Continuum is transforming.
Continuum itself is in a state of transformation.We are transforming our community.
We have a 1-1 match for the first $50,000 meaning the first $50,000 donations in 2026 will essentially double.
Continuum experienced extraordinary growth in 2025: our budget nearly tripled—from $80,000 the prior year to over $200,000 in 2025. This allowed us to hire a Managing Director in January, and expand our work with people in historically marginalized communities in New York, Seattle, California, and other communities across the US, as well as our Greenhouse/Incubation, Presentation, and Legacy programs.
We are looking for people who are moved by what we are accomplishing and who want to help us get there.
Curious to find out more?
PRIMARY PROGRAMS
THE GREENHOUSE
The Greenhouse incorporated six new multi-arts organizations as 501(c)(3) non-profits this Fall as a way to empower artists and benefit their communities by establishing independent bases of power at the grass-roots level. Thanks to donors, we were able to do this free of charge to the participants in The Greenhouse.We can do more in 2026.
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This was made possible by a partnership with Outward Visions Inc. (OVI)—the force that guided Continuum’s incorporation and subsequent success beginning in 2015. With over 40 years of experience, and having formed more than one hundred 501(c)(3) organizations—1,000 if you count OVI’s attorney’s total—OVI is now conducting all of its non-profit incorporation/exemption operations under the auspices Continuum’s Greenhouse program.
The Greenhouse guided each organization in its nascent stages, handled the legal requirements for incorporation and exemption, and in early 2026 will launch collaborative projects via a consortium of the six operating collectively. All of this was provided free of charge to the organizations.
The formation of the Greenhouse marks the beginning of a new evolution of Continuum’s commitment to incubating other artists and activities in our community. Since 2016 we have provided assistance in many forms to value-aligned artists, leading to music festivals, grants, artist visas, and more, including the formation of three 501(c)(3) organizations from 2021-24.
All six organizations formed by The Greenhouse are BIPOC-led.
LIVING LEGACY
Continuum’s Living Legacy program engages with, and amplifies, the work of our elders, the giants on whose shoulders we stand, both living and departed.
Living Legacy activities have included events and recordings involving work by Julius Hemphill, Ed Blackwell, Warren Smith, Steve Dyer, and more.
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JULIUS HEMPHILL—legendary American composer
Continuum supported the historic Julius Hemphill String Quartet Plays Julius Hemphill (recording, 2025), produced the NYC release event (2025), and will produce their next NYC concert with new Hemphill works in 2026.
Continuum supported Open Air—a recording of the complete compositions for saxophone quartet—led by Marty Ehrlich.
The Dance Clarinets, directed by J.D. Parran have performed Hemphill’s music in at least four annual concerts.
ED BLACKWELL—legendary drummer, mentor to Continuum director Andrew Drury.
Andrew Drury composed (D)RUMINATIONS for Edward Blackwell and The Forest percussion ensemble performed it in 7 performances across the US.
Pheeroan akLaff and Andrew Drury performed solos on Blackwell’s drum set on what would have been Blackwell’s 90th birthday.
Drury taught “The Genius of Ed Blackwell” a four session course for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University.
WARREN SMITH—legendary percussionist
Smith recorded with The Forest as a special guest on the cd (D)RUMINATIONS for Edward Blackwell (2022).
The Forest percussion ensemble performed Smith’s work, with Smith, at U. of Illinois, at the Andrew Freedman Home (Bronx) celebrating Smith’s 90th birthday, and upcoming in 2026 in Los Angeles.
Continuum supported Joseph Daley’s composition, Colorations-Explorations (dedicated to Warren Smith). Smith has performed at three Soup & Sounds
STEVE DYER—legendary South African composer/saxophonist, political exile during apartheid
US tours in 2023, ’24, and ‘25 included multiple performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Damrosch Park, and the David Rubenstein Atrium (all three) Lincoln Center, Seattle, Portland, UCLA, U. of Arizona, etc.
FLY!
FLY! empowers people in of all ages and backgrounds in historically marginalized and vulnerable communities by giving them direct, sustained access to world-class artists through collaboration on creative projects.
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Currently we are most active in:
New York City—partners have included multiple public schools, substance abuse treatment facility, shelters, community gardens, libraries, and a youth organization next to the largest public housing facility in New York
Seattle—we have an ongoing relationship with the Low Income Housing Institute in Seattle, presenting concerts and workshops in several facilities
Albuquerque—we’ve partnered with Globalquerque, the Department of Cultural Affairs and the International District Library on workshops with youth and the homeless populations
We also have led activities in:
Los Angeles—with homeless people on Skid Row, in youth centers
San Diego—with Latinx youth in partnership with Stay Strange
Flagstaff percussion workshop at Kinlani Bordertown Dormitory with Dine/Navajo youth
Kassel (GERMANY), Bogotá (COLOMBIA), Buenos Aires (ARGENTINA), and more
CONTINUUM PRESENTS
Continuum has been producing musical performances, video/film, readings, recordings, and books by world-class artists from the start.
Presentations on five continents (with artists from six continents)—in performance in house concerts, galleries, community gardens, libraries, at Lincoln Center, and 18 universities.
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Take Me To Fendika (Cannes Winner!)
Wins Best Documentary at the Cannes Africa USA Film Festival, and other awards.
Continuum produces the NYC premiere, Dec 14, 2025 at Anthology Film Archives
40 live events in 2025 involving 40 music ensembles and over 100 performers.
Black Composers Upsouth (3 concert series, April, 2025)
Dance Clarinets play Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and James “Jabbo” Ware—Oliver Lake read his poetry
Julius Hemphill String Quartet recording release performance
Blues & Ballads: the Music of Julius Hemphill featuring Marty Ehrlich, Jonathan Finlayson, Jerome Harris, Pheeroan akLaff, and special guest Amina Claudine Myers
Notable Recordings
Open Air: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Recordings of Julius Hemphill (to be released, 2026)
The Julius Hemphill String Quartet Plays Julius Hemphill (2025)
The Forest, Coyote Makes a World (2025)
Chris Cochrane, Recognize (2025)
The Forest, (D)RUMINATIONS for Edward Blackwell (2022)
Andrew Drury, Content Provider—"Top Ten Jazz Recordings 2015” (NYC Jazz Record)
Soup & Sound series—over 230 performances in house concert or other intimate settings, and at Lincoln Center—accompanied by excellent homemade soup.
The Forest percussion ensemble—2 recordings and multiple performances in eleven States across the US.
Dance Clarinets, directed by JD Parran—Continuum has partnered with Greenwich House Music School on multiple concerts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and two videos by this GHMS-based big band featuring 15-25 clarinets of all sizes.
Performances have featured guest artists Oliver Lake, Joseph Daley, Warren Smith, Marty Ehrlich, Dr. Paul Austerlitz, and others.
Lee Odom in Kenya—performances at the National Theater in Nairobi and in a remote village where Odom did ethnomusicological research for a week in 2024.
Sonic Exchange—performances and workshops by a multi-national ensemble during residencies in Kassel, Germany in 2017 and 2022, including performances and workshops at the Documenta festival.