I'm Leaving Baby, I'm Trying Something New.

I'm leaving the Blogger platform and moving my blog to Squarespace so all of my art dynasties can live in one space. It's been great being here, and though this site is still up, I'm just not writing here anymore outside of the occasional post updates to keep Google happy. I hope you will join me at the new blog www.missgraham.com/blog

Thank You.
Stephanie

Barbara Bear Television Network

I went to school with Barbara Bear, she was EVERYTHING she had red hair, freckles, dark eyeliner and a boyfriend named Darrin, she was before her time and deserves to be honored. Also, her name was Barbara Bear, I cant think of a more fun name to say over and over again.

When Jesse Malmed invited me to be apart of his art exhibition Outside Jokes I knew this would be a great time to honor my old high school schoolmate.

I'm excited to present the Barbara Bear Television Network a series of my own film projects I programmed for AcreTV in conjunction with Jesse Malmed's Outside Jokes exhibition with Demo Project.

Program Includes:
Much Needed Advice with Cliff Zimowski
Nathan's Black Kid Table
Wendy's So This One Guy

The program plays in a loop for 15 minutes live on AcreTv.org now through December 31.

You can watch it right now, right here

APA Chicago Instagram Takeover

APA Chicago has invited me to take over their Instagram feed and of course, I said yes! I love Instagram! 

So next time you're on IG, please stop by and give me a shout!

I NEED A BAKER

I'm all for trying out ideas and see where it goes, I have ideas for days, some of them are great and some of them... my friends are like Nah Steph that's not good LOL

So imagine my happiness when my girl Dee and I found ourselves once again talking about the soulful queen Anita Baker and it ended up with us joining forces and collaborating on a mixtape and pin together.

What is crazy timing is that at the same time our pin was getting complete Andre 3000 came out with an article sharing his love for Anita Baker! That was wild, read about it here, and also Andre 3000 is pretty amazing soo is just a good read.

So our project is ready and you can check it out here:

or if you are interested you can buy the pin here

and/or just go straight to Trendee's mix here

Have you ever taken an idea and ran with it?

Whats your favorite Anita Baker song? 

Would love to hear abut it, and let us know hwat you think about the mix and pin too! 

Takin' a Social Media Break

So I did it yall, and I decided to leave social media....
I made a video about it too and of course wanted to share it with you.





So yeah.. we will see gang how this goes. I want to use this break to be in my studio and also have some spiritual time.

Here we go!

I would love to hear about any break you've decided to give yourself...

As always thanks for watching

Stephanie

Leaving Social Media... Maybe

 These Three Things is a blog series, where I share three things I think you might find helpful, interesting or funny, Enjoy!

Sooooo I've been thinking of taking a break from Social Media. Now, I've never really thought of myself as an addict or someone that hangs out on these platforms all day or anything, but I am def multiple time a day go there and check type of girl. Besides, saying addict just sounds sooo soo nasty you know.

I never even thought of a break until a friend of mine told me that she was going on a social media fast, and with all, that's been going down in my studio lately I've been thinking hmm should I do that too.

As an artist or anyone with a career goal we all know social media is king, so to leave that feels like I'm leaving money on the table or something. Tons of people take social media breaks though so its a thing,

Anyway, so I thought since I'm thinking about this, you might be also; maybe you have completed a social media break or detox and can share your experience? Either way for this week These Three Things I'm sharing social media detox resources.

Artist Noah Bradley decided to leave social media altogether.

Creative Entreepuner Jason Zook journaled several times about detoxing from social media.

And of course, Pinterest is always here with the win of ideas for every single thing in life, and here they have plenty of ideas for a social media detox.

I hope this is helpful as I know it will be for me. I will let you know what I decide. Also, I hope you enjoy your Weekend!

Stephanie

PinTastic Success!!

It was such a good time being a resident artist for the Smart Museum Family Day event. I made this video that I share on my Facebook Page and YouTube channel, but of course, I am sharing it here with yall:

Parents and Folks with Kids! Check out Family Days at the Smart Museum of Art it's a good way to hang out with your family, get some culture and make something amazing!

Get the details here: 

http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/programs-events/families/

 

Here are some of the buttons that we made :

@stephaniegraham teaches #buttonmaking at the @smartmuseum !

A post shared by Erik Peterson (@eriklpeterson) on Sep 9, 2017 at 1:37pm PDT

A post shared by Stephanie Graham (@stephaniegraham) on Sep 10, 2017 at 4:25pm PDT

A post shared by Erik Peterson (@eriklpeterson) on Sep 9, 2017 at 8:25am PDT

Check out my Instagram where I posted a few of the buttons we made http://bit.ly/IGFamilyDayButton

Pin Tastic Projects at the Smart Museum

I was invited by the Smart Museum to be an artist in residence for their Family Day event series, and of course, I excitedly replied yes!

I've been making these buttons and pins with my Graham Cracker Pin Co. project and #NewGlobalMatriatrchy so we settled on making pins and buttons for the next Family Day. 

So I'm pretty excited about this and would love for you and your family to join me, to make a button. The event is 100% free, so bring your family or yourself for an afternoon of fun.

Here are the details:

Saturday, Septemeber 9

1pm- 4pm

Smart Museum

You can find additional details here:

SBE Board Meeting April 17th

Hey Yall! If you're around tonight I'm having a board meeting for my project The Selected Black Experience Council. I would love to see you there!

April 12-18th , 2017 Corner 2912 N Milwaukee Ave (Storefront)  Chicago, IL 60618

The Selected Black Experience Council (SBE) is an exclusive organization invested in giving non-blackallies the opportunity to engage in black culture.

SBE Board Meeting

Monday, April 17, 7:15pm

The SBE Board will be meeting on Monday, April 17th to discuss the final criteria on how to award a non-black ally access to the Black race.

This is a big item on our agenda, so we ask that all board members attend.

If you think you have valuable input on whom should or should not be given a black pass we need your attendance is mandatory.

Come in ready to roll up your sleeves for an engaging discussion.

Who, How, Why do you allow a pass? Please come willing to discuss.

In addition to finalizing these criteria we also will be putting the finishing touches on this year's leadership breakfast!

Pins, Photos and Videos... my Conversation w/Lezley Davidson

I was recently interviewed by Artist and Artist consultant Lezley Davidson.  I was really excited when Lezley asked to speak with me because when I was really starting to zero in and focus on my art Lezley's podcast was one of the first podcasts centered around art that I began listening to to me this was a big deal!
In this interview, Lezley and I discuss art (of course!) politics and my new project around Pelle Pelle jackets! It's just a little over an hour so open a new tab on your computer and zone out while you get some work done.

More details here.

Becoming Great

So I realized that I never got a chance to share with you the work I created for an exhibition I participated in a little bit ago. Yikes! My bad... I can't believe I didn't tell you! Are we not homies?!

Anyway, the show was called "In Bringing Forth"  and it was curated by Jen Tremblay at the Hyde Park Art Center.  The exhibition was about artists taking a step back from their everyday studio practice to create new artwork that serves as visual metaphors for the routine of art-making.

Since my medium is predominately photo and video, I created a rockumentary video piece I titled "Becoming Great" showing my art practice as I prepare for an exhibition with Terrain Exhibitions and the Chicago Artist Coalition.

I'm not going to lie, I sort of felt a little silly and narcissistic creating this work, but hey if performative film and photo works that feature me is a part of my practice well then...that's the work.

If you are interested check the video out here: 

Installation View of "Becoming Great" at Hyde Park Art Center

You will have to let me know what you think of this work, to me the work did work to be a marketing piece for myself, showing a behind the scenes life of an artist.. well at least my art you know. You might think of creating an about video of your own work. I think that would be cool, and if you need help. Holler at your girl!

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steph

Millennial Movie Night A Success

Hey yall!You might have remembered seeing my posts via social media and my blog here seeking submissions for Millennial Movie Night, a film program I curated in collaboration with the awesome people of Collected Voices and OpenTV. The point of Millennial Movie Night was to showcase films by... you guessed it Millennials! At first I had this idea to showcase the films of young filmmakers in the LGBTQ community but wasn't getting the amount of submissions I hoped for so I expanded to Millennials of all identities.

So boom, submission called, juried entries, sent out acceptance letter, planned the evening and here we are...Millennial Movie Night!

We presented films by:

Luis Mejico

Lukas Gondek

Hanna M. Owens

Layne Marie Williams

Free Spirit Media

and my dear friend and fellow artist Nathan Wright allowed me to use to video vignettes as intro transitions between my films.  Thanks Nathan!

I was very excited to screen these films, they were all well done and it I was inspired and excited to see what was next for these filmmakers. There are some really creative people in this world yall! The talent was energizing. Concluding the screen we even had a nice dialogue with some of the filmmakers and audience members! It was a great night.

The evening even received some press which was really rad and you can read about it here.

