Tremaine Emory Leaves Supreme, Alleging Systemic Racism

Photo: Lexie Moreland/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images

After two seasons as Supreme’s creative director, designer Tremaine Emory has left the streetwear brand over accusations of systemic racism within the company. In a resignation letter obtained by the Business of Fashion, the designer cited senior management’s “inability to communicate” about the alleged cancellation of a collaboration with Black artist, filmmaker, and cinematographer Arthur Jafa and the lack of transparency around the purported move as central to his decision to leave. “This has caused me a great amount of distress as well as the belief that systematic racism was at play within the structure of Supreme,” Emory wrote in the letter.

Emory was hired as Supreme’s creative director in February 2022 in the brand’s first high-profile appointment since it was acquired by VF Corp for $2.1 billion in 2020. Supreme’s spring-summer 2023 line was the first collection under Emory’s direction, and previews from its upcoming fall-winter line — Emory’s last — have been widely lauded by fans, with Complex calling it Supreme’s “best season in years.” A creative who has worked with Ye and Virgil Abloh, Emory is also the founder of the brand Denim Tears, which tells stories of the African diaspora through clothing. Meanwhile, Jafa frequently explores Blackness in America through film, notably his 2016 video installation, “Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death,” which distills a century’s worth of collaged footage depicting Black resilience and the ongoing violence against the community into a seven-minute montage.

Supreme pushed back on all of Emory’s allegations in a statement to the Business of Fashion, asserting that the brand disagrees with his “characterization of our company and the handling of the Arthur Jafa project,” which it claims has not been canceled. Emory responded to the statement in an Instagram post on Friday, calling it “a lie to hide the systemic racism that lies deep within Supreme and almost all white-owned corporations.” Adding that he’d initially hoped to work with the brand for change, Emory said he was instead “told I was racially charged, emotional, and using the wrong forum by bringing up systemic racism in a meeting where I was asked if we should work with a Black female artist while this Jafa project was secretly shut down without anyone talking to me.” In the wake of his resignation, Emory recounted a conversation he had with Supreme’s founder, businessman James Jebbia, and said Jebbia “agreed with all” of his points and said he would “change Supreme … he’s gotta stand on what he said to me.”

The Cut has reached out to Supreme for comment. We will update this post if we hear back.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Black Opry Revue set for Saturday at Franklin Theatre

The Black Opry Revue will perform at the Franklin Theatre on Saturday.

The showcase performance will feature a variety of Black artists in country, blues, folk, and Americana music, including Nick Tabron, Layna, Lori Rayne, Tyler Bryant, Ally Free, Carmen Dianne, Aaron Vance, The Kentucky Gentlemen, and special guest Wendy Moten.

Supporting acts will include Ping Rose and The Anti Heroes.

Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show, with tickets available online starting at $50.

More information about the Franklin Theatre, including additional shows, can be found here.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

In the Summer of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Renaissance,’ Will All Women Finally Get the Recognition They Deserve?

beyonce-renaissance-tour-awards-economy-grammys
Blue Ivy Carter and Beyoncé perform onstage during the Renaissance World Tour on Aug. 11, 2023 in Atlanta. (Kevin Mazur / WireImage for Parkwood)

Currently, three women—Barbie, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift—seem to be running the world, or at least the economy, judging by record-shattering tour and box office revenues. But, as in the case of Beyoncé and other female artists of color, this success does not translate to deserved recognition from prestigious institutions.  

Feb. 6 is a date now infamous to Beyhive Twitter. I was among those who expected to see Beyoncé’s seventh studio album Renaissance, an homage to house music, ballroom and Black queer creatives. It is the very album that has now sparked a record-breaking world tour and was expected to win Album of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. But, when the award went to Harry Styles for Harry’s House, many young women of color like me felt robbed.  

The late-night betrayal prompted a deep dive into the Grammy Awards. I discovered that it has been more than two decades since a Black woman was awarded Album of the Year. (Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999.)

Before Lizzo’s 2023 Record of the Year win, the last Black woman to hold the award was Whitney Houston in 1994.

Despite Beyoncé becoming the most Grammy-awarded artist in history, she has only won one award from the four major categories: Album, Record, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. She won Song of the Year for Single Ladies in 2010.

The Recording Academy has often relegated Beyoncé and other Black female artists to discreet categories like Best R&B Song/Performance, Best Rap Song/Performance and Best Urban Contemporary Album—all presumably code for Black.  

How has the one-and-only Beyoncé been under-recognized by prestigious institutions, especially given the undeniable genre-building influence of Black artists and female artists of color? The message young women absorb is that unless you are a one-in-a-generation talent like Lauryn Hill or Whitney Houston, female artists of color can kiss goodbye any hope of wide-scale recognition by the Recording Academy. I’m reminded of the phrase girls of color like myself heard growing up: “We have to be twice as good to get half as far.” 

The underrecognition and snubbing of female creatives, particularly women of color, transcends the Grammys. During this past Oscars, the Academy nominated no female directors. This repeated offense, called out by many including Natalie Portman in 2018 in part inspired new inclusion standards for films seeking Oscar nominations. But for now, only three women have ever won Best Director and only five have won Best Original Screenplay.   

The message young women absorb is that unless you are a one-in-a-generation talent like Lauryn Hill or Whitney Houston, female artists of color can kiss goodbye any hope of wide-scale recognition by the Recording Academy.

As a culture, we place considerable emphasis on awards and national recognition. While the Oscars nominating no female directors and the Grammys snubbing Beyoncé may seem arbitrary, it reflects—and, more importantly, shapes—what the public sees as valid art. When rap and R&B are sidelined during major awards, along with female artists themselves, those institutions signal that these genres and creatives are culturally unimportant, even when they dominate the economy. We all deserve better. 

Now amid the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, these questions of who deserves apt recognition for their labor are especially relevant. Just as writers and actors are the backbone of the entertainment industry, female creatives (particularly women of color) have shaped music, film and TV, but do not see their contributions duly recognized.    

The dual strikes have already disrupted the timing of the Emmys, which are postponed until January. I would love to see the unions’ demand for more equitably compensated work go even further than winning fair contracts and delaying the award show season.

Maybe the strikes, combined with the thrilling Barbie and Renaissance summer, will forever change how we see female creatives and artists of color. Then they can finally get their flowers, and we can all watch it play on television screens across the world. 

Up next:

U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you. For as little as $5 each month, you’ll receive the print magazine along with our e-newsletters, action alerts, and invitations to Ms. Studios events and podcasts. We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity.

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‘Girls Trip’ Producer Will Packer To Be Honored At National Black Arts Festival Gala

Will Packer, the producer of films such as Girls Trip and Think Like a Man, will be honored Oct. 7 at the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF) Gala.

“NBAF is excited to honor critically acclaimed film producer Will Packer as our 2023 NBAF Trailblazer in the Arts Honoree,” NBAF’s executive director Stephanie Owens said in a statement. “We are thrilled to celebrate his success in elevating Black actors and Black culture on screen at this year’s Gala.”

Packer’s films have amassed over $1 billion at the box office, with his eponymous production company also producing digital and televised content. The Florida A&M University alumnus produced the 2022 Academy Awards.

In a statement, Packer, a resident of Atlanta, where the NBAF is headquartered, said he was “in awe” of the NBAF for its work that “impacts, supports, and amplifies Black arts.”

He added, “I am thrilled and humbled to receive this honor from the NBAF.”

The NBAF is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to highlighting and celebrating the achievement of artists, including media professionals in the Black community. The 2023 theme for its annual gala is “Mahogany.” The affair will seek to curate an immersive night of vintage glamour, with a setting encompassing an array of brown hues.

The gala will not only spotlight Packer and his groundbreaking efforts in media, but also feature another Black trailblazer, famed chef Marcus Samuelsson, who will curate the event’s menu. The eight-time James Beard Foundation winner has owned and operated many acclaimed restaurants, including Red Rooster in Harlem and MARCUS Montreal.

The NBAF is celebrating 35 years of uplifting Black arts and those who create it. Tickets to and reservations for the commemorative event at Atlanta’s Southern Exchange Ballroom are available now.

Support for the NBAF Gala is provided by Fulton County Arts and Culture, Georgia-Pacific, and Georgia Power. Major funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.


RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

A Black Catholic church urges Columbus bishop to not close it 

Parishioners departing Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church on Columbus' Near East Side on Aug. 17, 2023. The parish, one of just a handful of majority-Black Catholic churches in the region, are asking Bishop Earl Fernandes not to close their church as part of the diocese's "Real Presence Real Future." In May, the diocese said it intends to close 15 churches, including nine churches in Franklin County.

In January, Columbus Catholic Diocese Bishop Earl Fernandes celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with several hundred parishioners at Holy Rosary & St. John church on Columbus’ Near East Side.

The parish, one of just two majority-Black Catholic churches in the diocese, sits at 648 S. Ohio Ave. in a gradually gentrifying neighborhood just a few blocks from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Many congregants were excited to welcome Fernandes — who in 2022 became the Diocese of Columbus’ first bishop of color and the first Indian-American bishop of the Latin Church in the United States — to their house of worship.

“He gave a wonderful homily,” said Fern Upshaw, 62, who has been attending the church since the early 1990s.

At the time, many parishioners were worried about their future. Amid diocese-wide declining Mass attendance, a shortage of priests, and a two-year feedback initiative dubbed “Real Presence, Real Future,” an advisory commission had just recommended 19 parishes for closure. The commission recommended Holy Rosary & St. John stay open, but be administered as one parish with St. Dominic Church, another predominantly Black Catholic congregation. Still, some worried that the bishop could close Holy Rosary & St. John, where parishioners say 70 to 80 people worship each Sunday.

According to multiple parishioners who attended, the bishop allayed those fears during the Mass.

“He did say at the Mass, ‘Holy Rosary St. John — you have nothing to worry about,’” said Upshaw. “He got just about a standing ovation. We took that to mean that our parish was going to remain open.”

Four months later, however, the diocese announced in May its final decision that 15 churches would have to close — and Holy Rosary & St. John (HRSJ) was among them. Members were told they would instead worship at St. Dominic church, located at 455 N. 20th St. in the Mount Vernon neighborhood.

Many HRSJ parishioners felt blindsided by the news.

The Diocese of Columbus declined to comment specifically on what the bishop said at the 2022 MLK Jr. Day Mass, but a spokesperson said the bishop “has always been forthcoming with his intentions … he has spoken to many churches that were slated to close and was purposefully frank so as to not imbue false hope.”

The spokesperson, Jason Mays, also said the date for closure has not yet been decided and will be finalized by the church’s pastor, the Rev. Ramon Owera, who also pastors St. Dominic, at an undetermined date.

“Bishop Earl K. Fernandes, and the leadership of the Diocese of Columbus understand that the merging of parishes is a difficult and emotional process for parishioners,” Mays added. “… Each of our parishes and parishioners have unique needs, we have worked to take those into account and will continue to work to be sensitive to those needs.”

The diocese argues that closing HRSJ is necessary because of declining attendance and deteriorating facilities, whose repairs they say could cost millions. They also cite the fact that St. Dominic, another predominantly Black Catholic church, is nearby.

St. Dominic is less than 2 miles away from HRSJ by car, although the two churches’ neighborhoods are separated by Interstate 70, and HRSJ parishioners say the cultures of worship differ in their emphasis on tradition and service.

Upshaw and a group of other parishioners who are advocating for HRSJ to stay open say that the costs of repairs are a fraction of the Diocese’s estimates, and they could raise the money through grants. Moreover, they say their church plays a vital role in the community by housing a nonprofit community kitchen, food pantry, learning center and a medical and dental clinic.

The group has collected hundreds of letters in support of the effort, and requested an audience with the bishop to make their case.

“I am very upset with the diocese…,” Upshaw said. “Would Jesus come to the Diocese of Columbus and say, ‘Hey people, we’ve got to close up shop, and we’re going to start with the poorest churches?”

Fern Upshaw and other parishioners at the Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church on Columbus' Near East Side are upset that the Catholic Diocese of Columbus has earmarked the church as among 15 slated for closure.

A ‘beacon of light’ for the neighborhood

HRSJ is a twin-spired, Gothic-style church constructed in 1898, which originally served German immigrants and later Italians, according to current parishioners. After Interstate 70 was built in the 1950s, bifurcating the neighborhood, both the area and its church became increasingly African American.

Only a small fraction of Catholics in Ohio identify as Black, and many of them are more recent African immigrants. By contrast, parishioners say HRSJ today is around 80% African American, most of whom are the descendants of enslaved people.

HRSJ has incorporated elements of African American culture, commissioning extensive murals by Black artists and renaming its offices the Bakhita Center, after a Sudanese-Italian saint. In the 1970s, HRSJ became the first Catholic church in Columbus to have a gospel choir, according to Shirley Hairston, an 83-year-old church member. The church has hosted an MLK Jr. Day Mass since the early 1990s.

An old photograph of the Holy Rosay & St. John gospel choir

Adrian Moore, 40, the parish’s financial chairperson, said the church was a refuge for his mixed-race family growing up.

“Back in the day, when my mom, who was Italian, would go visit churches with two Black kids on her arm, we weren’t really accepted. And when we actually walked into Holy Rosary, man, we were welcomed with open arms,” he said.

Today, parishioners grow vegetables and flowers in garden plots on the church’s grounds, where they also gather for cookouts and other community events.

The church’s St. John Center is home to nonprofit groups that are “a beacon of light in the community,” according to Upshaw. Last year, the community kitchen served 150,000 meals, she said, and the learning center’s GED program and medical and dental clinics served low-income community members.

Elizabeth Cary, 40, said the social work is central to the community’s identity.

“I would not go to a church that does not have those values,” she said.

With the closure of HRSJ, the future of such programs is unclear. Mays, the diocese spokesperson, said decisions have not yet been made about “what ministries will continue, how they continue, and where.”

Parishioners prepare flower beds at Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church's garden in April.

Nationwide church closures amid declining attendance, lawsuits

The Diocese of Columbus currently has around 100 parishes spread over 23 counties in central and southern Ohio. When the bishop announced the 15 church closures in May, it was the largest contraction in local history, but it followed a trend set by other dioceses in the Northeast and Midwest. The American Catholic Church faces a dwindling number of priests, a decline in church attendance and lawsuits brought by victims of abuse by clergy, which have cost dioceses and religious orders billions of dollars.

Most church properties, including HRSJ’s, are owned by their respective dioceses. A parish’s main expenses include clergy salaries, utilities, building maintenance and insurance, according to the Rev. Tom Gaunt, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Some dioceses across the country subsidize poorer churches, though other dioceses’ ability to do so is limited.

Moore said HRSJ receives no funding from the Columbus diocese for any of its missions or ministries, and instead relies on donations from the pews, grants, and other contributions from outside donors that support the parish directly.

Upshaw said the parish’s budget is around $350,000 and it is financially solvent, finishing last year around $140,000 in the black.

“We don’t ask for any money from the diocese; we understand that that well is dry,” she said.

A debate over costs

One of the diocese’s reasons for closing HRSJ is the cost of necessary repairs for the church building, the St. John Center, and the rectory, according to Mays. The diocese provided the parish initial estimates needed over a five-year period, totaling more than $2.7 million.

But when the parish solicited more detailed estimates from contractors, they found that some of the repairs were much cheaper than originally estimated, while others were not urgent — totaling less than $600,000 over five years, according to records provided by the parish.

In one example of cost-savings, the diocese had projected $95,000 for replacing the St. John Center’s slate roof, but a contractor found that missing slate could be repaired for just $1,750.

“I appreciate what the facilities department at the diocese did, in terms of doing the (initial estimate) report,” said Gary Rhoades, 73, the parish’s facility manager. He said the parish’s lower estimate “would be in my opinion, an absolute minimum amount of work that needs to be done.”

Upshaw said it seems unfair that the diocese would cite such costs as a reason for closure while at the same time donating $200,000 to Protect Women Ohio, a group opposing the abortion measure on the November ballot.

“I’m not against the right-to-life groups, but we are people here today,” Upshaw said.

She also noted that another diocese facility, the St. Thomas More Newman Center in the University District, is in the midst of a $3 million renovation.

Mays, the spokesperson, said that the Newman Center plays an important role in ministering to college students and its renovation was paid for by outside grants, not the diocese.

Some parishioners said they worried HRSJ could be sold.

Mays said the HRSJ property has not been evaluated for demolition or sale, and that the diocese does not stand to profit from the sale of any of its churches because the money would go to whichever parish a closed church had merged with.

“(Sale) is not even on the table at this point,” Mays said.

Parishioners at the Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church on Columbus' Near East Side are asking Bishop Earl Fernandes not to close their church, saying it is not only one of only a handful of predominantly Black Catholic churches in the diocese, but is also a 'come-as-you-are church."

A ‘come-as-you-are’ church

The diocese told The Dispatch that another reason for closing HRSJ is low attendance, citing a fall in average Sunday Mass attendance from 138 in 2013 to 65 in 2022.

Upshaw said that the numbers fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they did throughout the diocese, but have since risen to 70 to 80 each Sunday and are continuing to grow.

Parishioners said that while Catholicism is losing young people nationwide, HRSJ is attracting them.

Sheena Costa Flowers, 38, said part of the appeal is that HRSJ is a “come-as-you-are” church that welcomes people from all backgrounds.

“We all have times of need, whether it be financial need or physical need, whether it just be a shoulder to cry on, or a place to belong. And I think that you will find all of that there,” she said.

The group opposing HRSJ’s closure recently polled 55 church members, and found that just 5% said they plan to attend St. Dominic if HRSJ is closed and they are forced to merge. Some said they planned to attend other Catholic parishes, while others said they would leave Catholicism altogether, the members said.

Costa Flowers said that St. Dominic did not feel as inclusive to her, adding that it was “built with a lot of longtime, legacy families.”

“St. Dominic’s is most definitely not a bad church, but they have a different personality,” said Upshaw. “They are more traditional … whereas we are much more intrigued by seeing Jesus in each other. …We’re growing by reaching out to people in the community and saying, ‘What can I do for you? Let me tell you a little bit about God.'”

If and when HRSJ closes, Moore knows what he will miss most — the people.

“We call it the community of Holy Rosary and St. John for a reason,” he said.

