Monday March 28 @7pm (EDT) – ONLINE

A complimentary virtual dialogue,  Art of Activism brings together community, performers, and patrons for a vital conversation centered on the themes of I AM ATL Woman. The dialogue will include experts such as Julie B. Johnson of Moving Our Stories, Yolanda Owens owner of iwi fresh, and Race and Equity, educator C. Yemanja Kennedy-Shaheed, with Giwayen Mata Co-Founder Sarahn Henderson, midwife and maternal wellness advocate, and Artistic Director Tambra Omiyale Harris.

Together, we celebrate Giwayen Mata’s 29th anniversary!

Swing by Java Lords or gather ingredients for our specialty drink G-I-N MATA (an African take on a gin cocktail featuring Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin, Ginger Beer, and Hibiscus syrup) for the virtual event kicked off with a clip of the filmed live performance.

While you do not have to have seen the show to attend the complimentary virtual event, we welcome all voices to connect our various intersections, share in commonalities, and celebrate  Giwayen Mata’s 29th anniversary.

Art of Activism brings together community experts, artists and patrons for a virtual brunch and vital conversation centered on the themes within Charmed Ones as we examine our role beyond the art. While you do not have to have seen the show to attend the complimentary event, we welcome all voices to join the VIP’s in connecting across our differences, share in commonalities, and explore the curiosity that initiates the question: How do we celebrate queer charm through resillience, politics and performance?

Liliana Bakhtiari is a lifelong Atlantan, a committed community activist, and the daughter of immigrants. Her experiences as a queer Muslim woman the South fueled her path to becoming a community leader, social justice advocate, and activist fighting for women and children’s health issues, environmental justice, and our unsheltered populations. Liliana spent much of her youth traveling the globe, practicing social advocacy, participating in a wide variety of cultural projects, including aiding refugees in building new homes, working with sex trafficking victims and volunteering at orphanages in a total of 26 countries around the world.

In Atlanta, Liliana has tackled initiatives locally including engaging suburban and rural voters during especially critical elections, direct services with unsheltered populations, blood drives, senior partnerships, public art initiatives (like a mobile art installation in the form of a Georgia school bus), and more. Liliana currently serves as a curator of the Atlanta-based art organization Black Futures Matter, while also serving on the boards of PEDS, Georgia Equality, and gloATL. Liliana is currently running for Atlanta City Council, and if elected, Liliana will be the first queer Muslim person elected in Georgia, and the first gender non-conforming person to serve on the Atlanta City Council.

Paul Conroy, the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Out Front Theatre Company, holds a BA in English/Writing with a Minor in Theatre from Long Island University, a MA in Directing from Roosevelt University, and is currently concluding a MFA in Directing from the University of Idaho. Originally from Boston, Paul has worked in artistic and management capacities for theatre companies around the greater Atlanta area such as the Alliance Theatre, Serenbe Playhouse and ART Station among others. Paul is also a playwright and his original musical, The Ethel Merman Disco Christmas Spectacular! premiered at Out Front Theatre Company in December of 2018. Paul also currently teaches courses in Theatre at Georgia State University.

Additionally, as a member of the City of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, Paul co-chairs the Arts, Culture and Entertainment subcommittee, and works directly with artists, community organizations and politicians to make the city of Atlanta a more inclusive and supportive place for all people. He has spoken on panels across metro Atlanta about the LGBTQ+ community, its history, and the role the arts have played in it. Outside of Atlanta, Paul has been featured in The New York Times and The Times of London speaking about the issue of prejudice facing the LGBTQ+ community and the backlash by some against free speech in theatre that focuses on these issues and stories.

Sean Dorsey is a San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer, writer, teaching artist and cultural activist. Recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has toured his work to more than 30 cities across the US and abroad – and taught with his explicitly trans-positive pedagogy in more than 35 cities.

Dorsey is a 2020 Doris Duke Artist and an inaugural Dance/USA Artist Fellow. He has been awarded five Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance. In 2019, he became the first openly transgender person on the cover of Dance Magazine. A longtime social practice artist, Dorsey creates his works over a period of several years in deep relationship with/in community. Dorsey is also the Founding Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions – now celebrating its 20th Anniversary Season! Fresh Meat Productions invests in the creative expression and cultural leadership of trans and gender-nonconforming communities.

Bentley Hudgins was given the Local Community Builder Award by Georgia Equality for their work in comprehensive civil rights in Macon-Bibb County, recognized by the Georgia Voice as the “Up & Coming LGBTQ+ Youth” at the 2018 Best of Atlanta Awards Ceremony and was a finalist for the 2019 awards for Best Activist.

Bentley serves as the Director of Macon Unity, a civic engagement coalition focused on intersectional advocacy, serves on the Advisory Council for the Georgia Chapter of the Campaign Workers Guild and is a former committee member of the Board of Directors for STAG VETS INC, the nation’s first Acute Veterans Crisis Agriculture center.

In collaboration with the Georgia Center for the Book and Decatur Library, 7 Stages presents

DYSPHORIA, or, Hormones Don’t Harm Trans People—People Do

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Join us for an evening of real talk, expert analysis, and storytelling with Scott Turner Schofield online March 3, 2021 7pm EST!

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Popular culture has told stories about transgender people that are negative and even defamatory for as long as it has told those stories—affecting how everybody sees trans people (and how trans people see themselves). Now this is changing, and trans people are rising to the spotlight in their own right, onscreen and off.

Atlanta-rooted actor and activist, longtime 7 Stages collaborator Scott Turner Schofield, was named a “trans influencer of Hollywood” by OUT Magazine, and has been involved behind the scenes and in front of the camera in this new wave of authentic storytelling. In this deeply personal speech, Scott describes the real-life impact of problematic media portrayals, and the powerful collective liberation of which his story is just one small part. The presentation will be followed by a Q & A.

Thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program, this event is inspired by Stephanie Burt’s Advice from the Lights. The complimentary collection of poetry is available at 7 Stages. We can arrange for a pick up, or delivery at your convenience.

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{ Accessibility: live captions will run on-screen during Schofield’s presentation }

Participants will have an enriched experience if they watch the Netflix documentary DISCLOSURE: Trans Lives On Screen.

Resources from our discussion:

Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps

Trans Lifeline

The Knights & Orchids Society

Crescent Care Gender Clinic

Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group

Emory Gender Clinic

Head Canvas – Inclusive Haircuts

PFLAG Atlanta