With funding from the CAC Eastside Arts Alliance and Omnira Institute will collaborate in creating a staged work that interweaves African and African American ritual and traditions in music with contemporary Hip Hop dance and Spoken Word to create a ‘choreopoem,’ called ‘Answered Prayers.’ Created and performed in increments, the work will provide needed modern expression of the lived history and current condition of the black community culminating in a full performance lasting 90 minutes.
The EastSide Cultural Center is a multi-use theater, sound & visual arts studios, bookstore, gallery, and community archives with 16 units of affordable housing above. ESAA made history by being one of the only grassroots organizations of color, which owns and operates an independent community cultural center, free and clear of debt.
The EastSide Cultural Center presents free youth art classes, cultural programming, public art projects, ongoing gallery exhibitions, community town halls, and the annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival, currently in its 24th year. We work with numerous organizations and community groups to present hundreds of events every year. Additional programming includes a weekly open mic for poets; a theater residency program; and monthly documentary and feature film screenings contextualized by scholars and artists.