Now for some pictures:

A very shaky hand capturing the lovely @stephaniegraham intro'ing Millennial Movie Night with #collectedvoices @weareopentv #chicago #chicagofilm #independentfilm #comfortstationlogansquare #comfortstation #collectedvoicesfilmfestival

A photo posted by La Keisha Leek (@lakeishaleek) on Aug 24, 2016 at 6:30pm PDT

#MillennialMovieNight was a success!! I am super thankful to Collected Voices, @weareopentv and Raul from @comfort_station for rocking with me to create a space for young people to showcase their talents! Repost from @theanthro24 

A photo posted by 👻 Snapchat :yourgirlstephg (@stephaniegraham) on Aug 25, 2016 at 3:13pm PDT

We had a blast last night at @comfort_station! Thanks to #OpenTV #MillennialMovieNight and #CollectedVoices for featuring this amazing short film #FreeSpiritPRO

A photo posted by Free Spirit Media (@freespiritchi) on Aug 25, 2016 at 8:54am PDT

On another note, I'm really getting into film programming, its a real treat and blessing to give other filmmakers and creatives platforms to showcase their work, because as you know.. its hard yall LOL! Anyhoo  Millennial Movie Night rocked!Until the next event...Thanks for reading!! 

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Millennial Movie Night: Call for Submissions

Happy August Guys and Gals!!
I get really excited when a new month begins on a Sunday or Monday. I pretty much geek out over it! Its like a hard reset and it gets me happy! So again I say...  Happy AUGUST!!

ANYWAY!
Im excited to present that I am working with Comfort Film, OpenTV and Collected Voices Ethnographic Film Festival to present Millennial Movie Night, which will be a juried screening held August 24th at Comfort Station in Logan Square.

Submissions are currently open through August 10 and you can submit your film here: http://bit.ly/MMNSubmit.

Only two things before you submit:
1. Filmmaker must be between the ages of 16-25
2. The film can NOT exceed 20 minutes of film time 

If you are interested or know someone that you think would be perfect, please encourage them to submit.

I'm really excited about August, this screening and some hot Chicago weather, because soon enough.. it will be cold again.

Oh and BTW in case you are interested , here are some details about my super rad partners Open TV and Collected Voices: 

About Opentv:Open TV is a platform for indie arts and artists. We incubate art and artists commercial television studios and networks cannot develop consistently. We believe television is an art but must also showcase different types of art outside of the competition format we see on reality TV. We believe television must be open to diverse identities and their experiences, so we are committed to developing work from artists most often left out of commercial production: queer, trans, and cis-women and people of color. All Open TV artists keep their intellectual property and distribution agreements are non-exclusive.

About Collected Voices:Collected Voices centers around original ethnographic works that explore the intersection of race, age, class, gender, and sexuality within Chicago society. Explored through short and feature length films from Chicago based artists, these stories capture the voices of individuals and communities. Thematic screenings held during October will create a space for viewing and discussion of narratives from underrepresented ethnic and cultural groups; often excluded from major theatrical & digital release. These films are curated to not only highlight the work of Chicago based filmmakers, but expand our understanding of ethnography, and the diverse experiences of Chicago citizens.

I'm excited to see what ya'll have been making so thanks in advance for submitting, and thank you for spreading the word.

FREE Screening of The Black Kid Table Tomorrow!

Welcome to Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! 

If you are around tomorrow evening my film The Black Kid Table will be screening along with five other short films that played during The Black Harvest film festival last fall.

The program begins at 5pm at Douglass Library on 3353 W. 13th street.

The screening is free, and refreshments will be served.

More details can be found here

I hope to see you.

Stephanie

Available Position : Strategy and Story Producer

I'm looking to ramp up the production of my project "So This One Guy" and to do that I need some help.

So.... I'm hiring..

If you know someone or maybe even you would be interested in being considered for this position.  Please send a email of interest and resume to stephanie@missgraham.com

I'm posting it here first, as its always great to start within your own network before I move outside to social media.

Here are the details, and thanks for your help:
Stephanie

Strategy and Story Producer, So This One Guy

Stephanie Graham Studio

I am hiring a Event Director to assist me with producing 2 Storytelling Events within a 12 week period.

You will be a point of contact for vendors, venues and subjects. A Vibrant and welcoming personality is a must. You also must be smart, quick and really organized.  I need a great person in this role. I believe in family, community and teamwork but overall this is your department and you are the Boss.

Payment: TBD  but will be based on producing and the completion of  2 storytelling events within a 12 week deadline

1. Scout and Book Venue Locations

2. Select Day of Event

3. Arrange a “subject call” posting via social media channels, and other sources to gather prospective talent to share stories 

4. Correspond with prospective talent answering questions that they might have 

    *some of this correspondence will need me to answer directly and I am perfectly okay with that I just need you to 

     be able to be a point person for  this .

