Honeychild Coleman

Women CLAP BACK: Music and the Arts is a series of programmed events featuring woman-identified speakers working on the fringes of music and the arts that speak about their interventions in the white and patriarchal dynamics of their fields. The goal of CLAP BACK is to foster cross-disciplinary conversation among musicians, composers, multimedia artists, playwrights, bloggers, academics, and activists. The inaugural CLAP BACK premiered at The New School / Eugene Lang College in April 2016. This second event will feature film director and visual artist James Spooner, who directed 2003's Afropunk: The Rock n' Roll Experience, a groundbreaking independent film that sparked a global movement. Centered on the experiences of black rock, punk and hardcore musicians in New York City, it spearheaded a nationwide conversation on black artists within the DIY (Do-it-Yourself) underground music scenes. Most importantly, it highlighted the experiences of black women who successfully navigated their gender and ethnocultural status while actively participating within these white-centric and male-dominated genres and cultures that have historically been resistant to marginalized communities. At this event, we will screen portions of the 70-minute documentary and Spooner will give a presentation on the making of the documentary, as well as discuss the cultural shift that has happened in the 15+ years since the initial release. A panel discussion about the NYC's contemporary metal, punk and hardcore scenes and a reception will follow. FEATURED PRESENTER: JAMES SPOONER Born a biracial kid in 1970s America, James Spooner became an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker who directed the seminal documentary AfroPunk and the film White Lies, Black Sheep. Both films premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Afro-Punk film also inspired the now international Afro-Punk Festival. Originally co-founded by James Spooner, it has become a highly anticipated (and often controversial) event in New York, Atlanta, Brazil, London, Paris, and Johannesburg with audiences over 75,000. Spooner is a tattoo artist at Monocle Tattoo Los Angeles, where he pioneered vegan-friendly tattooing. He is co-curator for the Broad Museum's Summer Happenings. He is presently working on his first graphic novel Memoir about discovering the true meaning of punk rock. James' progress can be found on Instagram at @spoonersnofun. PANELISTS HONEYCHILD COLEMAN: The Brooklyn-based Kentucky native was one of the musicians featured in Afro-Punk. A multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Honeychild is the founding member of The SistaGrrls Riots, and front blues-punk political group The 1865 (Mass Appeal Records). Other collaborators and Projects include The Slits, Mad Professor, Apollo Heights, Death Comet Crew (with Rammellzee), and Raz Mesinai's Badawi. Check out The 1865's Instagram page @the1865band. CHRISTINA LONG: Along with her sister, Courtney Long, Cristina runs #Blkgrlswurld ZINE, a small-press in Harlem, NYC and since 2013 as served as Creative Director. The press celebrates and documents women of color who participate in heavy music genres like Metalcore, Hardcore, Punk, and Black Metal. Interviewing bands, attending concerts and vending at zine fairs allow #Blkgrlswurld ZINE to introduce readers to new music and the diversity within music scenes. Check out her Instagram page @Blkgrlswurld. SONDRA WOODRUFF: Sondra (aka. recording artist, "JackLucy" formerly “Sonji”) is currently incorporating her passion for music and her experience as a recording artist into an undergraduate Music degree at Columbia University, class of 2019. As a native of Pittsburgh, PA who has resided in New York City for the past ten years, Sondra is a self-proclaimed grunge-kid who’s own experience with feeling underrepresented in the music industry has led her to participate in programs that positively impact identities that are underresourced and underrepresented. She has been involved with the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and Columbia’s own, For The Daughters of Harlem: Working in Sound project; which is a project that invites girls and young women of color from New York City’s public high schools to Columbia University to engage with music—as composers, improvisers, sound artists, and thinkers. Sondra’s time at Columbia has been supplemented with topics in neuroscience so that she can infuse her compositions with neuromusical ways to provoke empathy. Links: “Father” original song music video https://youtu.be/gQJtupwpCuM “Smells Like Teen Spirit Remix” cover https://soundcloud.com/sondra-woodruff-967588105/remix-nirvana-smells-like-teen-sprit Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/JackLucyFM/ Daughters of Harlem https://daughtersofharlem.wordpress.com/ PANEL MODERATOR KIM GILL: A journalism graduate from Kingsborough Community College with a passion for New York City’s heavy metal scene, Kim was inspired to combine her love for metal with her aptitude for reporting to create the YouTube channel Keep it Metal with Kim Gill. She has become a budding notable figure within NYC's underground music scenes, interviewing well known and local bands alike and using her platform to bring awareness to strengthening and maintaining the local metal scenes everywhere. She’s respected amongst her peers in the scene for her dedication locally and beyond. ORGANIZER AND PROGRAMMER LAINA DAWES: Inspired by her book, What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal (Bazillion Points, 2012), Women's CLAP BACK was conceived in 2016 to create a public forum to further discussions for women of color working within alternative music, visual and literary artistic practices. She is currently a third-year Doctoral student in the Department of Ethnomusicology at Columbia University.