The Center for the Study of Social Difference
is proud to co-sponsor:
Women CLAP BACK: Music and the Arts
Women CLAP BACK: Music and the Arts is a series of programmed events featuring woman-identified speakers working on the fringes of music and the arts that speak about their interventions in the White and patriarchal dynamics of their fields. The goal of CLAP BACK is to foster cross-disciplinary conversation among musicians, composers, multimedia artists, playwrights, bloggers, academics, and activists. The inaugural CLAP BACK premiered at The New School / Eugene Lang College in April 2016.
This second event will feature film director and visual artist James Spooner, who directed 2003's Afropunk: The Rock n' Roll Experience, a groundbreaking independent film that sparked a global movement. Centered on the experiences of black rock, punk and hardcore musicians in New York City, it spearheaded a nationwide conversation on black artists within the DIY (Do-it-Yourself) underground music scenes. Most importantly, it highlighted the experiences of black women who successfully navigated their gender and ethnocultural status while actively participating within these white-centric and male-dominated genres and cultures that have historically been resistant to marginalized communities. This event, free and open to the public will include women who were featured in the 2003 documentary, as well as young women of color who are currently involved in the New York punk and hardcore scenes.
At this event, we will screen the 70-minute documentary and Spooner will give a presentation on the making of the documentary, as well as discuss the cultural shift that has happened in the 15+ years since the initial release. We will also moderate a panel of 3-4 women on their experiences as artists within the underground music scenes.
