Los Angeles County Museum of Art will open “The Obama Portraits Tour” and “Black American Portraits” on November 7. The exhibits feature the “Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama” painting as created by Amy Sherald, the “Barack Obama” artwork as visualized by Kehinde Wiley and two centuries of Kehinde Wiley.
Films With A Purpose (FWAP) moves the films of three emerging directors to the spotlight. In addition, FWAP
has scheduled a week of live screenings to share viewing of the films on the big screen daily to create
awareness, impact, and inspiration for Southern California audiences.
This week, ARRAY announced a partnership with Google to offer emerging creatives from historically underrepresented communities with the opportunity to apply for a career-changing $500,000 feature film grant. ARRAY is a grassroots distribution, arts and advocacy collective focused on amplifying work by people of color and women, founded by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay. The ARRAY + Google Feature Film Grant, which will provide funds to produce the recipient’s first full-length feature film, was instituted as a way to help build a more equitable and inclusive artistic community of diverse storytellers.
The Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) announced the 11th Annual Youth Diversity Film Festival programming. Traditionally brought to the public annually as a live event, this year the festival will make its online debut on BHERCTV.com. The BHERC Youth Diversity Film Festival (YDFF) opens Saturday January 16 and runs thru Thursday, January 31, 2021.
TAYARISHA POE: I made an overture to “Selah and the Spades,” called “Overture,” in 2014, knowing I eventually wanted to make a feature. But I didn’t know how to write a feature script, and I didn’t know what it would be about, so I wrote short stories about the characters and their world — one every day for the month of November 2014. At the end of the month, I had all these stories. Since I knew how to write and take photos, I turned the stories into separate multimedia works. It’s not the most conventional approach to making a movie but it worked for the story because I wound up spending so much time world-building and thinking about the lives of these kids, which in the end made the feature itself so much more complex and rich.
The Black AIDS Institute (BAI) hosted its 20th Annual Heroes in the Struggle Gala on Saturday February 8th, 2020 at the California African American Museum. Actor and activist, Jay Ellis welcomed the audience along with Senator Holly Mitchell.
Over the past 67 years, the cotillion has been the culmination of a comprehensive program that embodies Los Angeles Chapter’s commitment to service and leadership development of youth.
“…once I received the MC Lyte #EducateOURMen Scholarship to Dillard, I knew that I was destined to have a fulfilling college experience that was beyond my wildest dreams and I cannot thank MC Lyte, Lynn Richardson and the Hip Hop Sisters Foundation enough for investing in me and being one of my strongest support systems,” said Joshua Williams, a valedictorian at historically Black Dillard University.
The black-tie affair honored African American, trailblazing men and women whose personal and professional accomplishments have positively impacted the perception and image of the Black LGBTQ+ community. The Truth Awards embodies the belief that members of the Black LGBTQ+ community and its allies who embrace and live their truth should be recognized and honored. In addition, BBLA awarded $13,000 in scholarships to college-bound students Julian Roberson, Algernon Jackson, and Moses Hinton.