Arts
Chicago Native Advances Black Artistry in Berlin
March 7, 2016 2:11 PM
By Linn Washington Jr.
BERLIN, Germany - When Professor Donald Muldrow Griffith contemplated a
life-changing decision nearly four decades ago to relocate over
4,000 miles from his hometown of Chicago, the words of his mentor, legendary
jazz singer Oscar Brown Jr., weighed heavily on his mind.
Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith
Photograph: Linn Washington Jr.
Griffith remembered a challenge Brown issued him.
Griffith said Brown had told him that if he “wished societal adjustments” he
had to “assume responsibility for bringing those changes about.”
Griffith once served as Brown’s manager, whose artistic portfolio included
playwright, poet and actor. Griffith had expanded his own portfolio from a
university degree with an emphasis on psychology and education in
acting, dance, singing and modeling.
An invitation to Griffith to come to Berlin, Germany in 1979 to perform in a
Broadway-style musical ignited a life-enriching artistic odyssey that
created a body of accomplishments that have produced accolades for Griffith
and that have elevated the recognition of African American culture in
Berlin.
When in Berlin for that initial acting opportunity, Griffith said he “met a
group of American co-performers and a German colleague, who were
interested in creating artistic works, which also addressed social issues.”
He decided to stay in Berlin at the conclusion of that theater contact.
Griffith embraced the words of Oscar Brown Jr. and has made an artistic mark
in Berlin, a city that does not enjoy recognition as a nourishing place for
artistic expressions by African Americans on par with Paris, France.
“I was and am very fortunate to have wonderful friends and family, who
supported our ambitions,” Griffith said.
Ambitions Griffith held to influence social change through cultural
expressions grew into institutions, the first being Fountainhead® Tanz
Théâtre,
an arts and cultural organization founded in 1980. Griffith said a mission
of Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre is to confront violence and prejudice
through various cultural activities.
Six years after the founding of Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre, Griffith produced and directed the
first European Black Cultural Festival, a three-week long event that
featured the contributions of blacks to world culture through film, theater,
dance, music, workshops and seminars.
That Cultural Festival included inauguration of the Black International
Cinema Berlin. That cinema event, now held annually, showcases films with
subject matter about blacks but is not limited to black issues only. The
distinguished group EFFE – Europe For Festivals/Festivals For Europe –
now ranks Griffith’s film festival as one of “Europe’s finest” annual
festivals.
The 30th Anniversary of the Black International Cinema Berlin in 2015
produced a “heartfelt congratulations” from the Cultural Attaché for the
U.S.
Embassy in Berlin. A letter from the Attaché noted that one of the films
selected for screening last year was an award-winning film about Griffith’s
1986 founding of the European Black Cultural Festival. The Attaché
characterized Griffith’s Festival as “the beginnings of Black American
culture
in Germany.”
Griffith has taken Black International Cinema Berlin to other cities in
Europe and America.
Griffith’s achievements in Berlin led to an invitation from the University
of Indiana in South Bend (USA) from him and his wife, ballerina Gayle
McKinney, to
create a dance theater department. While at that university from 1992-1995,
the pair travelled annually to Berlin to produce the film festival and
other cultural activities.
From Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre have flowed initiatives in theater, dance,
films/videos, film distribution, film festivals, musical productions,
publications, seminars, exhibitions and workshops.
Another Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre endeavor is Griffith hosting THE
COLLEGIUM, a television program with a magazine style format
broadcast regularly in Berlin and other German cities.
Berlin is a city quickly associated in the minds of most Americans with Cold
War intrigues and/or World War II Nazi-era excesses. However,
Afro-American Griffith said race-based ugliness in Berlin and beyond has not
proved a major problem in either his professional or personal
experiences.
“I have been fortunate to avoid unpleasantness in Europe, although one
senses a change in attitude in the atmosphere, with declining economies
and newcomers from various countries seeking to become a part of Europe,”
Griffith said.
Griffith credits his psychologist father and classical pianist mother for
inspiration along with his mentor Oscar Brown Jr.
“I was and am influenced by the intelligence, education, diligence and sense
of responsibility of my parents, especially by my father, John Willis
Griffith.”
