American Museum Of Natural History Celebrates BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH GLOBAL WEEKENDS: STORIES WE TELL, Feb. 23, 11 AM-5 PM

Composers Concordance Presents
New Music by Valerie Coleman at 1:00 PM

A TRIBUTE TO STORYTELLERS WHO GIVE VOICE
 TO THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

World Premiere of Collaboration between

Run-DMC’s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis, and

Oscar-Nominated IMPACT Repertory Theatre

The American Museum of Natural History celebrates Black History Month with Global Weekends: Stories We Tell on Saturday, February 23, from 11 am to 5 pm. The festivities, which include family-friendly activities and live musical performances, are presented in association with Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group. The program will conclude with the world premiere of “Rites of Passage,” a special musical collaboration with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of multi-platinum hip-hop group Run-DMC, NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis, and Oscar-nominated youth ensemble IMPACT Repertory Theatre.

The Museum honors Black History Month with a tribute to storytellers and griots, who give rich voice to the African-American experience. The program will also feature master storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston; Princess Grace Award-Winning choreographer Camille A. Brown; and National Slam Champion Roger Bonair-Agard of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and the Composers Concordance.

The day’s activities, performers, and artists include:

·         11 am to 4 pm in the Grand Gallery: Jerry Craft, creator of Mama’s Boyz, an award- winning comic strip, and contributor to Essence and Ebony magazines, will show visitors how to use simple shapes to create comic book characters and stories. In celebration of opening their Manhattan Showcase School in Harlem this spring, Edible Schoolyard NYC will run seedsprouting workshops all day long and provide seed packets to visitors.

·         12 pm in Kaufmann Theater: Internationally renowned master storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston, performing on the traditional 21-stringed kora, will breathe life and spirit into traditional and contemporary stories from African and African-American oral and cultural traditions.

·         1 pm in Kaufmann Theater: Composers Concordance will explore the influence of African-American and Native American music on classical and contemporary music. The performance will include a commissioned narrative poem by two-time National Slam Champion and HBO Def Poetry Jam performer Roger Bonair-Agard; exciting new music from Valerie Coleman, founder of the Grammy-nominated quintet Imani Winds; and works by Dan Cooper, Otto Luening, Milica Paranosic, and Gene Pritsker.

·         2 pm in Kaufmann Theater: Camille A. Brown, 2012 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award winner, will perform a solo excerpt from her new work Mr. TOL E. RAncE, which celebrates the humor and perseverance of the black performer and examines stereotypical roles dominating current popular black culture. A Q&A and workshop to follow.

·         4 pm in the Cullman Hall of the Universe: The event concludes with the world premiere of “Rites of Passage,” a special hip-hop, jazz, and youth performance group collaboration by Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Delfeayo Marsalis, and IMPACT Repertory Theatre. A Q&A will follow, moderated by Museum Assistant Director of Cultural Education Monique Scott.

The Presenting Sponsor of the Museum’s cultural programming is MetLife Foundation.

Support for Global Weekends is made possible, in part, by the Ford Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., and the family of Frederick H. Leonhardt.

Stories We Tell is presented in association with Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group.

Stories We Tell tasting experience is presented by Whole Foods Market.

The Media Partner of Stories We Tell is WBGO Jazz 88.3FM.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH.ORG)

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. It is home to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, New York State’s official memorial to its 33rd governor and the nation’s 26th president, and a tribute to Roosevelt's enduring legacy of conservation. The Museum’s five active research divisions and three cross-disciplinary centers support 200 scientists, whose work draws on a world-class permanent collection of more than 32 million specimens and artifacts, including specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, as well as one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the only American museum authorized to grant the Ph.D. degree. In 2012, the Museum began offering a pilot Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialization in earth science. Approximately 5 million visitors from around the world came to the Museum last year, and its exhibitions and Space Shows can be seen in venues on five continents. The Museum’s website and collection of apps for mobile devices extend its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond its walls. Visit amnh.org for more information.

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