Partner Digital Presentation
Grow Glow Go: The Sankofa of Black Dance
In Dialogue with Cleo Parker Robinson and Neil Barclay
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iabdassociation.org
Choreographer, dance pioneer and visionary Cleo Parker Robinson joins her friend Neil Barclay, President and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum, for a wide-ranging conversation about the complexities of Black identity in dance.
Those tuning in are invited to ask questions and participate in the discussion.
Part of Cleo Parker Robinson’s Digital Artist Residency with UMS, this special event is part of Open Space, an artist connectivity series devoted to addressing pressing issues in the field of dance, and is presented in partnership with The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), the Charles H. Wright Museum, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Sheffield Global Arts Management, and KMP Artists.
Biographies
Cleo Parker Robinson
Choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson is a cultural ambassador and the founder, artistic director, and choreographer of the 50-year-old Denver-based company Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. As a Black artmaker, social activist, and community leader, she has been recognized with the Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence, the Kennedy Center Medal of Honor, and countless other awards and citations for her contributions to the dance community. Robinson will explore themes of multiculturalism, Mexican indigenous culture, immigration, and the legacy of Black dance through this residency, and her process will be documented in a short film directed by award-winning filmmaker, Alan Dominguez.
Neil Barclay
In January of 2019, Barclay was selected to lead the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History as its president and CEO. A former attorney, Barclay was most recently executive director and CEO of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. During his five-year tenure, the institution’s budget increased by more than 40 percent including lead gifts from the nation’s major art philanthropists.
Barclay’s experience also includes seven years of service as associate director of the Performing Arts Center for the University of Texas at Austin and service as founding president and CEO of Pittsburgh, PA.’s August Wilson Center. Additionally, he was instrumental in capital development planning for Los Angeles’ Vision Theater, originally built by Howard Hughes for the city.
Barclay has demonstrated his personal commitment to art and culture as a peer panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, the Gerbode Foundation, and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. A leading national presenter of contemporary performing and visual arts, Barclay serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the regional arts organization South Arts.
He is currently a member of the College of Communications and Fine Arts Advisory Board for Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, his undergraduate and law school alma mater.
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