Peter Gill covers immigration, new American communities and religion for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at: bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.

pgill@dispatch.com

@pitaarji

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Bonhams Presents an Exhibition on Art, Identity, and Postmodernism: On view alongside the single-lot auction of Robert Colescott’s masterpiece, 1919

New York – Bonhams is pleased to present the exhibition Spirit of Mine: Art, Identity and Postmodernism, on public view from August 28 – September 8 in New York. Coinciding with the single-lot auction of Robert Colescott’s masterpiece 1919, estimated at $3,000,000 – 5,000,000, on September 8, the exhibition champions artists whose work has been historically overlooked because of their gender, race and sexuality, including those for whom identity is a core theme of their practice. The artworks presented here include loans from The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art, the collection of renowned rapper, record producer, and DJ, Q-Tip, and from the family of Robert Colescott. They are presented as a recontextualization of these artists’ groundbreaking works, broadening the dialogue surrounding key twentieth century movements. Spirit of Mine will include outstanding artworks by Wifredo Lam, Grace Hartigan, Winfred Rembert, Martin Wong, Chris Ofili, Perle Fine, Richard Mayhew, Mercedes Matter, and Norman Lewis, alongside global highlights of Bonhams’ fall season, including Ernie Barnes, Elaine De Kooning and Salman Toor.

While identity has always been at the heart of art-making, the political and cultural revolutions in the 20th century, and civil shifts and flattened hierarchies in the 21st century, headlined the significance of individualism and autonomy. Colescott’s 1919 encapsulates the exploration of identity, weaving together his family story and experiences with themes of America’s racial history. Eight rare works by Colescott on view directly from the family are presented alongside 1919, including six works on paper, a wall-based sculptural object and large painting. The complimentary works further illustrate the artist’s deeply introspective practice and provide additional context to the circumstances leading to the creation of 1919, which is regarded as Colescott’s most personal and important work.

An important painting by Ernie Barnes is featured in the exhibition and offered as a preview of an upcoming auction this fall. Framed by the artist in his signature wood fence style, and emblematic of his own “neo-mannerist” approach, Barnes’ figures are fluid and elongated, constantly painted in motion by the dual artist and former athlete. Barnes’ approach to abstract, narrative figures and eccentric depiction of urban life can be similarly seen in Nina Chanel Abney’s Untitled (FUCK T*E *OP), 2014. A special loan from the collection of Q-Tip, the painting combines representation and abstraction, imbuing each pattern and shape with sociopolitical critique and depiction of the artist’s experiences. Patterned abstractions to explore identity are further utilised in works by Mcarthur Binion. Adding abstracted grids to the surfaces of personal documents, Binion’s identity is both the medium and the subject, as seen in MAB: 1947: E, 2016, which features over one hundred photographs of the artist at the age of one.

The exhibition also highlights female Abstract Expressionist painters Lynne Drexler, Grace Hartigan, Perle Fine, and Mercedes Matter, who are finally receiving long-overdue international recognition. Spirit of Mine features Hartigan’s monumental painting Clarissa’s World, 1974, which illustrates the return of figuration to the artist’s turmoil- and anguish-infused abstract planes. Drexler’s Untitled, 1960 is a work on paper that illustrates the artist’s interrogation of the boundaries of colour, gesture and spatiality; facets of the artwork surface that Drexler honed while living as a self-proclaimed “hermit” on the remote Monhegan Island, Maine.

Also highlighted are deeply personal works by artists whose pictorial identities are closely tied to their heritage. Two paintings by Wilfredo Lam, Sans titre, 1972, and Sans titre, 1973, incorporate aesthetic qualities taken during the artist’s time in Europe with elements of Cuban and Lam’s own personal culture of African and Spanish descent. Winfred Rembert’s Cotton Cross (White), 2012, is painted on carved and tooled leather and displays memories of his youth, growing up in the Jim Crow-era South.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest and most renowned auctioneers, offering fine art and antiques, motor cars and jewellery. The main salerooms are in London, New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, with auctions also held in Knightsbridge, Edinburgh, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney. With a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 22 countries, Bonhams offers advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full list of forthcoming auctions, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, please visit bonhams.com.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

7 must-see historic Detroit music landmarks

More than a century’s worth of Detroit’s rich musical heritage can be absorbed at these milestone spots across the city.

1. Hitsville, U.S.A.: The Motown Museum

Few buildings in the music world are as iconic as the little house where big dreams were born on West Grand Boulevard: In 1959, in this home office and studio, songwriter and entrepreneur Berry Gordy Jr. founded the company that would become Motown Records, eventually home to some of the 20th century’s most enduring artists and hits.

The Motown Museum, founded in the 1980s by Gordy’s sister Esther Gordy Edwards, preserves the musical beehive in its original ‘60s glory, including the famous Studio A where acts such as the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye and Four Tops recorded much of their signature work.

The museum, whose campus is undergoing a $65 million expansion, is open for tours Wednesdays through Sundays most weeks. 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit

Motown Records' original headquarters at 2648 West Grand Blvd., Detroit, now the Motown Museum

2. Third Man Records

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the city’s resurgent garage rock scene was thriving in the bars and clubs of Midtown Detroit, especially in the sector known as the Cass Corridor. The most prominent of the era’s bands were the White Stripes, whose cofounder Jack White launched Third Man Records during the group’s rise.

In November 2015, with his solo career thriving following the White Stripes’ disbandment, White opened this eye-catching Cass Corridor retail store featuring records, apparel, novelty attractions and a performance space. Fifteen months later, he launched Third Man Pressing in the rear space, giving the city its first working vinyl plant in half a century. The retail space is open daily; plant tours are offered on Fridays. 441 W. Canfield, Detroit

Press operators work at their stations at Third Man Pressing in the Midtown area of Detroit on March 29, 2022.

3. New Bethel Baptist Church

A young Aretha Franklin and her sisters honed their gospel chops at the church helmed by their father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, who made a national name with his radio broadcasts and revival tours.

New Bethel’s original sanctuary on Hastings Street, where a teenage Aretha cut her first gospel records, gave way to freeway construction in the early ‘60s, and the elder Franklin moved the church to a renovated theater on Linwood, where it remains today.

