City Lights Authors on the Road: Funeral Diva – Pamela Sneed

Artists and activists reflect on organizing for gay liberation amidst the AIDS pandemic.

Artists and activists including Pamela Sneed and Bill T. Jones speak with moderator Kia LaBeija about their reflections on the various stances of their respective generations, the rise of identity politics, and the day-to-day realities of creativity and activism within that environment.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Pamela Sneed is a poet, professor, and performer, and the author of Sweet Dreams, Kong, and Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom than Slavery, and the forthcoming book Funeral Diva, published by City Lights this October. She has performed at the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Poetry Project, New York University, Pratt University, Smack Mellon Gallery, The High Line, Performa, Performance Space, Joe’s Pub, The Public Theater, BRIC, and more. She is a member of the online faculty at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute where she teaches Human Rights and Writing Art.

Bill T. Jones is a multi-talented artist, choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer, and Associate Artist for the 2020 Holland Festival. Mr. Jones has received major honors including the Human Rights Campaign’s 2016 Visibility Award, 2013 National Medal of Arts to a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award and Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. He has won multiple Tony Awards for his work on Broadway and was named “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure” in 2000 by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Mr. Jones is the Artistic Director, Co-Founder and Choreographer of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, founded in 1982 with his late partner Arnie Zane, and has created over 140 works for his company. He is the Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, an organization that strives to create a robust framework in support of the nation’s dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting, and educating.