We are honored to have poet/songwriter Raquel Denis perform at our event, Women Manifesting Systems of Care!

Raquel Denis is a poet, teaching artist and musician from Phoenix, Arizona. She received her undergraduate degree from ASU in the English Literature Creative Writing program where she studied Poetry. Raquel writes about her life as an Afrolatina in Arizona and the experiences her community faces, and she is now about to put out her first EP as a musician.

We are grateful for the generous support from the New York Archival Society! Thanks to their gift, we are able to fund a portion of the dance performance that will kick off our virtual event!

If you are interested in supporting our ongoing GoFundMe campaign to for our event, you can visit HERE.

We are also pleased to announce that we have been able to secure community partnerships with Bronx Community Board 5, the New York Public Library Francis Martin Branch, and the Davidson Neighborhood Center. Many thanks to our supporters!

Women Manifesting Systems of Care will open with Elements, a new interactive performance directed by Alona Weiss, in collaboration with performers: Kris Lee, Rachel Mellis, Mor Mendel, and Saretta Morgan.
Elements will present a celestial online conference with a group of 5 performers who will perform a ritual, embodying the spirits of worldly elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether. Each spirit will log-in from her respective sphere of strength to share an offering for the collective ritual, summoning the spirits of divine futures to inspire us to care, move, change, heal, and listen.

Be sure to RSVP here for your free spot!

Kris Lee is a Philadelphia based Performer and DJ, she received her BFA in Dance at The University of the Arts. Recently she has been on tour with Nora Chipaumire and her trilogy (#Punk,100% Pop,*N!GGA)

Flutist Rachel Mellis is a Los Angeles-based performer and recording artist. She specializes in Classical, Contemporary, and Film/TV/Video Game music, in addition to regularly performing and recording on flutes from around the world.

Mor Mendel is a Brooklyn based performance artist, choreographer, and educator. She is invested in somatic and dance as therapy and a healing tool and leads a practice of movement exploration and therapy to diverse populations. She believes and follows the wisdom and knowledge of the moving and breathing body. 

As a writer and artist, Saretta Morgan’s current work uses text, etching, sculpture, and video to engage relationships between ecology, Black diaspora, and migration in the United States Southwest. She is based between Phoenix and Mohave Valley, Arizona where she teaches creative writing at Arizona State University and is an active member of the grassroots humanitarian aid organization, No More Deaths Phoenix, which supports the safe passage of migrants in the U.S. Mexico borderlands. 

Saretta is author of the chapbooks, Feeling Upon Arrival (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018), and room for a counter interior (Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs, 2017). She has received support from the Jerome Foundation, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, Virginia Piper Foundation, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others. Recent work can be found at Triple Canopy, The Colorado Review, and Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day. 

Alona Weiss is a Brooklyn based visual artist who works with video, performance, text, graphic design, and installation. Through her practice, she explores the transient nature of belief systems and the interpretation of public monuments. 

Women Manifesting Systems of Care – a free virtual and participatory event open to all!

September 25, 2020 at 2pm via Zoom

RSVP now to reserve your spot:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-manifesting-systems-of-care-virtual-broadcast-tickets-114452083262

Women Manifesting Systems of Care will center women and women-identified voices as we reflect on the centennial of Women’s Suffrage in the U.S. and create spaces for expression, civic debate, and creativity around how we can envision systems that build community resilience via collective imagination. The event will include Elements, a new interactive performance directed by artist Alona Weiss, and Systems of Care, a panel discussion moderated by Cynthia Tobar, Artist/Oral Historian and Head of Archives at BCC. We’ve got a great cross section of women and I’m thrilled to gather such an inspiring group for this virtual event!Elements is a new interactive performance directed by artist Alona Weiss.

Elements will present a celestial online conference with a group of 5 performers who will perform a ritual, embodying the spirits of worldly elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. Each spirit will log-in from her respective sphere of strength to share an offering for the collective ritual, summoning the spirits of divine futures to inspire us to care, move, change, heal, and listen.

The panel conversation will include Maria Aponte, Author/Performance Artist; Bridget Bartolini, Oral Historian, and founder of Five Boro Story Project; Spirit Tawfiq, Antiracism Educator & Storyteller; and Alona Weiss, Visual Artist and the director of Elements. 

Event schedule: 2:00-2:30 performance / 2:30-2:45 intermission / 2:45-3:30 panel / 3:30-3:50 Q&A / 3:50-4:00 winning writing contest entry reading​

Participating audiences who RSVP to attend the live event will be given a digital Care Package souvenir that will prompt audience members to take an active part in the performance.

RSVP via Eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-manifesting-systems-of-care-virtual-broadcast-tickets-114452083262