Look Inside Arts Patron Bernard Lumpkin’s Apartment, Where Walls Were Erected To Hang His Impressive Collection

bernard-lumpkin-art-collector
Bernard Lumpkin at home in New York. On wall at left: Eric N. Mack, Untitled, 2014. On back wall: Mickalene Thomas, Mary J. Me, 2002. Photography by Myles Loftin.

At home in New York, Bernard Lumpkin and Carmine Boccuzzi are surrounded by works from Rashid Johnson, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Kerry James Marshall, and Derrick Adams, to name a few. When decorating their child’s room, the couple chose to mount a Christina Quarles painting above the crib. Their collection, built around a core of rising Black artists, is currently on tour in the “Young, Gifted, and Black” exhibition, co-curated by Antwaun Sargent and Matt Wycoff, touching down at the Rhodes College Clough-Hanson Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sep. 8. Most recently, the pair, who met while studying at Yale University, announced that they would be endowing an annual scholarship at the institution’s School of Art, in their friend and fellow Yale alum Mickalene Thomas’s name. Here, Lumpkin offers insight into living and working in the arts, and defines what it means to be a patron in the field.  

bernard-lumpkin-art-collection
Left: Kevin Beasley, Untitled (Backups), 2016. Right: Tomashi Jackson, Still Remains, 2018. Photography by Dawn Blackman and courtesy of Lumpkin.

Where did your personal collection begin? 

As a collector and patron, I learned a lot from watching, looking at other people and how they built their collections. The collections that resonated with me the most were ones that had a story to tell—a story about the collector, their own life, or their perspective and on contemporary art. When collectors ask, “How do you build a collection that has meaning and feels purposeful?” I always say, “Look within yourself. Think about your own life, think about your values, think about your family, and then look at the art and the artists that you’re passionate about. See if there’s a way to tell a story with your collection that resonates with you as a person.” 

bernard-lumpkin-art-collection
Left to right: William Villalongo, Sista Ancesta (E. Kelley/D.R. of Congo, Pende), 2012; Jonathan Lyndon Chase, papi store, 2018; Samuel Levi Jones, Good Intentions, 2014; Kara Walker, Untitled, 1995. Photography by Dawn Blackman and courtesy of Lumpkin.

How did you develop the character or the theme in your own collection?

It’s called the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection; I think the operative word there is family. Through the artists of African descent that I have been privileged to support and to be in dialogue with, I have been able to tell a story about my own family, what it means to be Black growing up in America, a story about nationhood, about race, about roots, and also a story about what it means to be a young and emerging artist who is forging a path that’s mindful and respectful of your predecessors, but also a path that is not afraid to take risks. The roots have to do with my own experience growing up in a mixed race and ethnic family, and with my experience working with other young artists when I worked at MTV for many years. Television was a very collaborative and creative medium. Because of that experience, I wanted to start working with artists in a meaningful way. I had a desire to tell stories about the world that weren’t being told well enough or loudly enough. 

Do you remember the first piece you ever bought?

I don’t necessarily remember the first piece. The piece that I’m always most excited about or that’s first in my memory is the one I acquired most recently. The first artists I collected in depth, which for me is the distinction between a collector and a patron. In that case, I would think of artists like Wardell Milan, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Henry Taylor, Jordan Casteel, Christina Quarles, Jennifer Packer, and Kathia St. Hilaire. 

bernard-lumpkin-christina-quarles
Left: Christina Quarles, Faced, 2016. Right: Jennifer Packer, Joyce, 2012. Photography by Dawn Blackman and courtesy of Lumpkin. 

How would you say being a patron and developing a relationship with an artist changes the nature of a collection or changes the way you acquire works?

The collection for me is an educational tool. I use an artist’s work to tell my children a story. My children are in elementary school, and they talk about the “responsive classroom.” A responsive classroom is a classroom that’s responding to not only the curriculum, but also events that are happening in the world or in the school community at large. It made me ask myself, how can I be a responsive collector? There are many ways in which a collector can help an artist, and that’s really where collecting ends and patronage begins. The joy, the challenge, and the fun, is being a connector more than a collector—helping artists in different ways, not just acquiring their work. You can help build a community around an artist’s work: you can invite them to your home to give a talk about their work, you can support their application for a residency, or you can connect them with a curator, or introduce them to other artists and collectors.

Are there any recent discoveries? Anyone in particular that you’re excited about who’s coming up right now?

It’s that time in the summer when you start to receive invitations to openings for all the big fall shows. The first couple of weeks of September will be full of really great exhibitions: Chase Hall at David Kordansky in New York; at the institutional level, there’s Ed Ruscha at MoMA; the Whitney has an amazing exhibition curated by Rujeko Hockley called “Inheritance“; Artists Space has Jonathan Lyndon Chase.

jacolby-satterwhite-artwork
Jacolby Satterwhite, Reifying Desire 5, 2013. Image courtesy of the artist and Lumpkin.

Are there any pieces in your collection that people are most drawn to? 

[Jacolby Satterwhite‘s video work “Reifying Desire 5”] is part of the “Young, Gifted, and Black” traveling exhibition. We partner with mostly college and university galleries. Again this gets back to the educational part of what I do, and continuing my own family inheritance. There are many teachers in my family. One of the most popular works in the show is Jacolby’s video. Jacolby was and is ahead of his time in so many ways: in terms of digital technology, and combining it with gender, performance, storytelling, drawing. But I think what makes it exciting for young people is that it’s a medium they’re very familiar with and feels very accessible.

carmine-boccuzzi-art-collector
Carmine Boccuzzi next to Kevin Beasley’s Untitled (Backups), 2016. Photography by Myles Loftin.

In the house, maybe the Kevin Beasley? It’s a work that consists of folded, draped clothing. A lot of Kevin’s work deals with clothing—whether his own or family members’ clothing. This one was made by dipping his grandmother’s dresses in a resin and hanging them over a rounded mold. It’s a very delicate process. One of the things that I always try to remember to tell collectors is that if you’re scared to bring something into your home, then that might be a good sign because it means that you’re pushing yourself, you’re challenging yourself. And if you have kids in the home, as we do, that’s an added layer of excitement. This work hangs on the wall, it sticks out from the wall—it looks like the dementors from Harry Potter. That’s what my children see it as. It’s about to be on loan to an amazing exhibition at the Guggenheim, “Going Dark.”

rashid-johnson-artwork
Left to right: Kerry James Marshall, Satisfied Man, 2015; Rashid Johnson, Head to the Sky, 2014; Derrick Adams, The Great Wall, 2009; Allison Janae Hamilton, Untitled (Three Fencing Masks), 2017; Henry Taylor, The Sweet William Rorex, Jr., 2010. Photography by Dawn Blackman and courtesy of Lumpkin. 

Which piece in the collection was most challenging to acquire?

We have a very heavy work by Rashid Johnson. It’s a black wax and mirror piece that’s shaped like a diamond, and it hangs on a central wall which we added when we moved into the apartment to hang art. We reinforced that wall specifically for this piece. I will go to great lengths, and that can take the form of finding creative ways to bring an oversized or too heavy work into the apartment safely. There are two works that had to be taken up to the apartment on top of the elevator. 

