Beyond the Blues: Ending the Prison Industrial Complex, Series 4, Discussion 3 w/ Marcus Shelby & Jackie Ramos

The Red Poppy Art House is pleased to present the fourth series of Beyond the Blues: Ending the Prison Industrial Complex on March 16, April 20, May 18, June 8, and July 6. Marcus Shelby and Jackie Ramos return to delve into our justice system, its flaws, and show how music and the arts can be used as agencies for reform and change—both in front and behind bars. These interactive discussions explore the blues, the prison industrial complex, mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, restorative justice, public health, families impacted by incarceration, immigration, and more.

The discussions will feature guest speakers/artists, readings, recorded and live music, poetry, and videos. These events are open to anyone interested in reforming our criminal justice system and understanding how the arts can be part of that process. A special performance by Marcus Shelby and other musicians will close the series in early August.

Series 4 Discussion Schedule:
Mar 16 – Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System: A Call for Reform (Guest speakers: Jeff Adachi and Cesar R. Gomez)
Apr 20 – Incarceration and Its Connection to Immigration  (Guest speakers TBA)
May 18 – Ending the Death Penalty (Guest speakers TBA)
June 8 – Protecting the Community: Principles and Philosophies of Restorative Justice (Guest speakers TBA)
July 6 – Music and the Arts as Weapons of Critical Resistance (Guest speakers TBA)

The Beyond the Blues series is supported by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

 
Marcus Shelby is an accomplished teacher, composer, arranger, and bassist who currently lives in San Francisco, California. Shelby was awarded a 2009 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship in Chicago to conduct research for his commission to compose “Soul of the Movement”—a 12 part musical suite on MLK and the Civil Rights Movement—and received the City Flight Magazine 2005 award as one of the “Top Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area”. Marcus is also very active in music education and currently teaches at The Community Music Center and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In addition to leading many of the San Francisco Jazz Festival Family Matinee Concerts, Marcus is the artistic director/leader of The Marcus Shelby Orchestra, the music director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Freedom Jazz Choir, and an artist-in-residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. He is currently working with playwright and actress Anna Deveare Smith on her new work, Pipeline to Prison. In March 2013, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee appointed Shelby to the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Jackie Ramos is a womanist warrior integrating public health with expressive arts to break down walls of oppression and inhumane fear targeted at communities of color. While pursuing a career as a poetess and actress, she has extensive research background in HIV/AIDS and substance use prevention working with people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system. Jackie also teaches poetry to the youth at San Francisco’s Juvenile Hall and the Young Women’s Freedom Center. With every breath in her, she will not stop fighting for the people—for their right to shine, live, and thrive.

Admission: $10 suggested donation. Doors at 7:00pm. Discussion at 7:30pm. All ages welcome.

Tickets will not be sold in advance for this event. Please arrive at the Red Poppy when doors open to purchase tickets. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

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