swift and drastic action can avert. Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes have significantly increased the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, trapping heat and warming the planet. This human activity is considered by many scientists and researchers as the primary cause of modern-day climate change. ​ Artists in this exhibition have an opportunity to raise awareness about this crisis, advocate for policy reform, and empower and inspire viewers to take action in their own way. Dates & Details NEW APPLICATION DEADLINE: 11:59 p.m. Monday, June 19, 2023 ​ Entry fee: $25 ArtsXchange members, $35 non-members, or $40 entry & membership (see full payment details) ​ Notification of Acceptance: Friday, June 23, 2023 ​ Opening Reception: 6-9 p.m. July 8, 2023 ​ Artists talk: 1-3 p.m. July 22, 2023 Cash Awards: 1st $300 | 2nd $200 | 3rd $100 ​ Questions? Email gallery@artsxchange.org ​ About the Curators Lisa Tuttle is a mixed-media artist, curator, advocate, educator and writer. A former lead administrator with the Fulton County Public Art Program and gallery director for the Nexus Contemporary Art Center (now Atlanta Contemporary) and Atlanta College of Art, Lisa was also the visual arts director for the Arts Festival of Atlanta. Ric Washington , mixed-media artist, graphic designer and educator, studied at Kansas City Art Institute & School of Design. The former curator of art and graphics at Zoo Atlanta worked on award-winning conservation education projects throughout the U.S. and East Africa. He is now a designer and print specialist for Fulton County Schools. ​ About the Judge Kevin Sipp is a fine artist, scholar and curator with expertise in printmaking, painting, sculpture and multimedia installation. ​ His foundational aesthetic focus examines the spiritual, political, social, and historical influence of African-derived culture in the world, often making references to African Myth, Afro-Futurism, Cultural Identity, Colonial History, past and contemporary music, politics and comics. ​ Sipp, who is also a poet and speaker, is the cultural affairs and public art coordinator for the city of Atlanta, a curator at the Hammonds House, and a teaching artist at the High Museum. THE RULES ENTER ARTWORK All mediums accepted. Wall-hung art must have wire for hanging only (no saw-tooth hangers). Limited pedestals available for free-standing works. Digital display panels must have wall-mounting hardware. (Contact us to discuss digital presentation.) PREPARE ART FILE SUBMISSIONS Upload JPEG Images only, 300 dpi, 4MB-8MB max. Title and Number Each Entry File: Example: Your Name 1-Title.jpg Optional Artist Statement (per entry, 150 words max) PDF file only. Artwork will be disqualified if its quality is not accurately comparable to JPEG file submission. COPYRIGHT By submitting artwork, the Artist guarantees copyright ownership is that of the Artist and grants the ArtsXchange the right to use accepted work for publicity purposes; the Artist will retain copyright of their artwork. ​ INSURANCE ArtsXchange will not be responsible for damage of artwork in transport to or from the gallery. Insurance during transit is the responsibility of the Artist. ArtsXchange will insure the artwork against loss or damage while the artwork is in the gallery. ​ JURORS The artwork will be juried by a panel of three judges. NOTIFICATION Artists will be notified by Friday, June 23, 2023, if one or more works are accepted. ​ ENTRY FEE (non refundable) The entry fee is $25 for ArtsXchange members, $35 for non-members, and $40 for entry plus a 1-year membership. The fee covers up to three works entered for possible inclusion in the exhibition. Zelle is strongly encouraged as it does not require fees. If using a credit card or PayPal, your total must also include the processing fee, which would increase your total to $27, $37 or $42, respectively. ​ Pay via Zelle (no fees). Find us using admin@artsxchange.org . We are enrolled in Zelle as SE Community Cultural Center. Put "Juried Exhibition" in subject line. Must be submitted at time of application. Pay via credit card. Pay via PayPal i.

OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS Overview The ArtsXchange is seeking creative proposals from Metro Atlanta artist to paint a mural on the front entrance of our building. We believe that art has the power to transform a place and inspire people. Submit your proposal for a chance to be selected, and leave a mark on the East Point and South Fulton community. Submission Details The scope of this project is to paint a community-centered mural on the outside of the ArtsXchange, approximately 25’W x 22’2’H, in East Point, Georgia (see area highlighted below). The mural will be located on the Newnan Street side of the building. It will serve to enhance the appearance of the building, enrich the cultural and aesthetic quality of the neighborhood, and contribute to our presence in the community. Design Criteria The ArtsXchange is a creative space that houses artists, a community garden, and presents arts events. We are committed to the arts as a means to achieve social and economic justice. We are multicultural multidisciplinary and intergenerational. We seek mural proposals that encompasses who we are, and that artistically expresses our identity. If you are interested, please send an email to admin@artsxchange.org and include any website URLs, resumes, work examples, letter of interest that includes your experience, and if desired a sketch or description of your initial thoughts. Applications must be received by August 13, 2023 midnight. Please include your email and contact information. The budget for this project is between $10, 000 - $15,000 which includes all costs for the design, materials, installation, labor, insurance, transportation, and any other for completion of artwork. *Concepts or ideas submitted will remain the sole property of the artist and will not be used in any other means than the selection process. Important dates Deadline for Submission: August 13, 2023 Finalists Notified: August 22, 2023 Artist contracting: August 23 - 31, 2023 Installation Timeline: September – October, 2023

The ArtsXchange is grateful to all the artists who responded to our call for mural proposals — y'all got skills! We are pleased to announce that prolific muralist Charity Hamidullah will create the "face" of the ArtsXchange with a mural on the front of our building this fall! Her work adorns many walls, from local public art projects including the Dorothy Bolden Tribute mural with the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Pianos for Peace; to corporate commissions including Microsoft and Target. Charity's murals are also featured in various cities since their respective mural fests, including Birmingham, Ala., Chattanooga, Tenn., and South Salt Lake, Utah. We're thrilled to have not only her talent, but also her love for community. Charity Hamidullah is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been living and creating in Atlanta since 2011. Her work began as a tattoo artist where she assisted in helping clients honor their identity through body adornment. Her admiration for community soon transformed her canvas with hopes to inspires and uplift more individuals. Hamidullah utilizes color, figurative and environmental elements to illustrate stories of identity, empowerment and growth while uniting spaces with the love language of art. Follow her on Instagram @creatingfreedomnow . (PHOTO CREDIT: Charity is pictured in front of her untitled mural on E. Burton Avenue in South Salt Lake during its mural fest.)

Nominations are now open for the 2023 Ebon Dooley Art and Social Justice Awards. Deadline for submissions October 28th 2023. Each year the Ebon Dooley Arts & Social Justice Awards are shaped around recipients whose work creatively builds community and advances liberation. Honorees are recognized for their work with an award and community acknowledgment. Beyond that, the recipient has access to the ArtsXchange and opportunities for amplifying their work. NOMINATIONS ARE ACCEPTED FOR THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: BRIDGE BUILDER Nominees demonstrate an ability to help others collaborate, identify ways to contribute to a shared goal, and create a mechanism for them to work together to advance their shared goals, uplifting the work of each party. CHANGEMAKER Nominees demonstrate a history of work that has had an impact, resulting in tangible change(s) for their community. ECONOMIC JUSTICE CHAMPION Nominees demonstrate a record of service to individuals, or a defined community, to achieve financial equality and stability by increasing access to resources for historically disenfranchised or marginalized groups and communities. SOCIAL JUSTICE CHAMPION Nominees demonstrate a history of working individually and/or with others to achieve improvements in areas like living wage campaigns and job training; affordable and safe housing; Medicare for All; support for public education; and justice before the courts and police. EMERGING LEADER (Must be under age 35) Nominees demonstrate a commitment to a body of work that supports the ways art can tell a story or illuminate the social condition. JACK SINCLAIR VISUAL ARTIST (New category in honor of AXC gallery founder Jack Whitney Sinclair) Nominees should be visual artists who empower artist-led exhibitions, spaces, organizations, projects and/or public art/site works, for, and with, communities, and support the production of independent and adventurous contemporary art – avant-garde, traditional or self-taught. Learn More About Ebon Dooley Awards Learn About Past Ebon Dooley Honorees

