NUBIAN WOMEN’S ART CIRCLE TO HOLD 9th ANNUAL AWARDS
The Nubian Women’s Art Circle (NuWAC) will hold its ninth annual awards ceremony for three celebrated individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the art of the African Diaspora and to announce the recipients
of this year’s Circle of Art Scholarship Awards. NuWAC was founded in 1993 to enhance cultural and ethnic pride and dignity through the creative arts; the promotion of established and aspiring individuals in the creative arts; the advancement of
opportunities for professional development and the general improvement and welfare of the people of the African Diaspora through education and appreciation of the creative arts. The scholarship was established in 2004.
Honorees will be: art dealer Peg Alston of Peg Alston Gallery; Kwame Brathwaite, Executive Director of the National Conference of Artists New York (and former national President of NCA) and veteran artist and living legend, Onaway “Onnie” Kassebohm
Millar.
Kwame Brathwaite is the last elected president of the The National Conference of Artists (NCA) and currently serves as the Executive Director of the National Conference of Artists New York,
Inc. He previously served for four years as national president and two terms as 2nd Vice President of the NCA National Executive Board, and prior to that served as President of the New York Chapter for nine years. He served as chairman of the host
committee for the 42nd Annual NCA Conference, “Gateway to Africa”in New York in 2001 in preparation for NCA’s 4th International Conference and NCA’s two major exhibitions at the National Gallery in Ghana, West Africa in 2002. He
successfully led 83 NCA delegates to the Ghana conference, despite the turmoil and cancellations of conferences by others in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center, on 9-11.
Kwame is the creator and spearhead of NCA’s Department of Communications and Education which encompasses their “Black Arts & Culture USA” cable TV show that broadcasts 468 times a year in five cities, New York, Mt. Vernon, Atlanta (3 times per week),
Brooklyn and Washington, DC. Other components of the Dept. of Communications & Education are the NCAnewyork website, (www.ncanewyork.com), the NCAnewyork
National Newsletter and soon to come publishing division, with a “Who’s Who & What They Do: African Americans in the Visual Arts” scheduled for late 2007 or mid 2008.
Kwame Brathwaite has been considered the ever-present "photo-documentarian" of the Black Arts & Culture movement, the "keeper of the images." While earning a living as a fashion, commercial and entertainment photographer. His primary interest has been
the recording of the history of the African Diaspora both politically and culturally. He started as a jazz photographer after helping to form the African Jazz-Art Society (later, and Studios – AJASS) in 1956, a year after graduating from the High School
of Industrial Art (SIA), now the High School of Art & Design. AJASS combined art, music, fashion, poetry, theatre and political activism into what became the beginning of the “Black Arts Movement” of the 60’s. Kwame is now celebrating his 50th
anniversary of cultural activism and will celebrate his 50th anniversary in photography in 2007.
The event will take place at Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. New York State Office Building on Friday, November 3rd, from 6 – 9 PM.
There will be a scrumptious buffet. Proceeds will go toward the scholarship fund. A $30 donation is required and is payable in advance only, (no money transactions at the state building). For information and donations, contact: Elaine L.
Greene (212) 243-7000 ext. 2065 or Carolyn Jackson Colley at (718) 875-3130
