Create A Space NOW

Create A Space NOW Create A Space NOW is an interactive social justice platform, creating art to combat bias, racism, and systemic oppression.

We believe that art is a powerful tool, and we're committed to creating space for art to inspire change, educate, and activate. was founded in 2016 and is the result of a need to further the discussion around and the recent events & race relations in America, in order to combat bias, racism, and systemic oppression. MOTION + MEDIA = MOVEMENT

We create entertaini

ng, unique engagements and educational discussions around a curated LIVE performance and films designed to raise awareness, help navigate difficult conversations, and initiate action. Book our multimedia performance and bring Create A Space NOW to your venue! Let this space provide a positive outlet for those looking to stand up, speak out, and make a change.

THE 3RD ANNUAL CAPITAL REGION ACTIVATED ARTIST FESTA day where community, art, and activism intersect.August 9, 2026Arts...
08/06/2026

THE 3RD ANNUAL CAPITAL REGION ACTIVATED ARTIST FEST
A day where community, art, and activism intersect.

August 9, 2026
Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
FREE & open to the public — RSVP now (link in bio)

Swipe through to meet our 2026 lineup — 21 artists, educators, and change makers across film, dance, poetry, theater, music tech, and visual art 👉

11:15A Michael Anderton-Stuart — The Living Resources Approach
11:30A Hettie Barnhill — Visiting Home (Dance Class)
11:45A Shamar Samuels — The Sound of Unfairness
12:00P Aminah Hopewell — Blend (Film/Dance/Poetry)
12:30P Ashley Rutledge — Somatic Activated Healing Method
12:45P Michele D. Jefferson — It’s Giving Face!
1:00P Eliana Rowe — Text Empathy
1:30P Zenzele Spencer — Findings
1:45P Nyla McKenzie-Isaac — From Artist to Asset
2:00P Sharon V. DeSilva — Wakeup
2:30P Dr. Saroya Corbett — Dancing the African Diaspora
2:45P Nicholas Payton (BLK Ambition) — Fighting Inequality
3:00P Shakeema Funchess — Patchwork of Power
3:30P Aiesha Turman — Unseen Routes
4:15P Jeffery Torres — Wild Rice (We Are Cherokee)
4:30P Lendell Moore (Lenny Eastside) — GREEN
4:45P Rondell Thomas — Mime Is More Than Just Dancing
5:00P Patrick Harris Jr. — Featured Keynote Conversation
5:00P Aaron Moore — Activated Artist Community Award Honoree

Free workshops, performances, screenings & conversations all day. Come for one session or stay for the whole festival.

RSVP: eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133

Aaron Moore: 2026 Activated Artist Community Award HonoreeAaron is an Albany, NY-based actor, director, playwright, and ...
08/06/2026

Aaron Moore: 2026 Activated Artist Community Award Honoree

Aaron is an Albany, NY-based actor, director, playwright, and acting instructor, trained at SUNY Potsdam (2014) and later at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. He’s performed and worked with companies including Capital Repertory Theatre, Proctors Theatre, NBC, and Showtime. In 2014, he founded Acting with Aaron, bringing affordable performance education, acting, playwriting, and directing classes, to underserved communities. Join us as we honor Aaron with this year’s Activated Artist Community Award. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at .

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 5:00 PM (Evening Program) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Patrick Harris Jr.: Featured Keynote ConversationAs president of Collectiveffort, Patrick’s entrepreneurial journey bega...
08/06/2026

Patrick Harris Jr.: Featured Keynote Conversation

As president of Collectiveffort, Patrick’s entrepreneurial journey began after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2011. Bringing experience as a former agency COO and nonprofit communications/program leader, he now builds creative ecosystems rooted in storytelling and community engagement. Outside the agency, Patrick produces music and hosts intimate listening experiences under his artist name, BAX. Join us for a keynote conversation with an artist-activist whose work embodies social justice and community.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 5:00 PM (Evening Program) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Rondell Thomas: Mime Is More Than Just DancingPerformanceFor Rondell, mime isn’t just an art form, it’s a ministry. With...
08/06/2026

Rondell Thomas: Mime Is More Than Just Dancing

Performance

For Rondell, mime isn’t just an art form, it’s a ministry. Without speaking a word, he communicates hope, healing, and redemption through expressive movement. Sit back and witness ministering by movement. Rondell is a Crisis Case Worker who believes deeply in compassionate mental health intervention, and worships through mime on Sundays at Metropolitan Baptist Church and with the Barnhill Movement Collective.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 4:45 PM (15 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Lendell Moore (“Lenny Eastside”): GREENRap/Hip Hop, PerformanceAn artist attempting to present the most authentic versio...
08/06/2026

Lendell Moore (“Lenny Eastside”): GREEN

Rap/Hip Hop, Performance

An artist attempting to present the most authentic version of himself to whoever will receive it. Lenny Eastside is a hip hop artist originally from Brooklyn, now based in Albany County, whose music carries stories of struggle, resilience, and the joy found in life’s small, unpredictable moments. Find him on YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify, with more content on the way.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 4:30 PM (15 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Jeffery Torres: Wild Rice (We Are Cherokee)Performance, 10-Minute PlayA short play in which a man and woman, reunited af...
08/06/2026

Jeffery Torres: Wild Rice (We Are Cherokee)

Performance, 10-Minute Play

A short play in which a man and woman, reunited after a three-year separation, discover a shared Cherokee heritage despite their disparate backgrounds. Jeffery is a photographer and poet who enjoys walking the Hudson River and time in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve; his writing carries an affinity with American Indian culture shaped by time in California, Micronesia, and Arkansas.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 4:15 PM (15 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Aiesha Turman: Unseen Routes: Black Futures, Hidden Pathways, and the Maps We MakeFilm/Video, Interdisciplinary, Screeni...
08/06/2026

Aiesha Turman: Unseen Routes: Black Futures, Hidden Pathways, and the Maps We Make

Film/Video, Interdisciplinary, Screening

Join us for an Afrofuturist artist talk centered on Dr. Turman’s short film Unseen Routes, exploring the visible and invisible pathways Black people create through Albany’s layered histories, displacement, and reinvention. No preparation is required, just curiosity and a willingness to reflect. Dr. Turman is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, writer, and educator, and a faculty member at the University at Albany, whose work uses Afrofuturism to examine history, imagination, and liberatory possibility. Learn more at AieshaTurman.com.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 3:30 PM (30 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Shakeema Funchess: Patchwork of Power: Freedom Codes, Hidden Messages, and the Art of Collective VoiceVisual Art, Presen...
08/06/2026

Shakeema Funchess: Patchwork of Power: Freedom Codes, Hidden Messages, and the Art of Collective Voice

Visual Art, Presentation, Instructional Class

An interactive presentation and art-making workshop exploring how quilts, songs, symbols, and oral traditions have carried messages of freedom through Black history. Shakeema will share her Juneteenth 2026 Freedom Quilt, a community-created piece filled with messages of healing and justice. Come with an open mind. Shakeema is an author, educator, and community storyteller, founder of Adventures in Zen Books and Funchess Sweetgrass & Ink, currently pursuing a doctorate in Philosophy of Education.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 3:00 PM (30 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Nicholas Payton (“BLK Ambition”): Fighting Inequality In and Outside the Classroom: A Teaching Artist’s Approach to Chan...
08/06/2026

Nicholas Payton (“BLK Ambition”): Fighting Inequality In and Outside the Classroom: A Teaching Artist’s Approach to Change

Interdisciplinary, Music Tech, Performance

This presentation highlights how AI and music technology can be a force for equity in and out of the classroom. Bring a laptop or tablet if possible; music teachers should bring lesson plans, producers their favorite DAW. Performing as BLK Ambition, Nicholas is a songwriter, producer, and modern music educator from NY by way of New Orleans. Born legally deaf, he earned a full music scholarship to Five Towns College and was recently admitted as a voting member of The Recording Academy (the Grammys).

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 2:45 PM (30 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

Dr. Saroya Corbett: Dancing the African Diaspora: Dunham Technique and UmfundalaiDance, Instructional ClassA workshop op...
08/06/2026

Dr. Saroya Corbett: Dancing the African Diaspora: Dunham Technique and Umfundalai

Dance, Instructional Class

A workshop opening with a short historical lecture before moving into a dance class combining Dunham Technique, the Afro-modern fusion technique created by Katherine Dunham, and Umfundalai, a contemporary African technique created by Dr. Kariamu Welsh. No shoes required. Dr. Corbett is a certified Dunham Technique teacher and licensed Umfundalai instructor with a PhD from UCLA, an MFA from Temple, and a BA from Spelman; she’s co-editing a scholarly work on Katherine Dunham and leads the consulting firm Creative Strategies.

Date: August 9, 2026 | Time: 2:30 PM (55 mins) | Venue: Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

Free & open to the public. RSVP here: (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-capital-region-activated-artist-fest-tickets-1994483264133)

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