Dear Fellow Writers, We are excited to invite you to our Wednesday Writers Workshop, a monthly event designed to help you develop your writing skills and achieve your writing goals. Whether you are a seasoned writer or a beginner, this workshop is a great opportunity to learn, share, and connect with other writers in a supportive and inspiring environment. We invite and encourage you to bring work you are developing in hopes of helping in your process. In our upcoming workshops, we will focus on three key topics that are essential to every writer's journey: Different genres of writing: Understanding the characteristics and conventions of different genres can help you choose the right format and style for your writing, as well as attract and engage your target audience. Elements of narrative writing: Creating a compelling and coherent story requires mastering a range of narrative elements, such as plot, character, setting, point of view, and theme. Steps to writing: Developing a writing process that works for you can make the daunting task of writing more manageable and enjoyable. We will discuss practical strategies for brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing your work. By the end of our workshop journey, you will have gained valuable insights, tips, and feedback that can help you refine your writing skills and potentially get work published this year. The workshop will take place on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 8:00 PM at the ArtsXchange in the Riley Memorial Library. There is a $5 fee to attend, which can be paid at the door or online. Please RSVP at artsxchange.org by the Monday before the workshop so we can plan accordingly. If you have any questions, please contact Theresa Davis at theresa@artsxchange.org. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop and hearing about your writing projects! Our Literary Programs are presented in partnership with South Fulton Institute. Theresa Davis ArtsXchange Literary Director

COMPOST NOW! Right in your own neighborhood. #EastPoint Residents, drop off your compostable items any time using the bins in the front parking lot. We're at 2148 Newnan St. WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE? • Food scraps (produce, meat, dairy, bones) • Coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea • Paper towels and napkins • Cardboard pizza boxes • Shredded paper (not glossy or plastic) • Flowers and dead house plants • BPI certified compostable products WHAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE? • No plastic, plastic bags, or styrofoam • No pet waste • No baby diapers • No glass or metal • No chemicals or cleaning products • No yard waste Register and learn more at: compostnow.org/east-point

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE EBON DOOLEY ARTS & SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARDS Dec. 3, 2022 | 6:30-8 p.m. artsxchange.org/ebon-dooley CONTACT: Angela Oliver, media@artsxchange.org, 404-624-4211 ‘Herstory’ muralist, ‘Street Angel’ among honorees for ArtsXchange awards WCLK’s Kiplyn Primus to emcee fifth annual ceremony named for late activist East Point, GA — Six honorees have been named Ebon Dooley Arts & Social Justice Awards at the ArtsXchange: Dr. Janice Liddell, playwright and longtime Clark Atlanta University educator; Roselyn Lewis, Urban Youth Harp Ensemble founder and 40-year APS teacher; Carlton Mackey, Black Men Smile creator and assistant director of education at the High Museum of Art; the late “Street Angel” Marshall Rancifer, advocate for Atlanta’s homeless; Meadowlark Pictures, independent film and stage producers; and Ashley Dopson, community muralist and art teacher. Kiplyn Primus, host of WCLK’s “The Local Take with Kiplyn Primus,” will emcee the fifth annual awards ceremony from 6:30-8 p.m. Dec. 3 at the ArtsXchange, 2148 Newnan St., East Point. Tickets are $35 or free for members. The event will include a performance by the I Am Arts Dance Company and heavy hors d'oeuvres. The Dooley Awards are given annually to artists, activists or organizers/organizations whose work creatively builds community and advances liberation, in the legacy of ArtsXchange founder Ebon Dooley. This year, the awards ceremony will also be dedicated toDr. Doris Derby — a civil rights movement photographer, beloved Georgia State University professor, poet, artist and fervent supporter of the ArtsXchange, who passed on March 28, 2022. Derby was also our 2021 Ebon Dooley Change Maker honoree. Join us as we remember her, and as we celebrate the honorees: Liddell the Change Maker, Lewis the Bridge Builder, Mackey the Social Justice Champion, Rancifer the Economic Justice Champion, Meadowlark Pictures (Noah Washington, Solomon Simmon and Zipporah Dorsey) the Emerging Leaders, and Dopson the Jack Sinclair Visual Artist. For more information or to purchase tickets, see artsxchange.org/ebon-dooley. ABOUT THE ARTSXCHANGE The ArtsXchange, d/b/a the Southeast Community Cultural Center, was incorporated in 1983 and opened The Arts Exchange In 1984 in Grant Park, reshaping the landscape of Metro Atlanta’s arts scene. In East Point since 2017, the ArtsXchange empowers artists, social justice activists, and creative entrepreneurs to engage communities with innovative artistic learning experiences and cultural exchange. Our programming is designed to be inclusive, diverse, and to encourage positive change as participants come to a better understanding of themselves and others. Our art is our activism. ABOUT THE HONOREES Change Maker | Dr. Janice Liddell’s lifetime of work in theater has uplifted Black women, exploded myths about Black people, and reclaimed their histories. Moved by the reporting of the 50th anniversary of the Lena Baker execution, Liddell initially sent her play, “Who Will Sing for Lena?” to various theaters royalty-free if viewers would sign a petition for the posthumous pardon of Lena Baker. 