Studio Saturday with Imani Gonzalez
Art-Play-Practice Workshop & Open Play
Telling Your Story Through the Beat of Jazz with Imani Gonzalez
Join us for an end-of-year celebration of music, creativity, and community led by renowned artist Imani Gonzalez. Inspired by Sam Gilliam’s deep love of music, Imani invites participants to explore the history, rhythm, and storytelling traditions of the blues through music, call-and-response, and collaborative songwriting. Together, participants will create an original blues song inspired by their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. We’ll learn, rehearse, and perform the song as a group before transitioning into open play throughout the gallery.
All are welcome, suitable for ages 10 and up. No musical experience is necessary. Materials are provided.
Workshop: 1-2 pm
Art-Play-Practice Open Play: 2-3 pm
Studio Saturdays will return starting Saturday February 6, featuring Isaiah Aladejobi—we look forward to seeing you then!
About Imani Gonzalez
Imani Gonzalez is an international and national professional jazz/world vocalist. Her voice is featured on many of the National Geographic Television’s Explorer Series soundtracks, including the Emmy-nominated film Jane Goodall: My Life with Chimpanzees. Imani has had the honor of performing, touring, and recording with such renowned artists as Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for eight consecutive years. Since 2016 Imani has been a Fellowship grant recipient of the DC Arts & Humanities Commission. Imani is a Teacher Artist-Consultant with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington Performing Arts (WPA), Focus 5, and other National Art Organizations. She has also been Artistic Director for the DCPS Teacher Ensemble, Sawubona, for four years. Since 1987, Imani has held the distinction of being the first and only American who toured, recorded, and performed with the genuinely traditional Ghanaian ensemble ODADAA. She has written two children’s world music books with compact discs entitled Dhimiki and Iyipo Ayé which have received rave reviews from universities, libraries, teachers and students. The Washington Post has called Imani “One of the most important vocalists of all times.”
