Women's History Month 2022 with Gregory Burrus Productions (RECAP)

By Gregory Burrus | Posted Tuesday, March 29, 2022

As you know, Women’s History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society (source: Wikipedia). Here, Gregory Burrus Productions has big fun discovering, acknowledging and celebrating the accomplishments of local women during Women’s History Month. While we celebrate women all year long, we take a special time to focus on some that we know that are doing significant and amazing work every day. Therefore, we either create events to celebrate those women who are performers and acknowledge others in our area who are just moving through life and making a huge difference in our lives every day.   

Let's get started as we recap our events for Women’s History Month 2022.

• March 2 Kim Clarke, Lucianna Padmore and Yayoi Ikawa

• March 4 WHM2022 Just Us Just Music

• March 4 Sleep Out Montclair Community Edition

• March 13 Equinox – Art and Music Exhibition

• March 23 Dara Starr Tucker

March 2 Kim Clarke, Lucianna Padmore and Yayoi Ikawa

Event Overview 

Jazz973 Presents Kim Clarke Trio at Clements Place Jazz

Very happy that Bassist Kim Clarke Founder of Lady Got Chop Festival is joining us for Women’s History Month as Part of  The Lady Got Chop Festival. In its 20th year this festival presents some of the most notable women professionals playing Jazz in the industry.

Interview with Kim Clarke

We were very happy to have our Gregory Burrus Productions Interviewer, Lynette Sheard talk with Bassist Kim Clarke before our Jazz973 st Clements Place Jazz  honoring Women’s History Month.

Performance Short — Jazz973 Presents Kim Clarke Trio at Clements Place Jazz

For this Jazz973 event Kim Clarke is bringing with her some jazz industry heavyweights – Lucianna Padmore on Drums and Yayoi Ikawa on Keys to perform at Newark Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies – Clements Place Jazz Club.

Full Performance

You can catch the full performance right here on my Youtube Channel.

March 4 WHM2022  Just Us Just Music 

Event Overview 

WHM2022 Womens History Month Celebration at the Cricket Club

Celebrating Ife Basim’s 9th Annual Women’s History Month Celebration, “Just Us. Just Music.” Always, a night you don’t want to miss, and a night you won’t forget. Just Us. Just Music.

Interview with Ife Basim

In its 9th year our Gregory Burrus Productions Interviewer, Lynette Sheard talk with the Founder Joy Topping Mann right before this very successful sold out event.

Performance Short

Over 125 folks showed up to have a great time on Friday March 4th at the Cricket Club,. The musicians featured were Kate Cosco on Keys, Caylen Bryant on Bass, Iyonna Herbert on Drums and Lee Odom on Saxophone.

Our vocalist included Jackie Harmon Johnson, Patricia Walton, Omisanya Karade, Phyllis Blanford, Zakiyyah Zai’meh and the founder Joy Topping Mann. The night was hosted by Norman Mann.

Full Capture of the nights events:

Click Ife Basim WHM2022 at the Cricket Club Entertainment Complex by Gregory Burrus Productions.

March 4 Sleep Out Montclair Community Edition 

Event Overview

2022 Sleep Out: Virtual Discussion Aging Out Foster Care and Homelessness

Every year we lose kids to gangs, jail, human trafficking, substance abuse, and even death. Covenant House, New Jersey mission is to provide comprehensive residential care and related services to help New Jersey’s youth who have suffered from abuse, neglect, abandonment, human trafficking and homelessness. The Junior League of Montclair – Newark, Inc (JLMN) is committed to helping resolve this situation by conducting this years’ 2022 Sleep Out: Montclair Community Edition,

Interview with Heather LeClair

Discussion on Homelessness, Aging Out of Foster Care and Mental Health

The Junior League Montclair – Newark  President Heather LeClair and our interviewer, the  Director of Mental Health in New Jersey, Lynette Sheard  conducted an important conversation to discuss this situation and help us understand the implications of aging out of Foster Care, Homelessness and the impacts upon one’s Mental Health.

