Hi, Marvin! We would be so honored to have you be in East Palo Alto anytime to be with us! Thank you so much for letting me know about your interest in doing this in the future. Congratulations on your upcoming appearance @ the San Francisco Public Library on February 1, 2013. When I saw this posting on Facebook, I decided to include the flyer in the Calendar of Events that I publish, & I thought about having a schedule of events happen here in East Palo Alto for performing artists & speakers to celebrate Afrikan History Month in the community. Seeing your email tonight, not only am I receiving confirmation from The Creator that this can be, but I now know how to make it happen. Thank you for the inspiration.
I'm now hosting a monthly Friday Night Open Mic event @ the Live In Peace Academy in East Palo Alto. Attached is a copy of a flyer on the upcoming one & a program from the one held last month. I had presented (3) by the Summer. However, by the last one in October, people started talking about wanting the event to happen on a monthly basis. Of course, this was music to my ears because I've been spending the past year & a half working to create & launch new Cultural Arts Initiatives to help bring the arts closer to people's hearts. So, I forged an association with a new organization known as the Live In Peace Music Academy to help make more artistic programs happen in a space where creative events could thrive & flourish. Now, that I have a space to work out of, more visions are coming to mind about what more to do in the future. Under a separate email, I'll share with you information about the plans that I am making for 2013.
Being inspired by your email tonight, what I'd like to see happen here in the community, in celebration of Afrikan History Month, is to to have every Friday & Saturday booked with activities. It's been a long time since anything like this has been done here in the community. Specifically, my vision is to have every Friday & Saturday night filled with a schedule of program presentations on Poetry, Music, Lectures, Community Forums, & Film-Screenings to benefit a multi-generational audience. I also want to have an Afrikan Marketplace @ all of the events, so that our people will have the opportunity to buy something Afrikan throughout the month, while they come out to fill their souls with Cultural Arts experiences. Additionally, I'll continue negotiations that are already underway to get Calvin Keys to come to East Palo Alto in February 2013. How does this plan sound to you? I'd like for some of the events & the Afrikan Marketplace to become fundraising opportunities because there is a great need for me to build a treasury to cover the expenses for the Cultural Arts Initiatives that I am creating. Soon, I will be meeting with some people to discuss ways for me to secure grants. I want to be able to offer an honorarium to the artists & speakers who agree to participate in Afrikan History Month 2013. Since you're the first person who I'm expressing these thought to, what do you think would be a good honorarium fee to offer a performing artist? Of course, for those who have products in the marketplace, they will be able to sell their work in this program plan.
I tell you creativity & dreams go together so nicely! (Smile!) I'm going to be working on getting a group of us from the community to come see you all on February 1st @ the San Francisco Public Library. Attached is a copy of the flyer that I saw posted on the Internet for you to have for your archives, if you have not yet gotten a copy.
As for the Friends of the East Palo Alto Library, I will check-in with the Branch Manager to see what the plan is for Afrikan History Month events happening @ the Library next year. I haven't heard anything, yet. Since the Friends of the East Palo Alto Library operates independently from the Library staff, we try to coordinate our efforts. I'm interested in having you appear @ the Library because it's been way too long since you've been here in the community. If this can happen, what would be the fee range for your appearance? I've had a conversation with staff in which I learned that if the Library pays an artist to perform, the artist can't sell their work. Surely, you must know how I feel about this! It doesn't make any sense @ all. Artists produce products to be sold. This is why I feel that the time has come for artists to rise, take our rightful place beneath the sun, & righteously show the world what can be. For too long, non-artists have been getting in the way of artists being able to live their day. We're rising. As a result, the arts are rising again! I'll be back in touch with you soon about the email that I talked about earlier. Work with what you have! ~Chaché~
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