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Mission My Soul to Keep (MSTK) is a performance and discussion series that celebrates Brooklyn-based performing, visual and literary artists, enables audiences to learn about and witness the creative process, and underscores the connection between art and spirituality.
Click here to see "Finding the Sacred In the Secular" Featuring Maritri, Hazelle Goodman, Toni Seawright, and Monique Martin. Created in response to the tragic death of New York City Council Representative James A. Davis, My Soul to Keep was inspired by the work of feminist and cultural critic bell hooks, the documentary film "This Far By Faith," the exploration of art and spirituality done at Aaron Davis Hall by dance artist Bill T. Jones, and a childhood prayer taught to series producer Marcia Pendelton by her mother. With the dynamic Newsday journalist Katti Gray as its moderator and guide, My Soul to Keep began its first season in September 2004 at Brooklyn's South Oxford Space (138 S. Oxford Street). Dedicated to the work of black women artists, season one included emerging talents such as Chrystalynn Terrell and Renee K. Smith and established award-winning writers, actors, singers and producers including Kevin Powell, bell hooks, Hazelle Goodman, Oni Faida Lampley, Sherry Boone, Robin D. Stone, Maritri Garrett, Rhonda Ross and Ghail Rhodes Benjamin. Season two began in Spring 2005 with a change in venue and format. Instead of presenting the work of several artists during one evening, the series featured the body of work by a single artist produced in a true performance space. That space was Brooklyn's BRIC Studio, a program of Brooklyn Information and Culture (57 Rockwell Place at Fulton Street). The artists: internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Tulani Kinard, formerly of Sweet Honey In the Rock, and artist/activist/educator Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founding artistic director of the groundbreaking dance company, Urban Bush Women. Through MSTK, artists have been able to introduce new work to Brooklyn audiences -- work that has gone on to receive major productions and critical acclaim through other producing entities. Oni Faida Lampley and Sherry Boone have had full length productions of their plays mounted by Williamstown Theater Festival and the New York City International Fringe Festival respectively. Poised to begin its third season in early 2006 at BRIC Studio, MSTK, will continue to present artists who are connected to the Borough of Brooklyn. In addition to the performance/discussion series, MSTK, plans to present community conversations and workshops with renowned artists. By providing artistic, cultural, and educational programming of depth and scope, series producer Marcia Pendelton hopes that those attending My Soul to Keep "will not only celebrate our common humanity, but also (re) discover their ability to make art."
Katti Gray is a freelance journalist. She spent over a decade as a feature writer and lifestyle columnist at Newsday, where she also covered education, government and politics. Additionally, Gray is an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her freelance articles have appeared in publications including Essence, Savoy and Proud magazines and on www.spadyssey.com. She is on the New York Association of Black Journalists board of directors and a member of Total Praise Choir at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn. The Texas Christian University graduate spent a good chunk of her girlhood in the pews and choir stand of 34th Street Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., her hometown, and was a member of St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas before migrating to New York in 1989. She believes God appears with varying words, images and thoughts to an assortment of people the world over. She is thankful to be a falling-down-standing-up servant of God, a work-in-progress, with no power to decide which construct provides the best, most legitimate route to the Almighty. She lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. |
Katti Gray