Live Artists Live: Sings of Freedom

Inspired by writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou’s poetic verse, “The caged bird sings of freedom,” Live Artists Live: Sings of Freedom celebrates the liberating potentials of art and song. This fourth iteration of USC’s biannual Live Artists Live event spotlights fusions of performance art, poetry, and music that amplify oppressed voices and resist racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. The full-day event brings together internationally acclaimed artists and scholars including Joy Harjo, former US Poet Laureate, renowned musician and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Guillermo Gómez-Peña, performance artist, writer, radical pedagogue, and activist against all borders; Xina Xurner, experimental music/art collaboration between Marvin Astorga and Young Joon Kwak, whose performances expand ideas about queer and trans bodies; USC Professor Edgar Arceneaux, an artist whose new project Boney
Manilli explores transnational and intersectional identities; USC Professor madison moore, artist-scholar, DJ, and author of Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric;
and Yale University Professor Daphne Brooks, distinguished scholar and author of several books including Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black
Feminist Sound. Vibrant performances, immersive environments, and engaging discussions illuminate marginalized people’s struggles and joys, while striving for social justice through performative, lyrical storytelling and musical art experiments.