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Nanou Djiapo

NANOU DJIAPO pronounced “Na – No” “Ja –Po” is an African drum and dance group that empowers young artists in the Metro Detroit area through the performing arts. Nanou Djiapo’s mission is to foster growth and development of youth based on their historical cultural center, using the highest values and ethics for social development. Their purpose also is to educate youth using the arts of African dance, Djembe Drum instrumental music, and visual interpretation, on culture, traditions, and social responsibility, to self and community.

Final Girls

Final Girls is a collective of professional female filmmakers living and working in Metro Detroit. The filmmakers Andrea Claire Morningstar and Jasmine Rivera co-founded it. They say the name of the collective is derived from a horror film trope coined by film theorist Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.

About twenty filmmakers work in Final Girls. They share resources, host film screenings, network events (latest event: workshop with Sundance). They also hold the monthly meeting of the Detroit chapter of Film Fatales.

Beyond the fact that Final Girls is a female collective, it also dedicates itself in making movies in Detroit, telling the stories of Detroiters.

The Whiskey Charmers

Brought together by a mutual friend, musicians Carrie Shepard and Lawrence Daversa formed the Whiskey Charmers in 2012. Shepard, who first performed publicly in 2008, found refuge in country music by icons like Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Loretta Lynn. In stark comparison, Lawrence Daversa’s early interest in AC/DC played a major role in defining his musical style, bringing him around the United States, touring with the Tarantulas, and eventually meeting Shepard. The two established the Whiskey Charmers as a musical convergence, drawing from Shepard’s country upbringings, and Daversa’s heavy metal background, and have been regularly performing since.

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