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DECEMBER 17, 2017>
David Pleasant, Drumfolk Master percussionist in San Diego
Master percussionist David Pleasant will present workshops, classes and presentations in Gullah-Geechee inspired culture and music at PLEASANT Institute located in Cat Sparks Art studios, @ Mercado del Barrio, 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy., San Diego CA 92113. Programs begin Friday evening 6p and continue into Sunday evening (December, 17-19, 2016). Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile for schedule details. All skill levels are welcomed.Facilitated by percussionist David Pleasant (who grew up on Sapelo Island, Mc Intosh County, GA) the programs ground participants in the rich DRUMFOLK traditions of Sea Island and coastal GA and SC. They are centuries old practices which rooted the power, spirit and joy of people under insurmountable pressures and struggles. Pleasant’s non-drum circle presentations will cover technical and skill related content, and as well provide unique cultural and historical information about the Gullah-Geechee corridor, America’s oldest African/African-American legacy.
FEBRUARY 24, 2017>
Re-IGNITION Nights with PLEASANT Institute
Re- IGNITION Nites begins at The Cat Café this 2017 Black History Month. Located at Cat Sparks Art studios, this ongoing monthly program features films, talks, readings, discussions, and presentations on relevant legacies of various USA freedom movements. Developed by the Pleasant Institute, the programs re-engage public education and study in generally undisclosed American history. Re- IGNITION Nites fills-in the casual gaps and redactions of current media and journalistic enterprise. Program @ Cat Café in Cat Sparks Art studios, @ Mercado del Barrio, 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy., San Diego CA 92113. Program: February 24 at 7pm-9pm. $5 suggested donation, pay as you wish for students & families. Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile. See: Pleasantinstitute.com, www.davidpleasant1.com . Catsparksart.com.
This February: King’s dream and King’s nightmare: Militarism, Consumerism, and Racism.
A discussion of 1967-68 Martin Luther King through books, film, and dialogue.
Re-ignition Nites programs, through community dialogue and outreach, are designed to stimulate:
• A stronger Fourth Estate
• More Robust qualitative journalism
• More investigative journalism
• More whistleblowing, ethical analysis, and reflection
• Less Corporate control and Market driven programming
• Attention to More historically grounded resources
Continuing Education and Literacy through Arts awareness
FEBRUARY 26, 2017>
Shout, Juba and Jive! With Drumfolk Master percussionist David Pleasant
David Pleasant, master percussionist/scholar, will present the Black History Month program Shout, Juba, and Jive. Pleasant’s work focuses on the Costal and Sea Islands GA and SC legacies, a blues, jazz, rock & roll and Civil Rights/Black Power era inspiration. This Gullah-Geechee music and movement event happens at the PLEASANT Institute located in Cat Sparks Art studios, @ Mercado del Barrio, 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy., San Diego CA 92113. Program: February 26 at 3pm-5pm. $20 suggested donation, pay as you wish for students & families. Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile. See: Pleasantinstitute.com, www.davidpleasant1.com . All skill levels welcomed!
Women’s History Month March program
MARCH 5, 2017>
DRUMFOLK: Drumfolk: The legacy of Bessie Jones with master percussionist David Pleasant
Master percussionist David Pleasant presents FREE afternoon participatory workshop on the work of Bessie Jones @ Malcom X Public Library, 5148 Market St, San Diego, CA 92114 Call: (619) 527-3405, 2:00-3:00pm, March 5, 2017. Children 5+ and adults welcome.
Jones was a leading member of the famed Georgia Sea Island Singers. That group featured the original form and content of early African traditions in America. She coined the term Drumfolk to show the close relationship between song, movement, and percussion in the living soul of Gullah-Geechee culture. As a pre-jazz, blues, and Gospel form, it combined all elements of life (work, play and praise) filled with recrimination, power, and struggle. The group’s music was a primary force in many of the Civil Rights and later Black Power legacy chants which grew from the March on Washington 1963.
Instruments will be provided.
