DENVER, CO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/05/13 -- Time is running out for attendees to take advantage of the early registration discount for the upcoming R E A P National Conference on the Spirituals. February 15 is the deadline to receive the lowest rates to participate in this multi-day event co-sponsored by The Spirituals Project and the University of Denver. R E A P Conference registration is open online at http://spiritualsproject.org/reap.

The R E A P National Conference, set for June 13-15 at the University of Denver, will focus on the varied dimensions of the spirituals as represented by the four pillars of Research, Education, Activism, and Performance (R E A P). Event highlights will include the world premiere of a choral work by award-winning composer Dr. Jacqueline Hairston and performed by The Spirituals Project Choir; keynote addresses by civil rights historian Dr. Vincent Harding and distinguished poet Nikki Giovanni; presentations by Dr. Reiland Rabaka (University of Colorado- Boulder), Dr. Stephanie Krusemark (Naropa University), and Dr. Gena Chandler (Virginia Tech University); and featured performances by baritone Anthony Brown, mezzo-soprano Erica Papillion-Posey and soprano LaTanya Hutchins.

Among the presenters for the conference's numerous workshops will be Dr. Susheel Bibbs ("Voices for Freedom - An Introduction to the Hyers Sisters' Dream"); Timothy Botts ("Painting the Spirituals: Using Artistry, Words and Cross-Cultural Collaboration to Interpret the Spirituals Across History and Race"); Tamara Roberts ("Spirituals, Bomba and the Musical Legacy of Slavery in the Greater Caribbean"); Bill Doggett ("The Negro Spiritual: First Recordings: Highlights from the Bill Doggett Sound Archive"); Randye Jones ("Use of Dialect in the Solo Performance of Negro Spirituals"); Tiearea Robinson ("Therapeutic Techniques: The Healing Element of the Spirituals"); M. Liz Andrews ("Song of the Commodity"); Sam Edwards ("Under-considered or Unrecognized West/Central Oral Traditions in Some Folk Spirituals"); Marta Burton ("Prison Blues & the New Jim Crow"); Dr. Stephanie Boddie ("Spirituals and the Souls of Black Folks"); Dr. Jacqueline Hairston ("The Negro Spiritual: How We Already Knew What We Already Know"); Arvis Jones ("The Healing Power of Music As It Relates to Spirituals"); and Wendy Willbanks Wiesner ("Harris Neck: The Struggle for Our Land and the Songs That Galvanize Our Community"); Dr. Jean Snyder ("Harry T. Burleigh, St. George's Episcopal Church, and the Spirituals"); Dr. M. Thandabantu Iverson ("How They Got Over: Black Women as Laborers and Citizens in Gary, IN, 1980-2000.")

The Spirituals Project is an award-winning secular, non-profit organization established in 1998, with administrative offices on the University of Denver campus. Its mission is the preservation and revitalization of the music and teachings of the songs commonly known as "spirituals," created and first sung by enslaved African women and men in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Spirituals Project operates a number of community-based programs involving performance and education, including regular concerts by its renowned 70-member multi-ethnic, multi-generational choir. The organization also maintains a popular online educational resource, Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals, which provides information and guides for further study about the multifaceted history and cultural impact of the spirituals tradition. For more information on The Spirituals Project, please visit spiritualsproject.org or call 303-871-7993.

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