What’s up Blaaaaccckkkbooooaaaarrrdddd!!!!

Happy New Year!

We are so excited to activate this space a little more in 2022!

Last year was a pretty busy one for Blackboard.  The pandemic activated a digital life for the series and in addition to a few digital / zoom readings, we also produced a major festival in collaboration with PAAL – Parent Artist Advocacy League 

We featured 4 new plays by Black parents – Black mothers!
We streamed for 4 weeks from May – June 2021 on veeps and had 1 dynamic conversation on Black Motherhood.  

You can watch trailers and Playwright Conversations from #BMPFest 2021 HERE! 

We are also excited to announce that our 2nd Annual Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival is coming back!!  

While the festival is not until the fall of 2022, we are in the midst of planning, and THIS TIME we want to keep you very much in the loop!

Pictured above along with myself and PAAL Founder, Rachel Spencer Hewitt are some new members to the #BMPFest Team  from our Comms Team: Feleceia Benton and Syney Cornelius of  Zoey Communications, a Black and Mother owned Communications Agency based in Dallas, TX. and PAAL Founder Rachel Spencer Hewitt!

I’m excited to share that our patreon will be the official #behindthescenes for the Festival and we are excited for you to track our progress from now until November.

We did a soft launch for the submissions beginning on January 1st and they will close on March 1, 2022.  We are looking for Playwrights who are Black Artists with Families.  This includes: Parents and Caregivers, Mothers, Fathers and non-binary playwrights.

Submit your plays via Submittable here: bit.ly/bmpfest22submit 

With submissions open, we are focusing on fundraising during this moment.  The goal with #BMPFest is not only to produce this festival – producing this festival is making space for the stories of Black parents and caregivers.  We are ensuring that we – Black parents and caregivers are included in the narrative.  
WHAT is YOUR Black Parent or Caregiver story that you want to share?  

THAT is what #BMPFest is about. That is why completing this raise for the festival AND work on the creation of funds for a GRANT for a BLACK PARENT PLAYWRIGHT is what this festival and what Blackboard has been interested in supporting since I  became a parent in 2012.  It was an immediate need for me… support to continue writing as a parent.  I longed to work on my plays and have my daughter next to me.  I longed for someone to hold her while I wrote or I longed for the ability to hire support so that the both of us could maintain a schedule that was what we needed.

None of that was my experience, but 10 years later (and I cannot believe I almost have a 10-year old), the festival can create the space for a Black artist with a family to work on their craft of writing the way that they need to accomplish their next step. 

Thank you for your time.  

I look forward to sharing more with you!

Sincerely, 

Garlia Cornelia Jones

Founder – Blackboard Plays

Executive Producer – #BMPFest

______

THIS IS A PUBLIC POST.  

If not a patron already, this is the sort of #behindthescenes content we will share along our journey of producing this festival this year.  We are exciting to share our journey with you and hope that you will support us monthly.  

BECOME A PATRON – CLICK HERE 

Thank You for your support

Below is a sneak peek of this content!

Hey Patrons!

I am oh so pleased that our Blackboard Patreon family has grown so much within the last couple months!  

THANK YOU to our NEW PATRONS!!! Isaac, Angela, Jerrica, Bonnie and Alysia for your support ! 

There have been many shifts in our world since we began here on Patreon.  One is that we are twice monthly in The Mary Rodgers Room at The Dramatists Guild.

We have dreams and aspirations for further growth, but something that is really important is how we are able to keep up the series and give the support that is so necessary to Black Playwrights.

Our Community Nights have been on fire recently!  Thanks to everyone who has been in attendance.

RSVP HERE 

If you’re around tomorrow – bring your work!… 

As a reminder:

PLAYWRIGHTS: Bring your own copies of the work you plan to have read for as many actors as you need for your piece!

ACTORS: Bring yourselves

When  you arrive, we will take the time to gather and pass out pages and  review the work before we build the line up and go!  Similar to an  open-mic poetry night! 

We will have gathering and assign plays for about twenty minutes in the beginning.  If you are running behind, no worries.

EVERYONE: Feel free to continue to share and bring friends!

Hope to see you tomorrow!!

Not a Patron yet?! Becoming one is easy!  JOIN our community by clicking or tapping the orange button on the side (OR HERE). Patreon is such a special place for artists to give a behind-the-scenes look at work they have been developing.

Becoming a patron begins at the $1/ month level!

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