Celebrate! Maya Project announced this week that, immediately following the film screening of ‘Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” Friday, April 19, at the Ron Robinson Theater; Janis F. Kearney, president and founder of Celebrate! Maya Project, will moderate a discussion with Dr. Karen Bryan, executive director of Arkansas Learning through the Arts. Their discussion will center on the before, after and in-between of the “rise” of Maya Angelou, which began with childhood trauma and ended with her role as a beloved global literary icon.
Dr. Karen Bryan is a musicologist and independent scholar. Her early research focused on the field of 19th century Italian opera, completing a Fulbright fellowship on the works of Saverio Mercadante at Teatro La Scala and Ricordi.
She has since conducted archival research on African American performers of the first half of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on those active prior to Marian Anderson’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955. In addition to numerous presentations and articles, she is co-editor of Blackness in Opera, a collection of essays by leading scholars exploring the concept of race in operatic performance and composition from the late 17th to mid-20th centuries. Her recent projects center on the contributions of Mary Cardwell Dawson and the National Negro Opera Company, as well as the performers who came to the stage through the company’s productions. She has served as a faculty member and administrator at the University of South Florida, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arizona State University and Georgia State University. Currently, she is executive director of Arkansas Learning Through the Arts and is the coordinator for the Hidden Voices program of the Denyce Graves Foundation. She is also completing work on a volume exploring the impact and legacy of Mary Cardwell Dawson and the National Negro Opera Company.
For more information on the Celebrate! Maya Project, visit the website here.