NEA Big Read Kicks-Off With a Concert

POUGHKEEPSIE – Music for the ears, eyes, and soul – expect nothing less from the NEA Big Read Kick-Off Concert on Friday, October 6, at 7 pm. Joan Henry and her band, Spirited, provide an energetic ‘jazz-and-journey’ experience, offering jazz standards and original works touched by a Native American flair. Poets Molly McGlennen and Evan Pritchard will enrich the event with readings. The free concert will be held at the Boardman Road Branch Library, 141 Boardman Road in Poughkeepsie.

For this event, Joan Henry has composed a new work based directly on Joy Harjo’s poetry from the 2017 Big Read book selection, How We Became Human. This kick-off event is intended to introduce audiences to Harjo’s poetry through an immersive experience of spoken word, slide show, and music. Joy Harjo is an award-winning poet, a performer, professor, playwright, and musician.  She is from Oklahoma and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

As the key creative force for the evening, Joan Henry brings years of experience as a professional singer, dancer, writer, actor, composer, and actress, not to mention her leadership within the native community and mentorship of young people across the region.

The artists of Sprited, including Joan Henry, Gus Mancini, the Sultan of Sonic Soul, and Seneca pianist/Native flautist Dennis Yerry, have plenty of common ground – all are composers and performers in their own right, and all have worked with an impressive list of major players in the performing arts world.

This is the eleventh year that the Poughkeepsie Public Library District has coordinated a community-wide literature program. The NEA Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest and is intended to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

For more information visit www.poklib.org