STAGES OF EQUITY is 2-day visual & performing arts festival that raises up the powerful work of BIPOC visual & performing artists by inviting these creators to engage with students and the broader NHCC community on the North Hennepin Community College campus.

two people leaning against each other and the words stages of equity

MARCH 23 & 24, 2023

Fine Arts Center

North Hennepin Community College

 

Reservations to all events suggested but not required.

All events free for NHCC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public.

 

Organized and produced by Dean Kathy Hendrickson (Dean of Fine & Applied Arts, Global & Cultural Studies) in collaboration with the NHCC Department of Theatre.

PERFORMANCES

WORKSHOPS

Schedule

THURSDAY, MARCH 2

  • GRAPHIC DESIGN WORKSHOP WITH TERRESA MOSES
    • 9:30 - 11:30 AM
    • Fine Arts Center 

 

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 - 31

  • STAGES OF EQUITY VISUAL ART EXHIBITION IN THE JOSEPH GAZZUOLO GALLERY
    • Terresa Moses, Graphic Designer

 

THURSDAY, MARCH 23

  • GUITAR WORKSHOP WITH SIAMA MATUZUNGIDI
    • 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
    • Fine Arts Center

 

  • BOX LUNCH
    • Please join us for a box lunch following Siama Matuzungidi's guitar workshop
    • Fine Arts Center Lobby

 

  • PERFORMANCE: TUFAWON (NATIVE HIP-HOP) + INTERVIEW WITH TUFAWON
    • 3:00 - 4:00 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Please join us for an on-stage conversation with Tufawon immediately following the concert

 

  • COMMUNITY DINNER
    • 4:15 - 5:15 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Come share a FREE community dinner following TUFAWON's performance

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 24

  • "ART FUEL" // BRUNCH
    • 10:00 - 11:00 AM
    • Fine Arts Center Lobby
    • Come enjoy FREE breakfast & brunch-type nourishment to fuel up before attending Snoti's 11:00 AM concert and a phenomenal day of Stages of Equity performances at NHCC!

 

  • PERFORMANCE: SNOTI (SINGER/SONGWRITER, AFRO-POP) + INTERVIEW WITH SNOTI
    • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Please join us for an on-stage conversation with Snoti immediately following the concert

 

  • PERFORMANCE: KEALOHA FERREIRA (DANCE ARTIST) + INTERVIEW WITH KEALOHA FERREIRA
    • 2:00 - 3:00 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Please join us for an on-stage conversation with Kealoha Ferreira immediately following the performance

 

  • PERFORMANCE: SIAMA MATUZUNGIDI (SINGER/SONGWRITER/GUITARIST) + INTERVIEW WITH SIAMA MATUZUNGIDI
    • 4:30 - 5:30 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Please join us for an on-stage conversation with Siama Matuzungidi immediately following the concert

 

  • PERFORMANCE: STRONGmovement DANCE CO. (CONTEMPORARY DANCE) + INTERVIEW WITH STRONGmovement
    • 7:30 - 8:30 PM
    • Fine Arts Center
    • Please join us for an on-stage conversation with STRONGmovement immediately following the performance

 

  • CELEBRATION RECEPTION 
    • 8:30 PM
    • Fine Arts Center Lobby
    • Please join us for a reception celebrating Stages of Equity 2023 @ North Hennepin Community College
    • Refreshments for all!  
 
Questions about Stages of Equity events? Contact Dean Kathy Hendrickson

Information

North Hennepin Community College is pleased to offer FREE ADMISSION to all Stages of Equity 2023 events - for everyone. 

Our intention is to enable all NHCC students, faculty, staff, alumni, as well as residents of our communities of Brooklyn Park, Osseo, Maple Grove, and Brooklyn Center as well as the greater Twin Cities metro area to attend the powerful offerings of Stages of Equity without financial impediment or burden.

Our festival is driven by an ethos of parity - this includes creating participation parity by enabling unimpeded access to visual and performing arts events.

Reservations to all events are encouraged but not required

All events for Stages of Equity 2023 will be held in the Fine Arts Center on the NHCC campus.  

  • The NHCC Fine Arts Center is located at the intersection of 84th Ave. N. & W. Broadway Ave. in Brooklyn Park, MN. Parking is available in the NHCC West Parking lot - also located at 84th Ave. N. and W. Broadway Ave. 
  • The Fine Arts Center is also the location of the Main Theatre and the Joseph Gazzuolo Gallery. 
  • Parking on campus is free for visitors and a large surface lot is located directly beside the Fine Arts Center.
  • The Fine Arts Center is the home of the Departments of Art, Music, and Theatre & Film.
  • Fine Arts Center Building Map
  • NHCC Campus Maps

Patrons who have mobility challenges are warmly encouraged to plan their visit and accommodations with us before they arrive to Stages of Equity. Also, directly before each performance, patrons can coordinate accessible seating needs with us - house management will be located in our lobby before each performance.

