Want a taste of the kinds of discussion you’ll experience at the Festival in October? Then join us on Tuesday, July 12 for the first official event of the Festival of the New Black Imagination. Also, we’re really thrilled that we’re an official Soul of Brooklyn event.
The event’s designed to do two things: First, I want to talk a bit about the vision behind the creation of the Festival. Second, I want to spread the word about our fundraising drive that will be starting. As Rakim famously said, “Wit’ out no money, it’s still a wish. . .” You feel me, right?
After that, we’ll get into a panel discussion. Here’s the idea behind it:
CREATING A REVOLUTIONARY AESTHETIC
What is more powerful than an aesthetic moment where art or music meet politics? Think of Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the national anthem, one which echoed the distortion and confusion around American identity; or the raised Black Power fist (from the Olympics to Elizabeth Catlett’s sculpture); or the gender/race analysis within the visual art or music of some of our forward-thinking artists.
Words are tricksters. “Revolutionary” here is meant more in the sense of a turn of history’s wheel, and a new understanding of our circumstances, than as an
overthrow. Life — art, politics, fashion — is often cyclical, and we go through both radical and conservative phases as a society. Aesthetics are an engine that turn that wheel, and combine the visual, the political, and the social. We speak to three thought-leaders about what the next revolutionary aesthetic will be; who is creating it; and how blackness shapes and relates to it.
Moderated by award-winning journalist Farai Chideya (above, left), the panel will also include the perspectives of (l to r) celebrated photographer Renee Cox, marketer Malcolm Gillian and singer-songwriter Tamar-Kali.
The event will take at
MoCADA
80 Hanson Place
Brooklyn, NY 11205
7PM
Suggested $10 Donation
mocada.org
Also, more info on the Soul of Brooklyn calendar here.