TBA:19 CONVERSATION: Ahamefule J. Oluo with Darrell Grant

TBA:19 Institute
Musician, composer, writer, and comedian Ahamefule J. Oluo shares insights into his interdisciplinary artistic practice and the development and stories behind SUSAN, his TBA work-in-progress performance that explores “the failings of men, and the endurance of women.”

* This conversation will be ASL interpreted

ARTISTS' BIOS

Since the release of his debut album Black Art, one of The New York Times's top ten jazz CD's of 1994, Darrell Grant has built an international reputation as a pianist, composer, and educator who channels the power of music to make change. He has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from Paris’s La Villa jazz club to the Havana Jazz Festival. Dedicated to themes of hope, community, and place, Grant’s compositions include his 2012 Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite, honoring the civil rights icon, and The Territory, which explores Oregon’s landscape and history. Since moving to Portland, he has been named Portland Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalist Association, received a Northwest Regional Emmy, been named the 2019 Portland Jazz Master, and received a MAP Fund grant. He is a Professor of Music at Portland State University, where he serves as Associate Director of the School of Music & Theatre and directs the Leroy Vinnegar Jazz Institute.

Ahamefule J. Oluo is a Seattle-based musician, composer, writer, and stand-up comedian. Oluo is a founding member of and trumpet player in the Stranger Genius Award-winning jazz-punk quartet Industrial Revelation, and was featured in City Arts Magazine’s 2013 Future List as one of Seattle’s most promising artists. Oluo has collaborated with such diverse acts as Das Racist, Macklemore, Hey Marseilles, and TacocaT. In 2015 he appeared on This American Life and received a Creative Capital Award. In 2016 Oluo was awarded Artist Trusts’ Arts Innovator Award, and the performance of his autobiographical musical Now I’m Fine at the Public Theater in New York City was called “dizzying,” “engaging,” and “grand” by the New York Times. In 2018, production wrapped on Thin Skin, a feature film adaptation of Now I’m Fine, co-written by Oluo, Charles Mudede, and Lindy West. Oluo both stars in and scored the film which will premiere in 2019.

TBA Conversations are an opportunity to hear directly from festival artists about their practices, processes, and the ideas behind their work through presentations, panel discussions, and dialogues with guest artists, curators, and scholars.

All TBA Conversations are FREE of charge and take place on the PICA Patio unless otherwise noted. TBA:FOOD service will be available, including grab-and-go lunch, snacks, and drinks.