2,500 signatures were sent to the Georgia State Board of Pardon and Paroles, which influenced the pardon in 2005. The play has since been performed at festivals, theaters and schools from Atlanta, Denver and NYC to Edinburgh, Belize City and Monaco. Liddell retired after serving in several capacities at Clark Atlanta University for more than 35 years, and as assistant vice president for academic affairs and coordinator of faculty development at Atlanta Metropolitan College until 2015. She is co-editor of a collection of literary criticism, an author of several published articles and poems, and has had several plays produced nationally and internationally. Bridge Builder | Roselyn Lewis’ decades as a music educator has built bridges for Black children in Atlanta Public Schools by introducing them to the harp, opera, handbells, and other musical fields in which they are traditionally underrepresented. As co-founder and executive director of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble, which was founded in 2000 during her years as a choral music teacher at Brown Middle School, her encouragement has inspired career paths for now-professional musicians, such as Mason Morton, one of her first harp students, who is now on tour as a member of “America’s Got Talent” runners-up Sons of Serendip. Lewis retired as choral music teacher in APS after a stellar career spanning 40 years. Economic Justice Champion | Marshall Rancifer, lovingly known as the Street Angel, died in Sept. 10, 2022, leaving behind many years of tireless advocacy for Atlanta’s unhoused community. Through his Justice for All Coalition, Marshall helped innumerable homeless people get off the street; he estimated that over 25 years, he helped nearly 3,000 people find safe havens and new lives. Many of the people he helped were also substance addicted and he was there — often against city regulations — with food, hygiene kits, safe-sex kits, HIV/STD testing, referrals to detox programs, and assistance in getting documents like birth certificates for housing and employment services. Through unconditional love and an obsessive consistency, he fulfilled his covenant with God. Marshall had long ago recovered from addiction and living in the streets and promised God that if he was restored to his own personal fullness, he would work for the restoration of all of the “unsheltered,” as he called the homeless population. With his small band of volunteers, he did just that for a quarter of a century, enabling so many to escape sordid environments and extremely dangerous situations. Social Justice Champion | Carlton Mackey is the new assistant director of education with a focus on community engagement and dialogue at the High Museum of Art. An artist and scholar, he is also the creator of BLACK MEN SMILE®, a viral social media platform and empowerment movement for Black men to “celebrate the way we see ourselves,” and author of “50 Shades of Black: Sexuality and Skin Tone in the Formation of Identity.” As a community advocate, Mackey serves on the Atlanta Board of Education Ethics Commission and the Advisory Board of Foreverfamily, an Atlanta non-profit that works to provide the love of family and regular visitation for youths with one or more incarcerated parent. Mackey is the former director of the Ethics & the Arts Program at Emory University and co-created the Arts and Social Justice Fellows Program, which brings six Atlanta artists into Emory classrooms to help students translate their learning into creative activism. Emerging Leaders (for honorees under age 35) | Meadowlark Pictures comprises an ambitious trio of writers/producers/directors who aim to create bold stories and ensure that history is correctly passed down for generations. The group includes Noah Washington, a Georgia State University senior, FanBase app marketing copywriter, former BronzeLens Film Festival intern and great-grandson of Booker T. Washington; Solomon Simmon, a SCAD alum and aspiring filmmaker who has appeared onscreen in the TV dramedy “Atlanta;” and Zipporah Dorsey, also a SCAD alum, blogger, and writer whose directorial debut came in the Meadowlark Pictures play, “1906.” The play, a retelling of the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906 through the eyes of Black men who defended themselves, premiered at the AXC and has been part of many city- and county-wide commemorations of the lives lost. Jack Sinclair Visual Artist | Ashley Dopson is a conceptual fine artist who uses her art to create intimate moments in public spaces. Hermurals can be seen in many corners of the city — “Dream Big: The Phases of Ms. Kamala Harris” on Cascade and Beecher, “Herstory: Heroines of the West End” at the Goodwill on Ralph David Abernathy, and “Fish Are Jumpin’ and the Cotton Is High” at the Krog Tunnel entrance to name a few. Raised in Atlanta, she credits her early childhood in New Orleans for her colorful palette and rich textures. Her works are a conglomerate of primitive impasto and a contemporary take on the painting styles of the Harlem Renaissance. Dopson studied at Hampton University and had a 12-year career teaching art in public schools, winning Teacher of the Year at two schools. She has exhibited at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem New York and the Charles H. Taylor gallery in Hampton Virginia. She has completed 10 murals in Atlanta, where she often involved children in the neighborhood in the painting process. ABOUT THE HOST “The Local Take With Kiplyn Primus” airs at 7 a.m. Saturdays on 91.9 WCLK-FM. The Howard University and Clark Atlanta University graduate has a long career in public and commercial media. She is a veteran facilitator for StoryCorps' Atlanta studio, and has written extensively on global and local initiatives for several publications. Photo: Ebon Dooley

