Crosstown Arts

Hustle: Organizing Your Practice
2017-09-19 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | TN
It’s time for the big O! Organizing. Georgia Creson will share all the good tools for corralling your studio space, setting up and maintaining a usable inventory, and keeping track of contacts. It’s never too late to get your sh*t together.
Program at 6 pm | Complimentary food & drink

Hustle: professional development for artists is a free program organized by ArtsMemphis, UrbanArt Commission, and Crosstown Arts. The series will provide visual artists with information, resources, and opportunities to support them in the development of their professional careers. Workshop topics will range from positive studio practices to pricing work and navigating gallery representation. Questions? Contact Mary Jo Karimnia at maryjo@crosstownarts.org.

Indie Wednesday Film Series
2017-09-20 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
Weekly film screenings hosted by Indie Memphis. Films will screen at Crosstown Arts, Malco’s Studio on the Square, and Ridgeway Theatre on a rotating basis.
This week: One Big Home — What should determine the size of a house, the market or the community? Tensions build in Martha’s Vineyard as residents debate a maximum square footage for new homes. Directed by Thomas Bena.
Admission is pay-what-you-can.
Indie Wednesday Film Series is presented by Orion FCU.
Facebook invite

Bomb Shelter Radio
2017-09-22 15:00 - 2017-10-16 17:00 | Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104
Bomb Shelter Radio travels throughout the United States creating temporary radio stations broadcasting through FM airwaves and the internet.
Artist Josh Short will be broadcasting live inside the Crosstown Concourse Central Atrium from his mobile radio unit, which goes by the name Lucille Valentine, on Tuesdays-Fridays from Sept. 22-Oct. 16. Josh will be broadcasting on Tuesday, Oct. 3 from 8:30-10 pm and again on Wednesday, Oct. 4 from noon-1 pm (featuring representatives from the Stax Museum).
Josh creates sonic landscapes, infusing the airwaves with the sounds of old rock ‘n’ roll and soul music mixed with familiar voices drawn from monster movies and vintage news reels. His various alter-ego DJ personas — the Grandma Badger, Big Daddy Bodang, Captain T Bone Short, and the DJ Catfish Fry — guide the listeners through a nightly existential road map drawn from the “American Experience Mythos.”
Broadcasts are open to the public, so don’t be afraid to pay the Lucille Valentine a visit. Josh might even put you on the air!
Check out Bomb Shelter Radio:
http://mixlr.com/bomb-shelter-radio/

https://www.facebook.com/bombshelterradio/
http://joshuashort.com/B-S-Radio

Gonerfest 14 Mural Reception
2017-09-27 12:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Alley, 430 N. Cleveland
The Gonerfest 14 mural opening reception celebrates a custom Gonerfest mural by Peelander Yellow of the great, wild band Peelander-Z. Yellow is well-known for his chaotic, magical art, and he will be painting the space on the northwest corner of the Crosstown Arts building (the Moonpie Project mural space in the alley between 430 & 438 N. Cleveland).
Yellow will also be MC for Gonerfest’s Friday night shows at the Hi Tone.
Join us for appetizers and drinks, including official Gonerfest beer from Memphis Made Brewing Co. Meet the artist! Get your Gonerfest wristband! Hang out and have fun getting geared up for Gonerfest 14. All ages welcome!

Shoot & Splice: The Hollywood Food Chain
2017-10-03 13:30 - 16:30 | TN
Monthly filmmaking forum presented by Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts.
Join us as Josh Cotten, former Creative Executive for Mandalay Integrated Media and Vice President of Development for Mandalay Alliance Entertainment, hosts a seminar on what modern Hollywood looks like and how understanding its inner workings can benefit you as an independent filmmaker.
Josh will discuss how the current “Studio System” operates; the relationship between agencies, production companies, managers/publicists, and unions; how that relationship applies to aspiring filmmakers and actors, and much more.

Josh Cotten also worked as an assistant to the Vice Presidents of Production on the films Into the Blue (starring Paul Walker and Jessica Alba) and The Jacket (starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley).
Doors open at 6:30pm | discussion begins at 7pm | Free and open to the public Complimentary beverages will be available.

MicroCinema Club
2017-10-04 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
Monthly short film screening series, presented by Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts.
This month: Festival Award Winners 2016
An encore screening of the jury and audience short film award winners from the 2016 Indie Memphis Film Festival.
Doors at 6:30 pm | Screening at 7 pm. Admission is pay-what-you-can.

