Dreamweaver Marketing Associateds News, RAISIN' CANE: A HARLEM RENAISSANCE ODYSSEY STARRING JASMINE GUY & THE AVERY SHARPE TRIO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Director of Public Relations, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org
Diana Roth, Communications Manager, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

Images available at:Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Press Room
Search name: 2015 RAISIN’ CANE 

THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST ANNOUNCES

RAISIN' CANE: A HARLEM RENAISSANCE ODYSSEYSTARRING JASMINE GUY & THE AVERY SHARPE TRIO

HISTORICAL DRAMA HONORS 20^TH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICANSAND THEIR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ARTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015 | 7:30PM | BYHAM THEATER

Pittsburgh, PA— The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces the Pittsburgh premiere of Raisin’ Cane: A Harlem Renaissance Odyssey, starring Jasmine Guy and The Avery Sharpe Trio, which will be performed on Thursday, April

16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.  This event is part of the Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  The creative concept for this production was inspired by the classic 1923 Jean Toomer novel "Cane" and works by the musicians, composers, poets and actors of the Harlem Renaissance.  The Arizona Daily Star said, “Cane is a sweet salute to Harlem’s glory days” and the Dayton Daily News wrote the performance was “Lively, informative, motivating and entertaining…”

Tickets ($25-$50) are available online at www.TrustArts.org, by calling 412-456-6666, or in person at the Theater Square Box Office, 655 Penn Avenue.  Groups of 10 or more, please visit TrustArts.org or call 412-471-6930.

In the American Black community, during the years leading up to the Harlem Renaissance, there was a sense of building artistic expression.  Outlets and avenues for its poets, musicians, novelists, artists and actors were few.  But in 1918, as the first great World War concluded and thousands of African-American soldiers returned home victorious, this mountain of artistic expression was now ready to explode.

The words and thoughts of Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and many others, became the voice of a new generation of African-Americans, looking forward but still struggling with the past and present.  These thoughts, songs, and images are woven into a panoramic experience that spans this extraordinary outpouring of artistic endeavor.  Raisin’ Cane is a window on this critical point in our history.

Starring the award winning actress, singer, and dancer Jasmine Guy, a modern day Griot, and the acclaimed Avery Sharpe Trio, Raisin’ Cane celebrates and honors the legendary voices of the Harlem Renaissance through text, song, music, movement, and imagery.  Raisin' Cane was written and conceived by Harry Clark with adaptation by Jasmine Guy and original musical score by Avery Sharpe. Production design was created by Gregg Bellon, with theatrical projection design by Daniel Foster.  The show is directed by Dan Guerro and produced by Jade Enterprises LLC.

Jasmine Guy has a regular presence on film, television, and stage.  She was the star of the Bill Cosby spin-off A Different World for which she won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards.   Recent television work includes The Vampire Diaries, Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and Dead Like Me.  A former dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she has also appeared in a range of Broadway and national productions including Chicago, Grease, and The Wiz. On film, she starred in Spike Lee’s School Daze, as well as in Harlem Nights, and Stompin at the Savoy.  Her collaborations over the years, from Bill Cosby to Spike Lee to Kenny Leon to the Atlanta Ballet, show her to be a multi-faceted star.  Ms. Guy is not only recognized as an accomplished actress, singer, and comedienne, but also as a director, writer and speaker.

Avery Sharpe is considered one of the greatest Jazz bassists of his generation.  He has performed and toured with many of the world’s top jazz musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Bobby McFerrin, Pay Metheny and others.  Sharpe’s extraordinary composition skills are on display in Raisin’ Cane.  His exceptional works have been performed in every musical configuration from orchestras to the Grammy Award winning jazz recordings of Michael Brecker and McCoy Tyner. For performances of Raisin’ Cane, Mr. Sharpe is joined by the renowned percussionist Kevin Sharpe and acclaimed jazz violinist Diane Monroe.

To watch a video clip of Raisin’ Cane, visit: https://vimeo.com/102130750.

Pittsburgh Cultural TrustThe Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest landmasses curated by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Cultural Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts. For more information, visit TrustArts.org.

Follow us on Twitter @CulturalTrust, and like us on Facebook.

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DreamweaverMarketingNews, RAY DAY CALLIOPE’S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

RAY DAY

CALLIOPE’S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

(Pittsburgh, PA)- Calliope welcome to The Roots Cellar at The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Friday, April 17, 2015 from 6:00-10:00 PM

More information is available online at www.calliopehouse.org or by contacting the Calliope office at (412) 361-1915.Tickets are $50 *plus handling fee.

This Calliope Annual Fundraiser is in honor of Ray Werner, past president and frequent contributor to Calliope. Ray is an ex-ad man and agency owner, responsible for such gems as “You’ve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania.” Since retiring from the ad business, he has become Pittsburgh’s own renaissance man: bread baker extraordinaire, musician, playwright, filmmaker, artist, teacher, volunteer, and trailblazer.

So please join us! Enjoy live music provided by the members of Hooley and other Pittsburgh acoustic music luminaries. Also included in the ticket price: good brew, fine wine, soda, and top-notch food. Don’t miss the acoustic music event of the year! And support a great cause to boot.

Ray Werner was born in 1938 in Freedom, PA, in a house on the side of a hill, and raised in a loving family by Chuck and Pauline Werner, the two most memorable people in his life.  The stories he tells -- in plays, films or music -- had their beginning at their kitchen table.

After a stint in the Army in Alaska, Ray graduated from Duquesne University in 1964 and studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Then copywriting grabbed him, and he eventually became creative director at Pittsburgh’s largest ad firm, Ketchum, where he wrote and produced campaigns for H. J. Heinz, Alcoa, National Geographic, the telephone company, PA Tourism and others.  His “You’ve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania” was recently named the most memorable ad campaign in Pittsburgh's history.

