Kwame Adansi-Bona is the founder of

Vision of The Third Eye School of Metaphysics and Human Science

 and The House of Tribes. 

I met Kwame Adansi-Bona in 1994.  A chance meeting which took place on 7th Street in New York City’s Lower Eastside in Manhattan.  I had heard so much about this man.  I had never met him, but seeing him ride his bike down the street, dressed in overalls, a red plaid work jacket and African Kufi – it was him, my gut just told me so.  It was a sunny day.  The sky was clear blue and the sun was shining on high.  I asked him if he was Kwame and this was the beginning of a Great friendship that continues today. 

I have worked very closely with him since our first encounter and have learned a lot about him.  I feel qualified to share with you a small glimpse of the man. 

First of all Kwameis a man with plans.  And, first on our Agenda in 1994 was to get The House of Tribes Theater up and running. 

Located in a Homestead Building which Kwame took over in 1981, the theater and the building were Kwame’s babies.  The building itself was a hodgepodge of characters.  There were 6 floors and 4 apartments on each floor. The people occupying the apartments ranged in personality from creative artists, nerdy intellectual mama’s boys, do-it-your-selfers and primadonnas.  And, for the most part as I can remember the folks brought into this family of characters by Kwame were artisans with a flair for the unusual and a soul totally misunderstood.  Kwame, the building and the tiny 25 seat theater created by Kwame on the first floor were their saviours.  I don’t exclude myself from the bunch.  Oh….did I fail to mention….yes, I too became a tenant.

By the time I came on the scene.  VOTE and The House of Tribes were both already in high-gear.  Kwame’s students were as interesting as the people in the building where we lived on 7th Street in New York.  Kwame’s teaching technique is hands-on.  During the early days of my learning, there were many other students of different disciplines, Kwame teaches; Astrology, Black and White Photography, Theater Production, Electrical work, Plumbing and building techniques.  He reminds me of an Holistic Healer.  His philosophy is that when something needs to be done, he needs to know how to do it, whatever it is. 

And so, as his student I have learned it all.  But, my greatest lesson is humility.  Many of his students failed to go all the way.  When the going got tough and it did often, they walked away.  I don’t know, maybe I needed my head examined but I stuck it out. I don’t have the time right now to write a book.  So I’ll just put things in perspective.  Kwame founded a Homestead Building in New York’s Lower East Side in 1981.  He organized the tenants and created an environment of do-it-yourselfers to keep the building in shape.  On the ground floor when a member of the building decided to flee, the empty apartment which he left behind became The House of Tribes Theater.  This little 25 seat theater produced some of the hottest poetry nights in the 1980’s, free-food programs for the needy, registered neighbors to vote and beginning in 1999 became the hottest underground house of theater, producing a Grammy Nominated Record with Wynton Marsalis and Blue Note Records entitled, Wynton Marsalis, Live at The House of Tribes.  Yes we did this, working with young people from the community.  We also worked with other neighborhood organizations like Sharice Vadon’s Sweet Sensation, together we created a Haunted House for All Hollows Eve and summer programs where the young people learned, photography, video production, creative writing, webdesign and dance.

Okay…..what I am trying to say and what I am showing you is that Kwame doesn’t just sit in an office telling people about themselves.  He goes out into the world and works with people.  Any people, whoever is hungry for knowledge, people whose lives seemed lost, many of us searching for a better tomorrow.  We found it in the bossom of that building, the building that Kwame created. 

Today, we have relocated to New Orleans.  My hometown.  We are still doing the work that we were put here to do.  After working in the building which he founded for over 40 years, Kwame now sees private clients who call him on the telephone or visit him in his home.  Classes have not begun yet.  But, stay tuned or you might miss your opportunity to see a Great Man or one of his students!