About this Event
Gateway Performance Productions in association with the Little Five Points Community Center invites you to Join "Baba Ayi", Lakeem Winborne Bey for an afternoon of original poetry and healing sounds. This fusion of jazz, sound compositions and spoken word are sure to uplift and soothe. Lakeem specializes in blending orginal spiritually and culturally uplifting poetry with jazz. He is join by musicans Justin "Music from the Heart" Clay and Dillio.
Free Parking in the lots adjacent to L5PCC
ARTIST BIOS
Lakeem Winborne
In August of 2023, the High Museum of Art where he is also a teaching artist featured Lakeem in the Seeing With Spirit Gallery Conversation highlighting the Winged Isis Pectoral by an artist from Ancient Nubia. Other credits include performing for tLhe Atlanta Jazz Festival's Jazzoetry, in honor of the legendary Last Poets, events hosted by extraordinary Atlanta based poets Kenneth Zakee, Patrick "The Preacher Man" Duncan and Felton Eddy. Lakeem performs annually for the Loving Rose Bates Gospel Concert to benefit Leukemia & Lymphoma patients as well as the Samuel H. Johnson Scholarship Foundation. In service to Atlanta Public Schools’ E. Rivers Elementary School he co-hosted the Black History Month program “The Spirit of Sankofa”. He has spoken and presented in a variety of settings incorporating the arts, cultural, social, political and spiritual themes. Presently he is senior member of the Acupuncture Detox Collective ATL, a leader in the local chapter of the African Wholistic Health Association (AWHA) and a member of the Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) Action Network. Lakeem enjoys curating art shows for the galleries at Atlanta’s Ebrik Coffee Room and Auburn Avenue Research Library.
Lakeem’s mark in both the worlds of art and education can be experienced from Florida to Vermont. He has exhibited artwork at Florida A&M University, Florida State University, City Hall of the City of Tallahassee, The Uhuruerien House of St. Petersburg, FL, as well as Atlas Theater of Washington, DC. He served as artist-in-residence at the noted Capitol Hill public charter school Two Rivers. While in this position he coordinated the student exhibition of the Framing the Future annual benefit gala and participated in the professional exhibition contributing his artwork for sale and auction.
Lakeem is a Teaching Artist at The Michael C. Carlos Museum and the Bremen Museum, Fulton County Schools’ Teaching Museum. He has been the robotics coach at Robotic Explorers, Amana Academy, and ILM Academy. He is also an independent art curator whose most notable exhibition was Brotherman: Unleashing the Black Imagination at Auburn Avenue Research Library of African American Culture and History. The body of work from this exhibition was created by Emmy Award-winning animator Dawud Anyabwile and is now in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Also, as an independent curator he is the creator of the Art of African Liberation exhibition. A dedicated father, he is known to his children and grandchildren as “Baba” and on stage and in the cultural community as “Baba Ayi”. He is the creator of the Power of Poetry program and STEAM with Lakeem! During the Summer of 2020 he led the first virtual camp offered by the Micheal C. Carlos Museum’s Camp Carlos entitled Mythatronics! A STEAM camp fusing The Ramayana, visual arts, storytelling and robotics.
According to Lakeem: “My spiritual journey has taken me through and into many spaces and helped me be present to my connection with all beings. As a child I was raised Christian, primarily Baptist then African Methodist Episcopal. Although Christian, my parents were very open spiritually. They introduced me to people and places of varying spiritual backgrounds. My father is a Master of Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do and subsequently introduced me to meditation at a very early age. As a youth I began to question everyone and everything. This led me on a quest to find my ancestors’ “original” religious or spiritual practices. This quest took me through several religions and spiritual communities, doctrines and practices. One that resonated with me was the study of the Neters (Net-chers) (also known by other names) or the spiritual system of Ancient Kemet (Egypt). Which is the system originally founded by the people from the region where Nubia is located. I became connected with the Ausar Auset Society and others that studied and practiced this system. Through a priest in this order I was given “destiny” reading and the name “Ayi (Ah-yee) Sen-Sen Ari (Ah-ree) Maa (Mah-ah). The Arts, particularly visual arts, is as much a part of me and my journey as it is a part of the Neters.”
Justin Clay
Justin "Heart Clay" Clay is the founder of Music From the Heart Fine Arts (Peachtree City/Fairburn), specializing in: music program development and consultation, live band performances, sound rental/setup, musican referral service, music lessons and workshops, and instrument sales. Justin also serves as a Board Member/ Director for Pianos for Peace, which is one of the largest art displays in Atlanta. He serves as Co Conductor of Atlanta's historically first black orchrestra, "The African American Philharmonic Orchrestra." Justin is a Morehouse Man, Speaker, and Well Renowned accomplished keyboardist/ organist. Locations: 100 Milllbrook Village Tyrone, GA 30290 and 7000 Rivertown Rd. Fairburn, GA 30213
https://jmfth.square.site/about
Dillio
Dillio is an electrifying R&B/Trapsoul solo artist hailing from Flint, Michigan and now residing in Atlanta, GA. With a musical background rooted in his family and early education, Dillio's talents were soon recognized with a placement on Krazie Bone's "Gemini good vs. evil" album. Fusing elements of Alternative R&B, Electronic, Soul, Neo-Soul, and Future R&B, Dillio creates a sound that is soulful and enticing, combining a silky-smooth, classic sound with innovative production. He draws inspiration from a diverse array of influences, including Deep Forest, Enigma, Timbaland, as well as his cousin Steven Buckner, a Classical composer. Dillio is also active on YouTube, where he shares his musical expertise and inspires the next generation of artists with both his technical production knowledge and by sharing his own creative output. Dedicated to spreading his one-of-a-kind musical style, Dillio's aim is to continue delivering exceptional music to audiences through fresh releases and electrifying live shows.
http://www.facebook.com/dilliot2kmusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/dilliot2k
VISUAL ART -- Masks & Scupture
Before or after the performance we invite you to view and enjoy visual art created by Gateway artisits.
Indoors -- View an exhibit of the company's museum quality theatrical masks created by Gateway's resident mask maker Michael Hickey for productions created by Producing Artistic Director Sandra Hughes. The have been featured in productions that have toured throughout Europe and North America.
Outdoors -- Visit the 10 foot tall, hand-carved totemic sculpture installed on the grounds of the L5PCC -- a tribute to women of all ages and the phases of the moon created by Michael Hickey, Walter Stark and Sandra Hughes.
Gateway's programming is made possible in part through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Fulton County Commissioners with guidance from Fulton County Arts and Culture, Fulton County Community Programming and the City of Atlanta through the Mayor's Office of cultural Affairs and Individual contributions.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mask Center, 1083 Austin Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, United States
USD 0.00