Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project

Published by University of Texas Press 2010

Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic

Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project

Edited by: Omi Osun Joni L. Jones , Lisa L. Moore and Sharon Bridgforth

In the series Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series

https://doi.org/10.7560/722040

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Austin, Texas, in 2002, a group of artists, activists, and academics led by performance studies scholar Omi Osun Joni L. Jones formed the Austin Project (tAP), which meets annually in order to provide a space for women of color and their allies to build relationships based on trust, creativity, and commitment to social justice by working together to write and perform work in the jazz aesthetic.

Inspired by this experience, this book is both an anthology of new writing and a sourcebook for those who would like to use creative writing and performance to energize their artistic, scholarly, and activist practices. Theoretical and historical essays by Omi Osun Joni L. Jones describe and define the African American tradition of art-making known as the jazz aesthetic, and explain how her own work in this tradition inspired her to start tAP.

Key artists in the tradition, from Bessie Award–winning choreographer Laurie Carlos and writer/performer Robbie McCauley to playwrights Daniel Alexander Jones and Carl Hancock Rux, worked with the women of tAP as mentors and teachers. This book brings together never-before-published, must-read materials by these nationally known artists and the transformative writing of tAP participants. A handbook for workshop leaders by Lambda Literary Award–winning writer Sharon Bridgforth, tAP's inaugural anchor artist, offers readers the tools for starting similar projects in their own communities. A full-length script of the 2005 tAP performance is an original documentation of the collaborative, breath-based, body work of the jazz aesthetic in theatre, and provides both a script for use by theatre artists and an invaluable documentation of a major transformative movement in contemporary performance.

Author / Editor information

Omi Osun Joni L. Jones is Director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies and Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin.

Lisa L. Moore is Associate Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Sharon Bridgforth is the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of the bull-jean stories and love conjure/blues. She is a member of New Dramatists and served as the Anchor Artist for the Austin Project from 2002–2009.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface: How to Use This Book Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Part I: Framing the Work
Chapter One. Making Space: Producing the Austin Project Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter Two. Finding Voice: Anchoring the Austin Project’s Artistic Process Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
Part II: Working the Work: An Anthology of Austin Project Writings
Chapter Three. Polyphony: Writings by Ensemble Members Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Chapter Four. Call and Response: Performance Pieces by Austin Project Guest Artists Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Chapter Five. Affirming Connection: Pre-Show Artists’ Performance Texts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Chapter Six. Spoken-Word Orchestra: A Full Script from the Austin Project Jam Session, December 2005 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Part III: The Work of Transformation
Chapter Seven. Transforming Practice: Artists, Activists, and Academics Working across Boundaries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
Chapter Eight. Work of the Spirit: A Conversation with an Austin Project Elder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Chapter Nine. Narrating the Austin Project: The First Five Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	350
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	369
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 392

eBook

Published: June 23, 2010
ISBN: 9780292792968