Bill T. Jones and Carrie Mae Weems Announced as Inaugural Artists in Residence at The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis) -- Harlem's nationally acclaimed youth development, education, and social justice organization -- today announced legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones and celebrated contemporary American artist Carrie Mae Weems as the organization's inaugural artists in residence.

The Bro/Sis artists-in-residence program will bring together these world-class artists with Bro/Sis's youth members, alumni, and staff for a year of programming around the themes of art, activism, and voices for social change. Programming includes:

A conversation series, featuring dialogue with Bill T. Jones, Carrie Mae Weems, and The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, taking place in NYC on March 24 and October 13.

Two Bro/Sis members will be selected for the rare opportunity to be part of the cast of The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company's highly anticipated upcoming new work, "Deep Blue Sea," running April 14-25, commissioned by and presented at the Park Avenue Armory.

Bro/Sis alumni members of "The Peace Poets" and alumna writer Zora Howard, will collaborate with Carrie Mae Weems to create a piece of artwork that investigates the meaning of democracy in 2020.

Jones and Weems will serve as advisors on arts programming and art installations at Bro/Sis's new six-story, 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art educational space in Harlem, opening at the end of 2020.

"Since our inception, the arts have been an inextricable part of Bro/Sis" said Bro/Sis co-founder & Executive Director Khary Lazarre-White. "We've worked to make art accessible to our young people, both to experience the power and possibility of art and also to learn to use art as a tool for advancing social justice. As Bro/Sis celebrates our 25th Anniversary, our artists-in-residency program will expand those efforts to bring the arts into our community."

"Working with Bro/Sis holds out the promise of being an essential and exciting experience at this point in my career," said Jones. "One of our first collaborations, the inclusion of two young movers in the cast of 'Deep Blue Sea' not only breathes the honest and brave experience of a young person today into the piece, it also give us hope that there is a power in 'we' during these fractious times a hope that I am sure will deepen through my yearlong role as Inaugural Artist in Residence."

More about "Deep Blue Sea":

Bill T. Jones, Janet Wong, and The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company's massive new work "Deep Blue Sea" revolves around the interplay of single and group identities. Jones conceived this highly personal work in pursuit of the elusive "we" during these fractious times through a cast of 100 dancers/community members, and a deconstructed text from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Park Avenue Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall will be transformed by the renowned architect by Liz Diller (Diller, Scofidio + Renfro) and Tony Award-nominated projection designer Peter Nigrini in collaboration with lighting designer Robert Wierzel and costume designer Liz Prince. The soundscape is an original composition by Nick Hallett with an electronic component by music producer HPrizm aka High Priest in collaboration with Holland Andrews. In addition to choreographing and directing, for the first time in over 15 years, Jones himself performs. "Deep Blue Sea" runs from April 14-25 at Park Avenue Armory. For tickets and more information, visit http://www.armoryonpark.org.

More about Bill T. Jones:

Bill T. Jones (Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Choreographer: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; Artistic Director: New York Live Arts) is a multi-talented artist, choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer, and Associate Artist for the 2020 Holland Festival. Mr. Jones has received major honors including the Human Rights Campaign's 2016 Visibility Award, 2013 National Medal of Arts to a 1994 MacArthur "Genius" Award and Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. Mr. Jones was honored with the 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, recognized as Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2010, inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009 and named "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure" by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000. His ventures into Broadway theater resulted in a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography in the critically acclaimed FELA!, the new musical co-conceived, co-written, directed and choreographed by Mr. Jones. He also earned a 2007 Tony Award for Best Choreography in Spring Awakening as well as an Obie Award for the show's 2006 off-Broadway run. His choreography for the off-Broadway production of The Seven earned him a 2006 Lucille Lortel Award. For more information, visit https://newyorklivearts.org.

More about Carrie Mae Weems:

Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power. Determined as ever to enter the picture-both literally and metaphorically-Weems has sustained an on-going dialogue within contemporary discourse for over thirty years. During this time, Carrie Mae Weems has developed a complex body of art employing photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, video, performance, and her many convenings. For more information, visit http://carriemaeweems.net.

More about The Brotherhood/Sister Sol:

Since 1995, Bro/Sis has transformed the lives of young people in New York City and across the country through wrap-around educational programming and support services for young people ages 8-22. Services include an intensive four-to-six-year Rites of Passage program, five-day-a-week after-school care, counseling, summer camps, job training, college preparation, employment guidance, and international study programs in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Bro/Sis provides comprehensive direct services, trains educators on the organization's model, and organizes to affect policy and social change. As one of the most successful youth development organizations in the country, Bro/Sis is a social justice organization that is committed to working to respond to inequality, to train young people to become empowered as social change agents, and to work to expand a vision of equity, racial and economic justice, and opportunity and access for all.

In 2020, Bro/Sis will complete the construction of its new six-story, 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art educational space in Harlem. This new home, the Bro/Sis Center, will allow the organization to expand the number of youth it serves directly, to expand its capacity to train educators on the organization's unique youth development model, and to further its organizing work for change. For more information, visit https://brotherhood-sistersol.org.