Premier Atlanta architect Oscar Harris’ exhibition continues at ArtsXchange Artist explores ‘Jazz & Spirituality’ in collection born during pandemic East Point, GA — Oscar Harris’ imprint can be seen all over Atlanta: the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Centennial Olympic Park, and MARTA stations from the westside to the top of the perimeter. But beyond the scope of his architectural vision lies a love for jazz that shows up in every stroke of his paintbrush. “When I go down into my studio to paint, the first thing I do is play the music I like,” said the straight-ahead jazz fan. “It starts going through me, one thing leads to another. I don’t know what paint brush I’m gonna pick up, what canvas I’m gonna pick up — I let my intuitiveness carry me.” Jazz & Spirituality, Harris’ latest collection of mixed-media paintings, opened Oct. 9 and has been extended through Dec. 4. It is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Jack Sinclair Gallery at the ArtsXchange. Harris' paintings are also available for purchase. An intuitive abstract impressionist painter, Harris said painting and music have always been part of his life. The Jazz & Spirituality exhibit grew from a discussion group of the same name that has met on Saturdays for years to explore the genre. The group also became a source of support for artists to continue their work when the pandemic closed venues in 2020. “I was overcome when they suggested doing the show,” Harris said. “Since I come from the architectural world, most of my friends and relationships are in the business world. Participating in this group, I’ve found wonderful friends who have this wonderful knowledge and experience in jazz.” Harris’ show is largely composed of paintings he created in his home studio during the pandemic shutdown. A disciple of “the second stroke,” he would often come back to his creations after a week or three to listen to them speak. Sometimes, he’d paint over the whole canvas. “I have a dialogue with each piece,” he said. “Back and forth, back and forth, until it finally comes to a resting point. Then I question if I should put that second stroke on or not. Once I do, it amplifies the sound in my mind.” “Are you willing to put on the second stroke? You might be afraid you'll ruin it,” he said. “But don't be afraid to put the second stroke on your life. Don’t be afraid.” The paintings range in size and mood; some offering quiet moments of reflection, others offering exploding sounds and cityscapes. “They’re so free-flowing,” said artist and curator Tracy Murrell. “There are some where the jazz is very visible, where you can see the music leading him. But others really bring you in.” ••• The Jazz & Spirituality group introduced Harris to books like “The Mysticism of Sound” and “Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music,” deepening his appreciation for the genre that he’s been a lifelong fan of, he said. “I came into the group with Mickey Mouse ears on, perked up and listening,” Harris said. “I learned about sound and how the musicians have to really believe in what they’re doing, it’s part of who they are. If they want to create a real, different sound, they have to bend the notes, like Miles (Davis). Make them special.” JuneAnn McDonald, another member of Jazz & Spirituality, said jazz history was also foremost in her lessons from the group. Her background in tech manufacturing and logistics in Silicon Valley has very little to do with jazz and spirituality, she said jokingly. “But I grew up in Guyana listening to jazz and I was curious whether the jazz experience here would be similar to mine, which was mainly my father and local jazz artists there,” McDonald said. “Once we started going through the pandemic, I was learning more about jazz musicians and how their journey in the 1940s,’50s, and ’60s mirrored what’s going on socially and politically.” Beyond the heartbreak of learning about those artists, though, the Jazz & Spirituality discussions were also a cure for the group of mostly seniors. “Early in the pandemic, seniors were the most vulnerable group; many were housebound,” McDonald said. “Our commitment to meeting on Saturdays became a way of coping with shutdown and the challenges it placed on us. The group was a way of keeping each other positive and moving forward in a time that could've been quite isolating and difficult.” The group has been a space to share thoughts about spirituality with many definitions. “I see spirituality as using your sweet spot — that sparkle, that thing within you,” Harris said. “When you're in your sweet spot, you’re gonna vibrate in a way that everybody can see.” Adeyemi Toure, Jazz & Spirituality member and dramatist who performed at the exhibition events, defines spirituality as “the innate ability to interpret our lives through expression. We carry that in our genes, not only biologically, but cosmically, vibrationally.” And for many in the group, it’s about collectivity. “One thing we’re passing on is our collective spirituality and how do we keep that fed?” McDonald said. “Being part of the collective is key in keeping our individual spirit high. Seeing what jazz musicians did to keep their spirits high in difficult times is something we learned and continued to use. We don’t use a spiritual text or anything like that, but we work on uplifting each other. Every week.” Founded by the Rev. Dwight Andrews at First Congregational Church in Atlanta in 2013, the Jazz & Spirituality discussion group initially met in-person but transitioned to virtual meetings at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Their discussions grew into new roads for artists and educators to share their knowledge, such as a member who now offers an online class exploring music communities around the world. Being around such a varied group of people inspired Harris more than he ever imagined, he said. “One of the most important things I’ve learned in the group is that you can’t be afraid to be yourself,” Harris said. “So with my paintings, I’m not tryin’ to imitate anybody, I’m just tryin’ to do what I do.” ••• Harris has shared his artwork around the city in a few shows over the years, including at Auburn Avenue Research Library for African American Culture & History and the Hammonds House. “Oscar has accomplished so much in his (architecture) career, and now seeing his career in art come alive, he’s really showing people how