On Saturday April 18th Buffalo Arts Studio (BAS) will host TRIMANIA at the Tri-Main Center located on Main Street in Buffalo. The one night event will take place from 8pm to 1am with a VIP showing from 6pm to 8pm. It's going to be an epic celebration of art, culture, and music and they expect in attendance 3,000 guests. BAS will transform the six floors of the former manufacturing facility with live bands, DJs, dancers, performers, comedians, poets, and visual artists. Tickets can be purchased at www.trimainia.com.

It's a good event to support because TRIMANIA is the main fundraiser for Buffalo Arts Studio. According to the BAS mission statement: Buffalo Arts Studio is a not-for-profit arts organization whose mission is to provide affordable studio space and exposure for visual artists while creating community cultural connections through exhibitions, public art, and educational programs.

Here are a few of the bands that will perform at TRIMANIA and links to samples of their music... 

Also, there are two exhibitions currently on display in the Buffalo Arts Studio gallery, Megan Conley's "Assemblage" and Stacey Robinson's "Binary ConScience".  Both have to do with identity (gender based and racial based).  Both are also worth going to and exploring, but I must say that I really really hope that people from the surrounding community of the Tri-Main Center will go and see Robinson's work.  Now let's get this straight... I hate making distinctions of artists based on the color of his or her skin but whether we like it or not skin color plays a role in the city of Buffalo.  Just observe how segregated it is!  The community around the Tri-Main is primarily African American and boy.  Robinson's art speaks directly to the Black community... the community just outside the thick brick walls of the gallery. The kids I see outside of the building are usually playing in vacant lots; they should take the elevator up to the 5th floor and see "Binary ConScience".  As an art teacher at a Buffalo charter school I know the importance of exposing young Black people to artworks made by successful Black artists... you know trying to give students a perspective outside of the privileged white male point of view.  Robinson's art will immediately look familiar to them giving them points of access into the deeper issues he evokes through the content of his work.  Obviously, white, black, or tan, anyone can enjoy the visual impact of his artwork and meditate on its intellectual content.