Featuring musician, composer, and director, Alex Lasalle, interdisciplinary artist, Amber Robles-Gordon, and founder and director of Semilla Cultural, Isha M. Renta López. Moderated by Torrents 2024 Scholar, Adrian Loving Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is November 14-17, 2024 in the Union Market District and The Kennedy Center. Learn more on our website: culturaldc.org/torrents The Bomba Performance featuring Amber Robles-Gordon and Isha M. Renta López is Sunday, November 17th at 1:30 PM at Songbyrd Music House in Washington, DC. RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/torrents-dance-bomba-tickets-1038206191667?aff=oddtdtcreator

In this conversation, Thomas Stanley, Ph.D., interviews spoken word recording artist Ursula Rucker.    Thomas Stanley is an artist, author, and activist deeply committed to audio culture in the service of personal growth and social change. As performer and curator, Bushmeat Sound has been an integral part of a visionary music scene straddling the Baltimore-Washington corridor. His audio work employs musical sound to anchor, frame, and accelerate our subjective experience of history.   Ursula Rucker is an interdisciplinary poet, performer, and recording artist whose work reflects on personal history, family, and place. She characterizes her work as situated “along the edge of the terrains of poetry.” Dr. Stanley’s conversation with Ursula explores culture, world issues, and how it affects art and expression.  This podcast is an extension of TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures, an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance.  This conversation was partly supported by The Kennedy Center’s Office for Social Impact, partnership with Art in Transit, The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and The Humanities DC’s Visions Grant.  Learn more about Torrents: New Links to Black Futures on our website: ⁠culturaldc.org/torrents⁠ ⁠culturaldc.org⁠ ⁠@cultural_dc Edited and mixed by ⁠Zeos Greene⁠

Today’s conversation is between Thomas Stanley, Ph.D., and Alex Zamalin. Thomas Stanley is an artist, author, and activist deeply committed to audio culture in the service of personal growth and social change. As performer and curator, Bushmeat Sound has been an integral part of a visionary music scene straddling the Baltimore-Washington corridor. His audio work employs musical sound to anchor, frame, and accelerate our subjective experience of history. Dr. Stanley interviews professor and author Alex Zamalin to discuss themes of his book Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism.  This podcast is an extension of TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures, an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance.  This conversation was partly supported by The Kennedy Center’s Office for Social Impact, partnership with Art in Transit, The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and The Humanities DC’s Visions Grant.  Learn more about Torrents: New Links to Black Futures on our website: culturaldc.org/torrents culturaldc.org @cultural_dc Edited and mixed by Zeos Greene

Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance.   This DC-based interdisciplinary event series gathers artists, collectors, professors, and community stakeholders to participate in a week filled with engaging experiences.  Torrents examines critical questions about the development of Black futures across the African diaspora by featuring innovators across industries. Through expert panels, film screenings, live music, artistic performances, and demonstrations of advancements in technology, we aim to create opportunities to build community and inspire collaboration. Living Myths investigates why film is so effective in reimagining frameworks around Black futures and how it can induce significant cultural impact that critically challenges modern notions around politics, community, and Black history. In this panel, the filmmakers discuss their experiences in the industry, challenges for Black creators working within corporate structures, the types of stories they look to tell, their motivations for their work, and what they hope to see in the industry. This conversation is between Alexis Aggrey, Merawi Gerima, Shaka King, and Ytasha Womack following the screening of Smithsonian Channel's "Afrofuturism: The Origin Story" by Alexis Aggrey ⁠⁠in November of 2022. Moderated by DJ Underdog. Presented by CulturalDC. Edited by Caandor Labs.

Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance.   This DC-based interdisciplinary event series gathers artists, collectors, professors, and community stakeholders to participate in a week filled with engaging experiences.  Torrents examines critical questions about the development of Black futures across the African diaspora by featuring innovators across industries. Through expert panels, film screenings, live music, artistic performances, and demonstrations of advancements in technology, we aim to create opportunities to build community and inspire collaboration. This conversation is between Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, Dr. Raimi Gbadamosi, & Artist Nyugen E. Smith. Moderated by Adefolakunmi Adenugba of ISE-DA at the opening of Roots of a Future⁠ ⁠⁠in November of 2022.  Presented by CulturalDC. Edited by Caandor Labs.

Artist David Jeremiah and Journalist & Curator Teri Henderson discuss Jeremiah’s artistic practice, his Dallas roots, his exhibition "FOGA" with CulturalDC, and more.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with three arts leaders to reflect on CulturalDC’s latest film collaboration, Insurrection by Andres Serrano presented by a/political. Joining our podcast today are artist Andres Serrano and Art Curator Sylwia Serafinowicz, and CulturalDC Executive Director Kristi Maiselmann.Sylwia Serafinowicz is Chief Curator at a/political, public speaker and writer based in London. Serafinowicz sees exhibitions and public programmes as a platform to advocate for human rights and against discrimination, inequality and violence. Serafinowicz graduated with a PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MA in History of Art from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Kristi Maiselman: Kristi Maiselman is the Executive Director and Curator of CulturalDC. Since her appointment in October 2018, Maiselman has facilitated projects like Ivanka Vacuuming by Jennifer Rubell, Mighty, Mighty by Devan Shimoyama, and THIS IS NOT A DRILL by Jefferson Pinder. In addition to her curatorial work, Maiselman oversees CulturalDC’s artspace development work which creates partnerships between arts organizations and commercial real estate developers in order to ensure affordable artist housing, studio space, and public art opportunities. Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City and later attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1967 to 1969, where he studied painting and sculpture. Andres Serrano is an internationally acclaimed American artist whose work has been shown in major institutions in the United States and abroad. His photography work is featured in numerous museums and public collections.This program is presented in collaboration with a/political. a/political explores radical knowledge through the principle of Cultural Terror. Working with artists and agitators, the collective platforms voices that undermine the dominant narratives of our time. Based in London, a/political exists outside the commercial art world, functioning through interventions, commissions and a collection of contemporary art. Learn more at a(dash)political.org and @apolitcalorg on social media. 