important it is to follow your passion,” said Murrell, who met Harris as the former Hammonds House curator. He was featured in a show of architect-artists there. “It will lead you to so many opportunities.” Aside from his trailblazing architecture in Atlanta and the Southeast for 40 years, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native is also the author of “Oscar: Memoir of a Master Architect.” A serial entrepreneur, Harris has created hundreds of career opportunities for aspiring professionals through Turner Associates, OLH International, International Aviation Consultants, and the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry, which is now Spike Studio, a mentoring and training program for high schoolers aimed at diversifying the creative design, engineering and construction fields. The studio — Harris’ nickname is Spike — began in 2004 in partnership with Carnegie Mellon, for which the alum was a trustee, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Benjamin E. Mays High School. He was inspired to begin mentoring in creative design, largely due to the absence of minorities and women studying and working in those industries, according to his website. In 2009, Spike Studio became an independent non-profit organization. This exhibit has included a panel discussion about reaching the next generation of designers and constructors, as well as a film screening of “Whisper of the Marimba,” and performances by various community musicians and poets. The Jazz & Spirituality group wanted to ensure there was something for varied interests, they said. “The whole program isn’t just about our group, but the community,” Harris said. The members hope the exhibition will give folks the same sense of community that they have found as a group. “The group is an extension of what we can do with our potential in the future — not only the music, but the spirituality,” Toure said. “We hope to infuse the ArtsXchange with the same kind of spiritual momentum that we’ve garnered, much like you do in a temple, much like you do when you have family gatherings, much like you do in a place where you meet up. Where anybody, any community would come together, to share ideas, to be inspired.”

Jan. 30 session to uncover, combat campaigns against U.S. history of racism By Angela Oliver On a cross-country trip in the summer of 1962, Dr. Doris Derby received a message about the arrest of one of her friends in Albany, Georgia. They knew each other from her alma mater, Hunter College. “I was intending to spend about a week seeing how she was,” said Derby, who was a teacher at the time. “I ended up saying the whole summer.” While Derby, 82, comes from a legacy of civil rights activists — from her grandmother, who was a founding member of the NAACP, to her father, who found ways to combat the discrimination he faced as a college student and engineer in the 1930s — that stop in Albany propelled the Bronx native’s journey through the frontlines of racial justice in the South. Her firsthand experience as an organizer and documentarian in the civil rights movement of the 1960s inspired the ArtsXchange’s latest series, The Power of Words: When Poetry Meets Freedom Songs and Images, an exploration of writing, culture, and literacy in the movements for civil rights. The session on Jan. 30 explored Derby’s work through the lens of race and the law with Dr. Natsu Taylor Saito, law professor at Georgia State University and author of “Colonialism, Race and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists.” Part of the Georgia Humanities project, The Power of Words is a series of virtual creative writing workshops and author panels hosted by Theresa Davis, a fierce slam poet, longtime educator, and director of literacy programs at the ArtsXchange. The series seeks to help folks draw connections between the struggles of the 1960s and those they confront today. The ArtsXchange also aims to help folks expand their understanding of human rights issues in their communities and express their insights in writing. “I believe every person has a story to tell and our stories overlap more than we sometimes realize,” Davis said. “Writing creatively allows for honest expression and connection. My goal is to connect our individual stories to parts of Dr. Derby's journey.” That summer in Albany, Derby worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and freedom fighters like Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “That’s when I really got involved,” she said. The next year, in 1963, the late Bob Moses asked Derby to come to Jackson, Mississippi. She went to develop a literacy program, based at the historically Black Tougaloo College, to prepare Black people to vote. Along the way, Derby, who initially was a painter, picked up her father’s talent for photography. “I was interested in documenting what was going on — not only the marches and protests, but the broad spectrum of what people were doing to help themselves,” she said of her nine years in Mississippi. “The people were building up the preschools, Head Start programs, Freedom Schools, handcraft and farming cooperatives, the Delta health center, visiting nurses, adult education and nutrition programs… I wanted to document all of it.” Such documentation, said Dr. Natsu Taylor Saito, gives people a bigger window to the past. “I love the way she conveys the energy, richness, and love that permeated the movement,” Saito said. “A lot of times, the histories we see now portray the struggle, and that’s very important. But they don’t always show the richness and beauty of it all. Her work brings out those dimensions and without all of those things, I don’t think the movement would’ve been as powerful as it was.” Saito and Derby first crossed paths at Georgia State. In the late 1990s, Derby founded the university’s Office of African American Student Services and Programs. Saito – she also was an activist and organizer for