Memphis Women in Film Series
2017-10-09 13:30 - 15:30 | TN
Quarterly event series presented by Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts

October topic: The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blache — Film Screening & Panel Discussion

The Lost Garden looks at the life and times of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873-1968) — arguably, the first narrative filmmaker in the world. Creating her first motion picture in France in the 1890s, Alice Guy-Blaché went on to found her own successful production company in the US, producing and writing more than 700 films. Clips from her films, which were cleverly edited to illustrate events from her personal life, are intercut with revealing excerpts from TV interviews with Guy-Blaché, photographs, reminiscences by family members, and interviews with film historians. A fitting tribute to one of cinema’s most fearless pioneers, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Runtime: 53 minutes.
Networking at 6:30 p.m.; speaker presentation begins at 7:00 pm.
Complimentary food and drink.

Memphis Women in Film Social Links
Facebook: https://facebook.com/memphiswomeninfilm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MEMwomeninfilm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/memwomeninfilm/

Open Crit
2017-10-10 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
Facilitator: Richard Lou
Presenting Artist(s):

– Caolinn Golden
– Zach Kremer
– Steve Taylor
– Darla Linderode-Henson

Crosstown Arts’ Open Crit series is a monthly critique event where visual artists are invited to bring new and/or in-progress studio work for critical feedback and group discussion particular to each artist’s practice.
A dedicated facilitator with experience in a group critique setting will guide discussion for each critique event, which will include up to 4 artists’ work, with 15-25 minutes devoted to the work of each.
All visual artists and anyone interested in joining the discussion are welcome to participate regardless of their level of expertise, prior professional art experience or background/education in fine art. Participation is free and open to the public. Input during the critiques from everyone in attendance is welcomed and encouraged.
No formal preparation is necessary for participating artists, who will have an opportunity to introduce and contextualize their work on view at the beginning of each critique. Participating artists are only asked to be open to (and interested in) considering reactions to their work by the group, which will always be done in a supportive, constructive and casual environment, but could at the same time be challenging.
Special thanks to Art Center for donating a $25 gift certificate for each participating artist.

To participate, artists can sign up here:
Open Crit Request form

Contact Mary Jo at maryjo@crosstownarts.org with any questions!
Artists are asked to bring no more than 8 individual pieces (in any medium). Maximum run time for time-based work(s) is 10 minutes.
Participating artists are encouraged to invite friends, peers and colleagues to the open crits, both to see their work in progress and to give constructive feedback.

Crosstown Getdown: Salsa!
2017-10-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104
Join us for Crosstown Getdown, a new monthly dance series at Crosstown Concourse. Each month will feature a new dance theme with free lessons followed by music and dancing.
This month: Salsa Dancing!
Meet up in the Central Atrium by the staircase. Corey Strong with Baila! Memphis Dance Company will provide a FREE salsa lesson from 6-7 pm. And then DJ Antonio Quin of Bohemian Africana will spin tunes for a salsa dance party from 7-8 pm.

About Corey Strong:

Corey Strong boasts over 15 years of Latin dancing experience having danced and taught throughout the US and on four continents. He co-founded Baila! Memphis Productions with his brother Ramel in 2015 and is a guest instructor with Baila! Memphis Dance Company. He is known for his energetic and creative dancing style as well as his thorough, entertaining, and approachable teaching method.
He is also the Director of Special Projects at Shelby County Schools and the Chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party.
About Antonio Quin:Antonio Quin is the founder and director of Bohemian Africana, an interdisciplinary educational center dedicated to transformational work that combines creative and critical skills with educational curricula and multimedia.
Drawing upon social and historical research, folklore, and mythology, the center connects the arts and humanities to community life. By collaborative artistic efforts, the center seeks to raise cultural awareness through dramatic performance, music and literary criticism, the visual arts, dance, DJ’ing and other multimedia presentations.
Antonio Quinn is a multimedia and interdisciplinary artist. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Texas A & M and a M.A. in Liberal Studies from the University of Memphis.

Healy + Don Lifted
2017-10-12 15:30 - 18:00 | TN
On the eve of fall break, Memphis will play host to a colossal night of art and music. Don Lifted, fresh off the release of his album “Alero,” is teaming up with Healy for a groundbreaking, multi-sensory show at Crosstown Arts.
Following the summer release of his sophomore album “Subluxe,” this is Healy’s first formal Memphis showing and is set to be a fully loaded celebration of true Memphis culture. In addition, the two are partnering with photographers Lizzie Dean, Nate Packard, Reid Mitchell, and Ben Callicott to showcase work by Memphis youth. Their work will be on display for an hour prior to music.
While this show is FREE, they will be accepting donations for hurricane relief for Puerto Rico following the damage of Hurricane Maria.
Photo exhibition 8:30 pm | Music 9:30 pm

Idiopathic
2017-10-13 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
Exhibition with new works by Denise Wakeman and Lacy Mitcham.

