The Kitchen Table Discussions After School Activities

February 7, 2018

The Kitchen Table Discussions were an After School Activities production. They ran every Wednesday for four weeks over the month of October 2017. The point of this series was to combine the intimacy in conversation often experienced at the dinner table to a stage where improvisational musicians created the sound tract behind the conversation. The goal was to create together as an experiment.

Watts presented the opening night of The Kitchen Table Discussions. Her topic was Spirit. Here is the recording. It’s broken up into three parts.

https://soundcloud.com/afterschoolactivities/sets/84-kitchen-table-nicky-watts-spirit

Other Speakers for later weeks included Poet Ben Figueroa discussing love, Sarah Ligon discussing Ethics, and Alex Pergament discussing Community. All of these can be found in connection with Watts’ discussion recordings.

After School Activities

After School Activities, curated by artist and musician, Alex Pergament, started out as an improvisational recording session every Wednesday and continued for over 100 hundred sessions never skipping a Wednesday. Alex often chooses themes and sets rules to the evenings in order to push people’s flexibility and focus. She emphasizes listening and being patient in collaboration. After School has included other art forms such as movement and visual art as much as possible. The strongest creative force was in the music and spoken word. After School Activities pushed people to new heights and gave birth to the After School Orchestra, a selected collection of improvisational music that tour venues. If you’re interested in exploring the After School Activities recordings, visit:

https://soundcloud.com/afterschoolactivities

Many artists expanded their creative experiences at After School. A frequent collaborator was photographer, Miguel Peralta Jr.. Above is a gallery of some of his After School photos. To see more of his work go to:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jedilost1/with/40445585572/

For the first one hundred episodes of After School, it took place at an Artist Commune in Jersey City, New Jersey called 660 Studios. 660 Studios was a live/work/artist creative space that fostered experimentation, creation of creative development, and induced human bonding for almost fifteen years. The commune was built and managed by John Fathom, a local Jersey City leader in the arts. 660 Studios hosted Architype Gallery and over 100 episides of After School Activities, giving birth to the After School Orchestra and the After School Specials. 660 Studios is currently closed for renovation with an expected relaunch in 2021.

Follow 660 Studios on Facebook at to keep up with when the grand opening will occur: https://www.facebook.com/660studios/

Photo of John Fathom at 660 Studios during After School Activities. Photo y Miguel Peralta.