5.Schedule talent

    *Day Before Event Stephanie will send out the final email so that it is more personal, 

     it would be the producers responsibility  to send Stephanie the final time slot schedule to include in final email

6.Book Film Crew+ AV Team and correspond with them production details

7.Assist with Promotion and Marketing Strategy

8.Day of Event: Wrangle Talent, assisting with check in

9.Arrange Food and Drink

10.Manage and oversee production assistants

11. Keep the budget and make sure vendors and crew are paid

12. Be available for a weekly checkin with Stephanie to touch base on progress of even

Please send resumes to stephanie@missgraham.com

Art Forms in Flux

Art Forms in Flux Saturday, April 16, 2016 7pm-10pm Hairpin Arts Center 2810 N. Milwaukee Chicago IL 60618 Claire Ashley, Jovanka Azyadet, Ilena Ferrer & Michelle Prevost, Sarah Goldberg & Alexander Mauney, Stephanie Graham, Kelly Lloyd, Ryan Thompson, Galina Shevchenko, and Hillary Wiedemann Two Lights Theatre Company and Hairpin Arts Center are pleased to announce Art Forms in Flux. Inspired by the script for their upcoming production of State Park, by Chicago playwright Aaron Weissman, this unique program invites seventeen artists (aka Fluxists) to be in residence at Hairpin Arts Center for two weeks as they develop original work in response to the text. Art Forms in Flux is curated by Amanda Roscoe Mayo, produced by Daniel Dvorkin and Matthew Olson, and is funded by a collaborative project grant given to Two Lights Theatre Company and the Logan Square Chamber of Arts/Hairpin Arts Center from The Chicago Community Trust.  *Individual tickets will be available at the door for $10 or by visiting twolightstheatre.com. Series tickets will be available, including admission to the full-production of State Park to be produced in the fall of 2016. Amanda Roscoe Mayo is a Curator of Contemporary Culture working independently in Chicago. She is the founder and Co-Director of Studio 3325 an artist-in-residence program in Logan Square and art critic for SFAQ. In addition to the visual arts Mayo is a Production Director for Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) and music journalist at Consequence of Sound.

NEWGLOBALMATRIARCHY Film Screening and Brainstorming Session

Join Oya and Lakshmi for a film screening featuring women of color artists and filmmakers followed by a brainstorming session exploring#NewGlobalMatriarchy (what does it mean, what is its language, what is its visual culture, how does it become manifest?)

Featuring videos by: Stephanie Durán Castillo, Marisa Williamson, and Elizabeth Webb

Acre TV's Studio, 4th Floor of Mana Contemporary in Pilsen
Light snacks and refreshments will be served. Floor seating, so bring a pillow if you want.

Please be advised: some films contain mature content and might be triggering to certain individuals. Please email globalmatriarch@gmail.com with any questions. 

For those of you who are out of town, this event will be live streamed atwww.acretv.org and you can participate via twitter by tweeting @globalmatriarch

http://www.acretv.org/newglobalmatriarchy-stephanie-graham-and-maya-mackrandilal/

#NEWGLOBALMATRIARCHY on ACRETV.org

My collaborator Maya Mackrandilal and I are the goddesses Lakshmi and Oya and we are heading the #NewGlobalMatriarchy.  In this new work #TheNewGlobalMatriarchy will be presenting poetry, music, and critiques on on AcreTV "The Set Speaks" and 24/7 live feed on AcreTv.org this week March 7-13th

We hope you tune and can drop by some of the activities we have planned!! If not you can always tweet Lakshmi!

GRLTLK!! New Collaboration!

I'm not a radio host, but I will be this Thursday night with my new hommie and coLABorator Fatima Ally with our show GRLTLK.  Fatima and I met through CoLAB a collaborative project between communities of Latina Bloggers Connect, AltSummit and Blogalicious encouraging people to create something new, the project could be big or small it was totally up to us. 

I was super excited to be connected to Fatima! Fati, is a fashion blogger from Nebraska and a fellow brown girl! YES!! Fatima and I spent lots of time texting and emailing about what we are into but with her recent interest in radio we decided our Collaboration would be a show.

So Fati and I present to you GRLTLK on the new social network BLAB.IM.  If you haven't checked out Blab, you should its like a video chat app and its really great! I've been "blabbing" for about 3 months and I have found it to be a great collaboration tool and I have met alot of great people in social media and creative communities. 

Fatima and I are excited to hang out to talk, fashion, blogging and navigating adulthood! We have asked stylist Qween Samone to join the conversation and I am inviting you to come hang out with us too! All you need to log onto Blab is a Twitter account and you can sign up by clicking here.

Hope you can make it Thursday January 28 @ 8pm CST !  

My Very First Festival is Complete!

The very first AudioGraham Music Video festival went off without a hitch!! Whooo hooo!! Check out some photos of us setting up and the directors on my facebook fan page. I'm so thankful to all the directors, and Comfort Station for allowing me to have my first festival there!

If you missed the festival, I got your back because you can see the festival here:

Oh and of course a few more photos:

I'm already making plans for next year! Im so excited!!

Thanks for reading!