The Queen of Soul remained a regular presence at New Bethel through the decades, including annual gospel extravaganzas she hosted annual Thanksgiving week. 8430 Linwood, Detroit

A portion of Linwood Street outside New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit was renamed for the late C.L. Franklin in 2016.

4. Grande Ballroom

Before it became Detroit’s most famous rock palace, the Grande was a traditional dance hall, opened on the city’s west side in 1928.

But its real moment in the spotlight came from 1966 to 1972, when it was repurposed by Dearborn teacher and DJ Russ Gibb as a counterculture venue, capitalizing on the fast-growing rock touring industry that brought acts such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Who and Grateful Dead to the Grande Stage.

It was also ground zero for that era’s homegrown rock, hosting bands such as the Stooges, Amboy Dukes, Alice Cooper and — most notably — the MC5, who served as de facto house band and recorded the debut album “Kick Out the Jams” onsite. Today, the Grande is long closed and in disrepair, but it remains a popular tourist spot for visiting rock fans. 8952 Grand River, Detroit

The new MC5-inspired mural at the Grande Ballroom.

5. Blue Bird Inn

The Blue Bird was a nerve center for Detroit jazz and local Black culture in the 1940s and ‘50s, host to national talent such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker and others, along with a who’s-who of local players such as Tommy Flanagan, Donald Byrd and the Jones brothers.

The building was rescued from demolition in recent years by the Detroit Music Conservancy, which secured a formal historical designation for the site in 2020. The conservancy continues its physical rehabilitation of the space as it seeks to restore the Blue Bird as a performance center and community hub. 5021 Tireman, Detroit

Members and friends of the Detroit Sound Conservancy gather outside the Blue Bird Inn at 5021 Tireman in Detroit in 2019.

6. Orchestra Hall

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s longtime home is also regarded as one of the world’s preeminent concert halls.

Designed by C. Howard Crane, Orchestra Hall opened in 1919. The 2,000-seat space housed the DSO for the next two decades before being sold and repurposed as the Paradise Theater, serving as a hub for Black arts including performers such as Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

The building was long vacant when a grassroots campaign spared it from demolition at the turn of the ‘70s, and after a nearly two-decade renovation, the Detroit Symphony returned to the hall in 1989.

Orchestra Hall today is the centerpiece of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, opened in 2003. 3711 Woodward, Detroit

Orchestra Hall on Woodward Avenue in Detroit in 2014. It was built by Walbridge.

7. Hip Hop Shop

The boutique shop run by designer and clothier Maurice Malone had a brief but important life from 1993 to 1997, serving as a focal point for Detroit’s small but creatively vibrant hip-hop scene. It was there that up-and-coming figures such as Eminem, Proof, Slum Village and J. Dilla worked their craft, including open mic sessions and rap battles that later inspired Eminem’s semiautobiographical film “8 Mile.”

Today, Malone’s Hip Hop Shop legacy exists only online, with a selection of hoodies, shirts and other apparel, though the original brick-and-mortar store on Detroit’s west side was revived in 2005 by a competing entrepreneur. 15736 W. Seven Mile, Detroit

(Eminem’s Detroit presence can also be found downtown at his Mom’s Spaghetti eatery and merch store, opened in 2021 as part of the Union Assembly restaurant complex. 2131 Woodward, Detroit)

Maurice Malone ran Detroit's Hip Hop Shop from 1993 through 1997.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

First Friday in Denver: 5 Pillars of Hip Hop, Chicano Art and More

First Friday in September is the perfect way to slide into Labor Day weekend. Co-op shows, juried exhibits, a Black art festival, a craft bonanza in Manitou, an art class sampler, a skate-deck tribute to hip-hop and Marsha Mack’s idea of heaven are just some of the ways you can enjoy an arty holiday, engaging with visual art.

And First Friday gets off to an early start, with several openings and receptions tonight. Ready, set, go:

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687739/8-29-beauty-of-blackness-zsudayka-nzinga-basquiat-explodes.jpg" data-caption="Zsudayka Nzinga, “Basquiat Explodes,” mixed media on canvas.   Zsudayka Nzinga” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”>

Zsudayka Nzinga, “Basquiat Explodes,” mixed media on canvas.

Zsudayka Nzinga

The Beauty of Blackness Fine Art Show
Foothills Mall, 215 Foothills Parkway, Fort Collins
Thursday, August 31 through September 2: Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, September 3, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Opening Reception: Friday, September 1, 6 to 9 p.m. Artist Saturday Fashion Show: Saturday, September 2, noon
Streaming: Friday through Sunday, September 1-3, 3 to 6 p.m. daily
The Beauty of Blackness returns to the Foothills Mall in Fort Collins and runs throughout the Labor Day weekend with original works by Black and African American artists, both in person and online (streaming September 1 through September 3, 3 to 6 p.m. daily on Facebook or Instagram). Viewing opens on Thursday, or wait until the Friday -night reception; the TBOBFAS Fashion Show follows on Saturday afternoon and includes a two-day boutique. The event is free; learn more here.

Bruce Price, Turbulences
Gallery Galore, Tejon Art Studios, 2890 South Tejon Street
Thursday, August 31, through September 16
Opening: August 31, 4 to 7 p.m.
Quietly and endlessly creative with the simplest of materials, Denver artist Bruce Price salvages and collages gay checked-gingham fabric samples of cut-up clothing with paint on paper, or folds and twists them into perfect little objets d’art. For gardeners, Price fashions in-demand hypertufa planters with panache and a sharp focus on imperfect edges. He also creates printed accessories with sharp designs, including backpacks and laptop cases. He’s practical, yet his brain spins in outer space, gathering ideas as fast as he can make them real (incidentally, that’s something he has called, at times, the fancyreal). Enter Gallery Galore, a middleman-free exchange where people can buy whatever Price makes. Join him for Turbulences, a show of “new and historic” works “curated from [his] archives by invited guests,” at the Tejon Art Studios. You’ll find amazing work and meet new people.

