Category: Arts and Culture

Hamden Celebrates PRIDE Month June 2, 10

by Town of Hamden and the Hamden PRIDE Committee

The Town of Hamden and the Hamden PRIDE Committee are excited to announce free events in celebration of PRIDE Month throughout the month of June.

The Town of Hamden in partnership with the Hamden PRIDE Committee is celebrating PRIDE in June with the Flag Raising Ceremony and Community Conversations: Forum and Dinner at Memorial Town Hall on Friday, June 2 at 5 p.m., and the Pride in the Park Festival at Town Center Park on Saturday, June 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On Friday, June 2 at 5 p.m., all are invited to attend a PRIDE Month Flag Raising Ceremony in front of Memorial Town Hall, 2372 Whitney Ave., with parking onsite at 2900 Dixwell Ave. Following the flag-raising ceremony, the Town of Hamden and the Hamden PRIDE Committee invites you to stay for Community Conversations: Forum and Dinner also held at Memorial Town Hall. This event is free and will feature educational presentations and a diverse panel discussion over food. Stop and Shop of Hamden will be sponsoring this event by providing the dinner.

On Saturday, June 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Town of Hamden and the Hamden PRIDE Committee invite you to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community at the main event, Hamden’s Pride in the Park Festival at Hamden’s Town Center Park, 2761 Dixwell Ave. To park at Town Center Park, please enter through the Hamden Middle School, 2623 Dixwell Ave. Parking can also be found at the Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave. The Pride in the Park Festival will be hosted by the talented Drag Performers, Summer Orlando and Barbra Joan Streetsand. Festivities at this free, family-friendly celebration will include kid-friendly performances, various food trucks, a DJ, live musicians, over 35 vendors, and fun kids’ activities.

The Town of Hamden and the Hamden PRIDE Committee invite all to gather to celebrate and embrace the LGBTQIA+ members of our diverse community.

For more information, contact Deputy Chief of Staff, Alexa M. Panayotakis, at (203) 287-7100 or email apanayotakis@hamden.com.

PAR Newsletter Job Opening

Paula Panzarella, PAR Planning Committee

There are many tasks involved in creating the PAR newsletter, and PAR wants to hire one or two people to help keep the print version of PAR in production. This is a chance to involve yourself with activism and be paid for it.

We are offering this opportunity first to our print subscribers because you are the most familiar with the quality of our newsletter and aware of the various activist organizations in the greater New Haven area. Without additional people taking part in the work, the printed PAR newsletter may not continue after December 2023.

The new member(s) of the production team must have writing and computer skills and have time flexibility to work on the newsletter intensely in the four days after each issue’s due date for articles. Working as part of the team is vital! If you would like this job, call Paula at 203-562-2798.

Join the Conversation with New Haven’s Big Read!

New Haven Free Public Library

The NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. This year’s selection is Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, by Rebekah Taussig. Visit the Arts and Ideas NEA Big Read website for more events and information.

Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body is a memoir-in-essays from disability advocate, Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Through poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and voices to understand humanity’s diversity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

Rebekah Taussig writes personal essays about disability and runs an Instagram account, @sitting_pretty, where she regularly crafts “mini-memoirs” that explore what it means to live in her (disabled, female) body.

Free copies of the book are available at any NHFP library while supplies last. Copies are also available for checkout. New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St. nhfpl.org.

A Reading for Al-Mutanabbi Street Sunday, March 5

Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m.

On the anniversary of the 2007 bombing of the booksellers’ market in Baghdad, and in defiance of the ongoing attacks throughout the world, including the United States, against reading and readers, excerpts from the anthology “Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here” will be read by Daisy C. Abreu and Stephen Vincent Kobasa.

This event is free and open to the public and begins at 3 p.m. at
Best Video Film and Cultural Center
1842 Whitney Ave, Hamden
www.bestvideo.com

Are You The Next CT Folk Board Member?

