Fellowships GRAMMY nominee
2022 Create Change programming,
which includes the
Create Change Fellowship and
the Create Change Residency,
will combine cultural organizing
and community-building
strategy workshops with
hands-on instruction in creative
engagement.
Faculty includes Ebony Noelle
Golden (Betty’s Daughter
Arts Collaborative), Urban Bush
Women, Fernanda Espinosa
and Laundromat Project staff,
among others.
“The Laundromat Project
has a long history of working
with artists and cultural
producers to strengthen their
creative practice while building
stronger relationships between
neighbors,” said Kemi Ilesanmi,
the Laundromat Project’s
executive director. “As communities
all across the city are
able to reconvene and reconnect
after so much isolation
the past two years, we could
not be more eager to support
and empower artists and creative
problem solvers, whose
role in the resilience of NYC
remains essential.”
Ilesanmi said the four Create
Change artists-in-residence
will focus on specific programbased
projects.
Jamel Burgess will work on
an archival project to produce
an accessible digital platform
that includes oral histories
called “Archiving East New
York.”
For “Reclaiming Realities,”
Ibi Ibrahim will undertake a
photo and oral history project
about Yemeni American bodega
owners across the city.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Kendra
J. Ross will work on “The
Sankofa Residency,” a collaborative
project on the neighborhood’s
history and an Afrofuturist
imagining of what comes
next for Bed-Stuy.
For “Reflective Urbanisms:
Mapping NY Chinatown,”
Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong will create
a storytelling project on
Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Ilesanmi said Each Create
Change artist-in-residence will
receive $20,000 in funding, and
will collaborate with an array of
local partners to develop their
projects, addressing themes of
cultural preservation, history,
identity, and community wellness.
Create Change Fellows will
develop and practice strategies
for making communityengaged
Caribbean L 42 ife, JANUARY 21-27, 2022
art programming over
Kes frontman, Kees Dieffenthaller. Jackson Warner Lewis
a rigorous six-month period.
“Fellows will work on proposals
to amplify local cultural
resources in Bed-Stuy that
center the voices and histories
of long-term residents, small
business owners, youth, activists,
cultural institutions and
artists,” Ilesanmi said. “For
the second consecutive year in
2022, Create Change Fellows
will receive stipends for their
participation in the program.”
The 2022 Create Change
program cohort was selected
by the 2022 Artist & Community
Council: Prerana Reddy,
artist & community fellow at
Recess; Bianca Mo a, artist,
Create Change alum, and Culture
Push fellow; and Anthony
Buissereth, executive director
of North Brooklyn Neighbors.
For more information about
The Laundromat Project’s Create
Change Artist Development
Program, visit laundromatproject.
org.
known as KES THE BAND,
said it “reached outside the box
to create a record that would
pull listeners deep into the Caribbean,
no matter where they
find themselves in the world.”
“I wanted to transport you
to a place where, even if you’ve
never been to the islands
before, you would feel like you
are there,” said KES frontman,
Kees Diefenthaller, also known
as KES. “The Caribbean is a
melting pot of cultures and
people together in this beautiful
place, and this song captures
all of these vibes.”
In spite of the pandemic,
Diefenthaller said the last two
years have brought a string of
highlights for KES.
In 2020, the band debuted
on US TV on Late Night with
Steven Colbert, and a return to
the States for its first tour dates
in over two years.
In August 2020, KES
released the live album, “We
Home” (Ineffable Records), a
project which earned it plaudits
in outlets, ranging from
Essence to The FADER.
The band has also organized
a run of virtual concerts that
have aired live on TV across the
Caribbean and streamed worldwide
on YouTube, timed to key
dates on Trinidad & Tobago’s
cultural calendar.
KES said fans can look out
for the next of these on Feb.
22.
Continued from Page 41
Jamel Burgess. The Laundromat Project
Continued from Page 41
sent his diverse musical background
in his own work,” BC
News said.
“I’ve listened to and studied
the music of so many cultures,
but I don’t think about
it when I’m writing.,” Dr. Nazziola
told BC News. “I think of
an idea that I’m inspired by,
and all of the influences find
their way into the music.
“After the piece is finished,
I can listen to it and identify
what influences appeared in
it,” he added, stating that “Cat
and Mouse” is “inspired by
the musical effect of each line
chasing the next.”
BC News said Dr. Nazziola’s
style of composition focuses
heavily on how each line of
the music interacts with the
others.
A musician since the age
of 3, Dr. Nazziola said the
GRAMMY nomination caught
him off guard, according to
BC News.
“I couldn’t handle the
anxiety of waiting for the
announcement, so I tried not
to focus on it too much,” he
said. “When a friend texted me
that I had been nominated, I
was in shock, and it took me
some time for it to sink in.
“During the pandemic, you
could not book a studio to
record,” he added. “I would
send tracks to each instrumentalist,
who recorded their
part and sent it back to me. I
would then mix and edit the
pieces together in my home
studio.
“I wanted listeners to experience
the album like a journey,
as if they are sitting in
a theater and are about to
watch a show,” Dr. Nazziola
continued. “After the introduction,
you are along for the
ride, traveling to each place
through sound.”
BC News said the album
doesn’t fall neatly into the
genres of classical or jazz but
instead “mixes the two and
draws from a wide range of
cultural influences, featuring
unlikely instruments like the
pandeiro—a Brazilian percussion
instrument—mixed with
traditional elements like classical
guitar.”
After completing a degree
in percussion at Eastman
School of Music, BC News said
Dr. Nazziola made the choice
to pursue the art of composition.
Continued from Page 41
‘JOLENE’
Dr. Thomas Nazziola. BC
News/Craig Stokle