JP Howard is an educator, literary activist, curator and community builder. Her debut poetry collection, SAY/MIRROR (The Operating System), was a Lambda Literary finalist. She is also the author of bury your love poems here (Belladonna*) and co-editor of Sinister Wisdom Journal Black Lesbians--We Are the Revolution!

Kathy Engel is a poet who has worked for nearly forty years at the nexus between social justice movements and art/imagination. Founder of the women’s human rights group, MADRE, she has co-founded numerous other groups and projects, including Riptide Communications, Poets for Ayiti and the Hayground School.

Anton Nimblett, a Trinidadian who lives and writes in Brooklyn, is the author of the short story collections, Sections of an Orange and Now/After.

My bones have absorbed these sounds, move to these sounds, and rest in these sounds."

E.J. Antonio received fellowships in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Hurston/Wright Foundation, and the Cave Canem Foundation.

FAY VICTOR is an improvising vocalist, composer, lyricist and educator riding all the chasms and seams of musics that are improvisational and conversational in nature.

Hear master percussionist and composer, Michael Wimberly, on acoustic piano, marimba, balafon, and djembe for this performance!

Born in New York City in 1961, Anton has performed with luminaries like Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Rita Moreno, and Carol Channing, and an A-list of jazz artists including Clifford Jordan, Mel Lewis, Al Foster, Terrel Stafford, Bill Stewart, and Rufus Reid.

Join us online on as we celebrate the life of founding Board member, Darryl Alladice.

One Breath Rising and 440 Gallery are pleased to present actor, comedian, poet and playwright Julia Ogilvie in a live-stream reading direct from Honolulu, Hawaii. her home in Honolulu, Ogilvie’s words will be a topical reflection on the emotions of the moment.

Darryl Alladice is a performance poet/storyteller who grew up in Harlem and Brooklyn, New York. Darryl’s performances are informed by his training as an actor and storyteller. He will enthrall and charm you - he brings his poetry alive when he reads.

Breena Clarke's debut novel, River, Cross My Heart, was an October 1999 Oprah Book Club selection. Ms. Clarke, a native of Washington, D.C., is the recipient of the 1999 award for fiction by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the Alex Award, given by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

YESENIA MONTILLA is an Afro-Latina poet & a daughter of immigrants. Her poetry has appeared in the Chapbook For the Crowns of Your Head, as well as the literary journals The Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day and others.

Janet Restino is a “streams of consciousness” multimedia artist/writer, formally trained as a sculptor, currently recording her poems and songs with guitarists.

Trumpeter, composer, arranger, author … Eddie Allen is one of the  more versatile musicians on the New York scene. He’s called upon to play everything from jazz (big band as well as small ensembles) to R&B/Pop to latin to symphonic to Broadway, and everything in between.

After multi-instrumentalist, Dr. Makanda Ken McIntyre, passed away unexpectedly in 2001, it was discovered that, in addition to the approximately 75 original compositions that appear on his albums, he had written around 350 more that had not been recorded or, in most cases, performed in public.

WORLD PIANO SUMMIT is an evening of superb artistry with three renowned pianists: LUIZ SIMAS (Brazilian), STEVE SANDBERG (Classical and World Classical) and ARMEN DONELIAN (Armenian and Jazz). All feature previously composed as well as original works, including Solo performances and Duets with accomplished guest musicians.

Join vocalist and songwriter Andrea Wolper; pianist Carol Liebowitz; bassoonist Claire de Brunner; vocalist Cheryl Richards; pianist Virg Dzurinko; and pianist/vocalist Kazzrie Jaxen!. This sterling group of musicians will join together in celebration and memory of the late great improvising pianist/composer Connie Crothers on Friday evening, September 27, 2019 at Metro Baptist Church in Hell’s Kitchen.

Maxine Gordon will be reading from Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, her recent biography of her late husband, tenor saxophonist and Academy Award-nominated actor Dexter Gordon, and talking about the book.

Bassist Melissa Slocum has been performing worldwide since 1982 in classical orchestras, baroque performance, and jazz ensembles.  Holding degrees from Mannes and Manhattan Schools of Music, she has worked with such legends as Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis,