FEATURED ARTISTS & PERFORMERS

Performers

AMIRI BARAKA  1934 - 2014

Amiri Baraka was born in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He studied at Rutgers, Columbia and Howard Universities. In 1956 Baraka began his career as a writer, activist and advocate of black culture and power. In 1964 he won an Obie Award for his play, Dutchman.  His books include Daggers and Javelins: Essays, 1974-1979, The Autobiography of Leroi Jones, Eulogies, Raise, Race Rays Raze: Essays Since 1965

AHMED AHMED

Egyptian born, California raised Ahmed Ahmed bases much of his unique, hilarious material on his life as an Arab-American during unusual and stressful times. He grew up in Riverside, CA and attended the Academy of Dramatic Art in Pasadena. Ahmed Ahmed has been a regular performer at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles since 2000 and has been featured on CNN’s “American Morning,” NPR, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today. 

ANDY BUMATAI

Andy Bumatai has been performing in Hawaii and on the mainland for over 25 years, getting his first break at the Noodle Shop.  After performing as a stand-up comic and recording award-winning comedy albums he went on to star in “All in the Ohana,” a tv special for KGMB. Re-released on video twenty years later it tops the charts in Hawaii. Bumatai plays an ex-pipeline "heavy" named Randall on an episode of North Shore. Regarded as one of Hawaii's first stand-up comics, he mentors many local up-and-coming comics.

CULTURE CLASH

Culture Clash performs comedic sketches and full-length plays and screenplays that satirize the experience of Latinos in America. Its members are Richard Salinas, Herbert Siguenza and Richard Montoya. They have toured the country performing at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Off-Broadway, the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, San Diego Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, and numerous universities, festivals, conferences and benefits 

MAYDA DEL VALLE

Mayda del Valle is a poet, performance artist and writer. She won the National Poetry Slam in Seattle in 2001 and the individual National Poetry Slam title; the first Latina to do so. She has performed in the award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and has worked at Street Poets, a poetry-based non-profit youth organization, and as a dancer and vocalist for the Atabey, an Afro-Puerto Rican bomba group.

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MICHAEL FRANTI

Michael Franti is a musician, rapper, poet, activist, documentarian, and singer-songwriter, known for his participation in projects with a political and social focus with his band Michael Franti & Spearhead. Among his many recordings are Stay Human, Everyone Deserves Music, The Sound of Sunshine, and Work Hard and be Nice.

LALO GUERRERO  1916 - 2005

Lalo Guerrero was born and raised in the Barrio Libre section of Tuscon, Arizona in 1916. He began to write songs at an early age and his most famous, Canción Mexicana, at the age of 17.  Lalo’s music is performed in English and Spanish and he is known as the “Father of Chicano Music,” creating folk ballads with political messages.  His Pachuco music of the late 40’s and early 50’s provided the sound track to Luis Valdez’ play and movie, Zoot Suit.  He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.

BARRY “SHABAKA” HENLEY

Barry “Shabaka” Henley began his career as a producer and talk show host on NPR and taught drama to inmates in the California jail system. He performed Jungle Bells at the Black Theatre Artists Workshop, LocoMotion Theatre Festival, Actors' Gang Theatre, and the Hackney Empire, Bullion Room Theatre in London. His film credits include Devil in a Blue Dress, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Rush Hour and Terminal.

DANNY HOCH

Actor, performance artist, poet, and writer Danny Hoch has won two Obies for his work, which includes Some People, and Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop. He is the founder of the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival and has appeared in many films including Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, BlacKKKlansman, and Terence Malick’s The Thin Red Line.

JAMES LUNA 1950 - 2018

James Luna was a self-proclaimed "American Indian Ceremonial Clown", "Culture Warrior," and "Tribal Citizen.” His installaions, art and performance challenged racial categories and exposing outmoded, Eurocentric ways that museums have displayed Native American Indians as parts of natural history rather than as living members of contemporary society.

KATE RIGG

Kate Rigg is a mixed race multicultural multilingual multidisciplinary artist who has performed at the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, Comedy Central Theater, Public Theater, LA Grand Performances, Montreal Comedy Festival, Perth International Festival, regional theaters, festivals, museums, colleges, stadiums and dive bars across the world. She has also co-produced comedy shows that include Desi-licious, the Southasian Comedy Gurus, and the Big Tit - all-female comedy jam. Her trip-hop band Slanty Eyed Mama has toured the US, Canada and Australia.

BOOTS RILEY

Boots Riley is a songwriter, rapper and producer.  His band The Coup blends rap and funk to create politically conscious music. He produced and performed the widely acclaimed CDs Kill My Landlord, Genocide and Juice, Steal This Album, and Party Music. His 2018 film Sorry to Bother You premiered at Sundance and has won numerous awards.

