Stand Up, Speak Out with Actress and Playwright Regina Taylor

Regina Taylor
Columbia College Chicago, in partnership with award-winning actress and playwright Regina Taylor, launched a community-based project series called Black Album Mixtape.

Calling all dancers, musicians, filmmakers, poets and more! It’s time to stand up and speak out this fall season at Columbia College Chicago.

Columbia College Chicago, in partnership with award-winning actress and playwright Regina Taylor, will host a community-based project series called Black Album Mixtape. This project stems from Taylor’s conversations about the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and the incendiary political climate in 2020 that still resonate today. The Black Album Mixtape has evolved into a multi-media art and discussion series with various colleges around the U.S. Columbia is pleased to announce its collaboration with actress Regina Taylor to produce a benefit concert, creative art competion, and final art showcase on April 5, 2024.

“This is an invitation for all people—students, faculty, and community members—to share what’s on their minds and in their hearts at this very pivotal moment in history,” said Taylor. “My hope is to inspire this wonderful community of creatives to express themselves through the arts and to confidently stand up and speak out about the heavy topics we all face today.”

 

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The Black Album Mixtape project is open to anyone at Columbia and the broader community who are looking for a digital platform to share their creative work, whether through spoken word, music, dance, writing, film, or any artistic medium of their choosing. The theme of Black Album Mixtape is “Stand Up, Speak Out” and is meant to facilitate a conversation and creative response through art. This is an inclusive event series that welcomes students and faculty from all programs and artistic disciplines. As part of the on-going creative workshop series, Taylor will guide participants as they create multimedia art throughout the fall and spring semesters.

The Black Album Mixtape kick-off event is a livestream next Monday, October 9 from 7 to 8 p.m., and will include a group discussion from members of the community and on-stage performances featuring students from music, dance, and theatre at Columbia’s Dance Center. The livestream event sets the stage for a campus-wide dialogue through artistic expression and conversation around building a more equitably future for all.

What Will I Do? Who Will I Be?

Taylor articulates the key themes and questions by asking, “Who are we at this moment in time? What are the key questions that we need to talk about?” According to Taylor, “we are neck deep” in challenges to the long-term viability of democracy in the U.S., facing existential questions about guns and violence, gender and identity, who has a platform to speak and whose voice is erased. “Stand Up, Speak Out” is meant to facilitate conversation and creative response to these questions and more.

How to Sumit Your Creative Work

All are welcome to submit creative projects! The submission window closes on Friday, March 29. 

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Jourdan Arnaud Thompson
Communications Manager
campuscomms@colum.edu

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