Dayton, OH- The 16th Annual REACH Across Dayton project, "Understanding Identity," is now in full swing. This collaboration between Sinclair Community College, EbonNia Gallery and the Dayton Visual Arts Center includes free art exhibitions and a community art project. It culminates with a studies conference on Friday, Feb. 27, which is open to the public. REACH Across Dayton (Realizing Ethnic Awareness and Cultural Heritage) celebrates the diversity of the Dayton Region's population as expressed in the arts and humanities of its ethnic communities.

This unique event includes a panel discussion about the definition of identity with community members and a keynote speech about living your dreams by Leslie King Hammond, PhD, who is the graduate director emeritus and founding director of the Center for Race and Culture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. In the afternoon, Dayton's traditional dance troupe, Rhythm in Shoes, will perform Banjo Dance, which demonstrates how ethnic traditions – in this case, British and African – came together in traditional Southern Appalachian music and dance.

Academic and art-making breakout sessions at the conference will include:

Adornment as Art and Culture , Willis "Bing" Davis
The Hispanic Search for Identity through Poetry , Dr. Derek Petrey
The Story of the Traditional Ballad , Rick Good

The conference is appropriate for high school and college students, as well as adults. The cost of $45 includes refreshments, lunch and parking. Pre-registration is necessary. Scholarships are available.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, the evening before the conference, a joint exhibition reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Dayton Visual Arts Center, 118 N. Jefferson St. and from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Sinclair's Burnell Roberts Triangle Gallery, on the fourth floor of Building 13, at the corner of W. Fifth and S. Perry streets. The exhibitions are:

Jeana Eve Klein: Art Quilts at the Dayton Visual Arts Center
The Real Me: Carl Gombert at Sinclair Community College

Jeana Eve Klein: Art Quilts features large-scale art quilts and intimate embroideries that reference how our identities relate to our histories. This exhibition will be on view Feb. 26 to March 26. The Real Me: Carl Gombert is of a series of self portraits that question how we are perceived by others. It is on view Feb. 10 to March 7.

To learn more, contact Tess Little, REACH founder/coordinator, at (937) 512-5318 or tess.little@sinclair.edu. Visit www.daytonvisualarts.org to learn about the REACH community art project and download the conference registration form.

Contact: Natasha Baker, APR
Director of Public Relations
Sinclair Community College
Phone: (937) 512-2221 x0
E-Mail: natasha.baker@sinclair.edu