BEAU SIA

Beau Sia, born and raised in Oklahoma City, is a Chinese-American spoken word artist and performer. He attended NYU's Tisch School of The Arts Dramatic Writing Program and performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café.  He was one of the featured artists in the Tony award winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. He also released a hip-hop/poetry album, Attack, Attack, Go! 

PIRI THOMAS  1928 - 2011

Piri Thomas was born in New York City’s Spanish Harlem in 1928.  His autobiography, Down These Mean Streets, published in 1967, received wide critical acclaim. He is also the author of Seven Long Times and Stories from El Barrio. Piri has been featured in several documentaries including Petey and Johnny, The World of Piri Thomas (directed by Gordon Parks)  and Every Child Is Born a Poet.

HAUNANI-KAY TRASK  1949 - 2021

Hauanani-Kay Trask is a poet and professor at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, director of the Center for Hawaiian Studies, and a member of Ka Lahui Hawai’I – a native initiative for self-government. Her book Light in the Crevice Never Seen is the first book of poetry by an indigenous Hawaiian to be published in North America. Her other books include From A Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii and Night is a Sharkskin Drum. 

KAMAU DAAOOD

(appearing in the longer festival version of Race is the Place)

Poet Kamau Daáood’s career began in the late 1960s as a member of the Watts Writers Workshop and the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra under the direction of pianist Horace Tapscott. He has spent over 40 years performing, recording, curating, teaching and producing, organizing and creating art in schools, churches, prisons, storefronts, libraries, festivals, conferences, museums, and galleries locally, nationally, and internationally. Kamau Daaood co-founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with drummer Billy Higgins. He is the author of The Language of Saxophones.

LOIS ANN YAMANAKA

(appearing in the longer festival version of Race is the Place)

Lois-Ann Yamanaka is a poet and novelist from Hawai'i. Many of her works are written in Hawaiian Pidgin, and deal with themes of Asian American families and the local culture of Hawai'i; exploring ethnic identity, sexual awakening, drug use, and abusive relationships. Her works include Saturday Night at the Pahala Theater, Wild Meat and Bully Burgers, and Blu’s Hanging. She says that “My work involves bringing to the page the utter complexity, ferocious beauty and sometimes absurdity of our ethnic relationships here in the islands.”

WILLIE PERDOMO

(appearing in the longer festival version of Race is the Place)

Willie Perdomo is a poet and teacher who challenges how we perceive the possibilities of our existence through a fresh, lived language. His work is characterized by a stylistic plurality that pushes the bounds of poetry in an exploration of self-and/as-other and the simultaneous othering, commodification, and spectacularization of Afro-diasporic bodies and cultural forms. His works include Smoking Lovely: The Remix, The Crazy Bunch, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon and many others. He explains,” Lately, memory is where my work sets up its domicile.”

Visual Artists

ENRIQUE CHAGOYA

Enrique Chagoya juxtaposes secular, popular, and religious symbols to address the ongoing cultural clash between the United States, Latin America and the world. His familiar pop icons create deceptive points of entry for the discussion of complex issues. Through these seemingly harmless characters Chagoya examines the recurring subject of colonialism and oppression.

MICHAEL RAY CHARLES

Michael Ray Charles is an African-American painter whose work and research is an investigation into the legacy of historic racial stereotypes of African Americans. His work examines how African Americans have been viewed in American history and also how they have come to view themselves as a result of demeaning stereotypes. He employs Black caricatures and stereotypes such as the Sambo, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom to comment on contemporary racial attitudes. 

PAULA DEJOIE

Paula DeJoie is an artist, writer and teacher — “a self-described black hippy girl...and I do mean "hippy" (smile).... fighting for an end to the Viet Nam war...a Third World College...a free breakfast program and the freeing of People's Park.”Her art focuses on black life, healing art and political and cultural images. Her books include My Skin is Brown and My Hair is Beautiful: Because Its Mine. Paula’s goal is simply to get people to think and perhaps to discuss what is being presented to them in a provocative and hopefully, an aesthetically pleasing manner.

FAITH RINGGOLD

Faith Ringgold is a painter, writer, sculptor and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. She has portrayed the American lifestyle in relation to the civil rights movement and illustrated racial interactions from a female point of view, calling basic racial issues in America into question. Her works are in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the National Museum of American Art and many others. Ringgold has a public school named after her in Hayward, California.

BETYE SAAR

Bettye Saar is an artist known for her work in the medium of assemblage. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, which engaged myths and stereotypes about race and femininity. Her work is considered highly political, as she has challenged negative ideas about African Americans throughout her career. She is best known for her art that critiques American racism toward Blacks.

BEN SAKOGUCHI

Ben Sakoguchi is best known for his small paintings created in series, often with socially relevant themes, such as slavery and the internment of Japanese Americans. Much of his work uses the framing of orange crate labels. His works are in the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fog Art Museum and many others.