Indigenous rights, anti-prison work and other causes during her college years and beyond – joined the faculty 1994, teaching public international law and international human rights; and seminars on race and the law, federal Indian law, and Indigenous rights. She will discuss her book’s use of the settler colonial framework as a way to understand the history of racialization and the construction and maintenance of racial hierarchies in the U.S. The dominant narrative insists that there’s an equal playing field, that this country is founded on on democracy and liberty, and that better enforcement of equal protection will rid the country of the racism upon which it was founded. “But what I’m saying in the book is that racialization of people – the ways different groups have been constructed and treated – has been dependent on needs they were perceived to serve for white settler colonizers,” Saito said. “It’s a different way of understanding the nature of this country and therefore the nature of race and racism in this country,” she said. “In order to bring about social justice, we have to look at the roots. When we take a different look, the solutions will be very different than usual as well.” With time has come some differences between the civil rights movements of the past and present. Populations have increased, giving the people more power in numbers and resources. Education has expanded, creating wider awareness of the problems and strategies to solve them. And technology and culture has evolved, moving Derby a long way from sewing her dresses with large front pockets that held her many cameras and lenses as the only woman on the Southern Media Inc. photography team. But the similarities abound. “Then is now, and now is the time,” Derby said. “We have to push forward. Young people, take it from here.” A recent celebration of SNCC’s 60th anniversary keeps her hopeful about the urgency of the movement and the ways young people, who were in great attendance, she said, are studying, continuing and documenting the fight. “Some of us are still around,” Derby said. But many from the frontlines of the 1950s and 60s have passed. “That’s why I keep being involved, because how many of us have photographs from that time? We have knowledge that the young people can use.” Her journey spawned about 9,000 images – some slides, some developed. A flip through the pages of her books reveal the heartbreak of that era, like the photos from James Green’s funeral in Mississippi. In May of 1970, Green, 17, and Phillip Gibbs, 21, were killed and several were injured when police fired hundreds of shots into a campus dorm where students were protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It is now known as the Jackson State (University) Massacre. There were joyful moments, too, though, Derby said. Many of her own came in the solitude of writing poetry in the backyard of the “Freedom House,” a place just outside of Tougaloo’s gates, where she and other activists lived. “My poems definitely reflect what was happening politically with racism and segregation,” she said. “But the back of the house was a peaceful area surrounded by bushes. It was one of the places I wrote my poetry because it was so calm and in nature.” Her words and images help keep the truth alive. “We have to get more young people out to know what’s happened in the past,” she said. “We don’t keep it a secret. We need to uncover and show that these things are happening again.” Those happenings can be seen on any front page or news channel today. Just as students were killed by police in the massacre, many young folks today are overpoliced in their schools or gunned down with impunity by militarized police. Just as literacy tests suppressed the Black vote across Southern communities in earlier generations, today’s legislation invokes the same as it purges voter rolls, eliminates voting methods and closes polling places in predominately Black precincts.And just as people were discriminated against for public services, locked out of access to political office, and exploited in jobs with unlivable wages, today’s communities still face discrimination, deathly working conditions, and the daily fight to survive the conditions created and inflamed by poverty. The problems have traveled and mutated through enslavement, the rollback of Reconstruction, Jim Crow era, and the civil rights movement to today, Saito said. “What strikes me as similar now, though, is the energy that has come with the Movement for Black Lives and global protests that are more than protests,” she said. “They’re expressions of solidarity and community-based power. The problems are constant, but there’s a renewed sense of empowerment and the idea that, collectively, we can organize to change things. There’s a sense that it’s our responsibility to exercise our right to self-determination.” 2020 was a major turning point for that renewal. What some saw as social turmoil, others saw as social development in terms of organizing and making demands for change, she said. “And there was a surprising willingness, apparently, of institutions to take this seriously,” she said. “They felt the pressure to do something and there was a lot of movement, at least thinking about how to approach racial justice. Prior to that, an idea like abolishing the police would’ve been ludicrous in mainstream circles; now, it’s not.” With that turning point also came further education and unearthing of this country’s ugly history, thus, a widespread resistance to the progress that was edging on. Among the most blatant was the misinformation campaign about Critical Race Theory by conservatives. “A lot of the backlash we saw throughout Trump’s presidency was a reaction of people on the right,” Saito said. “There was real fear that the world as they know it is being dismantled; that the privilege they’ve come to accept as theirs is going away. Politicians on the right have taken advantage of that.” In "Origin Stories: Critical Race Theory Encounters the War on Terror,"forthcoming in the Michigan Journal of Race and Law (2022), Saito writes: “The depictions of critical race theory as anti-American propaganda intended to denigrate white people are wildly inaccurate. But critical race theory does ask, ‘What does race have to do with it?’ — a question. many Americans would prefer not to confront. It considers how and why race plays a role in any given issue and formulates strategies for contesting racial subordination. This approach, long utilized by individual scholars of color, was introduced as a conscious framework in the late 1980s by professors committed to incorporating the struggle against racism into their analysis of U.S. law and legal institutions. “Critical race theory insists on including the voices of all peoples and complicates the American master narrative—the origin story that provides a highly sanitized version of the violence employed against, and the exploitation of, Indigenous peoples, persons of African descent, and many immigrant groups, and relegates these actions to a past for which no one is today responsible.” The results of resisting this truth span nearly half the states in the U.S. that have enacted legislation to ban certain topics from the classroom. Arizona was an earlier purveyor of the campaign against teaching the history of white supremacy, dismantling ethnic studies classes in 2010. “The way they think, ‘If we can make that history go away, we won’t have these problems, people will be happy and get along again,’ results in this campaign of negating and silencing history and misrepresenting the positions of the struggle for racial justice,” said Saito. “That has been successful because cooperation of so much of the media.” The campaign against Critical Race Theory spawned largely from right-winger Christopher Rufo’s writings and Fox News interviews — riddled with falsehoods — which influenced the president at the time to issue an executive order banning federal agencies from requiring diversity trainings that mention racism or critical race theory, or white supremacy, according to reports by The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, NBC News and other outlets. President Joe Biden repealed that order on his first day in office. “Rufo’s plan to make CRT the villain wasn’t a coincidence,” Saito said. “It was deliberate instigation of (right-wing) movement to quash the widespread movement for racial justice that had expanded from being carried out by Black people and people of color on the fringes. More people started getting involved and the right was scared by that.” Counting on political fatigue throughout the country, the misinformation campaign was a very effective mobilizing tool for conservatives. But it’s not factual, Saito said. CRT was not being taught in public schools; it was very esoteric study in law schools and other areas on the college level. Such concerted efforts from oppressive forces — especially in an era where information, whether true or false, spreads online like wildfires — show the need for a series like The Power of Words. “This program is important as part of much broader effort to make sure this history and social reality are still accessible to people while they’re being eliminated and censored out of school curricula,” Saito said. “We need alternative education venues now more than ever. The series will continue with writing workshops hosted by Davis on Jan. 26, Feb. 12 and Feb. 23, all on Zoom. Dr. Doris Derby who has long lived in Atlanta and received the 2021 Change Maker Award during the ArtsXchange’s Ebon Dooley Art & Social Justice Awards in December, shared her work on the first author’s panel in October. Dr. Doris Derby - 2021 Change Maker Award- Acceptance Speech The final author’s panel will be on Feb. 27, featuring participants who want to share a public reading of their work. Davis hopes the workshops will inspire people to express themselves in a new way. Writing is important for many reasons, Saito added. “It helps you process and retain information, but it’s also a process of making something your own; something you can think critically about,” she said. “Writing is very powerful. It’s a way to express your vision of the world and your place in the world very directly, instead of just accepting what you’re told about who you are and where you belong. “It’s part of the whole process of empowerment. All the artforms can reflect that,” she continued. Derby’s art has empowered many over the years, from her poetry and images to dramatic readings she coordinated as co-creator of SNCC’s Free Southern Theater. She encourages young artists to be creative in the ways they use art of all formats to support communities, and to get their messages and demands across. “Keep creating and utilize what’s around you,” Derby said. “Don’t go for the money and make compromises with what your work is all about. Keep a job so you can function but don’t be discouraged if your work doesn’t have an immediate return. I was an educator and activist during those earlier years; I didn’t want my documentation work out there at the time. But when I was ready to come out with it, my time came.” Saito, a friend of the ArtsXchange since its founding days in the 1980s, also hopes the series will encourage people to support the organization. “The ArtsXchange is a great example of someone saying, ‘I see a need, let’s fill it.’ It’s such an important cultural institution in our community,” she said. “I hope people will be inspired to think of ways they can also create institutions that we need, because if we sit around and wait for the government to provide educational and creative outlets, or any other resources, we’re going to be waiting a long time.” To learn more about the series visit https://www.artsxchange.org/post/the-power-of-words-when-poetry-meets-freedom-songs-images