We close out the Forum with a celebratory dinner for all, Viva Vera! (register here), and a concert. Bridging Vera List Center past and future, Angel Bat Dawid, who first presented at the VLC in 2020 as part of Training for the Not-Yet: Protocols in the Making and is a collaborator of 2022–2024 VLC Fellow Anna Martine Whitehead on their fellowship project, returns to The New School with Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty and an in-progress preview of Whitehead’s FORCE! an opera in three acts with:

Anna Martine Whitehead, 2022-20224 VLC Fellow
Rahila Coats, performer
Jenn Po’Chop Freeman, performer
Zachary Nicol, performer
Nexus J, performer
Daniella Pruitt, performer
Tramaine Parker, performer
Teiana Davis, performer
Kai Black, performer

Angel Bat Dawid, co-composer, performer
Ayanna Woods, co-composer, co-director
Najee-Zaid Searcy, Production Director

Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty (named by Artist/Musician Lonnie Holley) are a revolving collective and network of Great Black Women Composers. Led by Clarinetist/Pianist/Vocalist Angel Bat Dawid and including Multi-Sensory Artist, Pianist & Vocalist Sophiyah E. (Detroit), Vocalist/Saxophonist Monique Golding, Trumpter/Vocalist Tramaine Parker, and Multi-instrumentalist/Vocalist, Eva Supreme.
Emerging from the Great Black music traditions of Chicago & Detroit, this group comes together with a myriad of musical backgrounds, textures and sounds relying heavily on spontaneous compositions and improvisation. This ensemble has performed for Elastic Arts 3rd Annual Benefit Concert , Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts Virtual Ecstatic JAZZCITY 2021: Women of Chicago JazzMusic & has opened for the Sun Ra Arkestra at Central Park Summer Stage 2021.

FORCE! an opera in three acts is a Black femme story of interior lives and shared dreams. In development since early 2020 and Anna Martine Whitehead’s 2022–2024 VLC Fellowship project, FORCE! is a world-building project that manifests as a dance instruction manual, a live performance, and a co-thinking project to re-imagine theater and dance performance, centering care, consent, queer divergence, and Black femme rest.

Visiting The New School:
Masks that cover the mouth and nose must be worn in concert and lecture venues where events are held.

Event guests and visitors must provide proof of up-to-date vaccination, including a booster when eligible. The New School has partnered with CLEAR to utilize Health Pass, an online tool that safely and simply verifies proof of COVID-19 vaccination and will be used to check in for campus access.

For detailed instructions on downloading and using CLEAR, visit the “Events and Gatherings” section on our Access to Campus page. Specific questions about using the CLEAR Health Pass to attend an on-campus event can be directed to the event organizer. To ensure expedited access, event guests should set up a CLEAR Health Pass account with proof of vaccination prior to the event.