In association with Harlem Stage, The Apollo Theater and a host of legendary Harlem venues, AFROPUNK commemorates Black History Month by celebrating African-American culture and engaging with contemporary thought and issues, in the New York neighborhood that’s been central to the black American experience for well over a century. AFROPUNK The Takeover – Harlem will present a week-long series of events featuring live musical performances, film screenings, comedy shows, jam sessions and frank discussions on identity, art and protest.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017
NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE
BLACK JOY AS AN EXPRESSION OF RESISTANCE AND LIBERATION
OPENING PANEL DISCUSSION
7:00PM, FREE (Suggested donation $10)
2031 5th Ave, New York, NY 10035
The kickoff event of AFROPUNK The Takeover – Harlem confronts this historic political moment with a conversation about the diverse expression and cultural significance of Black Joy! With stereotypical images and tropes of “Blackness” inundating today’s media, it is imperative to explore the creative resistance, expression and liberation housed in our joy — on our own terms, in our own words. This panel discussion will explore the ways our various institutions and movements continue to tell our stories and introduce counter-narratives that genuinely celebrate who we are as a people. It will shine a light on the tools that have helped heal, activate and keep the cultural expressions of our communities unapologetic and liberated.
Participating in the panel will be
Zoe Kravitz, actress/musician
Larry Ossei-Mensah, co-founder of ARTNOIR
Sade Lythcott, CEO of National Black Theatre
Matthew Morgan, Founder of AFROPUNK
And will be moderated by
Andre Singleton, creator of The #VeryBlack Project
A KICK IN THE HEAD
THE SHRINE
Doors Open at 8:30PM, $10
2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, New York, NY 10030
This is a punk rock showcase. Participating musicians will be announced closer to the date.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017
HARLEM STAGE
TAMAR-KALI: DEMON FRUIT BLUES – A WORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWING
7:30PM, $15
150 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031
Connecting the dots between modern day rock, gospel, blues and original African rhythms, Tamar-Kali’s Demon Fruit Blues is a multidisciplinary work that explores and deconstructs interrogates gender binaries, patriarchy and womanhood by examining the origins of misogyny. Through the use of music and movement by Ase Dance Theatre Collective, Demon Fruit Blues interrogates the ‘curse of womanhood’ in Judeo-Christian ideology and how this perception of the female body reverberates in modern day western society, in an effort to heal a culture of “unspoken” influences that psychically severs the ties between history and culture. This work-in-progress showing will be preceded by the screening of a short film and followed by a panel discussion with the Tamar-kali, Adia Whitaker, Ashley Brockington, Feminista Jones and more.
THE SHED: OPEN JAM SESSION – AFROPUNK EDITION
GIN FIZZ HARLEM
9pm-12am, FREE
Ranked as one of New York City’s “Top 5 Jam Sessions,” #TheShed is a bi-weekly gathering that takes place at Gin Fizz Harlem. It is the brainchild of Grammy-nominated producer/engineer, AnuSun, and provides a taste of the New Renaissance happening in Harlem, and a launch-pad for emerging musical talent. Join us for the special AFROPUNK Edition of The Shed, you never know who might come through!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017
BEARING WITNESS AS PROTEST
THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM
6PM-8:30PM, $7 GA/ $3 Students
144 West 125th Street, New York, New York
Explore current and historical expressions of dissent in contemporary art at The Window and The Breaking of the Window and Circa 1970, two current exhibitions at The Studio Museum. The evening will begin with a guided walk-through the exhibitions, followed by a public dialogue on bearing witness as an act of protest, and on the actions needed to create the path ahead.
AFROPUNK & JILL NEWMAN PRODUCTIONS present
AFROPUNK COMEDY featuring Gina Yashere
GINNY’S SUPPER CLUB (at Red Rooster)
Doors: 9:00PM; Show: 9:30PM, $20 ADV/$25 DOOR
310 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10027
AFROPUNK and Jill Newman Productions are collaborating to present – AFROPUNK Comedy featuring Nigerian-UK comic Gina Yashere. Yashere is a stand up and TV star from the UK that broke onto the American scene in NBC’s Last Comic Standing. She has appeared on Def Comedy Jam. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Nightly Show on Comedy Central and in her 1 hour Stand Up Special on Showtime, Skinny B*tch.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017
AFROPUNK & THE CINEMA AT THE MAYSLES DOCUMENTARY CENTER present a screening of
THE TALK – RACE IN AMERICA
THE CINEMA AT MAYSLES DOCUMENTARY CENTER
6:30PM; $10 donation
343 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY, 10027
The Talk – Race in America – a documentary about the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police. The film profiles, Dr. Christi Griffin, Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, who was a 12-year-old boy killed by the Cleveland police while playing with a toy gun in a local park; Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President and retired New York police officer, Kenya Barris, creator/executive producer of Peabody Award-winning ABC series black-ish; Nas, musician/activist, John Singleton, director/screenwriter/producer; and Charles Blow, New York Times Op-Ed columnist.
MAD FREE & AFROPUNK present The Hair Tales: An Appropriation Conversation
Harlem Stage
7:30pm; $15
150 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031
Cultural critic and image activist Michaela angela Davis teams up with Franchesca Ramsey, actress/comedian/provocateur and creator of the YouTube sensation “Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls,” to engage in a candid and kinky communal conversation about Black Girl hair culture in the age of #BlackGirlMagic & #BlackLivesMatter. Designed as a Pan-African Parisian Salon, the evening will feature improvisational braiding by Ancestral Strands, exclusive set pieces by Enitan Vintage, cocktails and YOU.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2017
THE APOLLO THEATER
The Apollo Theater presents:
AFROPUNK’s “UNAPOLOGETICALLY BLACK” THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN SONGBOOK REMIXED, A CELEBRATION OF BLACK PROTEST MUSIC
7:30PM, Tickets start at $33.50
253 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
Creative & Musical Direction by Robert Glasper
Feat. Tunde Adebimpe (TV ON THE RADIO), Bilal, Toshi Reagon, Staceyann Chin, and more
AFROPUNK pays homage to black protest music and iconic and contemporary artists who have celebrated the power of being unapologetically black.
