Ma(s)king Her

39 3Arts supporters
$5,117 raised of $5,000 goal
3ARTS MATCH SUPPORTED BY THE JOYCE FOUNDATION
0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
Funded on March 05, 2016
    • 3ARTS MATCH SUPPORTED BY THE JOYCE FOUNDATION
    • 102% contributed

Ma(s)king Her is an AfroSurrealist dance theater work centered on women of color as empowered future beings, countering a real life narrative where their presence is more often subjugated to silence and/or invisibility. Honey Pot Performance (HPP), our creative collaborative of women artists, has been developing this project over the past year using a unique, community-driven process that involves public workshops and draws upon Black feminist fiction and theory. Our work has resulted in a dynamic script that will introduce iconic characters and a story that are directly reflective of the community’s creative input. With this campaign, we are seeking contributions to help us stage a full production of Ma(s)king Her on April 14-16 at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. HPP is at an exciting moment in our development as a creative collective right now. Our work, rooted in transformative change through intimate encounters of performance and shared space, continues to evolve and grow. Ma(s)king Her is a testament to this commitment to community-driven creative processes. We invite you to join us as donors to help us realize our newest evening-length work. 


About This Project

Beginning in 2015, we organized monthly public gatherings as part of a residency at the Washington Park Arts Incubator and invited community participants to take part in a series of reading groups, dialogues, story circles, performance workshops, and “choose your own adventure” game structures. Using these participatory art practice techniques, our four main heroines of Ma(s)king Her and their back stories emerged: Wonder Ansari, Peppa Danto, Isis the Architect, and Althea Altamont. The story follows our journeywomen in their quests, visions, challenges, and crossings to realize their destinies as powerful, self-aware change agents.

After staging successful workshop performances at Links Hall and the Logan Arts Center in late 2015, we are now preparing for a full production that will premiere April 14-16 at Jay Pritzker Pavilion. This production already includes a dynamic team of collaborators who are committed to helping us realize this fantastical world on stage. Composer and musician Renee Baker is creating an original score that will be performed live as part of the work. Our design team includes Brock Brockington (set), Jane Bagnall (costume), Denenge Akpem (props and set), Euzhan Sims (projection and textiles), and Garvin Jellison and Chris Barker (lighting). Finally, Futurewomen, a web series created in collaboration with Aymar Jean Christian’s Open TV platform closely documents Ma(s)king Her’s creative process.

The April 14-16, 2016 premiere will be followed by creative outputs, including a graphic novel based on the culminating co-authored narrative, and a community arts curriculum documenting the creative process and methods developed throughout the process of creating this work.

In addition to this 3AP campaign, Ma(s)king Her is being made possible in part through support from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Propeller Fund, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. Your donations will be a crucial part of this magical mix to make the world of Ma(s)king Her come alive. Please join us!

Thank yous

Contribute any amount or choose from the levels below.

  • $25
    Personal thank you from the HPP team! ($0.00 is tax deductible.)
  • $50
    mp3 download of a special HPP mix by DJ Jo de Presser ($0.00 is tax deductible.)
  • $100
    mp3 download and a ticket to the Ma(s)king Her premiere (April 14-16) ($0.00 is tax deductible.)
  • $250
    mp3 download and 2 tickets to the Ma(s)king Her premiere (April 14-16) ($0.00 is tax deductible.)
  • $500
    mp3 download, 2 tickets to the Ma(s)king Her premiere (April 14-16), plus a special meet & greet with HPP artists ($0.00 is tax deductible.)




Meida Teresa McNeal

Meida Teresa McNeal is the Director of Honey Pot Performance, an Afro-feminist collective dedicated to critical performance and public humanities. Recent projects include ways of knowing (2019), a performance and media project exploring systems of knowledge production that premiered at …

View Meida Teresa McNeal's profile
  • Update 1: We have made our 3Arts match!
    Posted on February 14, 2016

     

    Thank you for support! We have made our match and now we have just 33% to raise to meet our goal. Please continue to share the link widely!

    HPP is also 2 weeks away from our first annual gala event \Shift\ at the Stony Island Arts Bank. We invite you to join us for food, music, performance, and celebration!

    SHIFT gala invitation

    Update 2: We have made our goal!!!!
    Posted on March 04, 2016

     

    Goal met!!! THANK YOU ALL!

    Your contributions are helping Ma(s)king Her get to the stage this April.

    Let's stretch as far as we can go! There's still a day and a half of giving left!

    Update 3: THANK YOU!
    Posted on March 07, 2016

     

    Thank you to everyone who gave and made our 3AP campaign a successful one!

    We will spend the next 6 weeks preparing Ma(s)king Her for its premiere April 14-16 at Pritzker Pavilion!

    We hope you will come out and see the work. You can find information about tickets here.

    • Thank you to the following for contributing to 3Arts with the recommendation that we support this project.

    • Rachel Damon

    • Julie & Jess Keck & King

    • Joanne Archibald

    • Amber Ginsburg

    • Jane Beachy

    • Ginger Farley

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Sonica Ruiz

    • UChicago Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture

    • Micah Salkind

    • Cheron McNeal

    • Walter Jr. and Selena McNeal

    • Deirdre Harrison

    • Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford

    • Öykü Potuoglu-Cook

    • Elijah McKinnon

    • faheem majeed

    • Jo de Presser

    • Kate Ingold

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Tracie hall

    • Cassie E Johnson

    • Helen Taylor

    • Kelsa Robinson

    • Christy LeMaster

    • Pamela Williams

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Charles Long

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Elizabeth Weiss

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • Folayemi Wilson

    • Anonymous Supporter

    • STEPHANIE GRAHAM

    • Daniel Schulman Schulman

    • Jacqulyn Hamilton

    • Bridgette Glickman

    • Caroline O'Boyle

make it work

 

3AP Presenting Partner:

  Joyce Logo

 Additional support provided by: 

Department of Cultural Affairs logo  Illinois Arts Council