Aspen Instit "Culture in a Changing America" a Daylong Series of Discussions & Performances at NYC Armory

"Culture in a Changing America," an expansive topic, was the focus for a daylong panel of discussions & performances held at the NYC Armory in collaboration with the Aspent Instit Arts Program.  The venue offered a platform for a range of artists, academics & performers to convene & share their thoughts, art & objectives with regard to the current social/political climate.  The day was broken into 3 sessions; each with varied guests, topics & performances.  I will list a sampling of the prestigious & accomplished participants: writer Ta-Neshi Coates, poet Sonia Sanches, jazz pianist Jason Moran, singer/composer Toshi Reagon, author/curator/Harvard Prof Sarah Lewis, works by artist/photographer filmmaker Carrie Mae Weems were presented, dancer, Jookin innovator, Lil Buck, Pres of Black Filmmaker Fdtn Warrington Hudlin and award-winning dir/filmmaker Mira Nair ("Queen of Katwe, Monsoon Wedding.")  I attended session 2 and was fortunate to hear opera singer Davone Tines bellow out "We Shall Overcome" accompanied by pianist Jason Moran.  Tines walked slowly through the audience and filled the room with his transcendent rendition.  The panel discussion that followed included (in addition to Moran & Tines,) singer/composer Toshie Reagon & soprano, Camille Zamora.  Tines said she was reinvigorated as an artist/social activist to address in her music, the denial in our country of the repressive & brutal treatment of "my people" {people of color} who have never be included in our democracy but tormented & used by a "white male" population.  Art as activism was the focus of the performances/discussions and there was a pervasive message of "white supremacy" & systemic racism in our country.  Moran talked about his commitment to a jazz program for high school students in Chicago.  He spoke of the symbiotic needs & results of mentoring in the arts.  Another prevailing message was art as an authentic representation of emotional power and as an indelible means with which to connect with ourselves & others.  An interesting discussion between Mira Niar & Warrington Hudling broached the impairments & rewards of representing real life for various races/cultures & nationalities. Niar (rightly so) called out American schools for their omission of teaching geography & current social issues outside the US.  The series of 45 minute panels were interspersed with dance, art & poetry readings.  I was most impressed by a young woman from Chicago who did a poetry reading of her work that resonated with poignancy, bitterness and hope.  "I, TOO AM AMERICA."  (L Hughes, 1926)