OUT OF THE MARGINS 2010 presents three performances and workshops from June until August hosted at Grand Street Community Arts, promoting creative exploration and expanding diversity of expression.

June – August at Grand Street Community Arts, 68 Grand St., Albany, NY, www.GrandArts.org

VOICES OF AFRICA

Friday, June 18, workshop 5-6pm FREE, performance 7:30pm $5-20 sliding scale

This internationally acclaimed Ensemble from Philadelphia presents a complete and unique experience of a cappella harmonies and traditional West African percussive rhythms. They are a vivacious, all-women performing arts ensemble and have performed to standing ovations at the Women & Earth Conference, Ghana, West Africa, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., the National Women’s Music Festival and many other venues throughout the country and abroad. The “Voices Of Africa,” share the joy of their music, which spans the African Diaspora, through traditional African and African-American songs, message music, gospel and inspirational percussive rhythms. www.VoicesofAfrica.net

MAHINA MOVEMENT

Friday, July 16, workshop 5-6pm FREE, performance 7:30pm $5-20 sliding scale

This NYC based phenomenal 3 women trio combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina Movement’s extraordinary melodies tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and awareness of human struggle and connection. 3 voices and one guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement’s rare sound and vision not only creates a raw, fierce artistic “movement” combining traditional and contemporary poetry, music, painting, theater, and ritual but also, is constantly generating a strong, steady “movement” for community—consisting of radical love, unstoppable activism and ruthless compassion. www.MahinaMovement.org

READNEX POETRY SQUAD & MARCUS KWAME ANDERSON

Friday, Aug. 27, workshop 5-6pm FREE, performance 7:30pm $5-20 sliding scale

Your browser may not support display of this image. Embracing the eternal tradition of conveying knowledge orally, audiences nationally and around the globe have been captivated and moved by the anti–apathetic stance of the group comprised of four spoken word poets/emcees and one D.J. Through the art of writing and the power of music, esteemed lyrical scholars Decora, FreeFlowin, Jarabe Del Sol, Latin Translator and DJ H20 continue to uplift urban communities with their universal message and sound influenced by Hip-Hop, Soul, Latin and Caribbean music. Joining them with a live art painting and an exhibition of his work is local artist legend Marcus Kwame Anderson. www.Myspace.com/Readnex /  www.MarcusKwame.com

This year’s series is sponsored by Grand Street Community Arts, The Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council , The Social Justice Center, The Women’s Building and Holding Our Own, Inc.
This project is made possible in part through a COMMUNITY ART$GRANT, a program funded by the Arts Center of the Capital Region through the State and Local Partnership Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.