TRILLIUM ARTS PRESENTS MELVIN AC HOWELL’S

MOVE;MEANT A.R.T. EXPO - JUNETEENTH

MARS HILL, NC – Trillium Arts presents the premiere of Asheville-based choreographer and director Melvin AC Howell’s multidisciplinary performance, MOVE;MEANT A.R.T. EXPO – JUNETEENTH on June 16 & 17, 2023 at 7:30pm at Marshall High Studios, 115 Blannahassett Island Road, Marshall, NC.

Melvin AC Howell’s MOVE;MEANT A.R.T EXPOs, are immersive dance theatre explorations of issues related to Black history and contemporary Black culture. In addition to a live performance integrating dance, music and theatrical elements, EXPOs include a visual arts installation that creates a setting for the performance and organically submerges the audience in the environment.

JUNETEENTH, the newest in Howell’s MOVE;MEANT A.R.T EXPO series, is inspired by the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that enslaved people of Texas, then the most remote region of the Confederacy, finally learned slavery had been abolished and that they were free.

The performance is a structured series of dance theater vignettes while the audience is lead through the venue’s expansive, nontheatrical space. Musical selections include popular recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Robert Glasper, Lionel Louke and TroyBoi. A collection of visual art works by Asheville artist Jenny Pickens, creates the environment for JUNETEENTH’s immersive experience.

In Howell’s words, “JUNETEENTH is a celebration of the enormous impact of Black dance and music on American culture. It is created to spread positive messages regarding race, class and Black history across Western North Carolina, thereby knitting our communities closer together.”

JUNETEETH has been created during a series of three residencies at Trillium Arts, beginning in May 2021, with Howell and co-director/choreographer Amanda Hoyte. Heather Hartley, Co-Founder of Trillium Arts, states, “Trillium Arts is committed to providing a diverse array of local, national and international artists with time and space to create their next great work. This multiyear partnership with Melvin exemplifies Trillium’s core values and our dedication to enhancing the performing arts in Western NC. We are delighted to have the opportunity to present Melvin’s celebratory work to audiences in our region.”

A free Meet-the-Artist Event with Howell, presented in cooperation with the Madison County Arts Council, will take place on Friday, May 19, 2023 at 6:00pm at The Arts Center, 90 South Main Street, Marshall, NC. RSVP for the Meet-the-Artist Event at info@trilliumartsnc.org.

Marshall High Studios and the Madison County Arts Council’s Art Center are accessible to people with disabilities.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Melvin AC Howell (director/choreographer/performer), Director of Heart & Soul Dance Company, is an internationally cultured choreographer and creative director who has transformed and molded lives, while evolving the art of dance, for more than 13 years. His approach is his purpose: “Spread positivity, encouragement, and guidance through dance.” Melvin is an accomplished choreographer, performer and teacher specializing in hip hop, contemporary, jazz, funk, and freestyle dance styles. Recent performance credits include his self-produced BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021), Stewart/Owen Dance’s Still Life at Asheville’s Wortham Center for the Performing Arts (2020) and as a featured artist at the Asheville Area Arts Council’s 2021 Creative Sector Summit. Other credits include: teaching and performing in Guatemala and across Mexico (2021-2023); being a lead dancer in a Sylvan Esso music video directed by Moses Sumney (2021); teaching and lecturing at Mars Hill University and UPENN (2021-2023): and performing across the world with Royal Caribbean (2023).

Jenny Pickens (visual artist), is an Asheville, NC area native. She is a self-taught artist who has been making art all her life. Jenny works in mediums including acrylics, fiber arts, pencil, pen & ink, pastels, oils, as well as hand built pottery and repurposed jewelry. Her murals cover walls and spaces at Asheville locations such as the Wortham Center for Performing Arts, LEAF Global Arts Center, Stephens-Lee Center, Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium, The Flying Bike, the Peace Garden and a Black Lives Matter mural on the pavement around the Vance Monument. Jenny creates and designs custom artwork pieces for private buyers as well as the Noir Collective AVL, also known as the Block. She curates visual art exhibitions and provides mentorship to emerging artists. Jenny works with children in Asheville City Schools’ TAPAS program and after-school programs such as Youth Transformed for Life and In Real Life. To help young artists curate their talent and love for creating, Jenny took on the role as Project Facilitator in July 2021 at the historic Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School in Mars Hill, NC, becoming the first person to teach in that space since 1965.

Amanda Hoyte (co-director/choreographer/performer) has performed with professional dance companies in cities across American. She continues her performance career regionally with recent appearances in music videos for The Get Right Band, Alfred Nomad and Eleanor Underhill. Her stage work includes Melvin AC Howell’s BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021) and Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s The Wedding Singer (2022). Amanda is the Dance Program Director at Mars Hill University where she is working to build a holistic dance program that creates informed and experienced practitioners/performers. Her efforts have led to several scholarly and creative pursuits examining the relationship between dance, music and American Culture. Amanda is a proud graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Psychology, and the University of South Florida with a M.S. in Medical Health Sciences.

Dr. David Gilbert (research advisor), Associate Professor of History at Mars Hill University, is a scholar, teacher and writer whose work centers on African American history and popular culture. His first book, The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace, explores African-American musicians and stage performers in New York City in the first two decades of the Twentieth Century and shows how Black entertainers made Broadway Avenue and Tin Pan Alley synonymous with American national culture. The book became the basis for a long-form liner notes essay to the CD companion of the book (Archeophone Records), which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018. During the 2023-24 school year, Dr. Gilbert will be conducting an ethnographic study of jazz musicians in major European cultural centers.

ABOUT TRILLIUM ARTS

Trillium Arts is a residency center in the Mars Hill, NC where regional, national and international artists working in various disciplines find time and space to create their best new work. It is a place where creativity flourishes at the confluence of art, community and ecology. Since launching its residency programs in 2020, more than 80 dancers, writers, visual artists and others have been in residence for one or two weeks.

TICKETS:

Tickets go on sale May 1, 2023 at TrilliumArtsNC.org/events.

$15 - advance sales; $20 - at the door; $10 - elders, students, children 16 years and younger; $7 - groups of six or more. Capacity is limited.

LEAD FUNDERS:

Trillium Arts’ commission and presentation of Melvin AC Howell’s MOVE;MEANT A.R.T. EXPO – JUNETEENTH is funded, in part, by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by: a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council; and the Madison County Arts Council.