This weekend, the members of Emerging Leaders in the Arts Buffalo (ELAB) will be taking things beyond the visual realm with their second annual Creative Conversation event: Emergence. Having gotten their feet wet last year with Urban Alchemy, the group will be moving in a new direction at this year’s event, focusing on the diversity of the city’s growing flock of emerging artists.
“A big goal of mine was to open things up to all disciplines of art: theater, music, performance, poetry, spoken word, etc.–not just visual artists,” said Rich Tomasello of ELAB. “I tried to include as many emerging artists as I could in all disciplines.” After sending out the call for work, Tomasello found himself with a roster of new artists diverse not only in their areas of concentration, but also in age.
“Part of the success of the submissions I received was in reaching out to local universities and colleges like Buff State and UB. There are several artists exhibiting that are in or just out of college,” he said. “Now the beauty of being ’emerging’ is that it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re young. One participating artist is in his 60s and will present 15 minutes of a musical he has been working on and off on for 15 years. Another artist is someone who came into photography seriously later in life. So we have the full spectrum covered here.”
So on Saturday, October 13, this diverse group of rising artists will fill the Buffalo Arts Studio with their creative talent, featuring visual work alongside poetry readings, live art demonstrations, theater and musical performances, hip-hop dance, installations and video projections. “With some of the theater, dance, music, and spoken word artists, hopefully this will be interesting mix of attendees that may not normally visit this space or see all of these artists together,” Tomasello said. “There are even a few artists that have recently moved to Buffalo and have never shown any of their work here, ever. So ELAB and I are so excited to give these artists this opportunity and introduce them to the Buffalo arts community and public at large.”
Emergence will kick off at 7 p.m. with live performances beginning at 8:30 p.m. There will be hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and free onsite parking. Admission is free, although a $5 donation is suggested to help further ELAB’s work in artist education, networking and mentoring. The Buffalo Arts Studio is located at 2495 Main Street on the fifth floor. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.