Join us on Sept 1 at 3pm (CST) for a LIVE show as part of the Kennedy Center’s #ArtsAcrossAmerica performance series!
Amplify Arts is excited to partner with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and participate in their #ArtsAcrossAmerica series by featuring two performances by 2020 Artist Support Grant recipients, choreographer Lauren Simpson and musician and activist Brenton Gomez (Conny Franko w/ Kethro)
Tune into Facebook Live or YouTube on Tuesday, September 1st at 3pm (CST) to watch Lauren Simpson: The Moving Truck & Conny Franko w/Kethro streaming from Make Believe Studios in Omaha on both The Kennedy Center's and Amplify's pages.
In The Moving Truck, Lauren Simpson delivers live performance to viewers’ doorsteps. With a pickup truck, a few dancers, and a portable sound system, each new “dance delivery” is shaped by the topography of neighbors' front yards and the constraints of bodies responding to one another at a distance. Moving indoors, Conny Franko braids family, community, and the Chicano culture of a flyover state into lyrics that make and hold space for change. Oldies, doo wop, hip hop, punk rock, black metal, drum & bass, pop music, and psychedelia converge in a cacophony of influences distilled by notions of what it means to belong.
About the Artists:
Brenton Gomez is a skateboarder, emcee, and poet. He is the brother of Xander Downs and Angel Walstrom, the son of Patrice Gomez, the grandson of Gabriel and Dolores Gomez, and he is the great grandson of Calistro Valverde and Alta Gracia Gomez.
Lauren Simpson has danced for choreographers Liz Lerman and Risa Jaroslow. She has taught dance at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Harvard College and the University of San Francisco. She has been a guest teacher at University of Utah, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received an M.F.A. in Performance and Choreography from the University of Colorado-Boulder and an Ed.M. from Harvard University.
About The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts:
As the nation’s cultural center, and a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, The Kennedy Center is a leader for the arts across America and around the world, reaching and connecting with artists, inspiring and educating communities. They welcome all to create, experience, learn about, and engage with the arts.