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Maryland Public Television to host fourth annual HBCU week

By Aria Brent,
AFRO Staff Wr1iter,
abrent@afro.com

Maryland Public Television (MPT) is hosting their fourth annual HBCU week from Sept. 4 to Sept. 10. The week-long series of special broadcasts is dedicated to recognizing the importance and impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

MPT’s HBCU centered programming for the upcoming week is a part of their “Standing Against Racism: Fostering Unity Through Dialogue” initiative.

“It’s important to continue to showcase both the history and the contemporary relevance of HBCUs truly as a roadmap, and a role model for America,” said Travis Mitchell, senior vice president and chief content officer of MPT. “Despite how the political winds have blown, HBCUs have figured out a way to stand even when it seemed that the burden was too heavy.”

Mitchell is a proud alum of Morgan State University and has family ties to Shaw University located in Raleigh, N.C. Like many people who have attended and graduated from HBCUs, he is passionate about his alma mater and interested in promoting Black colleges and all that they have to offer.

“If we really want to talk about the importance of HBCUs, and why we must continue to advocate for them and communicate for them, it’s because it’s in America’s vital interest to learn from them,” stated Mitchell. “It’s in America’s vital interests to emulate them. It’s in America’s vital interest to look at how institutions have taken financial lemons and made lemonade. Most importantly, it’s in America’s vital interest to invest in HBCUs because by doing so, you invest seeds today that will produce a future harvest of believers for tomorrow.”

Cheyney University, in Pennsylvania, was founded in 1837 as the first HBCU to come into existence. Since then, a total of 107 HBCUs have been founded in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These institutions have rich histories that have not only shaped their students and alumni, but the nation in its entirety.

Throughout their existence, HBCUs have served as grounds for some of America’s most groundbreaking events while educating some of our nation’s most prominent Black figures.

People such as Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., Vice President Kamala Harris and Justice Thurgood Marshall all graduated from HBCUs. The programming shown throughout the week will focus on all things related to HBCU culture, including Black art, athletics, music and Black Greek life.

“It’s this smorgasbord effect that gives people an opportunity to taste the culture of HBCUs, value the history of HBCU and understand the current contemporary impact of HBCUs,” shared Mitchell. “We wanted to give people not just history, but we wanted to give them culture. We didn’t want to just give them culture, we want to give them contemporary, relevant news that can really demonstrate how HBCUs are continuing to serve their local communities and impact the areas that they reside in.”

MPT will host activities ahead of the official start of HBCU week. On Sept. 1 the HBCU Week Virtual Career Opportunity Forum will start at noon. Following this, viewers will be able to tune into the variety of original programming created by MPT throughout the week.

On Sept. 4 at 8 p.m., viewers can tune in to “Artworks: Dreamer,” featuring Morgan State alumna Jasmine Barnes and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, in tribute to two of Maryland’s most influential figures: Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. MPT debuted separate documentaries on Douglass and Tubman last year.

Black bands will be put under the spotlight with the documentary “Sounds of the Game” at 9 p.m. on Sept. 4.

“The Morgan Choir: A Joyful Celebration,” will air at 9:30 p.m. on the same night, highlighting the work of the award winning voices from Morgan State University.

On Sept.6 “Afro Blue: A Year in the Life,” a special about Howard University’s jazz vocal ensemble group will be showing at 10 p.m. Shortly after that, “A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams will show at 10:30 p.m.

MPT will offer special programming on Sept.8 to honor legendary anthropologist and author, Zoe’s Neale Hurston. On Sept. 9 viewers can get a “Sneak Peak: Inside the CIAA” and learn about the Morgan State Lacrosse team.

The week will close out with documentaries on Hampton University and Delaware State. On Sept. 10 there will also be a showing of the “State Circle Special: Innovative Programs at Maryland’s HBCUs.”

To see the full schedule of specials visit mpt.org/hbcu/

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Castellani Art Museum announces fall programs & exhibitions

Fri, Sep 1st 2023 11:00 am

Submitted by the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University

Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University (CAM) is excited to announce its fall events and featured exhibitions. Museum admission remains free, and programs are free or discounted for Members, NU faculty, students, staff, and EBT cardholders.

Our current hours will continue into the fall: Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 1-7 p.m.; and Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“This fall, we have a very diverse set of programs for learning and for fun,” Director Ellen Owens said. “All are welcome – we are a space for people to be curious and be inspired by others’ creativity and perspectives.”

Children’s Programs

•Saturday “Art Express” workshops (ages 6-12) | 11.a.m.-1 p.m. RSVP at bit.ly/art-express 

√ Sept. 30 | “School Year Visions”

√ Oct. 28 | “Día de los Muertos Memories and Memento” 

√ Nov. 25 | “Wonderful Winter Stamp-Making”

Cost is $10 per child plus $5 for a participating parent/guardian. Free for a non-participating parent/guardian, members, and EBT cardholders. 

“Art Express” workshops include a short talk about child-friendly museum artworks, and a guided storytime. A teaching artist works closely with participants to foster the creation of customized take-home artwork. 

Adult Programs

•Three-day natural dyeing workshop | Wednesdays, Sept. 27 through Oct. 11, 6-8 p.m. RSVP at bit.ly/camdyeingworkshop 

Join local textile artist Tami Fuller for a workshop series that will teach environmentally sustainable ways of fabric dyeing over three consecutive weeks. Using fabrics, participants will learn how to create intricate fabric resist patterns on silk, lino-printed linen furoshiki, and more.

Cost is $90 or $80 for members, NU faculty, students and staff (includes all three sessions and materials).

•“Famous Writers At The Falls: Book Talk By Dr. Jamie Carr” | Saturday, Sept. 23, 1-4 p.m. RSVP at bit.ly/cambooktalk

To celebrate the current exhibition, “Northward: Niagara River Views,” CAM will host Dr. Jamie Carr for a free lecture on her new book, “Niagaras of Ink.” This event is the second annual Lynch Lecture, part of Niagara University’s Vincentian Heritage Week. Light refreshments and a cash bar will be available. Preregistration is required. 

•“CAM Meets: Arts & Culture Lecture Series” | RSVP at bit.ly/cammeets 

√ Saturday, Oct. 14, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | “Japanese Tea Ceremony”

√ Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2-3 p.m. | “The Hudson River School: Artistic Pioneers movie screening”

Cost is $10 per adult, $5 per child, and free for members, NU students, and EBT cardholders with registration. 

“CAM Meets” is an engaging lecture series that provides space for learning in history and art making topics. CAM invites diverse local artists, historians and museum professionals to explore art through different perspectives.

For Everyone

•“Saturday Folklife Workshops” | 2-4 p.m. RSVP at bit.ly/camfolklifeworkshop 

√ Nov. 18 | “Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic Arts”

√ Dec. 2 | “Tuscarora Beaded Christmas Ornaments”

Cost is $15 per adult, $10 per child, and free for members, NU students, and EBT cardholders with registration. 

Folklife workshops are small, hands-on programs led by local folk artists and tradition bearers that engage participants in our region’s diverse cultural heritage.

