Your Creative Capital Holiday Gift Guide
If you’re like us, you are surrounded by art lovers, so the holidays are the perfect time to support the arts. We put together this special Creative Capital Gift Guide to give you some unique ideas about what to get your loved ones that enjoy the arts, whether it be music, film, literature, or live arts experiences!
As an added bonus, if you purchase these gifts through Amazon Smile, a percentage of what you spend will be donated to supporting Creative Capital. Everybody wins!
Song of the Shank
Jeffery Renard Allen’s #CCProject Song of the Shank has been in numerous year end lists for best books of 2014 including the New York Times and BuzzFeed! The novel tells the story of a real-life historical character Thomas Wiggins, who was a blind African-American known as one of the best pianists of his time.
Purchase
Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi with music by Vijay Iver
Vijay Iyer composed music for this spectacular documentary film depicting the amazing Holi Festival that takes place in Mathura, India, the mythic birthplace of Krishna.
Purchase
Epitome by Nick Cave
Nick Cave’s book Epitome documents and celebrates his most recent performance work, installations and sculptural “Soundsuits.” Published this year, the book is the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date.
Purchase
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
With the recent cultural issues in the Bay Area, Rebecca Solnit has been busy at work penning monthly articles and blog posts. Her 2001 work Wanderlust looks at the political nature of walking.
Purchase
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
For the poet-lover, check out this book of poems by Maggie Nelson: “A lyrical, philosophical, and often explicit exploration of personal suffering and the limitations of vision and love, as refracted through the color blue.”
Purchase
Genius of Marian DVD by Banker White
Filmmaker Banker White’s moving portrait of his mother as she copes with Alzheimer’s came out earlier this year as part of the PBS documentary series POV. The Boston Globe recently said that the documentary came “close to genius.”
Purchase the DVD
Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts’ book of essays on Harlem and black America is a very timely gift for people paying attention to the important civil rights events unfolding across the nation. Publishers Weekly says, “Rhodes-Pitts weaves a glittering living tapestry of snatches of overheard conversation, sidewalk chalk scribbles, want ads, unspoken social codes, literary analysis, studies of black slang–all if it held together with assurance and erudition.”
Purchase
Performances by The Team and Faye Driscoll in COIL 2015 at PS122 in New York, Jan. 2-10
“COIL is Performance Space 122’s annual performance festival that demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City featuring work created locally, across the US and around the world.”
You can purchase 5 tickets for $75 or 8 for $122.
Six Creative Capital Awardees Perform at American Realness Festival at the Abrons Art Center, Jan. 8-18
If you would like to attend Abrons Art Center’s sixth annual American Realness Festival, there are lots of #CCArtists performances to choose from: Miguel Gutierrez, luciana achugar, Tere O’Connor, Michelle Ellsworth, My Barbarian, and Neal Medlyn. Click here for more info on the shows.
New Work by Richard Maxwell (Jan. 8-10) and Miwa Matreyek (Jan. 29) at Walker Art Center’s Out There Festival in Minneapolis
If you live near Minneapolis, you cannot miss the Walker Art Center’s Out There Festival. The weekend event kicks off with Richard Maxwell’s world premiere of his play The Evening. “The Evening unfolds with monologue, fiction, and live music as the story itself transforms into a living, breathing, autonomous thing.”
Miwa Matreyek will also be performing her incredible This World Made Itself, “an enchanting blend of animation and live performance.”
Taylor Mac [also pictured at top] Performs A 24-Decade History of Popular Music at New York Live Arts (Jan. 13-25)
For the serious music fans, this sounds incredible: “Mac will emerge as a bedazzled creature, accompanied by a live band, dancing beauties and special guests, to present a performative ritual using popular music from the first half of the 20th Century.”
Click here for more info.
Ronald Brown Presents The Subtle One in Duke Performances at Duke University in Durham, NC (Feb. 20-21)
If you’re nearby North Carolina, you have to check out the world premier of choreographer Ronald Brown’s collaboration with jazz pianist Jason Moran. “This potent new work reflects on the presence of our ancestors and their profound impact on our lives.” Click here for more info and to purchase tickets.