Season of Soul: A Holiday “Block Party”

Come together in celebration of Black culture and be inspired by the works on view in African American Art in the 20th Century. Block parties were first recorded in England in 1919 to celebrate the treaty of Versailles, and in the late 1970s the concept was adopted and enhanced by Black communities during the emergence of hip hop.

This season, it is brought to life indoors at the HRM with its five essential components: music with DJ Shynasty; spoken word with poets and MCs Cloetree, Phoenix Nolé, Jamal Johnson, Hattress Barbour III, and Marcus C. John; rhythm with In the Tradition Drumming Collective, featuring Brother Robert Winstead and Sister Oyanike Winstead; movement with Creative Director Ruben Antoine’s 2 Be Continued Dance Team; and art with Brian Cannady.

Produced in collaboration with 2021 HRM Gala Honoree Marcus C. John.

Program

• 1–4pm DJ Shynasty spins classic soul music in the galleries.
• 1–4pm Artist Brian Cannady conducts a painting workshop inspired by graffiti in Greene Education Center.
• 1pm Poet and MC Jamal “Just Malsz” Johnson performs in front of Jamel Robinson’s mixed media work Fighting for Change: Fist Full of Tears in the Lobby.
• 1:30pm Members of In the Tradition Drumming Collective celebrate our ancestors in front of Charles Searles’ acrylic painting Celebration in the galleries.
• 2–2:30pm Poets and MCs perform in the galleries. Phoenix Nolé in front of Initiation, Liberia and Moon Masque by Lois Mailou Jones. Cloetree in front of Southern Gate by Eldzier Cortor and Li’l Sis by William H. Johnson. Hattress Barbour III in front of Brothers by Malvin Gray Johnson and The Long Rows by Benny Andrews.
• 2:30pm 2 Be Continued Dance Team performs a work inspired by Jamel Robinson’s mixed media work Beauty from Ashes in the Lobby.
• 3pm Poet Marcus C. John performs in front of Beauford Delaney’s oil painting Can Fire in the Park.
• 3:30pm Members of In the Tradition Drumming Collective celebrate our ancestors in front of Charles Searles’ acrylic painting Celebration in the galleries.

Sponsored by DeWayne N. Phillips.

Programs in conjunction with African American Art in the 20th Century are supported in part by Debra A. Blair, Yolanda F. Johnson, Reginald Joseph, Nancy Montag, and Kathryn B. Welch.