About Thomas Stanley, PhD

Writing: Stanley is co-author of George Clinton and P-Funk: An Oral History. Dr. Stanley writes on popular musical culture with an emphasis on how that culture maps and precognizes our social future. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington City Paper, Du, Point of Departure, Signal to Noise Magazine, The Yearbook of Traditional Music, and Live Movies, a textbook on new media published in 2006. As performing poet and librettist, Stanley has read with Susie Ibarra, William Hooker, Joseph Bowie, and his own ensembles. His creative writing has appeared in Beyond the Frontier (ed., E. Ethelbert Miller) and Erotique Noire (ed., M. DeCosta-Willis).

Scholarship: In 2009 Stanley was awarded a doctorate of ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland. His dissertation explored the social and musical implications of the unique compositional system developed by Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris. His masters research focused on the contemporary music of the Garinagu of Belize, and provided a unique opoortunity to work closely with the late Andy Palacio. In April of 2003 Stanley was awarded a curriculum development grant by the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora. The grant funded the development and launch of Radical Black Music and Constructions of Cosmic Order, a seminar coverining the philosophical dimension of AfroFuturism's most prominent musical renegades. This course was initially taught at the University of Maryland and later adapted for students at George Mason University.

Teaching: In 2003 Stanley partnered with local radio personality Bobby Hill at George Mason University to teach Hip Hop Culture employing a comprehensive ethnographic approach. In 2006 he was asked to join the faculty of Mason's School of Art (at the time, the department of Art and Visual Technology). At Mason, Dr. Stanley teaches courses on Sound Art, Writing, Crtical Theory, and Consciousness.

Music/Art: Stanley presents electro-acoustic music with two ensembles: Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind and Slut Walk. Stanley's compelling sound assemblages are offered as something of a pry bar to create a measure of space between the layer of socially-constructed world that presses down upon us and the fragile being underneath. He describes his objectives as liberating spiritual territory and freeing up psychological real estate. His ensembles have performed at the Kennedy Center (2009) and New York's highly acclaimed Vision Festival (2001and 2002). Stanley has also been commissioned for sound-based installations including "Duration" (October, 2006/Gallery 1-2-3) which interrogated the notion of war without end and "Three Gates in the East" (July, 2011/Driskell Center, UMD) which accompanied a multi-artist gallery exhibit interpreting the fullness of African American traditions of worship.

Advocacy: As a founding member of Transparent Productions -- a non-profit volunteer collective -- Stanley has helped to present close to 200 concerts featuring the world's finest jazz improvisers and innovators since 1997. As a volunteer on-air programmer, he host a bi-monthly show called Late Night Jazz, heard alternating Thursdays from 11pm-1am on Pacifica affiliate WPFW-FM.

www.musicovermind.org