Events and Workshops
Conversations on Self-Determination
Presented and produced in partnership with the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Visitors joined us every Saturday at Weeksville Heritage Center (158 Buffalo Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) for a free series of Conversations on Self-Determination, presented and produced in partnership with the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Gathering on the lawn, panelists and performers took part in afternoon discussions on main exhibition themes Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine. Free and open to the public.
Black Radical Brooklyn: Past, Present, and Future
Saturday, September 27
3:30 – 5:30pm
Hear how four artworks came to life. Listen as artists and community partners reflect on two years of making art that explores local sites of self-determination, yesterday and today.
Moderators: Rashida Bumbray, Independent Curator; Rylee Eterginoso, Curator, Weeksville Heritage Center; Nato Thompson, Chief Curator, Creative Time
Speakers: Xenobia Bailey, Artist, Century 21: Bed-Stuy Rhapsody in Design: A Reconstruction Urban Remix in the Aesthetic of Funk; Dwight Brewster, Digital Media Officer at Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium; Jamal Cyrus, Artist, OJBK FM; Ron Johnson, Historian at Bethel Tabernacle AME Church; Stanley Kinard, Community Coordinator & Director of Care Center at Boys & Girls High School; Simone Leigh, Artist, Free People’s Medical Clinic; Clarence Mosley, Chairman at Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium; DeeArah Wright, on behalf of the English Family of Stuyvesant Mansion; Curator Rashida Bumbray on behalf of Bradford Young, Artist, Bynum Cutler.
Funk and Jazz
Saturday, October 4
3:30 – 5:30pm
Explore music as a soundtrack for social justice. Leading contemporary Brooklyn artists reflect on their art while revisiting the anthems that fortified and consoled the African-American-led struggle for desegregation and equal rights.
Moderator: Una-Kariim A. Cross, artist, writer, and educator
Speakers: Willard Jenkins, jazz writer and radio/TV host; Toshi Reagon, activist, singer, songwriter, and musician working in genres from folk to blues and funk; and Carl Hancock Rux, interdisciplinary performative artist, writer, and playwright.
Performer: Martha Redbone, singer-songwriter and community activist
God and Medicine
Saturday, October 11
3:30 – 5:30pm
Investigate the contested past of Black bodies and Black souls. Speakers tackle the health effects of discrimination while linking wellness to African-American spiritual traditions.
Moderator: Dr. Samuel Roberts, Director, Columbia University Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS), Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), and author of Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation.
Speakers: Dr. Harriet Washington, author of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, and Dr. Obery Hendricks, author of The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic.
Performer: Black Women’s Taiko drummers, Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center
Free Workshops at Weeksville Heritage Center
In conjunction with artist Xenobia Bailey
Where do our clothes come from?
Saturday, September 20
12:30 – 2pm
Explore the world of fibers and their origins.
Instructor: Twain Revell
Homegrown Wellness
Saturday, September 20
2:30 – 5:30pm
Decompress, detox, and enjoy recipe demos and samples for spa treatments made from homegrown ingredients.
Instructor: T.I. Williams
Radically Inside Out
Sunday, September 21
1 – 3pm & 4 – 6pm
Sample various herbal concoctions that rejuvenate the body from the inside, out.
Instructor: T.I. Williams
Beginner Spinning
Saturday, September 27
12:30 – 3:30pm
Learn how to operate the drop spindle and draft fiber to make your own yarn. (first come, first serve; 12 people max)
Instructor: Twain Revell
Urban Beekeeping & Honey Spinning
Sunday, September 28 & Sunday, October 5
2 – 5pm
From hive construction to honey harvest – a great place to start if you’ve ever wondered what it takes to care for your own bees.
Instructor: Aeli Gonzalez Gladstein
Canning: Pickling
Saturday, October 4
1 – 3pm
Learn the tricks to canning so you can put up summer’s harvest for cooler months. (first-come, first-serve; 24 people max.)
Instructor: Taireina Gilbert
Intermediate Spinning
Saturday, October 11
12:30 – 3:30pm
Learn how to ply your spun yarn. Two ply and triple ply and set the twist. Also explore applications for designer yarn. (Graduates of Beginner Spinning will get preference for this class of 12 people max, beyond that it’s first come first serve)
Instructor: Twain Revell
Canning: Preserves & Chutneys
Sunday, October 12
1 – 3pm
Learn the tricks to canning so you can put up summer’s harvest for cooler months. (first-come, first-serve; 24 people max.)
Instructor: Taireina Gilbert
