• Arts
  • Creative Work Fund

Amara Tabor-Smith and Ellen Sebastian Chang are collaborating with Chapter 510 Ink & The Department of Make Believe to create a site-specific ritual-based performance project that addresses issues of displacement, well-being, and the continuing abuse and sex trafficking of black women and girls in Oakland. Set in various sites throughout Oakland, with episodes to be presented over a two-year period, the piece culminates with a durational performance in a house in Oakland. House/Full of Black Women will weave together dance, music, film, visual art, spiritual rituals, and the personal narratives of black women and girls.

In addition to Tabor-Smith and Sebastian Chang, the piece features a core group of 15 black women artists, including: Zakiya Harris, Tossie Long, Valerie Troutt, musician/composer Chris Evans, architect/performer Shelley Davis Roberts, and performer and sex trafficking activist Regina Evans; as well as youth from Chapter 510’s workshops. The organizational partner, Chapter 510 & The Department of Make Believe is a youth literacy and writing center that is serving as the hub for many of the community workshops, panels, and performance episodes of the work. The project will culminate in September 2018.