Learn More

2022 Sleep Out: Montclair Community Edition Junior League Montclair – Newark  

March 13 Equinox – Art and Music 

Event Overview 

WHM2022 Art Exhibition featuring the Latin Jazzy Sounds of Marilyn Castillo

Equinox, the Exhibit

Through an exciting collaboration between photographer/artist Christine Keeley and collage/mixed media artist Maria Estrela, the idea of Equinox: The Birth and Rebirth of a Woman, a celebration of Women’s International History Month, was born.  The exhibition will be on view at The Jewish Museum of New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey from March 6th to April 3rd.

Interview with Artist Maria Estrela – Christine Feeley

We caught up with Maria Estrella and Christine Keeley to understand the exhibition and more importantly the connection between the artist and their work. Take a listen. 

Performance Short

Exhibition till April 4th.

Click here to read all about the event:
Equinox Art Exhibition Featuring Maria Estrela and Christine Keeley with Live Music by Marilyn Castillo and Nedelka Sotelo (Sunday, March 13, 2022)

Full Performance

Click here to see the  live music performance:
Castillo – Nedelka Sotelo – Antonios Cotez – at Equinox Exhibit by Gregory Burrus Productions

March 23 Dara Starr Tucker   

Overview Event Link

Jazz973 Presents Dara Tucker and her Band at Clements Place Jazz

Dara Starr Tucker is making her mark in the world of music and activism as a singer, satirist and social commentator. Her latest album, Dreams of Waking: Music For A Better World (2021), was featured on Grammy.com and in American Songwriter Magazine. On the album, Tucker embraces the urgent, topical works of songwriters of the protest era, along with her own compositions, as vessels for justice awareness, instruction and healing. Her album reached #7 on the Jazzweek National Radio Charts and reached #6 on the ITUNES jazz chart.

Interview with Dara Starr Tucker

Dara Starr Tucker Interviewed by Lynette Sheard for Gregory Burrus Productions

Today on Interviews by Gregory Burrus Productions, we encountered a truly fabulous, soulful multidimensional singer. As you may know, a live music career is a business that requires the performer to stay relevant in the audience’s mind. The performer in order to be successful must be committed to ensure long-term relevance. Dara Tucker has found many ways to stay in the minds of fans using multiple platforms and, as her bio proclaims, singer/songwriter Dara Tucker is no stranger to producing “composition as commentary.” Take a listen.

Performance Short

Jazz973 Presents Dara Tucker and her Band at Clements Place Jazz

This very special Womens History Month Celebration produced by Jazz973 featured the fabulous Dara Starr Tucker and her awesome band. Dara Starr Tucker – vocals, Mike King – piano, Greg Bryant – bass and Curtis Nowosad- drums.

Full Performance

You can catch the full performance right  here on my Youtube Channel.

Thank you for joining us - Hope you enjoyed our Women's History Month 2022 Recap.

About the Author — Gregory Burrus

Gregory Burrus is a local live music ambassador, producer, promoter, event planner, and community partner. He combines his extensive corporate business and technology expertise with his love of live music and being a strong community advocate.

I love writing about it all. My mission is to help community groups, live music bands, and local nonprofits, reach their goals and accomplish their missions while enjoying the day-to-day process of life.

https://www.jerseyindie.com/ji-blogger-gregory-burrus  
https://patch.com/users/gregburrus 

Banding Together to Address Aging Out of Foster Care, Homelessness and Negative Mental Health

By Gregory Burrus | Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Sleep Out: Montclair 2022 Community Edition

The Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. is creatively reacting to the new normal by joining together with Covenant House New Jersey for the third year in a row. For a second year this discussion on Homelessness, Aging Out of Foster Care and Mental Health issues was produced by Gregory Burrus Productions with the Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Inc.  The Sleep Out Montclair 2022 Community Edition will be held this year on March 4th, 2022.  This ongoing commitment by the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. is sorely needed because Covenant House has been finding homeless youth sleeping under bridges, abandoned buildings, or riding the trains. And as you can imagine in our new normal, the Pandemic has only made the situation worse.

