The Moses House has a new space at the historic Mann-Wagnon Park in Sulphur Springs. Saturday, April 3rd, 1:00-3:00 pm join us for a fun afternoon of music, BBQ, and light refreshments. Learn about the Moses House, how to get involved, and how you can help support it's mission. Programming resumes soon!
On March 16, 2010, the Moses House was awarded a $1,500 mini-grant by Project Ahimsa, a Patel Foundation Cultural Initiative that operates under the auspices of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding. Project Ahimsa is “a global effort to empower youth through music” by developing and supporting community based music education. It carries out its mission “by producing cultural events, supporting youth music educators throughout the world, developing innovative cultural arts programming, and donating musical instruments” (source: Project Ahimsa website). Ahimsa is a concept that originates in the ancient Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It means “do no harm” and entails pursuing a life of nonviolence.
The Moses House is extremely grateful for Project Ahimsa’s support, and it feels honored to become part of the Project Ahimsa family. The Moses House will use the Project Ahimsa mini-grant to develop its Street Music and Turntables Workshop. The funds will purchase some of the sound equipment necessary to set up a permanent mini-studio in the Moses House building at the Sulphur Springs Cultural Center in the Mann-Wagnon Park in Tampa, Florida. More funds need to be raised to finish building the studio, but the Project Ahimsa grant is a big step forward that will allow the Moses House to take its music education program to a whole other level. Thus far the program has depended on sound equipment loaned from the program’s directors and instructors. The addition of studio equipment to the Moses House’s resource capacity will allow more youth to enroll in the Street Music Workshop, as well as benefit additional youth and community residents with open microphone events, freestyle sessions, live performances, and other related activities.
The Street Music and Turntables Workshop has been one of the Moses House’s most popular programs among Sulphur Springs youth, many of whom find release from the pressures of everyday life in the freestyle rapping sessions scheduled into the workshop. Created in the spring of 2009, the Moses House Street Music and Turntables Workshop provides culturally relevant music education to youth living in situations of risk in order to improve literacy, encourage social activism, and develop positive leadership skills in the local community. The workshop is conducted by DJ Chang Bang, the program director, with assistance from DJ James West and Moses House volunteer instructors. (DJ Chang Bang provided one of the bonus tracks on Project Ahimsa’s Global Lingo CD.) This program provides a supportive educational outlet for underprivileged neighborhood youth to express their musical talents, lyrical creativity, and poetic gifts; constructs a positive social space in which neighborhood youth can critically discuss community issues while enhancing their abilities to artistically represent such issues; and advances the multicultural and social justice education potential of artistic and cultural activities in the neighborhood. As such, the workshop supports Project Ahimsa’s mission to empower youth through developing and supporting community based music education.
This a preview of The Taft Richardson Tribute DVD for The Moses House.
Taft Richardson was born on September 2, 1943 in Lumberton, Florida. He grew up in Spring Hill, now a neighborhood of North Tampa. One day, in the early 1970s, while eating ribs, Mr. Taft had an artistic vision delivered to him by God. In the bones he saw a giraffe. This vision inspired Mr. Taft to devote himself to making bone sculptures and to delivering a spiritual message to whomever was willing to listen.
Mr. Taft’s family upbringing and African American heritage had also taught him to nurture and care for those in the community around him, especially the children. Mr. Taft’s artistic vision combined with his community activism led to the creation of the Moses House, a youth arts organization, which he co-founded in 1984 with his brother Harold Richardson.
On November 30, 2008, Mr. Taft passed away at the age of 65 after battling cancer. Deeply saddened by their loss, Mr. Taft’s family requested help with preserving his legacy and memorializing his importance in the form of tributes to “Granddaddy Taft”—as family, friends, and the community had known him.
Lance Arney and Mabel Sabogal, Ph.D. students from the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida, answered the family’s call and designed a tribute project with them. Lance and Mabel video recorded interviews with family members, friends, and admirers of Mr. Taft—some of the many people whose lives had been touched by Mr. Taft’s caring personality, spiritual vision, and artistic gifts.
On April 3, 2009, at the North Tampa Community Center in Mr. Taft’s own neighborhood, the Department of Anthropology, the Moses House, and Mr. Taft’s family co-hosted a public event in honor of Mr. Taft. (Download a copy of the flyer, designed by Lance Arney, here.) Additional tributes and performances dedicated to Mr. Taft were recorded.
The tributes that had been recorded prior to the April 3rd public event were presented to the live audience in the hope of eliciting more reminiscences and tributes. Moved by these recorded tributes to Mr. Taft, members of the live audience offered more in the form of performances dedicated to Mr. Taft and reminiscences about how he had touched the lives of all who had known him.
Copies of this DVD are available for $15.00 each (includes shipping via United States Postal Service Media Mail). All proceeds from the sale of this DVD will be used to fund Moses House youth arts programs.
The Moses House, Inc. is a nonprofit community-based organization working to develop educational outreach programs for children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Moses House, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations and charitable contributions made to the Moses House are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law. For more information about the Moses House, visit our site at www.themoseshouse.org or e-mail Moses.House@gmail.com.
the Moses House Street Music & Turntables Workshop
with DJ Chang Bang, DJ James West, and guests
When: to be announced Where: the Moses House
Workshop Goals
To provide a supportive educational outlet for neighborhood youth to express their musical talents, lyrical creativity, and poetic gifts.
To construct a positive social space in which neighborhood youth can critically discuss community issues while enhancing their abilities to artistically represent such issues.
To advance the multicultural and social justice education potential of artistic and cultural activities in the neighborhood.
The Moses House, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations and charitable contributions made to the Moses House are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.
A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
Florida Registration #CH30575.
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