you know what you want

80 Race Street,Holyoke MA 01040

20 November, 2022

Description

We have an abundance of multisensory creative exercises—writing, movement, music/sound, voice, visual art, and more. We want to share and delight in powerful creative force with you! About us: Chelvanaya Gabriel is a Queer Black trans non-binary disabled being whose art-and-community work is about the queer-afrofuturist disability justice dreaming that will liberate us all. It is about the queering of artistic practice, centering both grief and joy, love and anger. Their work is an evolving expression of their own becoming as an invitation to others to step into their own expansiveness. They are the founder of Creative Resilience Lab, an arts and wellness space centering local queer/trans/intersex/BIPOC creatives in Holyoke, as well as Creative Resilience Dialogues (featured in the Boston Globe), an arts-based dialogic framework for talking about difficult topics and building relational skills. They currently work at Hampshire College and graduated from Mount Holyoke College, Class of ‘97, with a degree in Chemistry & Asian Studies. Their artwork has been exhibited across the Pioneer Valley, including several public art projects on display in Holyoke and Northampton. www.chelvanaya.com / @scifilens Doctora Xingona Diana Alvarez's ancestors bloom in her/their voice. Their songs exalt queer love and liberation and create a gripping atmosphere for healing. An expansive multimedia artist and educator, Doctora Xingona's music, poetry, performances, films, and gatherings center transcendence, kinship, and the co-liberation and nourishment of queer and trans artists of color. Doctora Xingona is the creator/composer of Quiero Volver: A Xingonx Ritual Opera, a multimedia living performance altar for queer, trans, and gender expansive BIPOC artists to convene and manifest futures. Quiero Volver was awarded the Public Art for Spatial Justice Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts in 2020 and is supported by Massachusetts Local Cultural Council Grants in 2022. Funds raised by Quiero Volver performances support the BridgeSong Fund, an emergency relief program for women, nonbinary, and trans musicians of color founded by Doctora Xingona in collaboration with the Institute for the Musical Arts (Goshen, MA). Doctora Xingona released their debut album, Ser Artista, produced by Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist Seth Glier, in December 2021. www.diana-alvarez.com / @brujajuana