Special Event Series: Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

This powerful collaborative project looks at the topic of social justice through various presentations, performances, and workshops, bringing the community together to inform through art, history, music, and dance. Profits from the programs and the sale of art will be donated to the More Than Words scholarship fund.

Events in this project include:

Singing Spirit in the Body; Black Cultural Dance  Professor of Performing Arts and African American Studies at Georgetown University Anita Gonzalez, PhD will discuss how African traditions manifest in street and social dances in the United States and the Caribbean. Mystic Seaport Museum, Thursday, November 3rd (4-5pm) Free Admission

Exhibit Opening Reception Anthropologist and Archaeologist Akeia de Barros Gomes, PhD, in collaboration with artist Pamela Pike Gordinier, present an art and response style show reflecting the issues of racism and social justice. La Grua Center, Friday, November 4th (5-7pm) Suggested donation $5

Jazz – An Original American Artform Retired Director of the Coast Guard Cadet Band, Kirk Edwards and The Coalition Jazz Band, will perform timeless songs that were popularized or composed by African American musicians and have had a monumental impact on the performance and the trajectory of music around the world. La Grua Center, Saturday, November 5th (5-6pm) Suggested Donation $10

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. Say?  Akeia de Barros Gomes, Phd., Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories and the Director of the Munson Institute at Mystic Seaport Museum will give a lecture looking at the man, his visions and the work that we need to do for social harmony. La Grua Center Wednesday, November 16th (5-6pm) Suggested Donation $10

Additionally, workshops for teachers and students will culminate in a student art exhibition and jazz performance. Jessica Cerullo, Asst. Adjunct Professor at Connecticut College – social practice artist, will lead exercises interacting with the artwork. Akeia de Barros Gomes with Pam Gordinier will dialogue about the artwork from their own experiences and perspectives. Kirk Edwards, working with jazz musicians from Ledyard Middle School, Groton Middle School, and Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School in New London will give a concert in response to the exhibition. La Grua Cultural Center Thurs., Dec. 8 (6-7PM) Student Art Exhibition & Jazz Concert – Free