HOSTED BY DEANTWANN JOHNSON
The Coachella Valley Art Center will hold Open Mic Poetry Event, Part One, on Friday, August 7, 2015 starting at 7:00pm.
The event will be hosted by DeAntwann Johnson and is part of the W.O.W. (Works of Wonder) series that takes place monthly at the CVAC, located at 45140 Towne Street, Indio CA 92201. The event is free of charge. Reservations may be made by visiting coachellavalleyartcenter.org, by calling 760-799-4634, or by emailing bill@coachellavalleyartcenter.org.
DeAntwann Johnson started writing poetry as a teenager in Indiana, where he was born. He initially started writing poetry as a means of distraction from a difficult childhood. His writing allowed him to establish a voice of redemption and restitution.
When DeAntwann moved to California, he continued to hone his poetry skills under the leadership of friend and brother-in-spirit Antonio “Paz 1” Appling, who was the host of the Long Beach poetry spot, “The Definitive Soapbox”. DeAntwann has hosted and performed at numerous open mics, including the famed “Da Poetry Lounge (DPL)” in Los Angeles. He was also was instrumental in starting a poetry movement at the University of La Verne by hosting open mics, launching a poetry club, and introducing the campus to a number of well-known poets. He inspired the University to host a college poetry slam, and he helped assemble the University’s first poetry slam team.
Johnson says, “I love being involved with poetry because gives people a platform to speak where they otherwise wouldn’t be able to express themselves.”
ABOUT THE COACHELLA VALLEY ART CENTER:
The Coachella Valley Art Center (CVAC) is an innovative non-profit facility for the arts to provide access to artists on all levels: the established professional, the beginner, and the student working toward an arts future.
The mission of the CV Art Center is “to enhance the creative vitality of the Coachella Valley.” CVAC is headquartered in a 17,000 square foot building that has been a part of Indio’s downtown for decades. Along with cultivating artistic growth and exposure within the community, CVAC also showcases and preserves the founding ideas and history of art’s creative ancestors through gallery exhibits and a wide range of educational programs, symposiums, lectures, dramatic readings and workshops.
Currently the CVAC studios host several working artists whose creative areas include painting, photography, glass, printmaking and performance alongside the central area of gallery/exhibition space. Art classrooms and meeting and office space inside CVAC are utilized by and available for the Coachella Valley and Riverside County region, including programs for schools and collaborative partners.
CVAC Executive Director, Bill Schinsky, says, “CVAC was designed to cultivate introductions – new concepts, new art, artists, community, history – all cross-pollinating in an atmosphere of inquiry and accomplishment, where new intersections of art and culture emerge. Our society and our community is relying on the Arts more than ever before as a way to balance what is often harshness and strife in our everyday lives.”
The Center is happy to work with members of the public to schedule tours, studio use or performances. The Coachella Valley Art Center’s address is: 45140 Towne Street, Indio CA 92201.
More information can be found at coachellavalleyartcenter.org, by calling 760-799-4634, or by emailing: bill@coachellavalleyartcenter.org.