The Main Theatre in the Fine Arts Center has a designated seating area that can be accessed without steps. This area is reserved for patrons using wheelchairs or to accommodate those who prefer not to navigate steps. Please check in with house management (located in the lobby) so that we can direct you to these seating areas.

Also, we encourage you to contact us for other accessible seating options in the Main Theatre that do not include navigating steps.

The Fine Arts Center building is outfitted with ADA door openers and restrooms located directly adjacent to the Main theater lobby feature ADA compliant stalls.

For more information or questions, please contact:

Dean of Fine & Applied Arts, Global & Cultural Studies
Kathy Hendrickson
Phone: 763-424-0881

All Stages of Equity workshops are free and open to all NHCC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader general public.

We warmly invite you to attend Stages of Equity workshops with master guitarist Siama Matuzungidi and graphic designer Terresa Moses.

 

  • GRAPHIC DESIGN WORKSHOP WITH TERRESA MOSES
    • MARCH 2 || 9:30 - 11:30 AM

    • NHCC Fine Arts Center, RM 126

Terresa Moses is the Creative Director at Blackbird Revolt, a social justice-based design studio. She is also an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design (CDes) and the Director of the CDes Design Justice Network. 

*Due to scheduling needs, this workshop will be offered in early March 2023.

 

  • ACOUSTIC GUITAR WORKSHOP WITH MASTER GUITARIST SIAMA MATUZUNGIDI
    • MARCH 23 || 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

    • NHCC Fine Arts Center, meet in the FAC Lobby

Back in Africa, Congolese musical artist Siama Matuzungidi recorded hundreds of songs and toured the world with popular artists, even playing for two presidents. Now based in Minneapolis, he’s an award-winning artist known for his intricate guitar, catchy songs, spirited singing, and traditional instruments like Mbira, Balafon and Lokole. Siama’s music is pure healing and joy. He loves his audience to feel like they’re gathered under the stars in his rural home town in Bas Congo.

Making a reservation to indicate your interest in attending this workshop would be helpful for our planning! Please make your reservation with this link.

  • We urge participants to bring their guitars to this workshop; on-site guitars will not be provided.
  • This workshop is designed to sharpen the skills of participants who have familiarity with playing acoustic guitar.
  • If you're enrolled in NHCC's beginning or advanced level guitar classes or if you have previously taken NHCC guitar classes - we welcome you!
  • This workshop is not intended for absolute beginners in guitar, i.e., no foundational experience.
Monday - Friday
  • 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM 
Saturdays
  • 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The Joseph Gazzuolo Gallery will also be open during all Stages of Equity events and workshops. Additionally, the gallery is also open before, during, and after Department of Theatre play performances and Department of Music concerts. 

The gallery is closed on all days when when the broader NHCC campus is closed. Please plan your visit with the NHCC calendar.

If you have questions concerning attendance to or information about any of the events or workshops of Stages of Equity 2023, please reach out to us!

Please contact:

Dean of Fine & Applied Arts, Global & Cultural Studies
Kathy Hendrickson
Phone: 763-424-0881

2023 Artists

A publicity photo of the Liberian-American singer Snoti.

Minnesota-based, Liberian-American singer Snoti is a songwriter whose musical style combines the soulfulness of R&B, the fluidity of Pop and the authentic rhythms of Afro-pop music. 

She won the award for “Female Artist of the Year” at the annual Liberian Music Awards. With the release of her project "A Jappah  Legacy," Snoti showed her versatility by including sounds from various genres. 

She's won “Star Power” of the year at the annual African Girls Rock awards. Snoti continues to grow as an artist, writing, collaborating, and performing on stages across the country. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of FREDDY Photography & mshale.com

Videos by Snoti:

“Feel-good sounds from the heart of Africa”

Back in Africa, Congolese musical artist Siama Matuzungidi recorded hundreds of songs and toured the world with popular artists, even playing for two presidents. Now based in Minneapolis, he’s an award-winning artist known for his intricate guitar, catchy songs, spirited singing and traditional instruments like Mbira, Balafon and Lokole. Siama’s music is pure healing and joy. He loves his audience to feel like they’re gathered under the stars in his rural home town in Bas Congo.

Photo Credit: courtesy of the artist

Siama Matuzungidi's website
Videos by Siama Matuzungidi:
A documentary on Siama by Twin Cities PBS:

Kealoha Ferreira is a Kanaka Maoli, Filipino, Chinese dance artist from Nuʻuanu, Oʻahu. She began her performing and teaching career with Ananya Dance Theatre (Minneapolis) in 2013, becoming the Artistic Associate and a Co-Leader of the Shawngrām Institute for Performance & Social Justice in 2018.

