Deanna in Bahia, Brazil!
Happy Easter, Passover, and spring!
In exactly one week, I’ll be flying to Brazil to spend eight weeks at the Sacatar Institute in Itaparica, Bahia. I’ve been preparing for this trip for months and it’s finally almost here. And I’ve had the idea for my new Brazilian project, the Nossa Senhora Suite, for over ten years! My time in Bahia will be spent in visiting churches and candomblé terreiros and in meeting with women who are devotees of Nossa Senhora or Iemanjá.
If some of these words are unfamiliar to you- and they probably are- visit my New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) page to learn what they mean.
At Sacatar, I’ll be in community with five other selected artists from Brazil, the Sudan, the UK, and the US. Their disciplines include literature, performance art, video/photography, and visual art. Read a press release about the 2018 Sacatar Residency Fellows here.
There are two ways that you can support me in the beginnings of my Nossa Senhora Suite adventure. One is to simply follow- and share- my blog, where I’ll post photos and updates of my Brazil trip. The other is to make a tax-deductible contribution through NYFA to help me cover the upcoming costs of paying musicians for rehearsals, recording, and releasing the Nossa Senhora Suite as my seventh album. While this is a long-term project, there is also a long-term plan: the suite will be premiered in 2019 in NYC at Union Theological Seminary’s James Chapel, with an anticipated album release date of 2020.
I’ve received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to actually pay myself for the time I spend composing the music (which will begin to happen while I’m in Brazil). Your contribution will help me to continue the project after I return home in June. For different monetary amounts, you can receive various perks (see the buttons below), ranging from pre-orders of the album to having me compose an original song for you! Learn more about the Nossa Senhora Suite here at my NYFA page.
$12: Digital download of the Nossa Senhora Suite $25: Pre-order a signed Nossa Senhora Suite CD $50: Two signed CDs (one NSS CD; one earlier CD) $75: Three signed CDs $100: One copy of Deanna’s debut CD, Having to Ask (only 10 left!) $200: Listing in the Nossa Senhora Suite CD liner notes $500: A new song specifically composed for you! $1000: House concert