Oakland Press
Pontiac Singer Will Take Center Stage at Flint Event
March 20, 2008
By ERIN SOMMERVILLE
Special to The Oakland Press
Red Ink Studios is at 101 Burton Street in Flint; tickets are $5.
In celebration of Women's History Month, Pontiac native Inohs Sivad will be serenading Flint with songs of self-affirmation and love.
Sivad is the featured performer for the University of Michigan-Flint and LINK Community and Arts program performance series at 7:30 p.m. Friday March 21 at Red Ink Studios in Flint.
The performance series kicked off in January and deals with social injustice issues such as sexism, racism, classism and poverty.
"It came out of a desire to connect the arts community with the social justice community," said Dawn Demps, master of ceremonies and assistant organizer for the series. "The people who sat around the table believed that the arts could be used to promote different causes."
Demps said the organizers of the series also wanted to provide alternative entertainment, which can be difficult to find in Genesee County.
Most of the performers in the series have been spoken-word artists.
The next event, to be April 18, will explore poetry as a medium for addressing social issues. The event will feature spoken-word artists from Detroit, Pontiac, Saginaw and Flint. Sivad is the first musical entertainer in the series.
Sivad, 35, now a resident of Detroit, is a singer, songwriter, recording artist and producer. She also plays the guitar and a little keyboard. An eight-piece band and three background vocalists will join her for her performance in Flint. The performance will also include choreography and costumes.
Sivad described her most recent album, "Changes," released in 2007, as a "jazzy soul record with world music groove."
She explained that her album addresses three major themes -- simply feeling good, self-affirmation and love.
She said the project was born out of a monthlong trip with her husband, Scott, to New York City. She was looking for inspiration and returned with a single song, "Changes," the title track of her new album.
Sivad explained that the title describes that particular phase in her life, having just been married a year prior and considering moving to New York City, where her husband works.
The three themes reflect what she wanted to do at that time -- feel good, affirm herself and "serenade my sweetheart," she said.
Sivad was encouraged to play many instruments as a child, although she didn't stick with any of them for long.
"It wasn't until I reached my 20s that (music) became meaningful for me," Sivad said. At that time, Sivad explained, she was coming out of depression and needed a creative outlet.
"I bought a beat-up old guitar for, like, 50 bucks and just started writing songs."
Red Ink Studios, the site of the performance, originated in San Francisco. When recession forced an ad agency to downsize, it was left with extra office space, which was temporarily donated to community artists. Red Ink has three studios in San Francisco and one in Flint.
Its mission has been expanded to include programs to convert unused space into community art centers and bring art to schools affected by cutbacks. The LINK program is run by Red Ink Studios in Flint.
Traci Currie, an organizer for LINK and professor of media at the University of Michigan-Flint, said LINK's goals also include merging the UM-Flint community with the larger Flint community and making residents more politically aware, through workshops and discussion groups.
"It's one of the vehicles that we use to connect different programming throughout the city," said Demps. "We're really just celebrating women this month."
"I'm really quite honored that I'm performing during Women's History Month," said Sivad, who researched women in history to get ready for the event. "I've actually learned quite a bit about women in history and consequently about myself."
For more information on Inohs Sivad or to purchase her CDs, visit www.inohssivad.com.