Babysitters, Unicorns, and Other Freaks
2017-10-14 11:00 - 15:00 | TN
Paintings and animation by Mollie and Nathan Parten
Organized by the artist

The Moonpie Project presents Patrick Kane McGregor
2017-10-14 12:00 - 14:00 | Crosstown Alley, 430 N. Cleveland
Mural by Patrick Kane McGregor.
Location: Crosstown Arts alley between 430 & 438 N. Cleveland

Free food + drinks
The Moonpie Project is an ongoing, rotating mural series curated by Michael Roy in memory of muralist Brad Wells
Organized in collaboration with Crosstown Arts

Bio:
Patrick Kane McGregor hails from Denver, Colorado. He combines fine art and graffiti styles to create murals and portraits. Patrick’s first art job involved painting the boards for new music artists at Tower Records back in the 1990s, and around that same time, he got into graffiti — mostly painting freights. In 1994, he began learning the business of sign and billboard painting and switched from spray cans to brushes and rollers.

Impossible Language
2017-10-14 14:00 - 16:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Impossible Language, a Memphis-based literary reading series, presents three poets: Karyna McGlynn and Alice Bolin are new to the Memphis community, and Jonathan May is near and dear. Come hear them read and purchase books.

Alice Bolin’s first collection of essays, DEAD GIRLS, is forthcoming in 2018 from Morrow/HarperCollins. Her writing appears regularly in publications including The LA Review of Books, Racked, The Awl, and The New Yorker’s Page-Turner blog. She is Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Memphis.
Jonathan May grew up in Zimbabwe as the child of missionaries. He lives and teaches in Memphis, TN, where he served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. In addition, May teaches writing as therapy at a residential facility for women with eating disorders. Read more at https://memphisjon.wordpress.com/
Karyna McGlynn is the author of Hothouse (Sarabande Books 2017), I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl (Sarabande Books 2009), and several chapbooks. Her poems have recently appeared in The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Black Warrior Review, Ninth Letter, Georgia Review,Witness, and The Academy of American Poet’s Poem-A-Day. Karyna holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan, and earned her PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston where she served as Managing Editor for Gulf Coast. Her honors include the Verlaine Prize, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, the Hopwood Award, and the Diane Middlebrook Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Wisconsin. Karyna has taught creative writing at Oberlin College and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Literature & Languages at Christian Brothers University. Find her online atwww.karynamcglynn.com.
Facebook event

Hustle: Apply to ArtSpace & ArtsAccelerator
2017-10-17 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
The fall season comes with arts opportunities! Get all the details on how to apply for affordable housing for artists (right here in Memphis!). ArtsMemphis will share tips on applying for its $5,000 ArtsAccelerator Grant. There is no better time to be an artist in Memphis.
Program at 6 pm | Complimentary food & drink

Hustle: professional development for artists is a free program organized by ArtsMemphis, UrbanArt Commission, and Crosstown Arts. The series will provide visual artists with information, resources, and opportunities to support them in the development of their professional careers. Workshop topics will range from positive studio practices to pricing work and navigating gallery representation. Questions? Contact Mary Jo Karimnia at maryjo@crosstownarts.org.

Indie Wednesday Film Series
2017-10-18 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
Weekly film screenings hosted by Indie Memphis. Films will screen at Crosstown Arts, Malco’s Studio on the Square, and Ridgeway Theatre on a rotating basis.
This week: All the Rage: Saved by Sarno — Dr. John Sarno battled the pain epidemic by focusing on mind-body connection for over 50 years. Learn how he healed thousands of patients, including Larry David and Howard Stern. Directed by Michael Galinsky, David Beilinson, and Suki Hawley.
Admission is pay-what-you-can.

Better Homes & Gardens Opening Reception
2017-10-20 13:00 - 16:00 | TN
New work by Natalie Hoffmann, Alex Paulus, and Nick Peña
Organized by the artists

Better Homes & Gardens
2017-10-21 07:00 - 12:00 | TN

The Music of Sarah Vaughan: Sassy's Return
2017-10-21 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Tickets – $15 (purchase on Eventbrite)
Doors at 6:30 pm | performance at 7 pm
Jazz performance featuring Jamille Hunter (vocals), Keenan Shotwell (piano), Vince Oglesby (bass), Isaac Daniels (saxophone), and Chris Pat (drums) performing the works of jazz legend Sarah Vaughan.
The Crosstown Jazz Series, presented by Strictly Jazz Entertainment in collaboration with Crosstown Arts, is designed to salute classic jazz music as contemporary musicians perform the work of the legends.