A practitioner of Yorchhā, and an emerging student of Oli, Kūahu, and Hula, Kealoha works at the intersection of these transnational feminist and aloha ʻāina embodied practices to create space, classes, and performance that dig into the tensious and expansive nature of relationality while remaining rooted in cultural and kinesthetic specificity.

Her journey in reclaiming ʻike kupuna and nā mea Hawaiʻi is sustained by a collective of diasporic Kanaka Maoli based in Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, New York and Hawaiʻi. She is grateful to deepen her learning through the Lonoa Honua programming led by Kekuhi Kanahele Kanakaʻole. Kealoha mahalos the people, lands, and waters (chosen and ancestral) that teach her daily to dance with aloha and complex solidarity.

Yorchhā™, is Ananya Dance Theatre's contemporary dance technique that intersects the forms of Vinyasa Yoga, the classical Indian dance form Odissi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha), and the martial art form Chhau (also from eastern India) to articulate stories of women, womxn, and femmes from Black, Indigenous, and communities of color around the world.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mark VanCleave and Threesixty at St. Thomas

Tufawon (2 for 1) is a Dakota/Boricua recording artist, singer/songwriter, and producer from Minneapolis. His name is a representation of his mixed identity, and his music is an honest reflection of his life experiences and personal struggles, his hopes and dreams for the future, spirituality and connectedness to the land, love, and the realities of the world we live in. He has put his life on the line to protect water and our planet. He has recently reinvented his style and sound, and you can hear this clearly in his recently released album Until The Sun Comes Up, a full length album of love songs he wrote through his experience with heartbreak. He sang over every song and produced the entire record. The production style is a blend of dancehall, reggaeton, and afrobeats influenc- es. This was a defining moment in Tufawon's career as he can now call himself a singer/ songwriter and not solely a hip hop artist.  

The past few years have been incredibly active for the hip hop artist and activist. He was recently awarded the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, one of his biggest accomplish- ments to date. He participated in the inaugural First Nations SongHubs, where he recorded with Indigenous artists from around the globe at the world-famous Abbey Road Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He was also featured on the Breakfast Club and Hot 97 “Ebro In The Morning” speaking on issues that affect Indigenous communities. He completed his first headlining hip hop tour in Europe "Resilience," and he continues to stay active in his community. From fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock to organizing efforts to Stop Line 3, to speaking at the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland and doing several hip hop tours around the world, Tufawon continues to live out his message and impact the world in a profound way.

In 2021, Tufawon - along with a crew of incredibly talented Indigenous artists - released the LandBack album, a 21-song full length record executive produced by NDN Collective and led by Nataanii Means and AntoineX. This album features 10 Indigenous artists from around Turtle Island showcasing beautifully well-rounded and cohesive songs that proclaim what the message of LandBack means to them. 

Photo Credit: Evan Frost and MPR News 

Tufawon's website
Videos by Tufawon:
Read more about Tufawon:

STRONGmovement, a Twin Cities-based premiere contemporary dance company, uses the universal language of dance, blending styles such as Hip hop, Ballet, Modern, and West African to tell stories related to society and humanity as a way to bring communities together.

STRONGmovement Dance Company, led by Artistic Director Darrius Strong, is known for their versatility in styles within their choreography and storytelling method. The company features professional dancers and performances, focused choreography, residencies, and training. STRONGmovement believes in the universal language of dance and making it accessible to provide a powerful impact on our lives.

Photo Credit: courtesy of the artist

STRONGmovement's website
About STRONGmovement:

Terresa Moses (she/her) is a proud Black queer woman dedicated to the liberation of Black and brown people through art and design. As a designer and illustrator, her work focuses on race, identity, and social justice. She advocates for positive change in her community using creativity as tools of community activism like her recent solo exhibition, Umbra.

Terresa is the Creative Director at Blackbird Revolt, a social justice-based design studio. She is also an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Minnesota's College of Design (CDes) and the Director of the CDes Design Justice Network. As a community engaged scholar, her design research interests include; Project Naptural, which creates spaces to educate, connect, and empower Black women about their natural hair and self-identity, and Racism Untaught, a curriculum model that reveals ‘racialized’ design and helps students, educators, and organizations create anti-racist concepts through the design research process.

She earned her BFA in Fashion Design and African American Studies at the University of North Texas in 2008. In 2015, she earned her MFA in Design Research and Anthropology. She is currently a PhD candidate in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto.

She serves as a core team member of African American Graphic Designers (AAGD) by helping to organize and craft organizational structure. She also works as a collaborator with the Black Liberation Lab to co-create solutions that support Black liberation.

Previously, she served on the executive committee of the Duluth NAACP as the 2nd Vice President, Young Adult Committee Chair, and Charter Advisor to the UMD NAACP Chapter. She also served on the board of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, and on the board of AIGA Minnesota as the Director of Diversity & Inclusion.

Photo Credit: Works in Process Podcast

Terresa Moses' website & gallery of her graphic design work

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