Alphabet Rockers (AR) will develop "Shades" (working title), a global hip hop commission, focused on colonialism and colorism, reflecting on themes such as the American vs. global experience, personal community impact, and the value of restorative justice. Since 2007, Alphabet Rockers have been visionary thought leaders and GRAMMY-winners, creating brave spaces to shape a more equitable world through hip hop. AR curates content with the community that centers youth voices. Through this project, AR will work with collaborators, conduct research, and interview at least 25 international artists. AR will also collaborate with many other organizations, both in the U.S. and internationally, that share similar values to AR and are interested in exploring ideas around colonialism and colorism and working towards challenging broken systems.

alphabetrockers.com

Red Clay Sound Haus (RCSH) is a multi-site immersive sound project focusing on the land, love, labor, and legacy of Black San Francisco composed by San Francisco native, Tossie Long. The commissioned project will include recordings of physical places within San Francisco that are threatened by gentrification. Tossie will take recordings and produce new sounds on top of them using Audium’s sound spatialization system. Tossie will create visual projections of the locations that will be seen in the lobby of the theater and perform a series of shows of the commissioned artwork.

audium.org

Road To A Hidden Home shares the experiences of Vietnamese refugees as they establish a new life in America. Displaced by the Vietnam War, they faced the challenge of assimilation while preserving their identity. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the war's end, the project explores the resilience found in discovering a hidden home. The composition integrates traditional Vietnamese instruments with Western instruments, spoken word, and refugee literature. Authentic refugee voices from interviews will be integrated into the music, revealing their emotions, struggles, and triumphs. Through this project, the stories of Vietnamese refugees will be told, honoring their journey and resilience.

Instrument pictured: T'rung

bloodmoonorchestra.org

Flyaway Productions and composer Xoa Asa are collaborating on a sound score for Flyaway Productions' site-specific dance, ODE TO JANE. Inspired by the Janes, a network of Chicago activists in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, ODE TO JANE connects resistance strategies of the 20th century to women in the SF Tenderloin navigating addiction crises, threats to women's bodies, racial reckoning, and the complex intersection of these realities. Xoa’s score will incorporate recorded interviews with women on the front lines of this struggle and elements of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, transformed to address 21st-century feminist resistance.

flyawayproductions.com

Pōpolohiwa Songs of Resilience & Joy is a song-creation project that will celebrate the untold stories of people of African descent who came to Hawaiʻi as a direct result of colonization and enslavement. Much of the history of African-descended people in Hawaiʻi from the time of King Kamehameha Paiea onward is unknown. This commission will shine a light on the Black experience in the context of the difficult histories of colonization and the missionary presence in the Pacific. The intended audience for this commission is the communities of the Bay Area, Hawaiʻi, and beyond, especially those who have a supportive and respectful relationship with indigenous people of the Pacific Islands and the African American community.

centerforinternationaldance.org

The Sugilanon project will be a Filipino-American epic poem patterned in the aesthetic style of pre-colonial Philippine epic poetry and featuring a suite of original spoken word and jazz music compositions informed by pre-colonial Philippine melodic and polyrhythmic motifs and instrumentation. The suite will tell the story of three generations of lead artist Caroline Cabading’s San Francisco family covering the years 1904-2005. The CD/vinyl/digital release will include a live performance of the Sugilanon suite.

manilatown.org

Oaklash will commission a staged concert by Drag artist and violist OBSIDIENNE OBSURD with original compositions by Paul Wiancko of the Kronos Quartet and accompaniment by the One Found Sound quartet. This new work will make use of a wide variety of experimental sonic techniques as well as visual and performance art components including costuming, video, lip-sync performance, technology, and set design by OBSIDIENNE OBSURD. This project will transform the classical concert into one with a queer sensibility and will raise Drag performance out of the realm of nightlife and onto a large-scale symphonic stage.

oaklash.com

Photo credit: Vita Hewitt/Broke Ass Stuart

Diana Gameros amplifies the stories of people who dream of better futures, the stories of people who migrate, stories of hardship but also stories of love and hope. Festejo reunites musician and composer Diana Gameros with Women’s Audio Mission to arrange, compose, record, and perform an album collection of heavily reimagined Mexican classics and new music. Following the success of her debut award-winning album, Arrullo (2017), Festejo is bolder, brassier, and features a much larger ensemble of musicians and global collaborators that is celebratory and festive.

womensaudiomission.org

dianagameros.com