CT Folk

It takes all kinds of instruments to make music. It also takes great people working together behind the scenes to make it all happen.

CT Folk has openings on its Board. We are looking for people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us – marketing, accounting, retail, the arts, etc. to help plan CT Folk’s concerts and event offerings. CT Folk seeks to engage, entertain and inspire a diverse audience through music and conversation, and to help foster a more socially responsible and environmentally sustainable community. Info: email amy@ctfolk.org or visit ctfolk.org/staff-board.

New Haven – A City of Paradoxes

Poem by Wendy Hamilton, New Haven

A big FBI headquarters but a failing police force

A Yale School of Architecture but a new collection of ugly
buildings

A city called sanctuary where there is none

A Yale School of Public Health in a city with overwhelming health problems and homelessnessA city with colleges and universities where only 23% vote

A big non-profit entity that makes a huge profit but pays no
tax

The motto, Light and Truth, coming from a corporation that
hoards and hides its money

A Black city that is run by white people

News from Volume 2 – Neverending Books Collective

The Volume 2 Crew here at Neverending Books is proud to announce: We are now officially a 501(c)(3) nonprofit! It has taken a village to keep this place running smoothly and everyone’s combined skills and support have made this happen. Now we can raise tax-free donations and apply for grants. This shift will allow us to remain FREE FREE FREE for all. It will also make donations to us tax-deductible all the way back to Dec. 2021! We are so happy and we have you to thank. Thank you for sticking with us, coming out to gigs, and inviting your friends to the kookiest bookstore around. Check website for schedule of events: neverendingbooks.net. Info: nebcollective@gmail.com. 810 State Street.

Express in artwork, essay, poetry, rap or song

What lessons can we learn from the youth movements of the past and present? What strategies, tactics, and actions can we use in New Haven or other towns? What role can young people play in the fight to ensure our schools and communities have the resources we deserve? How can young people in New Haven or other towns continue the legacy of youth activism to build a better world?

Requirements: Digital art work, drawings, paintings, collage, prints, photographs, etc. Essay, poem, rap or song – Not longer than 2 pages.

Entries must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 and include entry title, name, address, phone, e-mail, age, school, teacher’s name (where applicable). Email all entries to: ct-pww@pobox.com. Prizes: gift cards ($200 first place, $100 second place, $50 third place) and books.

The art and writing competition is sponsored annually by Connecticut People’s World Committee to remember the lives and dedication of Dalzenia Henry and Virginia Henry to the youth of New Haven and to make a better future.

For more information, email ct-pww@pobox.com or leave a message at 203-624-8664.

Journey in Place: An Expanding Oasis of Our Progressive Community

by Ben Ross, PAR subscriber

I got to watch the creation of this show in our home in Hamden among all the celestial, social and physical events leading up to the Solstice. Stories, colors and forms have kept me going, truly the fruit of the creative process. To share it with us you need to travel to The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main St. in Middletown, CT.

Journey in Place: an exhibition of recent works by Shula Weinstein has its opening reception on Saturday, Jan. 7 from 4-6 p.m. The exhibit ends Saturday, Jan. 28 with a gala closing 4-6 p.m. with the artist, followed by music at 7 p.m. with Shula Weinstein, Ben Ross, Craig Edwards and Joe Flood. See buttonwood.networkforgood.com/events/50609-admission-to-shula-weinstein-joe-flood-ben-ross-craig-edwards.

Cooped up for who knows for how long… too long? This is an invitation to a down-home relaxed musical sharing. We gave this song circle format a run at Volume Two – Never Ending Books a few months back and had so much fun… join us. Saturday, Jan. 28, 7 p.m. A modest donation of $15 is suggested.

In addition to the receptions, Journey in Place can be viewed from Jan. 4-28. Check with The Buttonwood Tree for more info. Phone 860-347-4957, or web https://www.buttonwood.org.

Thanks!

