Sara Serpa is a recipient of the NYC Women’s Fund 2020.

The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre is a groundbreaking initiative by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) to address the underrepresentation of female and female-identifying artists in film, television, and theatre and now music.

On March 12, 2020, 94 women-led or focused projects were selected to receive funds totaling $2 million. This is the second round of a three-year, $5.5 million program. In all, 1357 applications were submitted for consideration in the second round.

MOME awarded grants to projects in the following categories:

• 20 Popular Music – each received up to $20,000
• 15 Classical/Jazz/Experimental Music – each received up to $20,000
• 16 Theatre Productions – each received up to $50,000
• 8 Documentary Features – each received up to $50,000
• 4 Fiction Features – each received up to $50,000
• 9 Fiction Short – each received up to $25,000
• 8 Documentary Shorts – each received up to $25,000
• 7 Fiction Webisode/Webseries – each received up to $20,000
• 7 Documentary Webisodes/Webseries – each received up to $20,000

In addition to being made by, for, or about all who identify as women, projects are eligible if they feature a strong female perspective; and/or include a female director; and/or include a meaningful female producer credit; and/or include a meaningful female writing credit; and/or include a female protagonist(s).

Read more here.

Sara Serpa’s upcoming release album and film Recognition will be screened during the upcoming Culture in a Changing America Symposium on Saturday, February 15th, from 4:30-6:00pm at the Park Avenue Armory.

The Symposium also features photographer scholar Deborah Willis, actor-activists Kathleen Turner and Tantoo Cardinal, spoken word performer Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja”, visual artist Renee Cox and other noted artists, thinkers and cultural leaders who will gather for a day of inspiring talks and thought-provoking performances. 

The Symposium launches 100 Years | 100 Women, an initiative of Park Avenue Armory, lead partner National Black Theatre and nine other New York City cultural institutions, that invites us all to explore the complex legacy of the 19th Amendment. 

At 4:00pm, the partner institutions – which also include The Apollo Theater, The Juilliard School, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Company, The Laundromat Project, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of the Moving Image, National Sawdust, New York University, and Urban Bush Women – will announce the names of the lead artists who are being commissioned to respond to this significant anniversary. The commissioned work will be shared in a large showcase celebration held at the Armory on May 16, 2020.

For more info click here.

Vocalists are innovating wildly

You can’t put a container around the work that creative vocalists are doing under the loose banner of jazz today. Though a soft barrier has always existed between improvising instrumentalists and vocalists, Winter Jazzfest has served for years as a reminder that some of the boldest new work has to do with singing, storytelling and manipulations of the human voice.

(…) Next door, at the Zurcher Gallery, the Portuguese singer Sara Serpa sang her signature — wordless vocals, perfectly pitched — over a gossamer synth played by Dov Manski; it all blended almost too well with the pastel abstraction of a huge painting that hung behind her. (The gallery was a new addition to the festival this year, and a good one; its mix of coziness and visual life was a welcome change from the bustle of most other spots.)

By Giovanni Russonnello. Read full article here.

Sara Serpa trio featuring Ingrid Laubrock and Demian Cabaud is back to Europe for a couple of concerts before the end of the year, with the generous support of Arte Institute.

• December 12th – Masterclass for vocalists at MU74 – 10h -16h

MU74 is located at:

Via Enrico Noe, 2 • 20133 – Milano
Mobile – +39 344 0570285
Office – +39 02 47707947

( to sign up for masterclass, please email hello@mu74label.com)

• December 12th – Concert with trio at MU74 – 20h30

• December 14th – Concert with trio at AMR – Genève – 21h30

• December 15th – Masterclass with trio at AMR – Genève – 11h- 17h

Sara Serpa was featured in Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negócios, in a long interview with journalist Lúcia Crespo for the Weekend magazine. To read more click here.

This month I am presenting the piece I created in collaboration with writer Emmanuel Iduma, at Princeton University and at my studio, Company I, Park Avenue Armory, New York. Both are free – so why not stop by? Click here to watch our invitation. Scroll down to know more about the DETAILS.

Intimate Strangers, which premiered in 2018 as a John Zorn Commission at National Sawdust, is an interdisciplinary musical performance that portrays writer Emmanuel Iduma’s travels in several African countries.

Taking Nigeria as a point of departure, it describes several encounters the writer has along his journey from Lagos to Sarajevo along the coast. The journey takes unexpected turns, resulting in reflections on the sea, the desert as well as natural and artificial borders he is faced with. There is beauty in these encounters, even when they describe love and loss, grief and longing, displacement and war, privilege or apathy.

While Emmanuel represents himself, Sara Serpa along with the voices of Sofía Rei and Aubrey Johnson are simultaneously narrators, storytellers and spirits that travel along, opening several emotional doors through the piece. With music composed by Serpa, it features also Qasim Naqvi on modular synth and pianist Matt Mitchell.

Like echoes from a distant reality, Intimate Strangers aims to reflect on how we see the other and how we describe hospitality and humanity for future generations.

___________________
DETAILS:
 Friday, November 8thJazz at Princeton University in collaboration with the Program in African Studies
   12pm – Workshop with writer Emmanuel IdumaCreating with/around Music & Literature
Lee Rehearsal Room, Lewis Arts Complex

7.30pm – Intimate Strangers 
with
Sofía Rei, Aubrey Johnson, Matt Mitchell, Qasim Naqvi and Emmanuel Iduma
Tapin Auditorium, Fine Hall , Princeton University

Sunday, November 24th, 6pm
Intimate Strangers 
with
Tomas Cruz, Aubrey Johnson, Matt Mitchell, Judith Berkson and Emmanuel Iduma
Company I – Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory
RSVP to jwasilewski@armoryonpark.org

Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network for ensemble music professionals, announced the distribution of $855,570 through its four grant programs: New Jazz Works and Presenter Consortium for Jazz, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; the Classical Commissioning Program, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Residency Partnership Program, funded by Chamber Music America’s Residency Endowment Fund.

Sara Serpa Trio, with Ingrid Laubrock, Erik Friedlander and Angelica Sanchez is among the 2019 grantees.

This funding will provide key support for the creation, performance, and presentation of small ensemble works, and for community engagement and audience-building initiatives.

More info here.