•Public tours (pay-what-you-wish) First Saturdays | 1-2 p.m. RSVP at bit.ly/campublictours 

√ Sept. 9 | “Through Artists’ Eyes: Exploring the Natural & Urban World

√ Oct. 7 |“Highwaymen: Black Artists of the Florida Coast

√ Nov. 4 |“Indigenous Artists in CAM’s Collection (honoring Native American History Month)

√ Dec. 2 | “Knowing Land

Public tours provide guests with a 45-minute curator-led public tour of a current exhibition or gallery, and a 15-minute Q&A session.

•“Currents: Arts & Culture Discussion Series” | RSVP at bit.ly/camcurrents

√ Saturday, Sept. 16, 2-3:30p.m. | “Classical Music and Dance of India” 

√ Tuesday, Nov. 7, 6-7:30 p.m. | “Gender Identity in Indigenous Culture”

Cost is $10 per adult, $5 per child, and free for members, NU students, and EBT cardholders with registration. 

“Currents” is an intimate moderated discussion series featuring a special guest speaker that spotlights contemporary issues in art, cultural heritage and the museum world.

Featured Fall Exhibitions

√ On view Thursday, Sept. 7 | “Highwaymen: Black Artists of the Florida Coast”

√ On view Thursday, Sept. 7 | “Through Artists’ Eyes: Exploring the Natural & Urban” World 

√ On view Tuesday, Dec. 5 | “WNY Artists: Art History with Museum Studies NU student-curated exhibition”

•“Highwaymen” opening reception | Thursday, Oct. 5. RSVP at bit.ly/camsreception 

 4:30-5:30 p.m. | CAM members and NU community reception featuring meet & greet with second-generation Highwayman Ray McClendon 

 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Public reception featuring an insider exhibition tour and remarks by second-generation Highwayman Ray McClendon 

Light refreshments and a cash bar on the portico will be available.

More About The Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University

With learning and public access at the heart of its mission, CAM is the premiere resource for the visual arts in Niagara County. The museum’s permanent collection includes over 5,000 pieces of modern and contemporary art, Niagara Falls art, and regional folk arts. CAM is committed to the preservation of these artworks, along with offering exhibitions and programs that serve the campus, local communities, and tourists. 

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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Six Books That Will Make You Feel Less Alone

Anytime I’ve felt adrift or lonely, literature has been a bridge leading me back to other people. When I moved to a new country after living in the same city for three decades, I sought out literary events to meet fellow artists. Back when I was a disillusioned law student, frustrated with the limitations of the curriculum, I convened a reading group that addressed the gaps in our education and breathed new meaning into my degree. Writing is an isolating and unpredictable line of work, so today, I consistently rely on the solidarity offered by others engaged in the same pursuit.

Many of us are bombarded with cultural messages insisting that we must be self-sufficient. Books can help us resist that idea. They are also one of the most powerful tools we have for building connections with others. Reading allows us to learn about history, discover new thoughts, join with like-minded people, and reimagine the world from how it is into how it could be. (Partly because of that subversive potential, the freedom to read is also under threat.)

The following six titles are a corrective to feeling like an island. By exploring a range of bonds—casual interactions over a shared hobby, say, or the knottiness of family ties—they remind us that, contrary to how it may seem at times, we are far from alone; our lives extend in multiple directions, influenced by and influencing those around us.


Son of Elsewhere
Ballantine

Son of Elsewhere, by Elamin Abdelmahmoud

At age 12, Abdelmahmoud moved with his family from Khartoum, Sudan, to Kingston, Ontario, “one of the whitest cities in Canada,” he writes in this memoir. “Over here, we’re Black,” a cousin told him about their new country. For Abdelmahmoud, this was an entirely different manner of thinking about himself; in Khartoum, he identified primarily as Arab. He explains that his Blackness presented an obstacle to fitting in, and at first he repudiated it by mimicking the speech of his white classmates, embracing cultural signifiers such as Linkin Park and wrestling, and even introducing himself as Stan. Although his teenage interests originate as attempts to belong, Abdelmahmoud develops authentic bonds with these pursuits—and with the people he meets through them. Wrestling leads him to e-federations—forums for fan fiction about fighters—and he finds his voice as a writer. Rock shows are cathartic, and let him work out his feelings in a crowd there to do the same. As he continues to think through his relationship to race, music and books by Black artists give him a more capacious way to understand his identity. Eventually, his jubilant, expansive love of pop culture becomes a path to genuine connection with his new neighbors.

A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life
Coach House Books

A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life, by Robert McGill

McGill’s propulsive, dizzyingly surreal third novel follows Regan, an 18-year-old with absent parents, a devastating athletic injury, and a pile of college rejections, who decides “that living wasn’t for her, maybe.” She heads to the dark web and orders an unexpected means of suicide: a person from a pandemic-ravaged country who has been flat-packed and shipped out like furniture. Once unpacked, the refugee will inflate and expel toxic packing gasses over several days, providing the recipient with a painless method of dying. Unfurling is a kind of second birth for Ülle, the woman delivered to Regan’s home. Her memories have been wiped clean; her English is elementary; one of her first actions, to Regan’s dismay, is to address her new companion as mama. As Regan waits for the gas to take effect, her plans begin to deviate: More mysterious packages arrive on her doorstep, Ülle’s past starts to come back to her, and she and Regan are surveilled by the organization that brought them together. The bond between the two women is initially meant to be transactional. But as Regan becomes Ülle’s de facto caregiver, the novel offers a surprising, deeply moving portrait of people finding an unconventional kind of family.

Thin Skin
Pantheon

Thin Skin, by Jenn Shapland

In five lengthy essays, Shapland explores the idea that the borders between individual lives are not as fixed as we may like to believe. Rather, our behaviors inevitably affect others, and vice versa. For Shapland, the question of thin skin is quite literal—she was told by a dermatologist that she’s missing an epidermal layer. The human body’s vulnerable membrane provides a metaphor for the rest of the collection, which probes how our existence is neither autonomous nor inviolable, exemplified for Shapland by the polluted world, segregated cities, unequal resources. Believing that anyone is entirely self-contained, Shapland asserts, is a fantasy. Even someone who had no direct role in these ills may be affected by—or benefit from—the fallout. The essays unfold through association, sliding from subject to subject while implying the uneasy boundaries between them. “To be alive right now and to try to be aware of the broader impacts of my own actions feels like drowning,” she writes. By tracing these uncomfortable connections, Thin Skin repudiates the notion that we are wholly separate from one another.

By Jenn Shapland

Rehearsals for Living
Haymarket

Rehearsals for Living, by Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

During the initial wave of COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, Maynard and Simpson, two radical writers, scholars, and activists, began exchanging the letters collected in Rehearsals for Living. Maynard is the author of the best-selling Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada From Slavery to the Present and has led a number of initiatives on police and prison abolition; Simpson has written seven previous books and spent decades teaching Indigenous forms of knowledge. At first, the letters simply enabled two friends to keep in touch during a dark time. As the year continued, both Maynard and Simpson joined the swelling, unprecedented Black Lives Matter and Indigenous land-defense movements, and their writing collaboratively imagined a society with, for example, no police and abundant shared resources. As they reflect on the many ways that the state has harmed their respective communities—including overpolicing and neglectful public-health responses to the pandemic—the letters contemplate what the future could look like, and writing becomes a form of coalition-building.

By Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Ancestor Trouble, by Maud Newton

In this deeply researched memoir, Newton explores our connections with biological family. For Newton, that particular kind of relation can be vexed. She has long been fascinated by stories about the generations that preceded her, but she must also face the difficult parts of that history—for example, the virulent racism of her estranged father, the casual bigotry of her beloved grandmother, or, further back, her relatives who enslaved people. “It’s one thing to acknowledge bigotry and inhumanity where we expect it,” Newton writes; “it’s another thing to face and acknowledge it in the people we love most.” Her meticulous excavation of her family tree is both an engaging narrative and a clear-eyed reckoning. Ancestor Trouble asks not only what we owe those who came before us but also how the wrongs of our forebears inform what we owe those alive with us today. Newton has a passionate interest in the secrets of her bloodline and how they might erupt—genetically, dispositionally, psychologically—in her own life. Her research leads her into an exploration of the genealogy industry and global practices of ancestor worship, presenting a panoramic case for the value of honoring and reconciling one’s relationship to a challenging heritage.

Alive at the End of the World
Coffee House Press

Alive at the End of the World, by Saeed Jones

Jones’s second book of poetry is a sharp, darkly comic celebration of Black life and art amidst the daily apocalypses of American life. His lucid lines mourn how mass shootings, the climate crisis, and rampant racism have made everyday violence feel normal: “In America, a gathering of people / is called target practice or a funeral, / depending on who lives long enough / to define the terms,” he writes. He makes art in response to his grief, and he connects our present moment, and his own poetry, to a longer history of Black artists who also worked under the collective weight of oppressive conditions. He invokes figures such as Little Richard, Paul Mooney, and Aretha Franklin, building a lineage of Black artistry while articulating how its output has been alternately fetishized, tokenized, and compromised. Jones places his work in this tradition and asserts its presence and depth, rejecting the patronizing notion that Black creative achievements are uncommon or exceptional. In a poem that takes the voice of the actress Diahann Carroll, he writes, “Let the pale reporters and their pointed questions about being / ‘the first and only’ hang from trees like the warnings they are.”


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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Has Commercialization Killed Hip-Hop? It’s Complicated.

Has Commercialization Killed Hip-Hop? It’s Complicated.

The commercialization of hip-hop and the overly wrought themes of excess and violence were supposed to mark the genre’s end. But hip-hop can’t die no matter who tries to kill it.

By Zack Linly

Aug. 31, 2023

First, let’s be clear on one thing: Hip-hop is not dead.

It’s ironic that so many aficionados of hip-hop are celebrating the 50th anniversary of a culture and genre a lot of them have been trying to eulogize for literal decades. Hip-hop heads have been declaring that “hip-hop is dead” since maybe a decade before Nas turned the phrase into an album title in 2006.

But the truth is, hip-hop isn’t even a thing that can die. It’s a culture and musical genre that is as well-known and widely celebrated as Jazz, Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and it has just as many subgenres. Hip-hop has a history that is so deep and rich that the hundreds of books and dozens upon dozens of documentaries that have been done on it still aren’t enough to cover all aspects of its legacy. And it’s a moving legacy.

How is hip-hop ever going to die as long as there’s a new rapper who wants to be the next Nas or the next Jay-Z or the next 2 Pac or the next Drake or the next variant of whoever the next new rapper is that the upcoming generation of hip-hoppers aspires to be? How do you kill a thing that is determined to reincarnate in perpetuity?

Many of you will recall last year when rapper 21 Savage opened his mouth to say about Nas: “I don’t feel like he’s relevant, he just has a loyal ass fanbase, and he still makes good-ass music.”

Savage Performs onstage during Wicked (Spelhouse Homecoming Concert) Featuring 21 Savage at Forbes Arena at Morehouse College on October 19, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

Savage Performs onstage during Wicked (Spelhouse Homecoming Concert) Featuring 21 Savage at Forbes Arena at Morehouse College on October 19, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

NAS performs at The O2 Arena on June 13, 2023, in London, England.

Burak Cingi via Getty Images

NAS performs at The O2 Arena on June 13, 2023, in London, England.

The internet exploded into a hip-hop head civil war in which fans ― many affectionately referred to as “old heads” ― argued that 21 didn’t know what he was talking about and that the king of Queens hip-hop will always be relevant. Other fans ― many of whom are affectionately referred to as “youngins” — argued that 21 was right and Nas simply isn’t a “current” rap star.

Personally, I think most people were having the wrong debate. My issue was never 21 Savage not having the same high regard for Nas that I and other “old heads” have; my problem was always with the assumed definition of “relevant.”

First, there’s the implication that artists in hip-hop — a thing we’re, again, celebrating the 50th anniversary of — are only “relevant” if they have a young audience. Then there’s the core issue: “relevance” is measured solely in mainstream appeal (read: radio and club-friendly bops).

Here’s a simple fact: Hip-hop is a product of Black culture.

If we’ve decided that Black artists in a Black genre are only relevant if they have crossover (read: white) audiences, we’ve essentially decided, ironically, that it’s the very origin of hip-hop that has become irrelevant.

In truth, I’ve been griping about the commercialization of hip-hop since the late ’90s and early 2000s. I like to joke that I was the old guy in the club, wondering what the hell the kids were listening to these days when I was all of 22. Two decades later, I’m resigned to the fact that I’m not likely to find much new music or many new artists that I like on the radio, and certainly not on the TikTok circuit. And that’s fine. In the age of streaming and bottomless music libraries right at your fingertips, I’ll always be able to find what I enjoy, old and new. There are artists I grew up with still making bangers and at least a small handful of new artists coming out every five to 10 years who make it into my various playlists.

I can’t say I love the current state of hip-hop, but I’m not worried about it. I’m certainly not eulogizing it.

Still, I often wonder what the trajectory of hip-hop would have been if it had stayed under the control of the people it was created by and made for. What would hip-hop look like without the influence (or interference rather) of a billion-dollar rap industry?

Actually, let’s put a pin in that thought.

When exactly did the true commercialization of hip-hop begin?

Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E and Ice Cube from N.W.A. perform during the 'Straight Outta Compton' tour at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana in July 1989.

Raymond Boyd via Getty Images

Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E and Ice Cube from N.W.A. perform during the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ tour at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana in July 1989.

In his 1994 hip-hop classic “I Used To Love Her,” Chicago emcee Common implied that hip-hop got “her” money after she “broke to the West Coast,” which was widely understood to mean that hip-hop went commercial when N.W.A — and subsequently Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, etc. — blew up and made West Coast rap music dominant in the mainstream rap industry. That’s, of course, debatable. (And it was debated.)

Some might argue hip-hop set out on the road to pop-dom in 1986 when Run-D.M.C. collaborated with Aerosmith to create the remake of the latter’s ’70s hit “Walk This Way.” The rap-rock remake was a bigger chart topper than the original version.