About Jamille Hunter:
Jamille JAM Hunter and Mood Swing is a Memphis-based jazz band led by Jamille Hunter and Keenan Shotwell. Jam is a dynamic vocalist who is making her mark on the jazz scene with her mesmerizing vocals and contemporary approach to classic and modern jazz. The group was formed in 2010 and recently released their third music project on June 17, 2017 titled “Sassy’s Return — The SV Project.”
“Sassy’s Return” is already in rotation on several radio stations. The two previous releases contained original music written by Jamille JAM Hunter. Mood Swing has performed at the River Arts Fest, On Location: International Film and Music Festival, The Black Arts Fest, and the Memphis International Jazz Festival, in addition to numerous clubs and other venues.

About Strictly Jazz Entertainment:
Strictly Jazz Entertainment is committed to cultivating a growing community in the knowledge and appreciation of jazz. We facilitate dialogue and collaboration between the devoted supporters of jazz and the brand new constituents – those new to the genre – for the furthering of the jazz community. We provide a bridge between leading artists and a community that typically does not embrace jazz by promoting concerts in various venues to generate an atmosphere that is viable for the absorption of pure jazz.

Words Matter
2017-10-25 13:00 - 16:00 | TN
Words Matter is a collaboration of creative minds. There are several teams, each beginning the creative process with a literary contribution from a writer. From there, a combination of artists and performers extend that creation into their own media — visual artists, musicians, dancers, actors, photographers, fashion artists, and filmmakers find collective expression from the language.
This collaboration comes together to present art works at the annual Words Matter art show. The show features John W. Sparks, Jenny Odle Madden, Carl Moore, Brian Anderson, Anne Schorr, Madeline Faber, Maritza Davila, Davy Ray Bennett, Blueshift Ensemble, Brad Troxel, Mike Doughty, Jayme Stokes, Lurlynn Franklin, Stacey Wiedower, Camilla Curran, Juju Bushman, Hillary Butler, and Anna Cardona.
Benefiting The Mid-South Literacy Council.
Facebook event

Black Lodge's HALLOWEEN PANDEMONIUM FEST
2017-10-28 12:00 - 18:30 | TN
“It is happening again…it is happening again…”
Seventeen years ago, Black Lodge was born on Halloween, opening only a couple of days before it. The year that followed succeeded beyond their wildest hopes or expectations. One year later, they celebrated its success with a massive anniversary party on Halloween. And continued that tradition for 15 years to come. When the old Black Lodge closed to find a new home, they held our biggest Halloween party to date. They decided it was to be their last, until they were ready to return.
That time has finally come. As Lodge prepares its new home to open this New Year’s, they invite you to join them in celebrating their return at Halloween Pandemonium. Their RE-birthday, if you will.
Hosted by HEELS!
Performing live:
DEVIL TRAIN
JACK OBLIVIAN
CHINESE CONNECTION DUB EMBASSY
NOTS
THE 1970
SHAMEFINGER
KITTY DEARING
$10 a person – all money goes to bands and performers
Facebook invite

Creep Sweep Trunk or Treat
2017-10-31 11:00 - 13:00 | Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104
Bring your little ghouls and goblins to Crosstown Concourse this Halloween for trick-or-treating on the plaza. Volunteers will park their cars on the plaza and fill their trunks with candy. And don’t miss a special performance by the IRIS Orchestra Artist Fellows.
We are currently looking for volunteers to park their vehicles on the plaza. Participants must provide their own candy. Please confirm your participation in this neighborhood collaboration with Crosstown Memphis CDC and Crosstown Arts by emailing porsche@crosstownarts.org.

Halloween in Heaven
2017-10-31 15:00 - 18:00 | TN
Live music by Rupert Angeleyes & Joey Joey Michaels , Paul Cherry, Sweaters Together.
$5 cover. Free beer.
Doors at 8 pm | show at 9 pm

Voices Up! On Race & Violence
2017-11-02 13:00 - 15:00 | Theater Stair, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., 2nd floor Central Atrium, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
A spoken word event by youth, for everyone
Hosted by story booth/Crosstown Arts
Emcees LaStacia Cloyd and John Inman
Twenty spots are available for performers! To sign up, email jazmin@crosstownarts.org with the name of the performer(s), age(s), school, and the title of your spoken word.
The first 20 individuals/groups to email jazmin@crosstownarts.org will be listed in the line-up. A waiting list will be kept in case performers cancel.
Guidelines

Subject matter must pertain to race and/or violence
Participants must be between the ages of 13 and 18
Language must be appropriate for families (no profanity)
Each performance cannot last longer than 4 minutes
Individual and group signups are welcome
This event is not a competitive slam. Think “showcase.”

