Old newspapers and fliers usually live a short and event less life waiting on a pile to get recycled. However, that's not the case for the lucky ones that end up in the bright art studio of Lula's co-artistic director Jose Ortega. There through brush strokes and collage techniques, he breathes new life to clippings from NOW magazine and No Frills fliers and creates a vibrant imaginary world. Jose Ortega was born in Ecuador but grew up in NYC where he graduated from the School

The party starts early every Friday night this summer with Lula's Afterwork Global Party series featuring music from Cuba, Brazil, New Orleans and Zimbabwe. One of the groups that will be featured in this new series is the African music quartet led by JUNO award-winning guitarist Tich Maredza. Wanting to learn more about the traditions and genres that inform and influence his composiitons, we asked Tich Maredza to tell us more about the history and direction of his music: Gro