Went on a fun journey this afternoon! @SlingshotAnnie shared this flyer she found while researching her next book on Cornbread Harris (Jimmy Jam's father). Note the name of the theatre located in St. Paul, Minnesota!
And check out that program list! 🖤
This of course sent me down a rabbit hole to find out more about the theatre! Here's a Star Tribune feature from October 5, 1989. Founder Merline Doty noted "the company has a greater purpose to combat racial and ethnic stereotypes through the performing arts."
As for the date of the flyer, thinking it's circa 1986. I looked for years when February 10th fell on a Monday and found this ad in a 1986 Star Tribune newspaper.
It seems like this theatre at this location was no more around 1992 or so as I saw an article that noted another business at this location in 1993. I also saw an article with Ms. Doty noting funding issues in 1990.
Really unfortunate because this organization had an amazing mission!
Back to Prince, ICYMI, he has an album from 2001 that is also called The Rainbow Children. It also speaks on topics of racism, spirituality and acceptance.
The Black Arts scene in the Twin Cities has incredible roots that nurtured and supported young talent. If you're interested in learning more about the environment that birthed a #Prince, check out this book by @SlingshotAnnie!
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From Paid in Full: The Battle for Black Music. Highly recommend this 3-part doc. #Prince was part of a legacy of many who came before him working for the same cause in the rights of artists, and specifically Black artists. Was really cool to see in the context of that history.
This documentary was done by Idris and Sabrina Elba and it was extremely well done. Check for it for free in the BBC iPlayer or on CBC in Canada. It hasn't come out yet with an American distributor.
I am not going to clip his entire segment though it was only about 5 minutes of a 3-hour documentary. I think it's important to see it in context with this full work.
I'm just going to say, don't look to other people to tell you what your opinion should be about anything. Whatever you feel is valid because that's how you relate to it.
All this talk and meanwhile the music is getting lost which is exactly what I warned about in the first place. Gimme Glam Slam as a franchise, Paisley as a studio, the musical process, the evolution of how he approached business...but nope headlines off the messy stuff...
See what happens when we cross post with other fandoms? The first peak was business in our fam, the last 2 were just me posting about going to DragonCon, live tweeting an Acolyte panel and my picture with Manny Jacinto. Around 30k impressions off of 2 main posts. 🧵
I've been on one about helping people learn about Prince in a multitude of ways. We need more carrots! Lots of people noted my necklace with his symbol, I swapped my DragonCon lanyard out for a Prince one, gave out Prince pins....
Purposely wore his symbol in my Manny picture. Across all my social media this picture was seen at least 13,000 times.
Chatting with folks about doing a group Prince cosplay next year. You can apply to host workshops, panels, and be a vendor as well. This also happens during the same weekend as the annual Lovesexy party. Con tickets are discounted right now. 5 days $100.
It's legit a fan run convention to celebrate whatever you're a fan of. Space for every niche! Prince needs to be represented here more for sure I saw him all over the vendor area with bootleg merch, lol.
I'll be talking about it more as the deadlines approach. While this is not necessarily focused on Prince like our celebration would be, it is absolutely an opportunity to expose him to people because most people who go to stuff like this know who he is. (Someone handed me this.)
It was a pleasure to compile how we celebrate anniversaries of Prince's legacy. #Come30 is an extremely relevant era of #Prince's life that applies to what's going on in the industry and in society now, just like 2 other albums that have 10 year anniversaries next month. 🧵
At the first post transition celebration at @PaisleyPark, Damaris Lewis said we, as fam, are ALL stewards of Prince's legacy. We should look to each other to make sure his legacy is accessible in the multiple dimensions of how we experience his life work.
Extra special thanks to folks like @polishedsolid who gather scholars and fam in her offering of a safe space for people to speak with passion and intelligence about our hero.