Berea College

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Súle Greg Wilson, founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, will perform at Ballad Night at Berea College on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Gray Auditorium, Presser Hall. The evening is hosted by the Berea College Folk-Roots Ensemble. Wilson will present a 30-minute set of African American ballads which will be followed by a ballad round robin. The performance is free and open to the public. All audience members must be masked as per college policy due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With more than 50 years serving as a community musician, intercultural healer and storyteller, Wilson mines tradition for the power and wisdom within. He has shared at bembés, block parties, boardrooms, ceildhs, festivals, horas, jooks, shouts and symposia. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., with university time in Ohio and New York City, Súle received his master’s in history/archival management from New York University, served as director for the Smithsonian Institution’s Afro-American Index Project (precursor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture), from 1991 to 1994, and co-led the 2005 historic Black Banjo Gathering. Wilson has careered as an archivist (New York Stock Exchange, Schomburg Center, World Bank, Pueblo Grande Museum) and an educator (New York, Phoenix, Tempe Public Schools; Maricopa County Community Colleges; Arizona State University). Wilson’s work as a composer, writer and performing artist has graced stage and screen, print and the street, taking him from Antrim to Kumasi, Newport to Bahia, Juneau to Hermosillo. He has produced numerous folk and world albums, and his award-winning book, “The Drummer’s Path: Moving the Spirit with Ritual and Traditional Drumming,” is an international standard in the field. <a href="https://livestream.com/bereacollege/balladnight">The event will also be livestreamed here</a>.

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Founding Member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sule Greg Wilson, to Perform at Berea College

Ezell: Ballad of a Land Man, an award-winning outdoor eco-cultural theater, music and meal experience will be presented at the Berea College Forestry Outreach Center and the Pinnacles over Earth Day weekend, April 21 to 24, 2022. Ezell is an environmental, cultural and spiritual parable derived from living in the foothills of Appalachia, one man among many seeking to make sense of the time, place and condition in which we live.&nbsp;In the story, Ezell's choices, traumas, ancestors and more intersect with themes of domination and resilience as he seeks to take advantage of an anticipated fracking boom and the opportunity to reconnect with the people and land of his raising. The Berea production of Ezell is supported by the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center and the Forestry Outreach Center at Berea College. “We are thrilled to have Ezell in Berea this spring, and it is particularly poignant that it is happening as our communities begin to emerge out of the pandemic that has kept most of us isolated over the past several years, said Chris Green, director of the Berea College Loyal Jones Appalachian Center. “This performance is far from a typical play. During Ezell, audience members are treated to an entire experience. From the moment someone arrives at the Forestry Outreach Center, they become part of the experience, which invokes the resilience, love and lessons of not only our ancestors, but of generations to come.” The performance is surrounded by an immersive experience, calling to the audience’s collective desire for connection and belonging. Additional support for this performance was provided by Kentucky Artist Rescue grant funds and an Al Smith Fellowship Award granted to Bob Martin for artistic excellence from the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which is supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. At the beginning of the performance, the audience is welcomed and oriented into the experience by a journey guide. During the second act, participants are led by a guide to the performance site, located in a wooded area and immersed in music. The third act allows the audience to witness Ezell through a performance at the base of Berea’s Pinnacles. Following the third act, guides will engage audience members while guiding them to the performance site of the final act. Act five is a celebration of the event, including live music and a farm-fresh, family-style meal inspired by the story and place of Ezell. The story of Ezell was inspired by actual events in Berea’s neighboring rural communities as well as the ongoing efforts of people throughout Appalachia and worldwide to imagine a future beyond fossil fuels. Clear Creek Creative’s professional artistic ensemble for Ezell includes a collaboration of theater, music, visual and design artists from Kentucky and New Orleans, Louisiana.&nbsp;In Berea, they will be accompanied by the Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble and supported by students from this semester’s Community Story Activism course co-taught by Green and Bob Martin, the lead artist and performer of Ezell. Ezell also serves as a homecoming and reunion of sorts. Cory Shenk, a 2015 Berea graduate, shapes the event’s music and soundscape. He uses everyday items to create an atmosphere that hauntingly transforms songs like Jean Ritchie’s “Now is the Cool of the Day.” Sam Gleaves, a 2014 Berea graduate, directs the Berea college Bluegrass Ensemble. Later this spring and summer, Ezell will tour to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts with an award from the National Theater Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts as well as support from the National Performance Network and the Network of Ensemble Theaters. Images, tickets and further information about the development of Ezell are available at <a href="http://clearcreekcreative.net/ezell">clearcreekcreative.net/ezell</a>. Performances will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 21 to 23 at 5 p.m., and Sunday, April 24 at 1 p.m.&nbsp;Tickets are by donation, and all proceeds will benefit the work of Grow Appalachia, an organization committed to creating healthy, resilient and economically viable food systems in Appalachia.

Ezell National Tour Launches in Berea Over Earth Day Weekend

Nine member institutions of the USA South Athletic Conference (USAS) have officially formed and have been approved by the NCAA as a new Division III athletic conference, following a planned separation of USAS. This new conference, the “Collegiate Conference of the South” (CCS), will include Agnes Scott College, Belhaven University, Berea College, Covenant College, Huntingdon College, LaGrange College, Maryville College, Piedmont University, and Wesleyan College. The USA South is currently the nation’s largest NCAA Division III conference, with 19 member institutions. After years of internal discussions, a two-conference separation strategy emerged, and more recently, the USAS Presidents Council formally committed to the establishment of two viable conferences. The new CCS was officially incorporated in the State of Georgia on Jan. 12, 2022, and application materials for conference membership were officially approved on Feb. 17 by the NCAA Division III Membership Committee. The CCS Presidents Council and Executive Committee are led by Dr. Bryan F. Coker (president, Maryville College), chair; Dr. Susanna L. Baxter (president, LaGrange College), vice-chair; and Rev. J. Cameron West (president, Huntingdon College), at-large representative. CCS schools are being supported in forming this new conference by Dr. Kurt Patberg, who currently serves as CCS acting commissioner. “We are grateful to our USA South colleagues for the productive and collegial manner in which this separation has been approached, and we are immensely excited about the possibilities which lay ahead for the new Collegiate Conference of the South,” said Coker, CCS chair. “In addition, we are thrilled that the NCAA has supported our application for membership as we move toward full competition in the fall of 2022.” In addition to sharing the member institutions’ geographic identity, the name, “Collegiate Conference of the South,” is indicative of their shared commitment to academic excellence, which is commensurate with the NCAA Division III philosophy. Now officially approved, the CCS plans to begin full-time operations in summer 2022 and compete in 14 championship sports beginning in fall 2022. The championship sports for men are baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field and for women are basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The sports of football, women’s golf, and men’s and women’s lacrosse will continue to compete in the USA South as associate members. Contact: Dr. Kurt Patberg, 404-434-5146 or <a href="mailto:kpatberg.asc@gmail.com">kpatberg.asc@gmail.com</a>

Berea College Joins New Collegiate Conference of the South Following USA South Separation