Blowing Rock, NC – Over the next five weeks Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) will celebrate Black History Month and explore the intersections between social justice and creative expression. The program series has been organized around the current exhibition, Small and Mighty Acts Altar for Black Lives. Link to exhibit: blowingrockmuseum.org/see/altar
Small and Mighty Acts serve as a platform to bolster the High Country of North Carolina and beyond toward a more peaceful, just, and productive future. In the summer of 2020 they put that into praxis by creating their altar for black lives on king street in downtown Boone. The murder of George Floyd in May of 2020 sparked a global outcry and a resurgence of interest in the Black Lives matter Movement. In response to the murders, Small and Mighty Acts constructed an Altar for Black Lives as a call to action and place for our community to come together, grieve, and co-create an equitable future. The Altar for Black Lives is a recognition of the power in ritual in socio-political turmoil, as social change is not only a matter of policy, it is a matter of imagination and of the spirit.
BRAHM is hosting the altar for black lives in the Alexander Community Gallery until March 27, we have photographed every piece of the altar and have created a web page for the exhibit featuring additional information and images of every piece on the altar. Many of the pieces that were made were done so anonymously if anyone sees their work and would like to claim it there is a form on the exhibit web page for you to claim it.
Small and Mighty Acts director Cara Hagan said, “It is an honor to more fully realize an exhibition of the Altar for Black Lives following the death of George Floyd, and so many Black people across our country. The opening of this exhibition will allow the high country to continue to co-create and to imagine a more peaceful, equitable future through community ritual. The creativity with which people have approached this project already, has been amazing and speaks to the timbre of care present in the high country. I can’t wait to see how this project grows as people visit the exhibition and interact with our planned programming.”
Thursday February 11th at 6 pm we will premiere “songs of freedom” with Boone based artist, Melissa Edd. This program will explore songs from the civil rights movement and tell you stories behind the lyrics and the people named in them. We hope you will join us for Writing on Justice, a two-part workshop on back to back Wednesdays February 17th and 24th at 6 pm inviting participants to engage in a creative writing practice around concepts and themes related to BLM. Pieces created in this workshop will be included in a community exhibition booklet for the Small and Mighty Acts, Altar for Black Lives exhibition (not mandatory for participating in the workshop). Participants are invited to join the workshop over one or both sessions to write, and collectively reflect on themes related to Black Lives Matter. The workshop will be led by Small and Mighty Acts founder, Cara Hagan. Link to the program: https://youtu.be/EA6t4DMugs
From February 21-28 we are hosting a virtual screening of the documentary Wilmington On Fire and a discussion with the film’s director, Christopher Everett. The film will be available for viewing through BRAHM’s website for 1 week from Feb 21-28, and on Thursday the 25th at 6 pm we will host the discussion. Link to the program: https://zoom.us/j/95917762436
On March 4th we are hosting “Pivot Step: Black Choreographers and the Intersection of Dance Arts and Social Justice” this event will feature a discussion between Tamara Williams, dance professor and UNC-CHarlotte, Cara Hagan dance professor at Appalachian State University, and Dr. Julie B. Johnson, professor at Spelman college. Link to the program: https://zoom.us/j/97242717937
All of these events are free and open to the public. They were made possible by the hard work of Small and Mighty Acts, and financial support from the North Carolina Humanities Council and the Watauga Arts Council.
If you are not able to make any of these programs don’t worry because they will be recorded and posted to our YouTube page so just make sure to subscribe to stay up to date with everything going on at BRAHM. All of this and more can be delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to our weekly e-news letter or following us on social media @brmuseum.