2023 Summer Sampler
Art Students League of Denver, 200 Grant Street
Thursday, August 31, through Sunday, September 3
The Art Students League of Denver has been doing its thing now for almost forty years: offering affordable art classes and use of the appropriate apparati to people of all ages and skill levels. If that stirs your inner artist, ASLD is hosting Summer Sampler classes over the holiday weekend, where wannabes can test the waters for a day, learning about cartooning, calligraphy or jewelry-making — and much more. Fees for sample classes vary, and they are filling up fast; learn more here and register here.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687742/8-31-dart-melody-epperson-annette-coleman.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson share walls at D'art Gallery East. – Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson" data-caption="Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson share walls at D’art Gallery East.   Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson share walls at D’art Gallery East.

Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson

Spot On #4 Juried Exhibition
Reflections and Refractions: An Installation and Painting Collaboration with Annette Coleman and Melody Epperson in Gallery East
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Thursday, August 31, through September 24
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 31, 5 to 8 p.m.
D’art premieres its annual Spot On juried show, a challenge to artists both local and national to submit what they consider to be their best works. The exhibition, juried by Molly Bird Casey of NINE dot ARTS, contains work by 44 hopeful artists; find out who won the Best in Show awards at the reception. In the East Gallery, glass mosaic sculptor Annette Coleman and abstract painter Melody Epperson tag team for Reflections and Refractions, a collaborative installation.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687735/8-30-artist-on-santa-fe-tara-kelley-cruz-knuckleball.jpg" data-caption="Tara Kelley Cruz, "Knuckleball."   Tara Kelley Cruz” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”>

Tara Kelley Cruz, “Knuckleball.”

Tara Kelley Cruz

Tara Kelley-Cruz, Deconstructed
Artists on Santa Fe, 747 Santa Fe Drive
Through October 1
Artist Reception: Friday, September 15, 5 to 8 p.m.
Painter Tara Kelley-Cruz has a good feel for composition without thinking about it too hard — instead, she’s busy layering, scraping, sanding and adding image transfers, drawings and ephemera to the mix in a frenzy of pure process. The results are handsome and contemporary, building on influences from the second half of the last century.

Mary Mackey, Barcelona
Urban Mud, 530 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, September 1, 5 to 8 p.m.

Mary Mackey celebrates the eclectic spirit of Barcelona — the fierce Catalan city known for its rich aggregate of arts and architecture, museums, the curvy crafted buildings of Antoni Gaudí, modernist sensibilities and Mediterranean cuisine —in Barcelona, an exhibition of more than forty colorful ceramic sculptures composed in the modern mold. Slap a barretina on your head if you really want to honor the occasion.

<a href="https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687743/9-1-bell-projects-jamie-gray-moon-cradle.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Jamie Gray, “Moon Cradle,” 2023, beeswax and pigment on reclaimed birch. – Jamie Gray" data-caption="Jamie Gray, “Moon Cradle,” 2023, beeswax and pigment on reclaimed birch.   Jamie Gray” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Jamie Gray, “Moon Cradle,” 2023, beeswax and pigment on reclaimed birch.

Jamie Gray

Jamie Gray: High Desert Homecoming, Friday, September 1, through October 1
Jon Sargent: Nude Masculine States in the Living Room
Bell Projects, 2822 East 17th Avenue, Friday, September 1, through October 29
Opening Reception: Friday, September 1, 6 to 10 p.m.
Jamie Gray grew up in Buena Vista, close to nature in the shadow of the Collegiate Peaks. But she left for other places and only recently returned to Colorado, settling in Denver after big successes in the international art world for her mixed-media work. Now she’s turning out smoothly polished and carved wood-and-encaustic flat forms, alone and in groupings, which is what will be on view for her debut at Bell Projects this weekend. In the Living Room, photographer Jon Sargent follows in the footsteps of Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and Anne Brigman, but chooses male models to mold their nude bodies to the natural forms of rocks and trees.

<a href="https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687745/9-1-alto-gallery-robert-bell-beastie-boys-skate-deck.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Robert Bell's Beastie Boys skate deck for Can I Kick It? at Alto Gallery. – Robert Bell" data-caption="Robert Bell’s Beastie Boys skate deck for Can I Kick It? at Alto Gallery.   Robert Bell” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Robert Bell’s Beastie Boys skate deck for Can I Kick It? at Alto Gallery.

Robert Bell

Can I Kick It?
Alto Gallery, ArtPark RiNo, 1900 35th Street, Suite B
Friday, September 1, through September 30
Opening Reception: Friday, September 1, 6 to 10 p.m.; RSVP here
Hip-hop-directed curator Lorenzo Talcott brings a group skate deck show, Can I Kick It?, that pays homage to the Five Pillars of Hip Hop: MCs, DJs, graffiti art, breakdancing and, perhaps most important, knowledge. It wouldn’t be completely off-mark to add skateboarding, but that won’t be necessary since blank decks already provide a surface for every artwork. To drive things home, the evening will also include live performances by the Brown Bombers and the Cosmosmiths, the 303 Skateboards Pro Team and more.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687746/9-1-dateline-lydia-schram-dominic-cutillette-manifest-world.jpeg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Tattoo artists Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram pull out some fine art pieces at – Dateline Gallery. – Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram" data-caption="Tattoo artists Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram pull out some fine art pieces atDateline Gallery.   Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Tattoo artists Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram pull out some fine art pieces atDateline Gallery.

Dominic Cutillette and Lydia Schram

Lydia Schram and Dominic Cutilletta, Manifest World
Dateline Gallery, 3004 Larimer Street
Opening Friday, September 1, 5 to 11 p.m.
Artists Lydia Schram and Dominic Cutilletta share the stage for Manifest World, a duet show that signals the rebirth of Dateline in what appears to be a new age for the underground gallery. Curated by artist George Bangs, the exhibition pairs Schram’s windswept dotted drawings, reminiscent of her other art — poke tattoos — with Cutilletta’s sculpture crafted with gnarly, criss-crossing sticks of metal.

Remembrance, Community and Celebration, a Dia de los Muertos Exhibition
Brighton Armory, 300 Strong Street, Brighton
Friday, September 1, through November 1
Artist Reception and Celebration: Saturday, September 16, 1 to 5 p.m.
The Armory in Brighton gets an early start on observing Dia de los Muertos with Remembrance, Community and Celebration, an annual collaboration with Denver’s CHAC Gallery artists. While it opens September 1, the show’s culmination isn’t until September 16, when a big, family-friendly afternoon event with altars and sugar calaveras honoring the dead, pan de muerto, face-painting and vendors will celebrate the ancestors with loving memories.