Voices of Youth Count

This need for support and resolution of this issue was emphasized in this nationwide report, the Voices of Youth Count (VoYC) initiative:

“Voices of Youth Count is an innovative, national policy research initiative designed to link evidence and action by capturing the experiences of runaway, unaccompanied homeless and unstably housed youth, more clearly defining the size of the population and scope of the issue, and driving compelling knowledge into the hands of the broad national community dedicated to ending youth homelessness.”

This groundbreaking report on youth homelessness in the United States by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago was conducted over the course of a full year rather than a single night, making it the most comprehensive research to date on youth homelessness in the U.S. Here’s some of the facts:

• More than 3.5 million young adults ages 18 to 25 experience a form of homelessness in the course of a year — that’s 1 of every 10 young adults.

• At least 700,000 adolescent minors ages 13 to 17 experience a form of homelessness in the course of a year — that’s 1 of every 30 adolescent minors.

• In total, at least 4.2 million young people experience a form of homelessness in a given year, from couch surfing to living on the streets.

• Youth homelessness affects urban and rural youth at similar levels.

You can read more about this situation here: https://voicesofyouthcount.org.

New Jersey Point-in-Time Count of the Homeless Report

Thinking of your own children, friends and neighbors, these are some very scary numbers because they reflect some very real people. Looking at the New Jersey 2020 Point-in-Time Count of the Homeless along with the 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report revealed this information: 

• There are 9,663 homeless men, women, and children across the state of New Jersey.

• There were 1,743 persons, in 1,601 households, who were identified as chronically homeless.

• There were 1,786 persons who were unsheltered.

Discussion on Homelessness, Aging Out of Foster Care and Mental Health 

Making it real and bringing it all the way home is the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. (JLMN), The Mental Health Association in New Jersey and Covenant House New Jersey. Together they have come together in this very important talk to bring additional awareness to Youth Homelessness, Aging Out of Foster Care and associated Mental Health Issues right here in New Jersey. Click to listen: 

As you can hear, the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. have shown they are committed again to helping address this situation by participating in this year’s Sleep Out fundraiser. For the 2nd year in a row, the COVID-19 pandemic has required us all to get creative and alter our plans to meet this very necessary fundraising campaign.  

SLEEP OUT — JOIN THE MOVEMENT March 4th 

We hope you listen to the video, understand the need and Sleep Outside for one night so New Jersey youth facing homelessness don’t have to. Please listen to the discussion, understand the need and, if you can, join us. Learn more here and here: https://bit.ly/SleepOutwithHC 

About the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. (JLMN) 

According to the JLMN website:

“The JLMN is a supportive, amazing organization of women whose mission is to promote voluntarism, develop the potential of women and improve the community through trained volunteers […] We are actively involved in supporting Foster Care initiatives and Human Trafficking legislation because we understand that our future depends on the flourishing of our communities’ children. “

JLMN is creating better communities for a better future.

“The JLMN strives to promote the safety and well-being of the children in the Montclair-Newark area.”

Learn more about the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Inc. and their current programs here: www.jlmn.org. 

About Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ) 

According to the Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ) website:

“Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ) provides sanctuary and support for youth ages 18-21 facing homelessness or human trafficking. We have seven locations across the state: Atlantic City, Newark, Jersey City, Camden, and Asbury Park, and specialized care in Montclair and Elizabeth. Across New Jersey, we are the New Jersey Human Traffic Provider of services to all Human Trafficking survivors and victims.  At CHNJ’s Montclair-based program, Nancy’s House, young people with special mental health needs who are facing homelessness can get the attention they require.  We serve about 4,585 youth annually, and all our services are free.”

For more information about the Sleep Out, visit https://bit.ly/SleepOutwithHC.

About the Writer Gregory Burrus

Gregory Burrus is a Passionate Community Advocate, Reporter, and Writer about local events In and Around Northern NJ, showcasing, photographing, videotaping events and happenings as they occur around town while living life every day to the fullest. 

My mission is to help community groups, live music bands and local nonprofits reach their goals and accomplish their missions while enjoying life every day.