Workin'

Photo by DBR: Arts for Equity Institute at Clemmons Family Farm (Vermont)

I don’t work. I’m workin', all the time, there’s a difference, and I love it. It’s about being in motion, making and doing something different, everyday. I’m always workin' and in motion, and while I miss my son and family and bed, being surrounded by the people and places who make life full and rich and loving, is a blessing. In this, I’m never far from home.

Home is Burlington, Vermont where I am the inaugural Community Artist-in-Residence at the Flynn Center. Working closely with Steven MacQueen and Madeline Bell, we are creating something that is city-wide, innovative, educational, and unabashedly political. I’ll be premiering my Protest Songs, a 24-hour violin work in complete protest to the words, actions, and policies of the Donald J. Trump, the Trump Administration, and demagogues everywhere. Protest Songs will stream live, so please get in the fight, get on-line and join me in resistance, protest, and love. Home will be Baltimore (lest we forget, a great American city) and my Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut in my Voodoo Violin Concerto, with the ever-brilliant Marin Alsop. How rare is it that a White woman and a Black man get to make and celebrate Haitian music together in a city that struggles with race, place, and identity? Home will also be Providence, Rhode Island, where I am proud to continue a 10-year (and counting!) relationship with Kathleen Pletcher, PVDFest and Firstworks as their first Artistic Ambassador. Over the year, I will be in Providence conducting workshops, performances, community dinners, and an array of conversations on how the living arts makes for a loving life.

Home is always Arizona State University, the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and ASU Gammage, where my creative practice lives, deepens, and thrives. I am so proud to be able to design and co-direct Towards A More Perfect Union, "a theatrical concert with film and spoken-word, highlighting new works and powerful compositions that speak to the challenges and our times in beautiful and moving ways.” Colleen Jennings-Roggensack and Michael Reed are like family to me, having collaborated with them for over 20 years.

For now, I wanted to leave you with the latest film project I am doing with YakFilms, Sozo Artists, and my brother, Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Don’t be afraid, but see Fear in September.

DBR