Dexter's L.A.B.

The Boston Foundation x Dunamis
Dexter's L.A.B.

Dexter‘s L.A.B. is a new digital series created by the Boston Foundation and Dunamis that celebrates and examines the creative process. In each episode, released every Wednesday, we talk to a Live Arts Boston grantee about their craft and why the arts matter to them. Much like in the children‘s animated television series of a similar moniker, Dexter‘s L.A.B. is a space where artists are invited to explore their creativity and inspire others to do the same.

  1. 06/09/2022

    Season 2, Ep. 6: Omar’s L.A.B. with Omar Najmi

    Boston-based artist Omar Najmi splits his time between composition and performance, maintaining a busy schedule as an operatic tenor. As a performer, Najmi has recently made his international debut creating the title role in Joseph Summer’s operatic adaptation of Hamlet with Bulgaria’s State Opera Rousse. Other recent and upcoming engagements include Rodolfo in La Boheme with Opera Steamboat, Shakur in Thumbprint with Portland Opera and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet with Boston Lyric Opera to name a few.  Najmi enjoys a long standing relationship with Boston Lyric Opera where he began his    professional career as an Emerging Artist (2013-2015).Najmi began his composition career with the production of his first opera, En la ardiente oscuridad, in 2019. After a run of sold-out performances, he was invited to serve as the first ever Emerging Composer in residence with Boston Lyric Opera, where he worked with Boston Youth Poet Laureate Alondra Bobadilla. He is currently working on Jo dooba so paar - a short opera exploring the intersection of queer and Muslim identity - which will be premiered as part of White Snake Projects’ Let’s Celebrate initiative.In 2022, Najmi and his husband Brendon Shapiro co-founded Catalyst New Music - an organization dedicated to fostering, developing, and producing new works. Catalyst’s first project was a concert performance of Najmi’s new opera This Is Not That Dawn, a drama set during and after the Partition of India. In this episode, we discuss exploring hidden talents, dismantling ancient art forms and the complexity of nature vs. nurture. Welcome to Omar’s LAB!

    1h 10m
  2. 05/19/2022

    Season 2, Ep. 5: U-Meleni’s L.A.B. with U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo

    U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Zimbabwean American poet, author, speaker, singer, and educator who has performed internationally in Africa and Europe. She is fiercely passionate about using her voice for women's empowerment, wellness, diversity & inclusion and the exploration of translation or "hyphenated identities" through her work.  Umeleni is a member of New England Poetry Club, The International Women’s Writing Guild and an advisory board member for Write On The Dot , a community reading initiative in Dorchester. She holds a graduate degree in Education from Lesley University in Multicultural Education and Theatre and a Bachelors Degree in Social Psychology from UMASS Boston. As an educator, Umeleni has taught over 2,500 students through workshops in the Boston Public Schools and Communities on topics such as, holistic health and wellness education while incorporating the arts, violence prevention and   social-emotional well-being to name a few. She has also done international work in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria and is multi-lingual speaking Shona, French and English.  She is currently working on a multi-modal poetic one woman experience “Roots & Revelations” about identity and belonging stemming from family roots in Leominster and Zimbabwe/South Africa. When not performing her work or collaborating with other artists, she is often running marathons, biking with her spouse and son for charity or social justice, competing in World Indoor Rowing Championships, or thrifting and traveling around the world.  In our conversation, we discuss the journey to becoming a poet, exploring family dynamics and defying societal norms and narratives. This is Umelenis LAB.

    56 min
  3. 05/05/2022

    Season 2, Ep. 4: Mariona’s L.A.B. with Mariona Lloreta

    Mariona Lloreta is a Catalan-American cultural producer and interdisciplinary artist working internationally in film, painting and dance. Mariona’s work celebrates the universal thread that binds our human experience as it examines the fine line between presence and absence, wholesomeness and brokenness, past, present and future. Her work dives into themes of identity, spirituality and collective memory, while reflecting upon the beauty and vulnerability of human existence. Recent projects include writing, directing and co-producing the short film "A lua nunca morre" in Rio de Janeiro which has won the Best Experimental Film Award and Best Cinematography at the Oscar-qualifying Reel Sisters in Brooklyn, NY, and has been selected by Oscar-qualifying Edmonton International Film Festival, acclaimed New York Latino Film Festival, NALIP's Latino Media Fest, San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Miami Film Festival, among others. Her previous film, "Amenze, in between worlds," which she wrote, directed and filmed, won Best Cinematography at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival (Brooklyn, NY), received a Best International Film nomination at the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta, GA, and was selected by dozens of film festivals, including Oscar-qualifying Zinebi in Bilbao, Spain. Mariona also edited award-winning feature film "The Ghost and the House of Truth" (2019) in South Africa and produced narrative short film "On Monday of Last Week" (2018). She has directed and produced several documentary films, including "ReSignifications", commissioned by New York University and "The Lagos Music Salon" for Sony Music artist Somi in Nigeria. Mariona is currently working on her first feature film and has recently completed "Altars," an experimental film about police brutality, commissioned by the City of Boston and the City of Cambridge. She is also producing several female-led, international projects. Mariona currently serves as Affiliate Professor of Screenwriting at Emerson College in Boston and as an instructor at creative writing agency GrubStreet.

    1h 6m

About

Dexter‘s L.A.B. is a new digital series created by the Boston Foundation and Dunamis that celebrates and examines the creative process. In each episode, released every Wednesday, we talk to a Live Arts Boston grantee about their craft and why the arts matter to them. Much like in the children‘s animated television series of a similar moniker, Dexter‘s L.A.B. is a space where artists are invited to explore their creativity and inspire others to do the same.

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