Día De Muertos Parade Lights Up Fair Haven

Lindsay Skedgell, New Haven Independent, Nov 7, 2022

 

Photo: Lindsay Skedgell

 

Mill Street danced to life with jewel-painted faces, neon-colored skulls, and at least one hairless dog and its golden-spike-crowned owner, as over 100 people gathered for Fair Haven’s annual Día de Muertos parade.  

That was the scene Saturday at a warehouse at 26 Mill River St. for a ​“Day of the Dead” event organized by Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA). That was just one of at least two such events to take place in Fair Haven on Saturday, with the Semilla Collective also hosting a Día de Muertos celebration at Bregamos Theater off of Peck Street and Blatchley Avenue. 

The back parking lot of 26 Mill St. Saturday evening was full of people in traditional dresses, faces painted with jewels framing their eyes and cheeks, getting ready for the parade. Behind them, a float was being set up, the flatbed of the truck that carried it lined with painted skulls in neon pink, green, orange, and blue. Around the float, a hairless dog whose leash was colorfully woven walked enthusiastically with its owner, whose head was adorned with a golden spiked headband. 

Inside the white warehouse space, an altar was laid out and collectively built at the entrance, a deer skull in the middle of the floor surrounded by lit candles, bread, tables bordered by apples, marigold flowers, and photographs of loved ones who had passed. Faces were being painted in bright paint and puppets lined the walls of the room. 

Saturday’s parade and festival in Fair Haven marked the 12th annual event organized by ULA, held to celebrate Mexican and indigenous cultures in New Haven and to honor the deceased. The Day of the Dead is a holiday to remember those who have passed, often involving puppets, altars, offerings and gifts, and vibrant storytelling to pay respect to the deceased. 

 “This is my husband who passed,” said Joelle Fishman, gesturing toward a tall puppet built in honor of her deceased husband, Art Perlo. He wore a black ​“People & Planet Before Profits” shirt, his hat, glasses, and mustache placed beautifully to mirror him. ​“I’m carrying on for the both of us,” Fishman stated. Perlo, who was a lifelong activist, passed away last year. 

[The article can be read in its entirety at newhavenindependent.org/article/dia_de_muertos_2022] 

‘This Is Our Continent’: ULA Honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Green

by Noel Sims, New Haven Independent, Oct. 13, 2022

“Our people live without borders,” John Lugo said in Spanish to a small crowd gathered on the corner of Church and Chapel to celebrate both migrants and indigenous people who call this land home.

Noel Sims Photo

Noel Sims Photo

That was the scene Wednesday afternoon during an Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration hosted by the local immigrant rights advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción.

As Lugo spoke, smoke from sage burning at an altar set up in front of the Bennett Memorial Fountain wafted through the air. Among the group listening intently to his words were women in traditional Mexican and Guatemalan garb, young children, and a few curious passersby walking across the Green. Lugo, who helms ULA, welcomed family, friends and neighbors to join in a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

The rally wasn’t the only celebration of native people and culture that was held on the Green Wednesday. On the Elm Street side, a second group led by longtime local activist and Indigenous Peoples’ Day event organizer Norm Clement gathered for a separate ceremony. (City government, meanwhile, now recognizes the second Monday of October not as Columbus Day or as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but instead as Italian Heritage Day.)

According to a flyer passed out by organizers, the ULA event had an additional purpose: to criticize a lack of action by Democrats and other elected officials to make pathways for migrants to stay in the United States.

Oct. 12 has long been recognized and celebrated in this country as the date that the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus first arrived in the Americas. On Wednesday, Lugo recognized the date as an anniversary of something much different than a first encounter between two cultures. He described it instead as the beginning of violence and genocide of Indigenous people on this continent. He said today’s immigration policies are a continuation of that violence.

[Read the entire article at www.newhavenindependent.org/article/indigenous_peoples_day_2?fbclid=IwAR2uW49HA6S6d6ZV7Eu1edDDFdjYK9sCXX7rU9eXvn_u22cF_thCLYdnXA]

 

 

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