If you would like to support our work, please use the this link.
All donations are welcome and are tax-deductible through Shunpike, Inc.
All donations are welcome and are tax-deductible through Shunpike, Inc.
Next up:
Seattle, you are invited To Sit A While with Lorraine.
Join The Hansberry Project and ARTE NOIR in celebrating the legacy of Lorraine Hansberry as we co-host The Lorraine Hansberry Scholarship Initiative and its traveling sculpture To Sit A While throughout the month of May.
Seattle, you are invited To Sit A While with Lorraine.
Join The Hansberry Project and ARTE NOIR in celebrating the legacy of Lorraine Hansberry as we co-host The Lorraine Hansberry Scholarship Initiative and its traveling sculpture To Sit A While throughout the month of May.
Sponsored by The Lilly's, an organization supporting women playwrights - with a special focus on BIPOC women, Sculptor Allison Saar has crafted a sculpture representing the spirit of Lorraine Hansberry as both writer and activist. Saar’s work, entitled To Sit A While, features the figure of Hansberry surrounded by five bronze chairs, each representing a different aspect of her life and work. The life-size chairs are an invitation to the public to do just that: to sit with her and think.
The Sculpture is touring the country in an effort to raise awareness and funds to support scholarships for BIPOC writers to gain advanced degrees. From the Lilly's website: "A graduate degree is the primary gateway to a professional playwriting career. It firmly places an emerging writer on the short list of new writers most seriously considered by agents and theaters. University scholarships cover only tuition, and most graduate schools are in cities with extraordinarily high costs of living—there are currently no scholarships dedicated to covering graduates’ living expenses. This scholarship will provide three years of protected time for the recipients to write, work with collaborators, and benefit from the guidance and input of mentors that will endure through their careers.
The Lillys aim to raise a $2,500,000 fund in Hansberry’s name to make sure the next generation can follow in Hansberry’s footsteps, regardless of race, gender, or economic situation."
Please give to the cause and visit the sculpture at Arte Noir from now - June 3rd .
Use this link to donate to the LORRAINE HANSBERRY INITIATIVE SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
The Sculpture is touring the country in an effort to raise awareness and funds to support scholarships for BIPOC writers to gain advanced degrees. From the Lilly's website: "A graduate degree is the primary gateway to a professional playwriting career. It firmly places an emerging writer on the short list of new writers most seriously considered by agents and theaters. University scholarships cover only tuition, and most graduate schools are in cities with extraordinarily high costs of living—there are currently no scholarships dedicated to covering graduates’ living expenses. This scholarship will provide three years of protected time for the recipients to write, work with collaborators, and benefit from the guidance and input of mentors that will endure through their careers.
The Lillys aim to raise a $2,500,000 fund in Hansberry’s name to make sure the next generation can follow in Hansberry’s footsteps, regardless of race, gender, or economic situation."
Please give to the cause and visit the sculpture at Arte Noir from now - June 3rd .
Use this link to donate to the LORRAINE HANSBERRY INITIATIVE SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
We have three especial events happening during the exhibition:
NOW-6/3: Write with Lorraine - Stop by Arte Noir with your favorite notebook to sit a while and write. If you want to share your work/thinking, we are hoping to collect community writings into a common book of inspirations.
6/3 at 2:00 - Young Writers Showcase Writers are invited to share work inspired by Ms. Hansberry.
6/3 at 4:00 - Special Reading of To Be Young Gifted and Black featuring Seattle community readers.
All events will take place at Arte Noir!
https://www.artenoir.org
2301 E Union St Suite H
Seattle, WA 98122
Our partnership with True Colors Theatre Company of Atlanta continues...
In 2020, the Hansberry Project and True Colors Theatre Company announced the pilot year of The Drinking Gourd: Black Writers at Work, a new play program that will create a network of Black theatres linked in the shared goal to co-commission, co-develop, and co-premiere the work of Black artists across the country. Jamil Jude, Artistic Director at True Colors, conceived of the idea in response to the dearth of Black work being produced on the American Theatre stage. Hansberry Project Director Valerie Curtis Newton, who provided the name for this program, describes it a way to “create a space where the entire community can be enriched by the voices of professional Black artists, reflecting autonomous concerns, investigations, dreams, and artistic expression.” Jude concurs, “True Colors’ mission challenges us to connect our audience with leading and emerging voices in American theatre today who are illuminating the experiences of Black people and telling bold stories that grow from the African diaspora. The Drinking Gourd allows True Colors to search out and support Black voices through a national network that will uplift more Black voices and nurture their stories within Black theatres.”
The Drinking Gourd: Black Writers at Work is a multi-year project that ultimately seeks to create a coalition of five Black theatres. Hansberry Project and True Colors piloted the program in 2021, with each presenting readings of four plays. We have been joined in our efforts by National Black Theatre of New York, The Ensemble Theatre of Houston and JAG Productions of Vermont. The vision over time is for all five members theaters to produce staged workshops and readings, creating a pipeline of new works for eventual full productions. This project has the potential to add new Black plays to the theatre ecology through a rolling process of commissions, readings and workshops, and productions. The Black artists engaged in The Drinking Gourd will have an unprecedented opportunity to work with a number of producing theatres serving different communities of color across the country.
As we look to 2024, we are working toward the extension of the Drinking Gourd network!
Drinking Gourd: Black Writers at Work is made possible in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Hansberry's generous donors.
Click the button below to support the Hansberry Project's work.
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CELEBRATING THE POWER OF STORIES!
We began with complete belief in the transformational power of stories. The stories of our community are at the center of our work. Ours is a community rich in creativity, reaching across a diverse sea of ethnic influences and voices. After 15 years, we are still telling our stories - celebrating the African American experience specifically, and the experiences of people of color in general. We're happy to be in a position to lend our support (both financial and professional) and our experience broadly across the greater community. This year, we are launching several intiatives. Beyond simply supporting productions, we push to make room for more voices to have their say. THE BLACK WOMEN WISDOM SUMMIT is an example of the work we do in support of Black stories. The Hansberry Project gathered talented Black Women Playwrights from around the country. A convening of artists in various stages of their careers, they came to Seattle to share their experiences and offer a new perspective on the state of the field. Pictured front row (l-r): Dominique Morisseau, Regina Taylor, Lisa B. Thompson, Lydia Diamond, Rosalind Bell, Kathya Alexander; middle: Shontina Vernon, and Alma Davenport-Person; back row: Sharon Williams, Chisa Hutchison, Amontaine Aurore and Valerie Curtis-Newton. Thank you for your continues presence and support. We hope to see you soon! |
The Black Women Wisdom Summit
HEADS UP!
WE ARE PLANNING TO GATHER AGAIN IN 2024. |
What we do!
Here is just one example...
Here is just one example...
THE EVERY 28 HOUR PLAYS by Various Authors
76 - One minute plays focused on the policing of black bodies
(A collaboration with Central District Forum, Langston, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and Northwest African American Museum) The readings featured a cast of over 30 artists and activists!
76 - One minute plays focused on the policing of black bodies
(A collaboration with Central District Forum, Langston, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and Northwest African American Museum) The readings featured a cast of over 30 artists and activists!
The Hansberry Project is fiscally sponsored by
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
