With the Friday Five, we bring you our weekly choice of the top five events to check out in the near future. This month especially, we are highlighting works by Black artists in celebration of Black History Month. We hope this focus motivates viewers to join us in continuing to seek out voices, perspectives, and incredible art from historically marginalized communities. And as you enjoy, please consider supporting these artists and arts organizations. Every donation counts.
In addition to these weekly selections, we also keep a more comprehensive rolling list of ongoing and upcoming happenings at our ONLINE ARTS GUIDE.
The Convergence Series is an embodiment of the Hopkins Center's commitment to making the arts indispensable to all academic disciplines, bridging arts and sciences to address urgent challenges including climate change and other global ills. The film screening of 2040 is available on demand through February 17 as part of this series.
Motivated by his 4-year-old daughter and concern for the planet she will inherit, Damon Gameau embarks on a global journey to meet the change-makers that are pioneering solutions to improve the health of our planet and societies. Inspired by these discoveries and guided by the many children he consults with along the way, Damon interweaves dramatic sequences and high-end visual effects to conjure a positive portrait of what 'could be' instead of the dystopian future so often presented.
Aimed at a broad audience that includes children and their parents, serious information is delivered with irreverence and humor. This is the narrative the next generation needs to see, to aspire to and to believe is possible.
Few artists can lift your spirits like South Africa's multi-Grammy-winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Since they can't come to us this year, the group has recorded a special concert at the eWushwini Arts Centre in their hometown of Durban, South Africa. Singing and dancing against the stunning backdrop of the Inanda Dam and surrounding mountains, you'll be transported from your home to the magnificent beauty of South Africa.
Created against the backdrop of a worldwide racial reckoning, a pandemic ravaging our prison population and the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, this stunning production by Heartbeat Opera celebrates Black artistry to convey a dream of justice, equity ... and breathing free. This compelling work mingles exhilarating movement with excerpts from Beethoven’s Fidelio, Negro Spirituals and songs by Black composers and lyricists Harry T. Burleigh, Florence Price, Langston Hughes, Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis.
Writers Quincy Troupe and Erin Aubry Kaplan discuss the life and music of trumpeter Miles Davis—one of American music’s most brilliant and influential figures—who is featured in the exhibition at the California African American Museum.
Troupe, who collaborated with Davis on Miles: The Autobiography and also authored the candid memoir Miles & Me, is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, and former editor of Black Renaissance Noire. Kaplan is a contributing writer to the New York Times opinion page and a former weekly op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Seven actor-writers share their TRUTH about the significance of Black History Month. Unspooling personal stories as well as life lessons learned from their parents and grandparents, they explore the impact of their heritage in shaping the artists they are today. Words and images collide in a frank examination of what it means to be Black in America in the wake of 2020’s call to action.
Produced by: Dina Morrone | Edited by: Clara Rodriguez
I'm Tired poem and slide show by: Angel Guice
with Karen Bankhead • James A. Goins • Angel Guice Andrew Lloyd Preston • Shalonda Reese • Levy Lee Simon • Kevin Tomlinson
Original Music by: James A. Goins | Publicist: Philip Sokoloff
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