Creative Arts Collective

Creative Arts Collective, a nonprofit arts organization based in Detroit, has been presenting and recording jazz and creative music globally since 1978. Internationally-recognized composer/guitarist A. Spencer Barefield founded and directs CAC. He has received numerous awards for composition and performance from ArtServe Michigan-Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Meet-the-Composer/NEA Commission USA, Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest, National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest and others. He has toured and recorded in the U.S, Canada, and Europe, extensively as a leader, soloist, and with Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Richard Davis, David Young, James Carter, Regina Carter, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal, Djallo Keita and others. Barefield's recordings (CAC label)"Soul Steppin' Through the fabulous Ruins,""Live Detroit,""Xenogenesis and his Sound Aspects releases (from Germany)"After the End" and "Live at Leverkusen,""Live at Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen" have received rave international reviews and honors. He is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) — its concerts at the Detroit Institute of Arts and elsewhere earned CAC the Michigan's Governor's Arts Award for excellence and international recognition for its innovative presentations. More than a 100 of CAC's concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio. Barefield has taught guitar and improvisation at the University of Michigan School of Music and elsewhere.(More information on myspace.com/aspencerbarefield)