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with two influential artists to discuss their latest works and reflect on CulturalDC’s latest film collaboration, Insurrection by Andres Serrano presented by a/political. Joining our podcast today are artist Andres Serrano and Art Curator Andy Grundberg to discuss Serrano’s new book The Game : All Things Trump and Grundberg’s latest work How Photography Became Contemporary Art. Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City and later attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1967 to 1969, where he studied painting and sculpture. Andres Serrano is an internationally acclaimed American artist whose work has been shown in major institutions in the United States and abroad. His photography work is featured in numerous museums and public collections.Andy Grundberg was the photography critic of the New York Times from 1981 to 1991. He later served as the director of the Ansel Adams Center for Photography in San Francisco and as chair of the photography department and dean of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Grundberg is an authority in the photography industry and writes eloquently about photography’s “boom years,” chronicling the medium’s increasing role within the most important art movements of our time. This program is presented in collaboration with a/political. a/political explores radical knowledge through the principle of Cultural Terror. Working with artists and agitators, the collective platforms voices that undermine the dominant narratives of our time. Based in London, a/political exists outside the commercial art world, functioning through interventions, commissions and a collection of contemporary art. Learn more at a(dash)political.org and @apolitcalorg on social media.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. This summer, CulturalDC is proud to present, When We Gather…, a collaborative exploration between Haïtian-American (Flo·reen Day·most·ten) and Ghanaian (Aaah·chu Nuu·maah·jee). “When We Gather…” is a visual arts installation highlighting the cultural significance of flag making in military campaigns, clan identity, spirituality, and storytelling. Using the history of Haiti’s Battle for Independence and the symbology of the Anlo Ewe people , Day·most·ten and Nuu·maah·jee explore the use of symbols and body as forms of culture and art. In this discussion, Day·most·ten and Nuu·maah·jee discuss the meanings behind fabrics of Africa, the state of arts in Africa and the intersections of art and cultural responsibility. This conversation is hosted by Simone Booker- Isham of CulturalDC. (Flo·reen Day·most·ten) was born in the United States and raised between Port-au-Prince, Haiti and New York where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School for Design and her Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College-City University. She has exhibited extensively through group and solo exhibitions in the United States, Caribbean, UK, Europe, and Africa, with recent solo shows including, Between Possibility and Actuality at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago. (Aaah·chu Nuu·maah·jee) is a Ghanaian artist whose work explores contemporary ideologies of blackness and West African culture. He was born in the Volta Region and studied at Ghanatta College of Art and Design. His most recent work, “Africa In Us”, is a community investigation project where Nuu·maah·jee creates a mixed media portrait that is based on a series of interviews with Southeast residents of Washington D.C. The core of his artwork has involved working with West African immigrants who are employed in the service industry, particularly hair stylists and barbers. He has exhibited in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States and is based in Washington, DC and Maryland. When We Gather…, presented by CulturalDC is on view from Jul. 9 through September 5th , in CulturalDC’s Mobile Art Gallery Thursdays through Sundays at Sandlot Southeast. Admission is free. Learn more at culturaldc.org.

In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with three purveyors of DC sneakerhead culture to discuss the impact and future of sneaker collecting and community. Today’s discussion is framed against CulturalDC’s latest Mobile Art Gallery Installation, Overboard by Andy Yoder, an exhibit of over 220 sneakers constructed from recycled and repurposed materials. The installation examines sneakerhead culture and brings attention to the impact of capitalist consumer culture on our environment. Joining our discussion today are DC sneaker enthusiasts Ian Callender, Dominick Adams and Abdul Fow-zi. Ian Callender has been longtime DC business owner and sneaker purveyor for many years. As founder of Suite Nation, Ian created events that were conceptual, creative footwear showcases blending music, fashion, food, art, and unique, exclusive sneakers. Today, Ian continues to build community and spaces for culture as Co-Owner of Sandlot Southeast and Southwest. As Co-Owner of SOMEWHERE® Dominick Adams has helped build the foundation of modern fashion in Washington D.C. A third-generation Washingtonian, he is a proud alum of School Without Walls with a career highlighted by time served as General Manager of the pioneering sneaker boutique MAJOR in Georgetown & founding member of the creative team that birthed communal marketplace Maketto. To many DC sneakerheads, Abdul is the “guy with ALL the shoes”. Over the last 30 years of amassing an incredible collection of classic and exclusive sneakers, Abdul has built friendships and community around the love of fresh kicks. As a fan of the industry and culture, Abdul can be heard discussing current event topics and sneaker industry regularly on his podcast, Whats’a Podcast with his co-hosts Eddy and Jerome Baker III.