Center for Black Literature Presents Free Arts Prgoram

New York, NY, --(PR.com)-- The Center for Black Literature in association with Corridor Gallery, the National Conference of Artists-NY and Theatre for the Free People presents the Black Artist as Activist and Transformative Agent Arts Program. As a component of this program, The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College (CUNY) will offer Free arts workshops which focus on issues of social justice and peace. The writing, performance, and visual art workshops are targeted to youth and emerging artists who range from age 16 – 25. Workshops will be presented at various locations throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan starting Fall 2009. Registration is available online at "theatreforthefreepeople" dot com.

The Black Artist as Activist and Transformative Agent program, sponsored by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, will offer a series of public programs and artists’ workshops that provide student, emerging and established writers, performers, and visual artists with venues and cultural spaces to compose, perform, depict and exhibit their art. The program also will examine the ways in which these artists use art to transform their lives and the larger global community.

Dr. Brenda Greene, Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature is very excited about the opportunity that youth and emerging artists will have to create, perform and display their work in public spaces. She is also pleased that Joi Sears, a young artist activist with Theatre for the Free People, is Project Director for this progressive arts program.

Students and emerging artists will have an opportunity to study with established artists in an environment which offers creative support and encouragement. The project specifically targets urban Black and Latino artists and youth, groups who are underrepresented in cultural arts projects and institutions. The workshops will focus on offer participants avenues for building self-esteem, reflecting on societal problems and solutions, promoting civic engagement, building community and improving their overall personal and academic success. By providing a comprehensive and integrated approach to supporting and exploring the role of the Black artist as activist, the components of this program are designed to build a sense of artistic community.

Founded in 2003, the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College was established to expand, broaden, and enrich the public’s knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of the value of black literature. Partners for the project the Corridor Gallery, a community-based gallery serving Brooklyn artists and residents and the National Conference of Artists NY, whose mission to preserve, promote and develop African American culture and artists. Support is also provided by Brotherhood-Sister Sol, a Harlem based organization which provides support and resources to Black and Latino youth, and Theatre for the Free People which is dedicated to using the arts as a vehicle for social change