But if we go back that far, why not throw into the hat hip-hop’s first smash hit, The Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 classic, “Rapper’s Delight”? Not only was this song the first radio hit in rap history, but it was probably the first song to drive a wedge in hip-hop fandom between purists to the art form and casual rap fans who just want to dance to whatever song is hot on the airwaves. This disconnect would exist in hip-hop discourse for generations to come. “Rappers Delight” may have been loved by the masses, but pioneers like Melle Mel of The Furious Five called it “the worst piece of shit, stupid ass song that every fucking body liked.” (It probably didn’t help that Sugarhill’s Big Bank Hank was accused of biting rhymes from OG hip-hop vets like DJ Hollywood, Lovebug Starski and Grandmaster Caz.)

Sugar Hill Gang (L-R Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, Guy "Master Gee' O'Brian and Henry "Big Bank" Jackson) perform on stage circa late 1970's in New York.

Michael Ochs Archive via Getty Images

Sugar Hill Gang (L-R Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, Guy “Master Gee’ O’Brian and Henry “Big Bank” Jackson) perform on stage circa late 1970’s in New York.

My point is, even back when rap was a genre that wasn’t expected to last a full decade, it had already been commercialized — and that was long before it ever came anywhere near the West Coast.

Speaking of which, let’s get back to the part about the West Coast taking rap music to the next level of mainstream success (affectionately referred to as “going pop”) because that reminds me of the earlier thought I had about where hip-hop would be if not for the rap industry.

Let’s be honest: Gangsta rap music was inevitable. Hip-hop was always a direct reflection of the urban Black community, and you really can’t tell that story without examining the good, bad, beautiful and the ugly. I like to think that even if the music industry hadn’t seen lyrics that promote violence, drug-related activity, and the degradation of women as something to commodify and mass produce, Ice T, N.W.A, Too Short and the other early gangsta rappers would still have existed. Schoolly D would still have existed. Notorious B.I.G, Big Pun and Big L (all the “Bigs,” basically) would still have existed. Ghetto Boys, UGK and 2 Live Crew would still have existed. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy would still have existed. (But probably not many more of the “Lils” and “Youngs” though.)

The kind of rap music that, for decades, has been scapegoated as the cause of many of the Black community’s ills would always have existed because it began as art imitating life, just as the greatest art does. But perhaps without the exploitative influence of an industry that couldn’t care less about the state of the Black community, it wouldn’t have become a mainstream rap standard that has been far more about mass marketing than it’s been about artistry or even rappers staying true to the streets.

But all this leads us to the classic “chicken or the egg” question regarding gangsta rap and other so-called degrading rap music: Does it sell because the industry pushed it on the people, or does it sell because the people demand it? Is it programming or simple capitalism?

Maybe a little of both.

What’s interesting is now we’re in an age where celebrities create themselves. Social media has allowed artists to bypass industry gatekeepers and go from internet sensations to superstars while maintaining control of their products and brands. And sure, many of them are still leaning heavily toward pop-dom. Many of them are as lazy artistically as mainstream artists have become increasingly over the years (in my not-so-humble opinion, of course). But there’s still plenty of talent out there. And maybe we’ll get to watch hip-hop, this moving culture, reinvent itself in a way that surprises us — yes, even us “old heads.”

This story is part of a HuffPost series celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. See all of our coverage here.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

13 Year-Old Mychal-Bella Bowman On How To Make It In Hollywood

At age 13, actor/model Mychal-Bella Bowman already has earned acclaim for her role as Grace/ Fanny Briggs in the Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning limited series The Underground Railroad, which was based on the celebrated novel by Colson Whitehead. She can be seen most recently on Prime’s Dead Ringers, a horror thriller that makes a statement about women’s healthcare. Meanwhile, Bowman also is the cofounder of consulting agency MBI Management, a committed humanitarian, a regular Instagrammer and – as of a few weeks ago – a high school freshman.

The face of ad campaigns for major brands including Nike, Gap, American Girl, and Barbie/ Mattel since age 2, Bowman has appeared in beauty pageants as well as commercials for McDonald’s, Hertz, Disney, Target, and more. Her passion for philanthropy was in evidence from the age of 4, when she began donating her gently used toys to kids in disadvantaged communities.

Recently, Bowman spoke at the Arizona State University ASU+GVS Summit, the Big M Management Women’s Empowerment Expo, and was chosen as one of Disney’s 100 Creators who Inspire. She was honored as the National Black Arts Festival Celebrity Youth Chair three times, and at the ESPN ESPYS 50th Anniversary of the passing of Title IX ceremony.

Nine years ago, Bowman’s mother Ereka Scales closed up her business of 25 years to move them from North Carolina to Hollywood in order to pursue her daughter’s dreams. “The rest is HERstory,” Scales said in an exclusive interview with me. “We manifested this. We implemented consisted strategies to land consistent wins.”

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“It’s never too early to embark upon your calling,” Bowman stated in the same exclusive interview. “We established MBI Management to aid those in communities that may not have the tools or knowledge to tap into their dormant talents. We help people utilize their gifts to become self-sufficient financially. Our company is growing with a pretty good success rate for a startup.”

MBI Management streamlines strategies to assist novice talents in achieving their entertainment industry goals. From branding, niche development, and portfolio management to getting acquainted with daily life in Hollywood, Bowman and Scales aim to help people find their way. Their mission is, “Guiding the Blind into the Industry Light.”

Bowman self-identifies as a world changer. “My mother suggested from the outset that I make myself known for more than just a pretty face… for substance.” She has remained devoted to philanthropy throughout her decade-long career. “I believe that it is everyone’s purpose ‘to live to give.’ Together we can make a difference.”

As a dedicated SAG/AFTRA member since the age of 6, Bowman is deeply committed to supporting the current strike in Hollywood. Although it is challenging for actors and writers right now, she says, “I believe in what is right and have faith that everything will manifest in our favor as I continue to master my craft. Remember: ‘Tough times never last, Tough people do!’”

Another challenge Bowman has faced is not being taken seriously because of her age. But, she says, she dispels that bias quickly once her work ethic is revealed. Rejections can be tough, as well – even though they are a necessary part of the process. “Going through many auditions and making it all the way to the final callback only to not book a role can be so tough. I am grateful that my mom keeps me grounded in other extracurricular activities such as sports, playing instruments, school and philanthropy. Those things keep me balanced.”

Bowman says that the key to success in Hollywood is being intentional. “Position yourself carefully. Be mindful of your surroundings. But most of all you, you have to dream big and believe that you can achieve anything. You have to have faith in yourself. Remember: the possibilities are endless. Manifest.”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

With its long history of booms and busts, Hudson is a microcosm of America. Hudson, like the country at large, has undergone countless transitions. What was indigenous land became a whaling center, then a manufacturing hub, and later a haven for gambling and prostitution. Today, the city in miniature is a vibrant tapestry of urban revival, celebrity sightings, community fridges, regenerative farming, the projects of a mysterious billionaire, art galleries, immigration, and tourism.

Hudson is a city with an affordable housing crisis, in which there is no shortage of expensive ceramics, radicchio salads, chunky knit bath towels, and plans for the construction of boutique hotels (there are four in the works). Yet for the almost 6,000 residents who call Hudson home, it is just that, a home; a place where the frequency of belonging cuts through all other noise.

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842830/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-10-dmc09209.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="People mingle outside Basilica Hudson. – David McIntyre" data-caption="People mingle outside Basilica Hudson.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

People mingle outside Basilica Hudson.

