Changemakers Cabaret

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 7:00 pm-10:00 pm

[ Ibrahim Theater at International House Philadelphia - 3701 Chestnut St. ]

Click [here] to RSVP

An evening of movement, words and sound, celebrating artists, cultural producers and community. Hosted by Catzie Vilayphonh (ACG '14, '10, LTA '10, WOO '02) & Ezra Berkley Nepon (LTA '14, ACG '07), featuring performances by:

Cynthia Dewi Oka (LTA '17, ACG '16)
Cynthia Dewi Oka is a poet, community organizer, and author of Nomad of Salt and Hard Water (Thread Makes Blanket, 2016). A Pushcart Prize Nominee, her poems have appeared online and in print, including in Guernica, Black Renaissance Noire, Painted Bride Quarterly, Dusie, The Wide Shore, The Collapsar, Apogee, Kweli, As Us Journal, Obsidian, and Terrain.org. She is also a contributor to the anthologies Read Women (Locked Horn Press, 2014), Dismantle (Thread Makes Blanket, 2014), and Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines (PM Press, 2016). Cynthia has been awarded the Fifth Wednesday Journal Editor’s Prize in Poetry, scholarships from the Voices of Our Nations (VONA) Writing Workshop and Vermont Studio Center, and the Art and Change Grant from Leeway Foundation. An immigrant from Bali, Indonesia, she is now based in south Jersey and works as a staff member of the national alliance Grassroots Global Justice. Her second poetry collection is forthcoming in 2017 from Northwestern University Press. 

Judith Sachs (WOO '17, ACG '15)
Judith started working as an actor and dancer in the 1960s. At 65, with two hip replacements, she decided to return to the world of dance, but in a different role. ANYONE CAN DANCE serves those with movement restrictions, whether they are on their feet or in chairs, wheelchairs or walkers. GENERATION DANCE, her group of elders and teens working together, brings even more joy to her work. She also trains professionals in the geriatric care field. Judith was a recent Hunter CCS TEDx speaker and presented at the 2015 Mayo Clinic Humanities in Medicine Symposium. 

LaTreice Branson (LTA '16)
LaTreice V. Branson is an educator, community activist, and drummer from Philadelphia who enriches her community through interactive drum performances and gatherings that often feature impromptu audience collaborations. Exploring the creation of new soundscapes through improvisation by inviting musicians and non-musicians alike to engage in the process of arranging music, LaTreice has influenced a reciprocal culture of sharing that unites marginalized communities. Her free and publicly-accessible drumming events uplift gender-inclusivity and live collaboration. She also is the founder of Drum Like a Lady, a community cooperative whose mission is to provide a safe space for women of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs and lifestyles to express their uniqueness through collective drumming, dance, music education, and mental health advocacy.

Ursula Rucker (LTA '08, ACG '08)
Ursula is an internationally acclaimed poet, mother of four boys, mentor and role model. In her sixteen-year career, she has released four solo albums and worked on over thirty collaborations with music producers from across the globe. She is committed to using her poetry as a vehicle of protest and activism. Ursula's mission and calling is to heal herself, the planet, and its people through her art. Her poetry tells the stories of struggle, love, womanhood, peace, anger, injustice, and spirituality. As an artist who has performed in many continents, countries, classrooms and community centers, Ursula sees herself as an ambassador of culture, socio-political issues, truth and love. Based on her personal experience and the response of countless fans and audiences, Ursula believes that art and poetry are catalysts for change. While she sees the world as her community, she pays particular attention to the world of women, indigenous/diasporan people, and sufferers of injustice.

Wit López (ACG '18)
Wit López is a disabled, gender non-conforming/nonbinary trans performer, visual artist, scholar, and independent curator of African American and Boricua descent. Through fiber, performance, and imagery, López explores hairiness, accessibility, queerness, gender identity, Blackness, and Latinidad, while also fully embracing absurdity and the macabre.

Music provided by Chaska Sofia aka dj precolumbian (ACG '16, '11, LTA '13)

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