Event developed and promoted by PLEASANT Institute in association with David Pleasant, www.davidpleasant1.com, PLEASANTINSTITUTE.com at Cat Sparks Art studios, Mercado del Barrio Bldg. 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy. San Diego CA 92113 www.CatSparksArt.com
Call: 619-435-1504
MARCH 10, 2017>
Women’s History Month March program
Re-IGNITION Nights with PLEASANT Institute
Re- IGNITION Nites at The Cat Café Located at Cat Sparks Art studios is an ongoing monthly program featuring films, talks, readings, discussions, and presentations on relevant legacies of various USA freedom movements. Developed by the Pleasant Institute, the programs re-engage public education and study in generally undisclosed American history. Re- IGNITION Nites fills-in the casual gaps and redactions of current media and journalistic enterprise. Program @ Cat Café in Cat Sparks Art studios, @ Mercado del Barrio, 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy., San Diego CA 92113. Program: February 24 at 7pm-9pm. $5 suggested donation, pay as you wish for students & families. Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile. See: Pleasantinstitute.com, www.davidpleasant1.com . Catsparksart.com.
This Women’s History Month March program: Spotlight on Silvia Benso: A study of ethics and creativity in considerations of “otherness"
MARCH 17, 2017
Women’s History Month program at Re-IGNITION Nites/Pleasant Institute:
The Jazz of Needle, Thread and Life: An Expanded Improvisatory Dialogue of Women’s Quilting Circles—The Freedom Quilting Bee (PART I)
Re- IGNITION ‘Nites/Pleasant Institute @ Cat Sparks Art studios is an ongoing monthly program featuring films, talks, readings, discussions, and presentations on relevant legacies of various USA freedom movements. Developed by the Pleasant Institute, the programs re-engage public education and study in generally undisclosed American history. Re-IGNITION ‘Nites fills-in the casual gaps and redactions of current media and journalistic enterprise. A community building Jam follows each event. 7-9p located in Cat Café, Cat Sparks Art studios, @ Mercado del Barrio, 1109 Cesar Chavez Pkwy., San Diego CA 92113. Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile. See: Pleasantinstitute.com, www.davidpleasant1.com . Catsparksart.com.
APRIL 21, 2017 (PART II)
Women’s History Month (extension) program at Re-IGNITION Nites/Pleasant Institute:
The Jazz of Needle, Thread and Life: An Expanded Improvisatory Dialogue of Women’s Quilting Circles—The Freedom Quilting Bee (PART II)
MAY 07, 2017>
Pre-opening Gala, Signs for Life: William Pleasant, Jr. Retrospective and Community Arts Event at the Malcolm X Library and Performing Arts Center
PLEASANT Institute, in association with CAT Sparks Art, Inc. will present, Signs for Life: an exhibition and community participation event. This Smithsonian Signature Series program is preceded by a free and open to the public Pre-exhibition Gala @ Malcom X Public Library, 5148 Market St, San Diego, CA 92114 Call: (619) 527-3405, 2:00-3:00pm, May 7, 2017. It features the sign art legacy of Southern artist William Pleasant, Jr. Pleasant’s work is a featured part of the Cultural Expressions exhibit in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Signs for Life will explore Civil Rights and Black Power through the related paintings and signage of William Pleasant, Jr. The afternoon events include cultural food, hands-on community art-making and signage, music making, and much more.
Call: 619.435.1504 studio 619.301.9130 mobile. See: Pleasantinstitute.com, www.davidpleasant1.com ; Catsparksart.com.
MAY 13, 2017>
Official Opening
Signs for Life: William Pleasant, Jr. Retrospective and Community Arts Event
Pleasant Institute, in association with CAT Sparks Art, Inc. presents, Signs for Life: an exhibition and community participation event, May 13, 2017, 7p. This Smithsonian Signature Series program features the sign art and fine art legacy of Southern artist William Pleasant, Jr. Pleasant’s work is a featured part of the Cultural Expressions exhibit in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Signs for Life will explore Civil Rights and Black Power through the related paintings and signage of William Pleasant, Jr. (b. 1928, d. 1997). While highlighting the appreciation of hands-on analog creativity and engaged participation, a type of direct contact and change, evening events include hands-on community art-making, music making, and readings from the David Sax book, Revenge of the Analog.
UNITY Day! 2017 June 10th
This particular program specifically appreciates Unity as a “Sign for Life: Affirmation, Togetherness and People’s Power!”, within the unlikely, unrecognized and unknown partnerships of Albert Einstein, Paul Robeson, Marion Anderson and W.E.B. Du Bois. It affirms a spirit of * Ubuntu, Masakhane, Harambee, Trabajemos Juntos, Mini Wiconi, and much more.
We would appreciate YOUR participation in this event on June 10, 2017 along with PLEASANT Institute in association with Cat Sparks Art!
* Respectively, Bantu, Nguni, Kiswahili, Spanish, Lakota terms for all of the energies and contexts of contact, dialogue and genuineness: “Let us be, work, dance together as we drink the same water!”—David Pleasant