Yes, And

Marking the last of three HOST: Fusebox programs and celebrating the winding down of Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend, we invite you to join us for Yes, And, a project with Gesel Mason. In this iteration of Yes, And, the performance will occupy all floors of the Jones Center, with Lubaina Himid’s work as a stage, the audience is invited to be immersed by both works, traveling up and culminating at the Rooftop followed by a reception. We hope you can join us! Yes, And is a collection of performance experiments that place an expanded vision of Black womanhood at the center of its creative process. It takes an iterative approach to performance informed by the creative expertise and lived experiences of Black women (cisgender, transgender, and gender non-conforming.) Yes, And asks: “Who would you be and what would you do if, as a Black woman, you had nothing to worry about? What would you create and how might you be in community with others?” These questions catalyze a methodology of undoing and re-imagining that offers participants and witnesses the freedom “to find” and to “be found” from this recalibrated place. Manifesting as virtual and/or live public engagement “chapters” or events that are unique and remixed to each location, the project invites us to inhabit inspired realities that reclaim the past, transform the present and dream new futures into being. The result is a work that is both: YES, an unapologetic celebration of Black sisterhood, AND, a complex investigation of issues that impact of Black women and our communities. The project is supported by National Performance Network and New England Foundation for the Arts. For accommodations, please email salexander@thecontemporaryaustin.org.