Shabaka Collier, adjunct instructor in the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) department will be honored along with three other local artists in the Arts & Cultural Council of Rochester Awards Ceremony on February 10th. Collier will receive a $2000 Individual Artist Project Decentralization Grant to produce and direct a music video project entitled, No More Murder! The project will bring together local rap artists and music producers to write and record a song with an anti-violence message. “The murder rate in Rochester is one of the highest in the state and I feel compelled to create something that not only addresses the issue but speaks to the urban community in meaningful language. To me Hip-Hop is that language,” says Collier, who teaches media literacy. “I tell my students that if you don’t have an agenda the media will set one for you. I ultimately want to use this project as a way of helping set a positive agenda for our community.”
Collier holds a B.A. in Media Studies from University of Buffalo and an MFA in Film and Video Production from RIT. He has been teaching at MCC for four years offering a variety of classes in the VAPA department including, Visual Communications, Scriptwriting, Photoshop and Computer Generated Images. Collier also teaches youth workshops in film and video production throughout the Rochester community for youth programs including, In Control, the Boys & Girls club, Rochester After School Academy and Kuumba Consultants. This is Collier’s third music video project and will be accompanied by a short documentary about violence in Rochester and the making of the video.
Collier expects to premiere the project at Visual Studies workshop and release the song for airplay on local radio stations in May 2006.
Janet Ekis
College and Community Relations
02/07/2006 |