She created the costumes for more than 150 singing, dancing robotic children in It’s a Small World, and for the buccaneers of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Category: Sites Scenes & Words
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Alice Davis, Costume Designer for Disney Rides, Dies at 93
The New York Times – Business: -
How Drake Rescued the Long-Lost Art Carnival Luna Luna
The New York Times – Music:In 1987, the Austrian artist André Heller debuted an avant-garde amusement park with works by Basquiat, Dalí and Haring. Its disappearance was a winding tale. Its return is even more bizarre.
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Disney+ Adds 12 Million Subscribers, Beating Expectations
The New York Times – Business:The confidence generated by the subscriber growth was offset by widening financial losses for the company’s direct-to-consumer division over all.
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Schomburg Center Acquires The Maya Angelou Collection of Personal Papers and Materials Documenting 40 Years of the Writer’s Literary Career and Phenomenal Rise to World Acclaim
Remarkable Trove includes Revisions; Letters, Drafts, Notes and More
New York, NY (Oct. 29, 2010) The papers of Dr. Maya Angelou, focusing on the great writer’s literary career spanning some 40 years and chronicling her ascent to reign as a compassionate voice of hope, love, inspiration and joy for humanity, have been acquired by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, a research division of the New York Public Library.
The acquisition of the collection – which will be housed and archived at the Schomburg Center and available to the public after 18 months of processing – was officially announced today at the Center during a special commemorative ceremony. New York Public Library President Dr. Paul LeClerc joined Schomburg Center Director Howard Dodson to share the news.
“This remarkable collection documents the life of a legendary writer whose eloquent, honest and brave words have inspired generations,” said Dr. LeClerc. “Through Dr. Angelou’s personal letters, drafts, handwritten manuscripts and so on, the public will get a privileged look at the life and creative processes of an American icon. We are immensely pleased and very proud to have Dr. Angelou’s important collection at The Schomburg Center, an institution that stands for open access to information, the preservation of culture and the advancement of knowledge.”
“As the Schomburg’s National Membership Chair, now in her10th year of service, Dr. Angelou already has a home here in the heart of Harlem,” said Mr. Dodson. “But this great, unique collection encompassing her journey to greatness beyond the community, the city and the nation, has special significance for The Schomburg; it is a valuable legacy for generations now and those to come and it is being acquired on the eve of the Center’s 85th anniversary. We are indeed happy she and these treasures are with us.”
Dr. Angelou said she always expected her collection to find a home at The Schomburg. “The Schomburg is a repository of the victories and the losses of the African American experience,” she said. “I am grateful that it exists so that all the children, Black and White, Asian, Spanish-Speaking, Native American, and Aleutian can know there is a place where they can go and find the truth of the peoples’ history.”
The Collection comprises a treasure trove of rare, never-before-seen personal and professional papers, from yellow notepads to original draft pages, the wealth of which span her writing career. There is early original correspondence with such luminaries as James Baldwin, who first encouraged her to write her story, and Malcolm X. These early writings foretell the scribe to come and the impact she would have on the world.
In the Collection are notes for Dr. Angelou’s acclaimed autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which launched her career as an internationally known author in 1969; and for her poems Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise and On the Pulse of Morning, the latter written at the request of William Clinton and delivered at his Presidential Inauguration in 1993, making her the second poet in U.S. history to have this honor and delivering an Inaugural poem.
In addition to Caged Bird, among her published works represented in either original handwritten manuscript, typescript, proofs or galleys are Hallelujah, The Welcome Table, I Shall Not Be Moved, A Song Flung Up to Heaven, Heart of a Womanand All God’s Children, as well as manuscripts for unpublished work and dozens of poems. Of interest is a voluminous file on Angelou’s poem On the Pulse of Morning — from the creation to public reaction.
Other items in the collection include:
Personal and professional correspondence with writers Baldwin, Marshall Davis, Mari Evans, Hoyt Fuller, Rosa Guy, Chester Himes, Dudley Randall, Sarah E. Wright; human rights activist Malcolm X, photographer Gordon Parks, jazz singer Abby Lincoln; her longtime editor Robert Loomis, and others.
Office files, including early mock-ups and plans for the Hallmark greeting card project, and sentiments from writers and friends such as the late Coretta Scott King.
Printed materials and poignant notes from fans and admirers explaining the impact her work had on their lives and the lessons they learned from her words.Dr. Angelou has received 60 honorary degrees, written more than 30 books, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her volume Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (1971), won three Grammy Awards for her spoken word albums, and in 1995 was recognized for having the longest-running record (two years) on The New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list. She has served on two Presidential committees and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2000. Her screenplay, Georgia, Georgia (1972) was the first original script by a Black woman to be produced. Her latest book Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart will be published by Random House this December.
About The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
A research unit of The New York Public Library, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is recognized as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world. A cultural center as well as a repository, this Harlem-based modern research library, with holdings of over ten million items , also sponsors a wide array of interpretive programs, including exhibitions, scholarly and public forums, and cultural performances. For more than eighty-five years, The Center has collected, preserved access to materials documenting black life throughout the world, and promoted the study and inspiration of black history and culture. Visit schomburgcenter.org for more information.About the New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. Its renowned research collections are located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; and the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. Eighty-seven branch libraries provide access to circulating collections and a wide range of other services in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org.Contacts:
Bernice Elizabeth Green | 212.491-2209 | schomburgpr@nypl.org
Angela Montefinise | 212.592.7506 | angela_montefinise@nypl.org -
Having a Will and a Trust to Transfer the Family’s Jewels or Bible
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Nuyorican Poets Cafe
By Carla D. Robinson
Willie Perdomo, Former Nuyorican Grand Slam Champ, © 2002 RLP Ventures, LLC It’s hard to say exactly what happened that day in 1974 when a group of artists – calling themselves Nuyoricans in recognition of their cultural mélange as Puerto Rican New Yorkers – founded the Nuyorican Poets Café. In the movie Pinero, poet Miguel Algarin (immortalized by Giancarlo Esposito) grows weary of the crew crowding his living room and swiftly unveils a storefront space as a new place for everyone to create and perform. In reality, the group’s official founding is more elusive.
While the colorful, white-haired Algarin is widely acknowledged as having started it all, he doesn’t take such credit. Instead, the Rutgers University professor cites himself as only one of the founders of the Nuyorican, along with close friend Miguel Pinero, the fascinating and puzzling subject of the eponymous film, poet Lucky Cienfuegos, and others. Whatever led to the opening of the Nuyorican’s original doors on East Sixth Street may remain forever shrouded in myth, but what keeps its doors open at 236 East 3rd Street (its location since 1980) is no mystery.
The Nuyorican’s Lower Eastside neighborhood, dubbed Loisiada – “the community” – by its Spanish speaking residents, is a mixture of ethnicities from Puerto Rican to Polish, and the Nuyorican seeks to provide a place where such people can create work that illuminates their experiences. As Lois Griffith, co-director and a founding poet of the Nuyorican once wrote, “The journey from the street corner to the page is full of potholes.” The Nuyorican exists to ease the bumpiness of the road. The Café has helped the careers of Ntozake Shange, Willie Perdomo, and Paul Beatty, to name a few.
The organization’s signature events attract international audiences. Its Open Room, where anyone can perform, was “the first idea,” Algarin says in his introduction to Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café. “And from this beginning was derived the complex programming that now goes on at the Nuyorican Poets Café.” The spirit of the Open Room is indicative of the Nuyorican, providing an “open, generous, embracing attitude” toward performers, in the hope of nurturing their work.
Another staple at the Nuyorican is the Slam, a high-octane spoken word competition. Some are critical of the concept. Sonia Sanchez questions the humanity of Slams and once said in an interview, “We should not be on some auction block somewhere selling our poetry in that fashion.” But Algarin posits that the Slam is a product of ancient traditions from the Puerto Rican El Trovador to Greek mythology or the African griot. Arguably, Slams have helped bring poetry back to the forefront of American consciousness.
In addition to the Open Room and Slams, the Café presents work by new and established playwrights, offers events specifically designed for youth and women, hosts concerts, and holds Fifth Night, a screenplay reading and short film series. For more information on the Nuyorican Poets Café, visit www.nuyorican.org. For a sample of the poetry that has emerged from the Café, read Aloud. Check out Action: The Nuyorican Poets Café Theater Festival to read plays and performance pieces.M
April 2002
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Converse Shines in Philly
By Virginia D. Hudson
The city of brotherly love showed love to thousands of attendees at this year’s annual all-star weekend. From February 8-10th basketball fans, celebrities and NBA basketball players converged on Philadelphia filling restaurants and clubs throughout the historic city.
While the main premise was to watch the game, it wasn’t difficult to notice the assortment of parties from major companies like, Nike and Converse.
This year’s all-star weekend also marked basketball legend, Julius “Dr. J” Irving’s return to his Philadelphia 76er roots. It was a coming out moment of sorts – to re-introduce the public to Converse, the sneaker that became synonymous with Irving.
The new re-emerged Converse (in stores now) used some of the same old magic, but with a mix of millennium attitude to launch the brand and a new marketing campaign called, shine.
“It’s about being in the zone,” says Jack Boys, CEO of Converse. “It’s about not giving up; it’s about the self-determination and belief in one’s self that help you get around any obstacles you encounter.”
There were no MJ or Allen Iverson sightings, but there were several hundred members of the press along with Irving at Circa, an upscale spot on Restaurant Row in downtown Philadelphia to usher in the resurrected Converse brand. Feet tapped, heads bobbed and bodies shook as deejay Biz Markie spun a mix of neo-soul, hip-hop and old school tunes.
Equally impressive was an appearance by neo-soul and Grammy-nominated singer India.Arie. Arie along with her band performed three songs off of her hit album, Acoustic Soul, to an appreciative crowd. “I just love her sound,” said an attendee. The stylist didn’t miss a beat. To show her gratitude and in keeping with her love and peace mantra, she handed out flowers to the audience. M
March 2002
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How One Private Collection Built a Public Institution
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4 Scene, 4 You, 4 Love (August 31, 1999 – S.O.B.’s, NY, NY)
By David Dodson
Congrats to Julie Oh and staff over at 4 Scene on their third showcase. The event proved that some people still roll and rock for love. When 4 Scene popped up last year, it promised to provide a space where neo-soul acts would receive the spotlight they rightfully deserve. The first show featuring Corey Glover, Olu and Daniella Cotton, received rave reviews. A few months thereafter, 4 Scene’s second show spotlighted Martin Luther, Jeni Fujita and Grenique. While it was a wonderful night of talent that provided exactly what the promoters promised, something was missing. The mood wasn’t quite right.
4 Scene’s Act III had a totally different vibe. Walking in there was a different air. People were mingling, smiling, conversing and laughter could be heard in various directions. muMs stepped on stage and talked to the crowd, in a way only he could do, preparing them for the “truth” that was to proceed. Carl Hannock Rux gave an amazingly energetic performance attacking the crowd with words, as they grooved to music smoothly churned out by his band and the beautiful harmonies of his backup singers. The crowd was into it and DJ Kool Marv kept them going between sets, almost making you forget you were waiting for the next performer to appear.
When Amel took the stage, she immediately reminded the crowd why they liked her. Everyone was in the groove as she played new song after new song, making the crowd feel like they knew all the words. The musicians were having a great time as songs extended into little jams sessions that allowed the crowd to just dance. “Remember when people used to dance,” Amel said.
Overall, 4 Scene’s August showcase was a quality event that allowed everyone to shine from those on stage to those in the crowd. For anyone looking to hear great music in a comfortable setting, 4 Scene’s next event is a must. For more information check out their web site at www.4scene.com. M
September 1999