Crosstown Getdown: Line Dancing!
2017-11-09 12:00 - 14:00 | Central Atrium, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for Crosstown Getdown, a monthly dance series at Crosstown Concourse. Each month will feature a different dance theme with free lessons followed by music and dancing.
This month: Line Dancing!
Meet up in the Central Atrium by the main staircase. Ms. Jessie Jones will provide free instruction in line dancing from 6 to 6:30 pm, followed by a dance party with DJ Swagg from 98.9 The Vibe until 8 pm. Ms. Jones , a retired Shelby County Schools teacher, teaches line dancing at Raleigh and Bickford Community Centers.

Austin Blue
2017-11-09 12:00 - 15:00 | TN
EP Release and art show.
Catering by Club Windward.
Organized by the artist.

The Music of Phineas Newborn and Calvin Newborn: Memphis Legends
2017-11-10 12:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Tickets – $15 (purchase on Eventbrite)
Doors at 6:30 pm | performance at 7 pm
Jazz performance celebrating the music of Phineas and Calvin Newborn, featuring Gerard Harris (guitar), Alvie Givhan (piano), Sylvester Sample (acoustic bass), and Renardo Ward (drums).
The Crosstown Jazz Series, presented by Strictly Jazz Entertainment in collaboration with Crosstown Arts, is designed to salute classic jazz music as contemporary musicians perform the work of the legends.

About Phineas Newborn:
Phineas Newborn’s life story is as dizzying as his unique style of piano playing. He was born in Whiteville, Tennessee, 60 miles east of Memphis, on December 14, 1931, but he was raised from infancy in Memphis among a musical family that included his equally talented brother, jazz guitarist Calvin Newborn. By his early teenage years at Booker T. Washington High School, he was not only adept at the piano, but several reed and brass instruments as well.
From the mid-1940s through the early 1950s, Newborn performed with his father, Calvin, Tuff Green, Ben Branch, and Willie Mitchell at the famed Plantation Inn in West Memphis, Arkansas, where dozens of musicians got their start. During that stint as the club’s house band, the three Newborns also played on B.B. King’s first album, recorded in 1949, and followed that as session players at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records. Shortly afterwards, Phineas enrolled as a music major at the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University in Nashville. While there, he worked tirelessly on his classical repertoire and technique, developing a particular affinity for Franz Liszt, whose double and triple octave approach to linear melodies became characteristic of Newborn’s signature improvisations.
The 1950s proved to be the most productive and acclaimed years of Newborn’s life and career. He moved back to Memphis and continued studying at LeMoyne-Owen College, spent time performing with Lionel Hampton’s band, and then, at the urging of Count Basie, moved to the East Coast to be represented by the venerable Willard Alexander agency. His style was bold and percussive while also being spare and feathery. He could wow an audience playing at length with just his left hand; he could rip through speedy renditions like a bebop bomb exploding with both hands.
He recorded albums that drew both critical praise and stirring controversy. He was thought by many to be the only other jazz pianist in the world in the same virtuoso league as icons Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. In 1957 he recorded “My Lady Sleeps” with a symphony orchestra for RCA Victor. It was reported in the liner notes that the orchestra cheered his playing at the end of each take. The following year he recorded with Charles Mingus and their version of “Nostalgia in Times Square” was featured in the early John Cassavetes film Shadows. That same year he toured Europe with a group of musicians in a production titled “Jazz From Carnegie Hall,” and such was his popularity that he also performed solo concerts in Stockholm and Rome.