“Our residents are really the soul of this city,” says Kamal Johnson, a born-and-bred Hudsonian and the city’s first Black mayor. “Affordable housing is our number one platform item,” he says. Through the appointment of a full-time housing director, alongside the planned construction of municipal affordable housing developments—some 90 units are currently in development—solving the housing crisis, Mayor Johnson says, is something, “we’re going to make sure is going to happen.”

Common Council President Tom DiPietro mirrors the mayor’s optimism. “We’re doing everything you can possibly do in a small municipality to create affordable housing,” he says. “If there’s any nemesis to our agenda, it’s absentee landlords.”

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842831/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-11-dmc00281.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="A family dines outside 3FortySeven, an new antique furniture, lighting, and decorative objects gallery at 347 Warren Street. – David McIntyre" data-caption="A family dines outside 3FortySeven, an new antique furniture, lighting, and decorative objects gallery at 347 Warren Street.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

A family dines outside 3FortySeven, an new antique furniture, lighting, and decorative objects gallery at 347 Warren Street.

The primary absentee landlord in Hudson is the mysterious Galvan Foundation. A February 2022 property count numbered their Hudson portfolio at 86 properties, many of them unoccupied. Most recently, they acquired the former Helsinki Hudson, a popular music venue that closed during the pandemic. Founded by the billionaire developer Eric Galloway, and his late partner Henry van Amerigan, the Galvan Foundation has contributed some improvements to the city, such as a library and the planned construction of several affordable housing units. The slow pace of development and lack of transparency, however, has left many residents feeling uneasy and ignored.

Serria McGriff grew up in Hudson, where she then raised her two children. “It’s good for the community to come together,” she says, watching her now teenaged daughters get ready to participate in the Sankofa Black Arts and Cultural Festival and Parade as members of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, which together with Operation Unite is one of nearly 25 community-based cultural programs in the city.

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842848/untitled-4.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Dog Farm owner Kara Gilmore with Gabby Monkash and assorted canines. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Dog Farm owner Kara Gilmore with Gabby Monkash and assorted canines.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Dog Farm owner Kara Gilmore with Gabby Monkash and assorted canines.

“I have seen a change in the community. I feel like they are trying to push us out, instead of trying to come together to see what the community really needs. Everybody sees the new businesses and all that we can bring for people outside of Hudson, but really what’s in the community for us that really live here?” she asks.

But McGriff, too, is optimistic, a trait seemingly found in many Hudsonians. “I think we need to come together as a community for the people that live here,” she says, “so that we don’t feel left out. If we all come together, for everyone, whether we live here or not, I think we can have harmony.”A harmonious Hudson is something Jill Dearman, astrologer, author, and a professor at NYU, believes is written in the stars.

<a href="https://media1.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842838/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-13-dmc01964.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Astrologer Jill Dearman produced an astral chart for Hudson which concluded that the city "generally chooses a peaceful path over one of conflict." – David McIntyre" data-caption="Astrologer Jill Dearman produced an astral chart for Hudson which concluded that the city "generally chooses a peaceful path over one of conflict."   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Astrologer Jill Dearman produced an astral chart for Hudson which concluded that the city “generally chooses a peaceful path over one of conflict.”


Using April 22, 1785, the date of
 the City of Hudson’s incorporation as its birthdate, Dearman produced an astral chart for the city. “Hudson has its Sun in Taurus and moon in Leo, both ruled by Venus. Venus is the planet of love and art, and it generally chooses a peaceful path over one of conflict,” she says.

“What I find most intriguing is the placement of Hudson’s Saturn, Pluto, and North Node. They are all in the progressive sign of Aquarius. Aquarius is concerned with community and the collective good. It is the sign that shakes up the status quo and embraces rather than fears the future.”

A Walk Down Warren Street

Owned and operated by Charlotta Janssen and Shannon Greer, who moved from Brooklyn to Hudson in 2011, the Hudson Milliner Art Salon on Warren Street is a creative and collaborative art space featuring art, performance, and the intersection of the two. “People are still making a ton of art in Hudson,” Greer says. “And people are still coming here to buy art.”

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842845/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-12-dmc00890.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Photographer Shannon Greer and artist Charlotta Janssen run Hudson Milliner Art Salon on Warren Street. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Photographer Shannon Greer and artist Charlotta Janssen run Hudson Milliner Art Salon on Warren Street.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Photographer Shannon Greer and artist Charlotta Janssen run Hudson Milliner Art Salon on Warren Street.

Since 2017 the couple’s art salon regularly features exploratory, edgy, and political work, as well as an event space for both private and community gatherings such as lectures, performances, photo shoots, dinner parties, and jiu jitsu.

Reflecting on gentrification in Hudson over the last decade, Janssen says, “I think there’s a narrative that we must look at more closely. To me there’s a huge difference between comunifiers and commodifiers. A commodifier asks, ‘How little do I have to put in, and how much can I get out of you? How much can I pump up the prices without giving anything back?’ Comunifiers bring something and give back to the community, they become a part of the community, there’s a reciprocity.”

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842837/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-13-dmc02043.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="David McIntyre" data-caption="   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

“It’s a constant challenge, but artists need to be challenged,” says Janssen. “Art is not about standing still, it’s about moving forward. But I think as the cost of living rises and rises, there’s a problem with being able to take risks” she says.

Further up Warren Street, French-American artist and designer Marine Penvern, who moved to Hudson in 2018, continues taking risks at her namesake Atelier Penvern. “There is an influx of people with no conscience,” Penvern says. “But I feel like we are living harmoniously together. People complain about everything, it doesn’t help. Instead, they should make a change.”

<a href="https://media1.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842842/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-12-dmc01307.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Amani O+ performing at Park Theater in August. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Amani O+ performing at Park Theater in August.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Amani O+ performing at Park Theater in August.

Her paintings of prominent local figures were recently on display at Hudson Hall, and her Warren Street storefront sells everything she makes, including latex condom purses, paintings, and silk kaftans. “I am here, I love culture, I bring culture here. This is why people are coming here, because there is culture. We must be nurtured by our city, because if the city nurtures us, people will come, because people come for culture. If there is no culture here, what are those people going to do? Keep buying properties, talk about the properties they’re buying, and buy candles and shit?”

Hudson Farmers’ Market

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842835/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-13-dmc02313.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Henry Hudson Riverfront Park – David McIntyre" data-caption="Henry Hudson Riverfront Park   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Henry Hudson Riverfront Park

Perhaps one of the strongest community pillars in Hudson is the farmers’ market. Now in its 26th year of operation, the Hudson Farmers’ Market is located centrally in Hudson’s municipal parking lot on Columbia Street. Together with live music, cute dogs, and Al Roker sightings, about 40 vendors sell their own goods, everything from local fresh produce, bread, wine, meats, and more. The market is year-round, outdoors from April to November, and during winter months, in the Elks Lodge on Harry Howard Avenue.

“Everyone is warm and friendly here” says Monica Jerminario, the market’s administrator, who has lived in Hudson for 14 years and has managed the Hudson market with her husband for over three. “I have a wild spirit, and I don’t want to be chained to a store,” she says. “The strength of the vendor community is not something you get if you’re isolated in a storefront. We’re all this interconnected web of businesses trying to keep each other thriving.”

