Earlier today, the City of Urbana and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center announced the workshops for their new joint program, Open Scene Urbana.
More information can be found in the press release, below:
Four Artists Selected Will Lead Workshops to Re-envision Downtown Urbana
Urbana, IL – The City of Urbana and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) are excited to announce the four artists chosen to lead workshops for Open Scene Urbana, a youth media project funded by a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). They are: Derek Linzy, Champaign-based DJ; Andrea Perkins, Native American writer who lives in Chicago; Mother Nature, a hip hop group founded in Champaign-Urbana; and Hill L. Waters, a theater collective whose members are based in Ohio and Champaign-Urbana. They will lead weekend-long workshops with Open Scene participants to re-envision the future of the Independent Media Center and downtown Urbana.
Selecting the artists was a difficult process, as we had more than 50 applications to choose from. We were aided by a community panel assembled thanks to Urbana’s Public Arts Commission. Artists will be paid a stipend of $3,000 each to lead workshops that will all be held at the Independent Media Center.
The first workshop will be with Derek Linzy [pictured], a local music producer who has recorded with Prince, Coolio, and Chuck D, among others. The events will be held February 24-26, 2017 at the Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway, Urbana, IL). Derek gained his early experience producing local musicians in his hometown of Champaign. He will share his 15 years of professional experience in the music industry and provide hands-on skills for how to create and record music. Events open to the public will be on Friday night, Feb. 24, 6-8 p.m. with a talk by Derek Linzy; and Sunday, Feb. 26, 2-4 p.m. for an artist showcase by the 12 youth participating in Open Scene.
There are three other artists we have lined up for workshops:
• Andrea Perkins (March 10-12), a Native American writer who will host a workshop on storytelling.
• Mother Nature (March 24-26), made up of T.R.U.T.H. (Tierney Reed), Klevah (Shasta Mathews) and Cii La’Cole, will teach a workshop on the four elements of hip hop centered around social and political issues.
• Hill L. Waters (April 14-16), a Black feminist love praxis project that is a collaboration between Durell M. Callier, Lisa Fay, and Dominique C. Hill. They will lead a workshop for developing short theater pieces.Twelve community stakeholders and twelve youth will take part in the series of workshops and discussions. Together, youth and stakeholders represent Open Scene Leaders, who will develop guiding questions regarding livability and placemaking in downtown Urbana, and participate in four weekend intensives with the chosen artists. Using techniques learned from workshop intensives, they will help facilitate arts-based civic dialogue workshops for the community and publicly showcase creative work and research.
For more information, contact Blair Ebony Smith at (217) 344-8820 or blairebonysmith@ucimc.org.