About Calvin Newborn:
Calvin Newborn is the brother of pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. (1931–89), with whom he recorded between 1953 and 1958. They also formed an R&B band, with their father Phineas Newborn Sr. on drums and Tuff Green on bass.
The group was the house band at the Plantation Inn Club in West Memphis, Arkansas, from 1947 until 1951. The group recorded as B. B. King’s band on his first recordings in 1949, and also the Sun Records sessions in 1950.
Newborn gave guitars lessons to Howlin’ Wolf and was friends with Elvis Presley, who frequented his gig at the Plantation Inn Club two nights a week. Presley also used to eat at the Newborns’ house and browse their music store for gospel records.
The group left West Memphis in 1951 to tour with Jackie Brenston as the “Delta Cats” in support of the record “Rocket 88”. It was considered by many to be the first rock and roll record ever recorded, and was the first Billboard number one record for Chess Records.[3]
Following this, he played with Earl Hines starting in 1959. In the early 1960s, he toured with Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Forrest, Wild Bill Davis, Al Grey, and Freddie Roach, along with fellow Memphis jazz luminaries including Booker Little, George Coleman. Frank Strozier, and Louis Smith. Newborn also worked with Ray Charles, Count Basie, Hank Crawford, David “Fathead” Newman. Since the 1970s Newborn has remained mostly in Memphis, Tennessee, where he played regularly in local clubs well into the 1990s. His 1980 album Centerpiece hit No. 35 on the U.S. Billboard jazz albums chart, but much of his earlier material was not reissued on CD until 2005. He currently lives in Jacksonville, FL and continues to perform throughout Northeast Florida.

About Strictly Jazz Entertainment:
Strictly Jazz Entertainment is committed to cultivating a growing community in the knowledge and appreciation of jazz. We facilitate dialogue and collaboration between the devoted supporters of jazz and the brand new constituents – those new to the genre – for the furthering of the jazz community. We provide a bridge between leading artists and a community that typically does not embrace jazz by promoting concerts in various venues to generate an atmosphere that is viable for the absorption of pure jazz.

Memphis Flyer Crafts & Drafts
2017-11-11 04:00 - 10:00 | Crosstown Concourse Plaza, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The third annual Memphis Flyer Crafts & Drafts festival will be held on the Crosstown Concourse plaza this year. This unique, free shopping opportunity showcases a curated group of 60+ local artists, crafters, and makers with a variety of food trucks, kids activities, and craft beers on tap.
The Crafts & Drafts Beer Garden will be serving Miller Lite, Meddlesome Brewing Company, Terrapin Beer Co., Southern Prohibition, and Green Flash Brewing Co. A portion of beer sales will benefit Crosstown Arts.
Knock out your holiday shopping in one fell swoop with 60+ local vendors, and enjoy a beautiful day at Crosstown with draft beer, food trucks, kids activities, and DJ Jordan Rogers spinning tunes. Special thanks to our sponsor FocalPoint at Crosstown Concourse, the future of eyecare in Memphis!

Art/Race/Violence: A Collaborative Response
2017-11-11 - 2018-01-11 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Organized by Dr. Earnestine Jenkins and Richard A. Lou (from the University of Memphis) in collaboration with Crosstown Arts
Gallery Hours:
Monday-Friday 10 am-8 pm
Saturday 10 am-6 pm
Sunday noon-6 pm
Click here to read Artists’ Statements

Featuring work by artist teams:
Jamin Carter and Mary Jo Karimnia (with Special Design Work for American Heritage Lotto by Christian Westphal)
Andrea Morales and Terry Lynn
Lisa Williamson and Lurlynn Franklin
Yancy Villa-Calvo and Lawrence Matthews
Jamond Bullock and Cat Pena (video work by local artist Perry Kirkland and survivor profiles from #SurvivedAndPunished)
Karina Alvarez and Carl Moore
Jin Powell and Jesse Butcher
Agustin Diaz, Brittney Bullock and Brenda Joysmith
Opening reception will feature a curator talk at 3 pm followed by spoken word performances from Janay Kelly, Nadifah Rasheed, Tray Butler, Roberto Alfaro, and Jessica Taylor.

More events:
Art/Race/Violence: Artist+Community Conversation
Wednesday, Nov 29, 12-1 pm
Galleries
Conversation with artist teams Jamin Carter and Mary Jo Karimnia and Terry Lynn and Andrea Morales, led by Ladrica Menson-Furr and Richard Lou.
Art/Race/Violence: Artist+Community Conversation
Thursday, Dec 7, 12-1 pm
Galleries
Conversation with artist teams Yancy Villa-Calvo and Lawrence Matthews, Cat Pena and Jamond Bullock, led by Tami Sawyer.
Art/Race/Violence: Panel Discussion
Thursday, January 11, 6-8 pm
Theater Stair
Speakers as of November 7: Shahidah Jones, Antonio De Velasco, Tom Carlson

“There has never been a free people, a free country, a real democracy on the face of this Earth. In a city of some 300,000 slaves and 90,000 so called free men, Plato sat down and praised freedom in exquisitely elegant phrases.” -Lerone Bennett Jr.
“We are equidistant from utopia and Armageddon.” -Guillermo Gomez-Pena
Art/Race/Violence: A Collaborative Response is a multidisciplinary project organized by visual culture historian Dr. Earnestine Jenkins and artist Richard Lou in collaboration with Crosstown Arts. Through this project, local artists collectively explore intersections of race and systemic violence through the lens of cultural expression. Conceived to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ell Persons’ very public murder by members of the Memphis community through the act of lynching, the project was further inspired by recent events to memorialize lynching sites in the broader Memphis community in an effort to bring about greater understanding of racial oppression and violence in the South.
The organizers aim for more challenging, candid and unvarnished representations of our city’s history through a range of educational programming, including panel discussions which began last spring, a collaborative exhibition (with performances and talks by the artists) opening this November, community conversations, and film screenings. On March 16th of 2017, the University of Memphis Art History and African-American Studies programs jointly hosted “Ida B. Wells: A Blues Woman.” Panelists Earnestine Jenkins, George Lipsitz, and Celeste Bernier looked at Ida B. Wells and the beginnings of resistance to lynching within the context of the late 19th century, linking it to modern social movements. Panelists addressed how the arts are linked to the culture of resistance, as Ida B. Wells was the first strategist to use visual images, specifically lynching photographs, as proof of the racial violence so endemic to the South.
Much as Wells did a century ago, the artists and cultural workers involved in this exhibition were invited to reflect upon the nature of Memphis’ past and present and use their creative work as a social instrument for change. One of the distinctive components of this collaborative process began with the curators selecting artist teams to conceive of and co-create new work to share with the public. The participants attended a series of workshops and panel discussions and were given access to a wide array of resources, articles, and media for their research. The artist teams — Jamin Carter and Mary Jo Karimnia; Andrea Morales and Terry Lynn; Lisa Williamson and Lurlynn Franklin; Yancy Villa and Lawrence Matthews; Jamond Bullock and Cat Pena; Karina Alvarez and Carl Moore; Jin Powell and Jesse Butcher; and Agustin Diaz, Brittney Bullock and Brenda Joysmith — have created 8 new installations in a range of media, including video, sound, sculpture, and performance, which will be on view in Crosstown Arts’ new galleries at Crosstown Concourse.
In Martha Stoudt’s book, The Sociopath Next Door, she states that it is natural for individuals to question their moral compass when surrounded by unethical attitudes and behaviors; the notion of “if you can’t beat them, join them” is an understandable inclination. However, Stoudt counters that when faced with that lack of consciousness, we do not need less consciousness; we need more. As artists, the search to make work that matters carries a greater significance since the last U.S. Presidential election cycle. The spectre of a divided nation (an inequality that marginalized and subjugated communities living in the U.S. are intimately familiar with and have endured for centuries) has re-inserted itself into the current national public discourse. The idea that there are large segments of the U.S. population, living side by side, in parallel universes — the haves and the have-nots, the subjected and the privileged — has become the rule, not the exception, in how we now imagine ourselves as citizens of the United States. Participating artists in this project are challenged to create work that speaks to and crosses these divides.
Art/Race/Violence: A Collaborative Response will utilize the arts across diverse disciplines, media, and varied forms of cultural expression. The exhibition will challenge artists to use diverse media to reclaim cultural expression of humankind’s (or “this country’s”) history of racially motivated violence, as well to examine this history from multiple viewpoints. The project is designed to call on artists to reflect upon the nature of our past and present day in Memphis and to think of their creative work as a social instrument, or as Estella Conwill Majozo stated, “To search for the good and make it matter.”

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Compiled by Dr. Earnestine Jenkins
Lynching, the collective, systematic terrorism directed mostly toward African Americans by white mobs, arose following Reconstruction and persisted well into the 20th century. Most lynchings in Tennessee occurred in the western and middle parts of the state. Lynchings are documented in 70 Tennessee counties with Shelby County ranking first. According to Margaret Vandiver in Lethal Punishment: Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South, there were at least 15 lynchings in Shelby County. Ninety-nine percent of lynchers in the U.S. escaped arrest and punishment. Memphis is particularly significant in reference to two high-profile executions that attracted national attention and propelled individuals and organizations to act.
People’s Grocery Lynching & Ida B. Wells
In March of 1892, black business owner Thomas Moss and his employees, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart, were arrested for defending themselves against an attack on their store, People’s Grocery, in an area just outside Memphis. The three were defending themselves from police officers and the white owner of a neighboring grocery. In the fray, several deputies were wounded but survived.
Moss, McDowell, and Stewart were booked into the downtown jail, but they were later pulled from the jail by a white mob. The three were dragged to a deserted rail yard in North Memphis and shot to death.
The murder of the young men enraged journalist Ida B. Wells, and this incident became a turning point in her life. She began traveling the south to investigate reports of white violence against blacks. She found middle-class black people were just as subject to murder by whites as poor blacks were. Wells discovered that black men were often being lynched not for rape but as punishment for having sexual relations with consenting white women. Wells asserted that the real reason for lynching was in retribution to black economic progress. She first published her findings in an 1892 pamphlet entitled “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.”
“Nobody in this section of the community believes that old threadbare lie that Negro men rape white women. If Southern men are not careful, a conclusion might be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women,” wrote Wells.
In retaliation, Wells’ life was threatened in Memphis newspaper articles, the writers of which assumed she was a man. The Memphis Scimitar issued this warning: “It will be the duty of those whom he has attacked to tie the wretch to a stake, brand him in the forehead with a hot iron, and perform upon him a surgical operation with a pair of shears.”
White males destroyed Wells’ newspaper, which was housed in an office on historic Beale Street. Wells was out of town at the time, and she chose not to return. She went on to launch a national crusade against lynching in the U.S. and abroad.
The Ell Persons Lynching & the NAACP in Memphis
Ell Persons, accused of raping and murdering a 16-year-old white girl named Antoinette Rappel, was burned alive near the Macon Road Bridge at the Wolf River on May 22nd, 1917. Drawn by headlines in The Commercial Appeal, several thousand men, women, and children showed up to watch as Persons was decapitated, dismembered, and had his heart cut out. Rappel’s mother declared, “Let the Negro suffer as my little girl suffered, only 10 times worse.” The mob enjoyed the spectacle as they chewed gum, ate sandwiches, and enjoyed soft drinks.
Person’s head was later thrown into a crowd of African Americans on Beale Street. No one was ever charged with the crime. Persons’ death was one of the most vicious lynchings in American history. After the event, horrified African Americans in Memphis gathered to express their pain. When NAACP Field Secretary James Weldon Johnson arrived in Memphis to investigate the lynching, Robert R. Church, Jr. brought him to this site where an American flag marked the charred and blackened earth. Johnson found no evidence that Persons killed Rappel. He wrote that “the truth flashed over me that in large measure the race question involves the saving of black America’s body and white America’s soul.”
Johnson found a black community ready to take a stand in combating daily racism and violence in the South. With the help of Robert Church, Jr. and businessman Bert Roddy, the Memphis branch of the NAACP was organized with 53 members. It was the first NAACP branch in Tennessee and only the fourth branch in the South. The next year, when Johnson made his tour of NAACP branches, he returned to speak on April 14th to an audience of about 2,500 people crowded into Church Park and Auditorium. The meeting launched a vigorous campaign, growing the membership to 924.
Robert Church Jr. publicly denounced lynching and endorsed the work of the NAACP when it was dangerous to do so. At the first Lincoln Republican League meeting at Church Auditorium following the Ell Persons atrocity, Church spoke to over 3,000 people, proclaiming “I would be untrue to you as your elected leader if I should remain silent against shame and crime of lawlessness of any character, and I could not if I would hold my peace against the lynching or burning of a human being …”
By 1919, the Memphis NAACP was the largest branch in the South. Robert Church, Jr. was the first Southerner elected to the NAACP’s National Board of Directors, helping to launch 68 branches in 14 states. Together, the lynching of Ell Persons and the establishment of the Memphis NAACP in 1917 changed the political landscape of the South.

Lavender’s Landscape
2017-11-11 - 2018-01-14 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Anthony Lee

Latex and Urethane on Panel, Triptych, 2017

Composing a triptych, these works by artist Anthony Lee are a continuous, long-scale, lavender tonal gradient, equal in light value but demonstrating the effect of desaturation. Viewed from left to right, it begins as intense lavender, and then through gradation it finishes into its grey equivalent. This adds a fourth-dimensional sense of movement or transfer within the works, allowing the viewer’s eyes to calmly experience the space in the works as they seemlessly shift color.

A high-gloss reflective stripe appears at bottom 3/8 of triptych, to alter the color value. It is also the artist’s attempt to simulate the only straight line found in nature — the horizon. The purest horizons are a visual illusion created by the perceived meeting of only the sky and shimmering water.

About the Artist:
Lee’s initial body of works were mixed-media panels with heavy color saturation and symbolic narrative content. His work has been featured at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Powerhouse, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis College of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, National Civil Rights Museum, Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, and several galleries throughout the U.S. He has also created many public art projects and large-scale mural works, of which one was nationally recognized and awarded in 2009. His au courant mode of painting is geometric abstraction with neo-minimalist sensibilities that echo Ellsworth Kelly and Peter Halley.
