Renowned Playwright and Actor Regina Taylor Announces Award Open to Columbia Community After Columbia’s SJI Kickoff Event
Earlier this month, the School of Fine and Performing Arts presented the kickoff event of Columbia College Chicago’s Social Justice Initiative (SJI)—"Social Justice and Creative Practice: The power of the creative voice in advancing social change, A Conversation with the Renowned Playwright and Actor, Regina Taylor.” The conversation was led by Dr. Khalid Long, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Columbia and was followed up by a Q&A session between the Golden Globe-winning actor and the audience. Video of the event is now available to the Columbia community. Taylor has since announced the black album.mixtape.awards., which will grant eight $500 awards to students and professionals.
During Columbia’s SJI kickoff event, Taylor talked about her black album.mixtape. project, a unique, three-part theatrical project created in partnership with Southern Methodist University (SMU) Meadows School of the Arts and its Division of Theatre. The project is meant to address questions on teaching and creating theater in the COVID-19 era while addressing how artists speak on social justice in their work. The first part of the project—the black album. 2020. resistance.—features a 75-minute presentation, written and directed by Taylor. Two additional parts of the black album. 2020., including a collaboration with students and artists from SMU and institutions around the globe, and a roundtable presentation of noted BIPOC artistic directors and theater makers, are in the works.
The black album.mixtape. invites students and professionals across a variety of academic disciplines, including the arts, journalism, technology, science, and activism to submit original content for the black album.mixtape.awards. Acceptable submissions can include video, music, audio, images, monologues, photos, designs, text, interviews, or self-interviews.
The deadline to submit is May 3, 2021. In recognition and celebration of the work of collaborators, the black album.mixtape. will offer eight $500 awards at a virtual block party to be held on May 11, 2021. Additional information and directions for submission can be found on the black album.mixtape.awards page.
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