Our Journal
Our record and approach for reflection so that we can learn from our experiences and use them as lessons that we can apply towards future projects.
We invite you to use it as a source for inspiration.
You’ll find content covering our past and current projects to resources for artists and nonprofits.
LOOM:FIELD by BANDALOOP at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History
LOOM is a trilogy of large-scale, outdoor public vertical dance pieces directed by BANDALOOP Artistic Director Melecio Estrella that deepens and challenges our perspective on the art and industry of textiles. Bringing together a collective of performing artists, climate scientists, regenerative textile artists, a visual technologist, and creative riggers, the evening-length piece turns a building’s façade into a giant loom where stories and dances interlace. The result of this multi-layered collaboration is spoken word, vertical dance, fabric manipulation, film segments, and original music. As vertical dance is a form that relies on state-of-the-science woven nylon climbing ropes, LOOM locates BANDALOOP’s core technical framework in a textile lineage.
The Land of Milk and Honey Exhibition
The Land of Milk and Honey is a traveling multidisciplinary arts and culture program focused on the ideological concept of agriculture in the regions of California and Mexico.
STS9 at the Quarry Amplitheather
Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) is an instrumental band whose sound is based heavily on instrumental rock and electronic music, funk, jazz, drum and bass, psychedelia, and hip hop, originating in Georgia, United States. Self-described as "post-rock dance music,"[3] the band mixes standard live rock instrumentation with electronics, favoring group rhythm over individual solos.
Acclaimed Singer-songwriter Carla Morrison at the Quarry Amphitheater
Noise Pop and The Quarry Amphitheater Present: El Renacimiento Tour with Carla Morrison
Centennial celebration of La Mesa del Santo Niño de Atocha y Virgen De San Juan De Los Lagos
Centennial celebration of La Mesa del Santo Niño de Atocha y Virgen De San Juan De Los Lagos. La Mesa del Santo Niño de Atocha was founded in 1922 by General de Conquista Ernesto Ortiz Ramirez and is now led by Capitana Maria Mercedes Lopez Ortiz..
ABOLITION. FEMINISM. NOW. W/ ANGELA DAVIS, GINA DENT, ERICA MEINERS, AND BETH RICHIE
As a politic and a practice, abolition increasingly shapes our political moment—halting the construction of new jails and propelling movements to divest from policing. Yet erased from this landscape are not only the central histories of feminist—usually queer, anti-capitalist, grassroots, and women of color—organizing that continue to cultivate abolition but a recognition of the stark reality: abolition is our best response to endemic forms of state and interpersonal gender and sexual violence.
Pamela Z at the Rio Theater
Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real-time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, and sampled concrete sounds.
Nishat Khan and David Murray in concert at the Rio Theater
This event was part of Surge: Explorations in Afrofuturism, a multidimensional and transcultural month-long festival on Afrofuturism spearheaded by composer/performer Karlton Hester, choreographer Gerald Casel, and artist Aaron Samuel Mulenga. Afrofuturism is a global artistic and social movement, intent on imagining a world where African-descended peoples and cultures can live and flourish. For Surge, an extended program of music and dance performances, film screenings, and discussions will bring together artists and thinkers to creatively engage Afrofuturist strategies for liberation and the restructuring of society free of racism
NOT ABOUT RACE DANCE
A special performance, in collaboration with GERALDCASELDANCE and featuring an all-BIPOC dance ensemble, titled: Not About Race Dance— a collaborative, choreographic response to the unacknowledged racial politics in U.S. postmodern dance. This event is part of Surge: Explorations in Afrofuturism, a multidimensional and transcultural month-long festival on Afrofuturism.
Strange Weather at Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History
Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation features contemporary art works which illuminate and reframe the boundaries of bodies and the environment. The artworks included in the exhibition span five decades, from 1970-2020, and are drawn together for how they creatively call attention to the impact and history of forced migrations, industrialization, global capitalism, and trauma on humans and the contemporary landscape.
Glenn Ligon at Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery
Concurrent with Strange Weather, a capsule exhibition of the works of Glenn Ligon from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation will be on view at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at UC Santa Cruz.
Just Futures
Just Futures, a highly anticipated exhibition featuring the works of Arthur Jafa, Martine Syms, and Black Quantum Futurism, curated by Professor T.J. Demos, History of Art and Visual Culture, opens at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery February 1- March 19, 2022.
Climate Futures
The project was entitled Climate Futures. ComEd invited a group of roughly 30 youth from Bronzeville to participate in a future-visioning program, inspired by techniques used by professional futurists. They dreamed up social and technological inventions that respond to climate change in ingenious and resourceful ways through the project.
Culture, once considered exclusive to humans, turns out to be widespread in nature.
Our love for ornithology, biomimicry, and design lead us to discover the sociable weaver's communal nesting habits. This research has worked as the source of our inspiration for evaluating and helping to grow ample community spaces. This New York Times article sheds light on other species with culture that we can learn from and use as models.
Mayor Lightfoot, DCASE, AND Chicago Park District Announce “ARTS 77”
"Before the pandemic struck, our arts and culture sector was a significant employer and economic driver that generated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars for our city," said Mayor Lightfoot. "With this incredible program, we will not only be able to revitalize this critical sector and provide support to our artists, creative workers, and organizations, but also place the arts at the center of our city’s recovery efforts.”
Join our nest.
We are always interested in learning about organizations and artists that are doing the work, making a difference, and taking control over their own narratives. We are continuously seeking to work with those that are doing their part to make history and shape the future for the better.