Los Trabajadores: The Life of the Worker
Art Contained Del Sol Collective, 3058 West 55th Avenue
Friday, September 1, 5 to 9 p.m.
The Art Contained Del Sol Collective, a small group of local Chicano artists who present art shows in a gallery space comprised of attached shipping containers, will host Los Trabajadores: The Life of the Worker, an exhibition acknowledging the role and importance of laborers in Latinx culture.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687748/9-1-art-parts-wall-kalliopi-monoyios-untitled-geode-i-.jpeg" data-caption="Kalliopi Monoyios, “Untitled Geode I,” 2022, single-use plastic, polyester thread.   Kalliopi Monoyios” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”>

Kalliopi Monoyios, “Untitled Geode I,” 2022, single-use plastic, polyester thread.

Kalliopi Monoyios

Kalliopi Monoyios, Made with Art Parts wall
Art Parts Creative Reuse Center, 3080 Valmont Road, Boulder
Friday, September 1, through October 31
Kalliopi Monoyios, the artist, is dedicated to educating viewers about the environmental evils of plastics through her woven-plastic installations, while offering the scientific background of how plastics endangers our planet that Monoyios, the scientist, knows to be true. Monoyios has been spinning plastic refuse into essential consciousness-raising warnings for the last few years, and the wall she’s finishing up at Art Parts in Boulder is just another step in her campaign. Echoing larger exhibitions in the past, Monoyios is sewing together quilted plastic elements she calls “geodes” for a display wall to show the multiplying dangers of plastic waste.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17695676/9-1-csac-mi-gente-sylvia-montero-they-came-on-ships.jpeg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Sylvia Montero, “They Came on Ships” (detail). – Image courtesy of Sylvia Montero" data-caption="Sylvia Montero, “They Came on Ships” (detail).   Image courtesy of Sylvia Montero” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Sylvia Montero, “They Came on Ships” (detail).

Image courtesy of Sylvia Montero

Mi Gente: Manifestations of Community in the Southwest
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 West Dale Street, Colorado Springs
Friday, September 1, through February 3
First Friday Art Party: Friday, September 1, 5 to 8 p.m.

Low Rider Show, Saturday, September 2, noon to 4 p.m., free, RSVP here
Performance by Su Teatro/Carlos Frésquez Panel Discussion: Saturday, September 9, 4 to 6 p.m., free, RSVP here
Mi Gente, a visual love letter to community among the Chicanx/Latinx population in Colorado and New Mexico, will have top billing this fall and winter at CSFAC, showing how history and colonialization created tight relationships in the border regions. It opens with a whirlwind of activity, including a First Friday Art Party with Mariachi Lobos and free admission, followed on Saturday by a celebration not unlike the one the Denver Art Museum threw for Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion — a lowrider show with live music and dance, and art activities for kids. A week later, Denver’s Su Teatro will drive down to the Springs for a free performance, and quintessential Chicano artist Carlos Frésquez will participate in a panel discussion. Both are free.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17687983/1_13_platteforum-jahna-rae-indigo-photography-cam-margera.png" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Jahna Rae Church poses with her paintings. – Photo: Cam Margera" data-caption="Jahna Rae Church poses with her paintings.   Photo: Cam Margera” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Jahna Rae Church poses with her paintings.

Photo: Cam Margera

Jahna Rae, Aura
Balefire Goods, 7513 Grandview Avenue, Arvada
Friday, September 1, through September 27
Opening Reception: Friday, September 1, 5 to 7 p.m.

Balefire welcomes Jahna Rae, a Denverite by way of New York who uses traditional and street-art materials to drench beautiful, stylized portraits of women from minority cultures in lush colors. See her work at the Olde Town Arvada jewelry shop through September.

First Friday Pop-up Art Gallery
Source Hotel and Market Hall, Hall #2, 3330 Brighton Boulevard
Friday, September 1, 6 to 9 p.m.
Pop-ups at the Source could never be confused with the slap-dash variety of market. (We love those, too, but for different reasons.) This one is an artist showcase for three very different artists — Emily Roan, installationist and painter of wild abstracts; Alex Odnoralov, who paints traditional landscapes; and collagist/muralist Speaks (aka Devin Urioste) — for an interesting lineup.

Commonwheel Artists 49th Annual Labor Day Weekend Art Festival
Memorial Park, 502 Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs
Saturday, September 2, through Monday, September 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Free

Tradition runs deep among colleagues at the Commonwheel Artists Co-Op, which celebrates its 49th Labor Day Weekend Art Festival in Memorial Park as a cornerstone of the Manitou Springs arts community. Potters, jewelers, painters, sculptors, photographers, glass artists and other artist/makers offer easy shopping at the fest, which also includes live music and food and drink vendors both days. The festival is free; find a complete artist list here.

<a href="https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17688013/9-2-understudy-marsha-mack-happy-place.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="An element of Marsha Mack's installation Happy Place. – Marsha Mack" data-caption="An element of Marsha Mack’s installation Happy Place.   Marsha Mack” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

An element of Marsha Mack’s installation Happy Place.

Marsha Mack

Marsha Mack: Happy Place
Understudy, 890 C 14th Street
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 2, 6 to 9 p.m.
Marsha Mack grew up visiting the Asian Market in San Rafael, California, with her mother, delighting in the imported sweets and ridiculously cute ceramic merchandise. In adulthood, Mack’s childhood experience constitutes a nostalgic, peaceful paradise and the basis for her installation, Happy Place, which opens Saturday at the Understudy artist incubator as an indescribable phantasmagoria of sweetness. Trust me.

<a href="https://media2.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17695678/9-2-abend-marina-dieul-marina-dieul-chaton-45.jpg" data-caption="Marina Dieul, “Chaton 45,” 2023, oil on panel.   Marina Dieul, Abend Gallery” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”>

Marina Dieul, “Chaton 45,” 2023, oil on panel.

