Art

‘Music Makes Me Happy’ movement addresses social change with art, music events

ATLANTA VOICE — The purpose of “Music Makes Me Happy” was to inspire social change through art and music

Published

6 years ago

February 18, 2019

By Hunter Gilmore

Joshua Dingle, a 25-year-old Philadelphia native and the creator of an art-music event series, “Music Makes Me Happy,” is using his deep connection with music to inspire artistic minds to join together from coast to coast.

From the age of 3 to 12, Dingle said he attended speech therapy, which wasn’t producing adequate results. He was later introduced to music and theatre and said that not only his grades quickly improved but also, within a year, he was able to speak perfectly.

“[Music Makes Me Happy] was inspired by my own personal story,” Dingle explained. “I grew up in foster care and had a very traumatic childhood filled with physical and verbal abuse. I developed a speaking disorder in which I had to write everything down, I couldn’t talk.”

According to Dingle, the purpose of “Music Makes Me Happy” was to inspire social change through art and music.

The brand itself, which started as a t-shirt line, has grown from its Philadelphia roots to additional installations with monthly events in Atlanta and Los Angeles, Dingle said.

Over the last couple of years, Dingle said the movement has garnered tremendous support, gaining co-signs from the likes of Janelle Monaè, Jasmine Sullivan, and Anthony Hamilton.

“I’m excited because we’re expanding to five more cities very soon,” Dingle said.

Beyond the apparel and events, Dingle explained that the Music Makes Me Happy movement also comprises a number of initiatives designed to address social issues. For example, the movement’s “Create, Connect, and Care” event was designed to serve as the glue that holds together this creativity-driven platform.

“We’re creating spaces for people who care about social justice and social change, we create platforms that allow them to use their voices,” Dingle said.

“We create connection points for people who care about the same things or share common interests and we care by incorporating our youth, we can’t expect the future to be great if we can’t positively affect those who will become it.”

In addition, Music Makes Me Happy houses a strong awareness of mental health-related issues and has a taken a conscious stance of its presence within the artist community. Dingle and his team launched an “Emoji Art Show” to help aid in this significant cause.

“(The Emoji Art Show) is a multi-sensory seven city art show that occurs every year to promote the amplification of emotions through art,” Dingle said. “We use emojis because that’s a popular device we use to express ourselves, so we use it to express ourselves in the art show. When we launched it, it was a huge success with more than 300 people in attendance.”

The Emoji Art Show is just one example of the many soulful-inspired events the organization curates to feed minds, Dingle explained.

“Most people who are in Atlanta would come to The Good Sound event, which is a multi-gathering amongst different types of artists,” Dingle said. “It occurs the second Sunday of every month. Some things you could expect are a jam/open mic session, a feature of different artists, conversations around mental health, or directorial debuts.

“There’s no format, it’s all about being organic and fresh,” he added. “You’ll learn about Music Makes Me Happy, network with people, and plug into other things we’re doing.”

For more information about Music Makes Me Happy or to view their upcoming events visit musichappiness.org.

This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Voice.

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Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.