OneBeat 12

Buried Knowledge II
September 17 - October 14, 2023
OneBeat 12 will reflect on the connection between place and memory, examining how ancestral or “buried” knowledge can guide us in present and future times. As the second OneBeat cohort of 2023, OneBeat 12 will draw inspiration from community partners in the rural Southeastern U.S. who are dedicated to visioning futures by re-learning and honoring history, including everything from musical roots to food production to cultural organizing and economic systems.

OneBeat 12–Buried Knowledge examines the connections between place and memory and invites fellows to use music as a tool to unearth, revive and celebrate hidden or suppressed histories, traditions, and cultures.  OneBeat 12 Fellows will create original music that reveals buried knowledge, inspires deeper connection to diverse cultural heritage, and stronger appreciation for forgotten wisdom.  Fellows will work with renowned musicians and cultural leaders including Xenia Rubinos and Carlton Turner.

Moving into its second decade, OneBeat 12 builds on partnerships established during OneBeat 11 with The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (SIPP Culture) in Utica, Mississippi, PULP Arts recording studio and HOW BĀZĀR in Gainesville, Florida, and The Music Box Village in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“Through this expanded programmatic offering OneBeat hopes to build long lasting relationships with the many wonderful, creative, and innovative organizations, collectives and individuals who are shaping the future of art-making, community engagement and building more sustainable and healthy creative economies across the United States, “ says Kyla-Rose Smith, OneBeat Programs Director, “Through music, we hope to uncover stories and voices that have been marginalized or silenced and to create a space for cultural exchange and artistic innovation.”

The OneBeat 12 residency will be held at the Atlantic Center for Arts from September 18th to October 15th, 2023.  During the residency, fellows will collaborate on new music and participate in professional workshops and masterclasses in response to the program’s theme. Following the residency, the fellows will tour to Gainesville, FL, Jackson and Utica, MS and New Orleans, LA, where musicians will engage with diverse arts organizations– PULP Arts, HOW BĀZĀR, and the University of Florida’s Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship in Gainesville FL; SIPP Culture in Utica, MS, and more – to lead youth workshops and collaborate with local artists to explore different approaches to storytelling and the preservation and memorializing of memory.  Fellows will make a special visit to the Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL, a powerful memorial that reckons with the horrors of the past. OneBeat Fellows and organizers will perform at Duling Hall in Jackson, MS on October 7th. To close out the program, OneBeat 12 will culminate in a final performance in Friday, October 13th at one of New Orleans most unique venues, The Music Box Village.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.