Marina Dieul, Abend Gallery

Animalia V
Abend Gallery (Golden Triangle), 1261 Delaware Street
Saturday, September 2, through September 16

Joseph Idowu: Before the Wooden Wall
Abend Gallery (Cherry Creek), 303 Detroit Street
Saturday, September 2, through October 7
Both Abend Gallery outposts host new shows this weekend, beginning with the popular annual exhibition Animalia V, which needs no introduction, at the Golden Triangle space. It’s all about the animal world, in both natural and unnatural poses, while in the Cherry Creek gallery, Nigerian artist Joseph Idowu’s solo, Before the Wooden Wall, recalls scenes from his early life in a small village.

<a href="https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17695677/cass-000016-243358-054446-12032.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="Anahit Cass, "Salpi and Nancy in Flight." – Anahit Cass" data-caption="Anahit Cass, "Salpi and Nancy in Flight."   Anahit Cass” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Anahit Cass, “Salpi and Nancy in Flight.”

Anahit Cass

Center Forward 2023
Center for Fine Art Photography, online exhibition
Through May 31
Virtual Reception and Artist Talks: TBD (check website)

Hamidah Glasgow, director and curator of the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, and art curator, mentor and writer Charles Guice juried the exhibition Center Forward 2023, an online show that is available online. No theme was requested in the call for entries, but a requirement of excellence was required in three key criteria: creativity, content and mastery. A beautiful show that leans from documentary photography to shadowy double-exposures, and portraits to stunning landscapes, it’s a great subject for armchair viewing.

<a href="https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/original/17695680/9-5-dam-chris-bagley-space-command-installation-3.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-17687732" title="A view of Chris Bagley's installation Space Command at the Denver Art Museum. – Chris Bagley, courtesy Denver Art Museum" data-caption="A view of Chris Bagley’s installation Space Command at the Denver Art Museum.   Chris Bagley, courtesy Denver Art Museum” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

A view of Chris Bagley’s installation Space Command at the Denver Art Museum.

Chris Bagley, courtesy Denver Art Museum

Meet the Artist: Chris Bagley, Space Command
Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway
Tuesday, September 5, 6 to 8 p.m.
Included in DAM admission fee, free to $19
 Chris Bagley uses every last thing multimedia has to offer in order to create installations of moving pictures, light effects, optical illusions, sculptured sound, robotic movements and whatever else comes to mind as he works. That’s evident in his current immersive install, Space Command, in the level 2 Precourt Family Discovery Hall at the Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building. If space is your place, meet Bagley and sound artist Ben Coleman for a hang in the space-age universe.


Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to [email protected].

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

BUTTER offering free Walk & Talk art history tour with ticket purchase

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — When the BUTTER Fine Art Fair officially begins, guests will have the chance to learn more about Black art and art history.

BUTTER attendees can use their tickets to register for a free gift. Through2Eyes Indiana is offering free Walk & Talk history tours at various times on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Through2Eyes owner Sampson Levingston will walk BUTTER visitors around the neighborhood between Crispus Attucks High School and The Stutz Building, an important area for Black history and culture.

The 30-minute history sessions will be focused on the importance of Black art in Indiana.

“Around 75 years ago, there were plenty of Black homes, schools, churches, and businesses in the area,” Levingston said.

BUTTER runs Thursday through Sunday at the Stutz Building, 1060 N. Capitol Ave., and features artwork from 49 black artists from Indiana and across the United States. It’s an event The New York Times called “a new model for economic justice in the arts.”

The third annual event is hosted by GANGGANG, a local nonprofit creative agency that aims to promote beauty, equity, and culture in cities including Indianapolis.

GANGGANG says it will sell or loan 100% of the featured artworks and give artists the proceeds.

Click here to learn more about BUTTER and its featured art and artists.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

New Providence sculpture will honor renowned Black artist Edward Mitchell Bannister

The life-sized bronze sculpture, which depicts Bannister sketching on a bench, will be placed in Market Square in front of the Rhode Island School of Design.

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Watts, who did an episode about how Bannister led a group that founded the Providence Art Club nearly 150 years ago, described how Bannister won an award for his painting at America’s first world’s fair in 1876.

“It was the Philadelphia centennial, and there were hundreds of artists that had been entered in a competition there,” she said. “When the judges went to announce the winner, he walked up and they were shocked because they did not expect it to be a Black man. It caused a great sensation: What are they going to do? And they were going to rescind his award.”

But Watts said other artists, who were all white, threatened to withdraw unless Bannister was given the award.

Bannister had been inspired by a New York Herald article that suggested Black people could appreciate art but were unable to produce it, Watts said. “He said, ‘Watch me,’” she said. “He wanted to disprove them. And so less than 10 years later, he wins this huge award, and his certificate of first place is one of the most prized possessions in the Providence Art Club.”

Prentiss said he was invited to a show featuring Bannister’s paintings in 2018, and he was so inspired that he ended up proposing a statue to raise public awareness about Bannister.

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“When I first got to see his artwork, I was just blown away by it,” he said, citing his landscapes. “He would make an environment that just held onto light. It would make you feel an atmosphere of possibility — of something about to happen and this kind of contained charge energy I found really kind of amazing and delicious to look at.”

Prentiss said sculptures such as this help people learn about and connect with history. “I’d like to see more bronze representational sculpture out in cities glorifying the artists and the writers and the thinkers and the community activists and the people that have been ignored, or passed on, definitely because of racism and classism and other things,” he said.

Gage Prentiss, right, talks about the sculpture he created of artist Edward Mitchell Bannister while appearing on the Rhode Island Report podcast with Rhode Island PBS Weekly co-host Pamela Watts and Boston Globe reporter Edward Fitzpatrick.Megan Hall

Watts said the Providence Art Club is planning a series of events around the unveiling of the sculpture, coinciding with WaterFire Providence on Sept. 9 and PVDFest Sept. 8-10.

“Barnaby Evans, the artist and creator of WaterFire, is going to project the works of Bannister so that people can be immersed in his genius,” she said. “There is a parade leading up to the unveiling that’s going to start on the pedestrian walkway led by some puppets and artists and people who want to make a great and joyful sound.”

On Sept. 10, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley will lead a parade begins at the 195 District Park in front of the Wexford building at 12:30 p.m. The parade will proceed through Innovation Park, over the Providence River via the Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge, and arrive at Market Square at about 1 p.m. A speaking program will begin at 1:30 p.m. Smiley will declare it “Edward Mitchell Bannister Day,” and the new sculpture will be unveiled.

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To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.


Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment