GUEST ARTIST / MeNTOR - collaborative composer/choreographer workshops
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists is a four-week online event of workshops, mini-courses, and collaborative projects for young musicians, composers, and choreographers. As a Guest Artist for the festival in 2020 and 2021, Derek Bermel joined distinguished dancer and choreographer S. Ama Wray to mentor and support the creative bonds between several young artists- culminating in a live Zoom performance of music and dance for the festival’s season finale.
“We set out on a journey in the eye of the storm COVID-19, followed by a wave of response to the unjust and disproportionate violence perpetrated on black lives in the USA. What did we do? We began by breathing, paying attention to the essence of life as we attempted to forge new relationships with artists as far afield as Korea, New York, Oklahoma, and California.”