As usual, AfroSolo Arts Festival, now in its 18th year, focuses on the contributions of African American artists, and its theme, like last year, is United in Peace.
Artistic director Thomas Robert Simpson says peace can be about ending gang violence or war or wanting peace within oneself. The arts help us to get there, Simpson believes.
“There is an experience when I go to an event that’s communal,” he said. “I think when the lights go down, our minds open up, and I can see points of view, I might not have seen if we were having a verbal discussion.”
The festival runs July 28 through October 20, with events including panel discussions, art shows, theater, and concerts.
Simpson believes that the focus on peace can be powerful.
“The element of peace kind of bubbles up,” he said. “The idea like when you drop a pebble in some water, and it reverberates. So with this there are lots of little droplets into water, and hopefully, it will have some effect.”
One of those drops is activist and writer Jewelle Gomez’ s play, Waiting for Giovanni, which will be presented with the New Conservatory Theatre Center, opening August 27. Gomez’s play was at an earlier festival, and Simpson says he’s excited to see it move on to the next stage.
On August 6, there will be a free concert at the Yerba Buena Gardens with Jerome Clay and the Jerome Clay Ensemble, vocalist Gaylyn Arnold, and saxophonist Ranzel Merritt Jr. of The Ranzel Merritt Quartet.
Like Gomez, Merritt has been involved with the festival before. Now 18, he played at the festival as a 15-year-old, and Simpson is pleased he can be part of it again before going off to college.
Painter Nanette Harris’ show, Blue People by a Green Painter, will be on display at the San Francisco Main Library from August 15 through October 20.
“It came to her in a dream, painting people blue,” Simpson said. “She did research and our blood is blue, so painting people blue is about the universality of mankind.”
Another musical event Simpson is particularly looking forward to is composer-arranger Jacqueline Hairston’s concert on September 25. Hairston has been invited to be a guest conductor at New York’s Carnegie Hall next February, and this event at the African American Cultural Center will be a preview.
Hairston will also moderate a panel July 28, The Arts: A Medium for Peace II, at the Commonwealth Club. Simpson wanted people from different artistic disciplines, and it includes storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki, choreographer Robert Moses, and the founder of The Jazz & Democracy Project Wesley J. Watkins, IV.
Many of the events in the festival are free. For more information, go to the AfroSolo website.
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