In 1986 Ray started his own agency, with clients like Mellon Bank, UPMC and PA State Tourism.  A good while back, he sold the agency to pursue other writing, other projects.  In 2003 Ray was elected into the American Ad Federation Hall of Fame. He had a good run, and is still running, as a writer and consultant.  His business card reads, “Writer, Baker, Music Maker.”

A filmmaker, Ray wrote and produced the film “Tommy and Me,” that was part of the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Narratives feature film celebrating Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday. 

Ray is a playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild.  His short play, “Night Song,” was selected for the 2009 Source Festival in Washington, D.C., His trilogy “Elder Hostages” had a staged reading in 2011 at the Hazlett Theater in Pittsburgh and The Theater in the District in Cape Town, South Africa.  It premiered at the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater in The Cultural District. He has had three one-acts in their annual Black and White Festival, and his “Redneck Revenge” was named audience favorite. His full-length play, Christmas Star, premiered in December, 2014, and featured the new song “Christmas Takes Me Back,” co-written with singer, songwriter Mike Gallagher.

Ray plays the anglo concertina and is a founding member of Hooley, Pittsburgh's first Irish traditional music group.  Two of his songs were recorded by the late Frank Patterson, one of Ireland's greatest tenors.

He was first Chairperson of Anne Mullaney's Friends for Haiti, a campaign that built two schools in Delandes, Haiti, managed by Partners in Progress, in memory of the incomparable Anne.

Ray is past President of the Board of the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater (PICT), and Calliope, Pittsburgh’s Folk Music Society.  Ray was awarded the first Spirit Award by PICT in 2013. He’s a former board member of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Leadership Board of The Pittsburgh Symphony, The Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh, and others.  He serves on the Marketing Committee of the Pittsburgh History Center and the board of The Magic Woods.

Ray and wife Susan have been blessed to help their St. Bede Parish build Our Lady of Apostles school in Uganda, which they visited in 2007.  And worked with Anne Mullaney's Friends for Haiti to build two new school buildings in Delandes, Haiti, managed by Partners in Progress, in memory of the incomparable Anne.

His most important community effort today is “Helping Cancer Patients Make Ends Meet,” inspired by his late brother Larry Werner.  He invites you to check out Larry’s Legacy at thepittsburghfoundation.com.

Ray is a serious home bread baker and a member of The Bread Bakers Guild of America.  His first community brick oven is in Braddock, PA and he hopes others will follow. He participated in the Mattress Factory's Gestures exhibit with his art installation, "Bricks and Bread."  In September, 2014, with fellow baker Rich Jones, they conducted a brick oven building workshop at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA, where they’ll be teaching classes on how to use a brick oven.

Ray and his Susan received an AIA Award for the restoration of The No. 7 Engine Company in the Strip (Architect, John Martine). They helped pioneer the first organic farmer’s market in Pittsburgh, Farmers @ Firehouse, now in its fourteenth season. 

They have four children and five grandchildren and live in Point Breeze, near St. Bede Parish, where Susan serves on various committees and Ray sings in their magnificent choir.

_________________________________________________________________________

Founded in 1976, Calliope is a non-profit music organization that organizes and administers a variety of concert series, a folk music school, and educational outreach programs.  As the premier promoter of roots music in southwestern Pennsylvania, Calliope’s mission is to promote and preserve traditional and contemporary heritage-based music and its allied arts.  Calliope programs are supported in part by the A.W. Mellon Education and Charitable Trust Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, The Allegheny County sales tax revenues awarded by the Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Heinz endowments, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, University of Pittsburgh Library System, and an anonymous donor. Calliope also thanks the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Chatham University.

-- 
Lisa Alexander, MFA
PR Marketing Manager 
Calliope
6300 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412-361-1915
www.calliopehouse.org

Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, New and Noteworthy Books, "FOLLY OF MARKETING PLAN IN YOUR HEAD"

"Folly of the Marketing Plan in Your Head” truly will give you a 101 Reasons to Write One. And the K.I.S.S. List will make it simple for you. There are even downloadable templates to help you keep track of your information. You will learn where to start with goals and self evaluation. Both very important tools because if you don't know where you are going, you will never figure out how to get there. 

There are important lessons about 
• defining your product 
• whose needs it will satisfy 
• how to get your message out to them. 

In simple laymen's terms you will also learn 
• how to determine your best customer
• your target market 
• and your pricing strategy--the lost component of marketing.

In addition included are lessons on 
• super data and how it can help you to segment your market, 
• how to utilize long term evaluations of your sales results progress 
• and ways to eliminate your customers’ obstacles in doing business with you. 

This book covers everything from social media, customer appreciation and of course the personal touch. Come away with multiple ways to "touch" your clients so that you are "first on their mind" and their money is "in your bank account." 

Important Take Away from this book:
• Why you need a written marketing plan
• What you will learn about your business in the process of writing your marketing plan
• How writing and then implementing your plan will increase your bottom line sales and profit
• How to use your market data to keep your business fresh, growing and sustainable
• Resources that will help you with your marketing plan and in your business

Author and publisher, Joyce Faulkner says, "It's a quick read but you will go back many times to read again and garner more in depth information."

Folly of Marketing Plan in Your Head, 101 Compelling Reasons to Write One with K.I.S.S. List [Kindle Edition]

Joanne Quinn-Smith (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Kindle Price:

$4.99

If you would like your book featured here, contact publisher 

Joanne Quinn-Smith at 412-444-5197 or CONACT