<a href="https://media1.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842843/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-12-dmc00950.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Warren Street on a cloudy afternoon. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Warren Street on a cloudy afternoon.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Warren Street on a cloudy afternoon.

Sue Decker, a vendor from Blue Star Farm, has been selling fresh produce at the market for 14 years. “It’s a fantastic market” she says, “There’s a great community with super loyal customers, we love being here and we’re here to serve the entire community.”

Rich Volo, aka Trixie, who runs the popular blog Trixie’s List, moved to Hudson in 2006. He sells his baked goods at the market. “Hudson changed a lot,” he says. “Every new wave of people that moves up here changes it. Everything changes. It’s constant, just like everywhere else.”

<a href="https://media1.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842846/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-12-dmc00618.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Shaina Loew-Banayan, chef/owner of Cafe Mutton, which has been named to the list of the best places to eat in the country by the New York Times and Bon Appetit. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Shaina Loew-Banayan, chef/owner of Cafe Mutton, which has been named to the list of the best places to eat in the country by the New York Times and Bon Appetit.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Shaina Loew-Banayan, chef/owner of Cafe Mutton, which has been named to the list of the best places to eat in the country by the New York Times and Bon Appetit.

Wandering Off Warren

Through all the strange changes, commitment to craftsmanship remains central to Hudson’s creative core. “Good craftsmanship is very important to us, we want to create beers that you want to return to again and again,” says Bob Wise, one of four cofounders of Return Brewing. The brewery, now in its second year of operation, opened a tasting house on State Street in May. Together with Upper Depot and Union Street Brewing, it’s one of three breweries to open doors in Hudson in just the last year.“We’ve only gotten support. We’re friends with the other breweries,” says Wise. “It’s an amazing community with a great mix of locals who come in frequently and people from out of town, so it’s a good mix of people.”

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842834/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-15-dm-9937.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Hudson is a buregoning beer tourism destination, with four breweries, three of which opened in the past year. Pictured above, the folks making all that beer possible. From left: Monty Bopp (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), Ryan Fields (Hudson Brewing Co.), Will Thibeault (Hudson Brewing Co.), Tony Ferretti (Hudson Brewing Co.), Kaitlin Armocida (Hudson Brewing Co.), Aaron Mass (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), J. D. Linderman (Return Brewing), Keir Hamilton (Union Street Brewing Co.), Bob Wise (Return Brewing), Jack Liakas (Return Brewing). – David McIntyre" data-caption="Hudson is a buregoning beer tourism destination, with four breweries, three of which opened in the past year. Pictured above, the folks making all that beer possible. From left: Monty Bopp (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), Ryan Fields (Hudson Brewing Co.), Will Thibeault (Hudson Brewing Co.), Tony Ferretti (Hudson Brewing Co.), Kaitlin Armocida (Hudson Brewing Co.), Aaron Mass (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), J. D. Linderman (Return Brewing), Keir Hamilton (Union Street Brewing Co.), Bob Wise (Return Brewing), Jack Liakas (Return Brewing).   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Hudson is a buregoning beer tourism destination, with four breweries, three of which opened in the past year. Pictured above, the folks making all that beer possible. From left: Monty Bopp (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), Ryan Fields (Hudson Brewing Co.), Will Thibeault (Hudson Brewing Co.), Tony Ferretti (Hudson Brewing Co.), Kaitlin Armocida (Hudson Brewing Co.), Aaron Mass (Upper Depot Brewing Co.), J. D. Linderman (Return Brewing), Keir Hamilton (Union Street Brewing Co.), Bob Wise (Return Brewing), Jack Liakas (Return Brewing).

Return Brewing has brought life back to what was once a desolate corner of town. “We’re happy to see that more people are moving off Warren Street and recognizing that there’s other stuff in Hudson, off the beaten track, if you will.”

In 2014, Layla Kalin, a local businesswoman turned farmer started Kasuri, a boutique clothing store. Shortly thereafter she met Jonathan Osofsky, who became Kasuri’s creative director. Together they turned Kasuri into what it is today. “We are a post-avant-garde fashion boutique and a space where we cultivate queer community and community across all the divisive lines that exist here in Hudson,” says Osofsky.

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842839/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-13-dmc01900.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Jonathan Osofsky, creative director of Kasuri, outside the boutique's new space in the former Etsy office on Columbia Street. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Jonathan Osofsky, creative director of Kasuri, outside the boutique’s new space in the former Etsy office on Columbia Street.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Jonathan Osofsky, creative director of Kasuri, outside the boutique’s new space in the former Etsy office on Columbia Street.

After a catastrophic flood at their previous location on Warren Street, Kasuri, which sells clothing by designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, Bernhard Willhelm, and Vivienne Westwood, moved into the 6,000-square-foot warehouse, a former Etsy office, on Columbia Street in October. “There’s no reason for us to be in this space if we can’t use it to build something in the community that’s meaningful, and not about commerce,” Osofsky says. “I have many friends in Hudson from different communities that have told me about their experience in different boutiques and even asked what they were doing there. I want Kasuri to not be like that at all.”

In the expansive new space, Kasuri aims to build queer community through programs such as the newly formed Queer Ass Film Club, monthly queer figure drawing, readings, and celebrations of art. “We’re trying to do as much as we can in a kind of DIY way,” he says. “Not to make more money, but to make more things happen.”

<a href="https://media2.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842840/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-13-dmc01888.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Nathan Rapport in Backroom, the queer bookstore he operates within Kasuri's warehouse space. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Nathan Rapport in Backroom, the queer bookstore he operates within Kasuri’s warehouse space.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Nathan Rapport in Backroom, the queer bookstore he operates within Kasuri’s warehouse space.

The most recent addition to Kasuri is the Backroom, a queer bookstore operated by Nathan Rapport. After his Los Angeles-based Dream Brother Gallery, which highlighted working queer artists, fell victim to the pandemic, opening the Backroom was a natural progression for Rapport, who turned much of his former gallery’s art into a printed publication. “There isn’t even a queer bar in town, so having a physical space like this is important,” Rapport says.

A short walk up Columbia Street, Time & Space Limited (TSL), a community art space rooted in experimental theater, celebrates its 50th anniversary. “We hold a belief in art as having the potential to change lives and add to a community by standing for real things,” says Linda Mussman, who operates TSL with Claudia Bruce, her wife and collaborator.

<a href="https://media1.chronogram.com/chronogram/imager/u/original/18842844/hudson-2023–by-david-mcintyre-23-08-12-dmc00852.jpg" rel="contentImg_gal-18842826" title="Katiushka Melo, owner of Culture Cream, a probiotic ice cream shop on Warren Street. – David McIntyre" data-caption="Katiushka Melo, owner of Culture Cream, a probiotic ice cream shop on Warren Street.   David McIntyre” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge Maintaining the Mix: Hudson

David McIntyre

Katiushka Melo, owner of Culture Cream, a probiotic ice cream shop on Warren Street.

“We’ve spent 50 years creating a cultural space. In the next century, there won’t be many spaces like this, because now, it’s all about real estate. It’s very difficult to be creative in a city like Hudson. It’s a tremendous sadness,” says Mussman.

“When Claudia and I first moved here 30 years ago, we hoped there would be a much more vibrant artistic community, based on sweat equity, cheap real estate, and creative energy. That is always the thing that people chase. So now that that chase is at an end, Hudson is at a crossroads,” says Mussman. What is it going to be? Is it going to be a destination for tourists, just a pass through, or can it support a vibrant community by investing in the people who can make this creative place continue?”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

ArtSEA: Bumbershoot turns up the volume on visual arts

If you want to keep the art discoveries going beyond Bumbershoot, head to the Central District where the recent installation Femme Noire (through Sept. 30) has created a new reason for an art walk. A collaboration by Wa Na Wari, Seattle Art Museum and blackpuffin (out of Chicago), the outdoor exhibit celebrates the work of Black women artists from around the world, including the Northwest. 

Most of the images feature the faces of women. Local painter Bonnie Hopper contributed a portrait of a modern woman, dressed in the artist’s trademark patterned fabrics. Kiki Turner’s figure is also adorned in patterns, echoed by the plants around her. Aramis O. Hamer, also Seattle-based, shares a psychedelic image of the back of a woman’s head — or is she an alien, coming to share wisdom? 

I talked about the project with Wa Na Wari curator Elisheba Johnson, who said when choosing the locally created artworks she was focused on big visual impact. “Pieces that say a lot on the surface,” she explained.

The hope is that the artworks will catch people’s eyes as they walk by — either day to day or perhaps during Wa Na Wari’s upcoming Walk the Block festival (Sept. 30), featuring a slew of arts and performance outdoors.

You’ll find the Femme Noire pieces hung from light posts and at Black owned businesses, mostly along 23rd Avenue between East Union and Jackson streets (see the map). A previous iteration of the project in Atlanta featured wheat-pasted images on buildings, but given our weather concerns, the images here have been reproduced on vinyl.

“People think Black folks don’t live in the Central District anymore,” Johnson noted. “This location helps emphasize that Black artists are present in the neighborhood. We’re here. We’re working.”

Local pieces rub shoulders with those by Cameroonian, Jamaican, Senegalese, Haitian, Nigerian and Guyanese artists, stirring up a sense of global camaraderie. Johnson encourages people to walk up to the works in person. “It’s important to feel an artwork’s scale in relation to our bodies,” she says. Not to mention, she adds, “These are badass artists from all over the diaspora.”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

A Surprise on the Civil Rights Trail in Birmingham

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We are republishing a few posts that Dr. Julie Buckner Armstrong wrote for WMNF when she was researching her home town, Birmingham. She is a guest on Art in Your Ear on Friday, September 1, 2023, at noon.

Dr. Julie Buckner Armstrong is in Birmingham, Alabama, her home town. She is blogging about following the official and unofficial Civil Rights trails through a town that starkly flaunts its contradictions. She had a wonderful surprise while following the trail yesterday, which led her farther afield, and yet right back to the beginning.

Beautiful Freedom Surprise

Arriving into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport for my civil rights pilgrimage, I felt conflicted. I usually feel a bump of pride when the plane hits the tarmac. The Birmingham International Airport’s Board of Directors voted in 2008 to rename itself after local leader Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011), instrumental in the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. How many other airports are named after civil rights heroes?

Since this flight landed from the northeast, however, I realized that the runway was likely passing over the remains of artist Lonnie Holley’s art yard.

Holley (b. 1950) is an African-American artist whose work is on display at the American Museum of Folk Art and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. He  in a variety of media, but what drew the most notoriety was the property he used to own in Birmingham’s Airport Hills. Some called it a sculpture garden, others a junk yard. Either way,

Lonnie Holley, by Hreinn Gudlaugsson

Lonnie Holley, by Hreinn Gudlaugsson

when the airport decided to expand, Holley’s yard had to go, despite an outcry from the international art community. The airport authority initially offered Holley $14,000, including the site-specific installations. Holley sued, settling for a meager $165,000, moving expenses included. In late 1997, Holley managed to get out about half of his art before the city bulldozed the rest, moving his family to a piece of foreclosed rural property south of Birmingham. . . .

. . .next to white people who did not want him for a neighbor. They shot guns into his house and finally shot him. Holley now lives in Atlanta, the “city too busy to hate.” Dust to Digital, the recording label that produces Holley’s improvisational jazz, his new medium of choice, has released a music video that includes images of his art, his yard, and – painfully – the property’s destruction. One can access it at All Rendered Truth.

Holley was not Birmingham’s only visionary yard artist. In southwest Birmingham, Joe Minter keeps the “African Village in America.” Minter, the “Peacemaker,” collects material from flea markets, thrift stores, and junkyards, repurposing it into sculpture that comments on the African diaspora, human rights, and God’s work in the world.

Joe Minter's African Village in America, by Julie Armstrong

Joe Minter’s African Village in America, by Julie Armstrong

The more visually striking pieces are fabricated from used auto parts and look out on Grace Hill Cemetery – a hill of 100,000 ancestors, he told me.

I have loved Holley’s and Minter’s work for years, and have a selection from each in my home. These aren’t just folk art collectibles, but roots to my complicated Birmingham legacy.

Imagine my surprise, when, Day 1 of my civil rights pilgrimage brought me face to face with Joe Minter. I was trying to connect two legs of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Heritage Trail at Linn Park, in the city’s center. Minter has been speaking his truth to power there for years.

“Look around,” he said, gesturing at City Hall, the Jefferson County Courthouse, the Birmingham Public Library, and the Birmingham Museum of Art – the institutions that shut out: “Jericho. Jericho. Jericho. Jericho.”

A sign on Joe Minter’s truck references a scandal involving the Jefferson County sewer system which led to the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Photograph by Julie Armstrong

A sign on Joe Minter’s truck references a scandal involving the Jefferson County sewer system which led to the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Photograph by Julie Armstrong

What does he protest? Some of it involves specifics: the Jefferson County sewer construction boondoggle that led to the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Some of it involves a general lack of respect: Minter is a talented artist who has not received his due. Holley got a Museum of Art retrospective in 2004, after his property was torn down. When I asked about Minter at the library, the information specialists, who have assisted me before on the most arcane aspects of Birmingham history, looked puzzled: “is he that man who rings the bell?”

The answer is, yes, he used to, but now he has a gourd that says, “I love Jamaica.”

And, now, the final indignity, Minter tells me: his property has been condemned.

I asked him why. His reply: “Because Birmingham condemns everything that is good” and “the city does not want a parcel being free of thought.”

Joe Minter sign, by Julie Armstrong

Joe Minter sign, by Julie Armstrong

I’m not sure what the facts are at this point, but I do know this: both Holley’s and Minter’s yards gave them artistic, existential, and spiritual freedom in a city where freedom may have been on the books since 1963 but has not always been practiced.

Explaining that last sentence takes a book, not a blog, to tell. Stay tuned – not just to me but to voices like Joe Minter’s. The vision he offers transforms Birmingham’s hardscrabble detritus into beautiful freedom.

You can file Julie’s blog here. This post was originally published on April 8, 2016.)

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment