2017 TED Global Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph Announces 2017 Events

Recognized as one of the most vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation, Marc BAMUTHI Joseph is hailed for producing and/or performing riveting works of political, economic, and social significance. Bamuthi is synonymous with influential community engager, urban talent, and a world-renowned career; and his 2017 TEDGlobal Fellowship continues to elevate his stature. Upcoming 2017 highlights include: The New York premiere of his latest work /peh-LO-tah/ at the BAM Next Wave Festival, the world premiere of We Shall Not Be Moved opera (his first libretto), Oakland's 10th Annual Life is Living Festival (which he founded), speaking engagements at the TEDGlobal 2017 Conference in Tanzania, Create Justice: A National Discussion on Arts and Justice, Chicago Humanities Festival, YBCA's Transform Festival and 100 Summit, and more. (Please scroll below for Bamuthi's complete schedule.)

Based on hip hop aesthetics, his unmatched theatrical signatures are as much of Othello as they are of Obama. He is a bold artist meditating on identity and social issues through a unique hybrid of poetic text and hip-hop movement that speaks to diverse constituents. " I want my art to inspire, raise the temperature in the room, haunt, reflect, stay present, and look to the future," explains Bamuthi. In works for his own productions and others, Bamuthi's visceral shifts in dance and spoken word create a rich dialogue, both literal and allegorical, between personal confrontations with his own identity and shared cultural experiences. The Walker Arts Center says of his work that "it's socially engaged without being didactic...utilizes a high-level of self-awareness, self-deprecation and humor that disarms an audience that worries about being preached to."

In his most recent work, /peh-LO-tah/ (2016), Bamuthi explores the racial dimensions of soccer-as both an intricate, euphoric choreography and an exploited corporate cash cow. Using spoken-word poetry and fútbol-inspiRed Footwork, Bamuthi and four performers dribble and pass their way from the pickup games of rural Haiti to the mega stadiums of Rio and Johannesburg, parsing the social justice of soccer to the sounds of hip-hop and samba. Against his own childhood memories of the game as a race-transcending source of happiness, Bamuthi posits a global reality in which black joy - a common thread in his work - is all too often co-opted for financial gain, yet perseveres nonetheless. According to Bamuthi, soccer is an extended metaphor. "I'm intrigued by the elusive riddle of equality, and am fascinated by the curiosity that soccer is the only thing the entire planet can agree to do together. I associate both dancing and soccer with the feelings of freedom-with broader global contexts embedded in forms of spiritual, social and athletic life." /peh-LO-tah/ receives its New York premiere at the BAM Next Wave Festival (October 18-21, 2017) preceded by a preview showcase as part of the Guggenheim Works & Process series (October 10, 2017).

Additional performance happenings this year include: We Shall Not Be Moved (2017), an opera developed by composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, directed by Bill T. Jones, and with libretto by Bamuthi, to premiere by Opera Philadelphia (September 16-24, 2017) followed by a New York premiere at the Apollo Theater (October 6-8, 2017); and Word Becomes Flesh (2013), a theatrical work written by Bamuthi that examines masculinity and fatherhood within the constructs of hip-hop culture, at Washington DC's Theater Alliance (September 9-October 8, 2017).

Dedicated to advocating for youth, urban, and socially marginalized voices, Bamuthi is leading the vanguard in molding a more inclusive creative ecosystem. In the coming months, Bamuthi may be found facilitating a class with the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, curating YBCA's 100 Summit, leading a soccer workshop with Chicago's inner-city kids, and celebrating the 10th anniversary of his non-profit organization, Life is Living Festival. As the Chief of Program and Pedagogy at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, Bamuthi continues to discover intersections between art, societal concerns, and community in the Bay area.

About Marc BAMUTHI Joseph

BAMUTHI is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. He is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion, and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young lnnovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices" and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country's greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.

BAMUTHI's evening length work red black and GREEN: a blues was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His latest touring work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross border fan culture, and the politics of joy. Recent commissions include Black Joy in the Hour of Chaos for Creative Time, the libretto for Home in 7 for the Atlanta Ballet and theater work for South Coast Repertory Theater.

He is currently collaborating with composer DBR on a duo show, Blackbird, Fly, as well as a new chamber opera co-commissioned and produced by Opera Philadelphia, New York's Apollo Theater and London's Hackney Empire, premiering under the direction of Bill T. Jones in Fall 2017.

BAMUTHI is the founding Program Director of the exemplary non-profit Youth Speaks, and is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. To learn more, visit Bamuthi.com.

Upcoming 2017 Events:

8.23-30 TEDGlobal Conference, Speaker as TEDGlobal Fellow, Tanzania

9.09-10.08 Word Becomes Flesh, Performance, Theater Alliance, Washington, DC

9.14-21 YBCA's TRANSFORM Festival, Curator/speaker, San Francisco, CA

9.16-24 We Shall Not Be Moved, World premiere, Opera Philadelphia, PA

9.25-26 Create Justice: A National Discussion on Arts and Justice, Facilitator, Los Angeles, CA

10.01 /peh-LO-tah/, Preview showcase, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, New York, NY

10.06-08 We Shall Not Be Moved, New York premiere, Apollo Theater, New York, NY

10.06-08 /peh-LO-tah/, Chicago premiere, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

10.13-21 We Shall Not Be Moved, European premiere, United Kingdom

10.14 10th Annual Life is Living Festival, Founder/curator, Oakland, CA

10.18-22 /peh-LO-tah/, New York premiere, BAM Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn, NY

10.28 YBCA 100 Summit, Curator, San Francisco, CA

11.03 Moving and Passing, Founder/teacher, Chicago, IL

11.04 Chicago Humanities Festival, Speaker, Chicago, IL

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