Detroit Institute of Arts Celebrates Black History Month 2021
Updated Jan 25, 2021
January 25, 2021 (DETROIT)—The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) continues its annual tradition of commemorating Black History Month with a full calendar of cultural events, despite looking different from years past. Partnering with a community advisory team, the DIA has developed virtual-only programming including concerts, art talks, films, programs for seniors and families and more.
This year’s celebration was shaped by community advisors Drake Phifer, owner of the production company Urban Organic; Rochelle Riley, Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit; and Errin Whitaker, a Detroit artist whose work focuses on African American identity. Black History Month at the DIA is generously supported by Arn & Nancy Tellem and additional support is provided by TD Bank.
All events are listed under their start date, and end on Feb. 28 unless otherwise noted. Events with (L) are live online events.
Links to these events can be found at www.dia.org/BlackHistoryMonth.
Ongoing
Creating from Home: Mixed Media Nature Scenes
DIA art-making projects are inspired by works from the collection and provide step-by-step instructions to create artwork using materials found around the house. This project starts with a careful look at the Charles McGee painting Noah’s Ark: Genesis, inspired by his belief that humans and nature can coexist in harmony.
Crosswords!
The DIA’s Collection Crosswords feature clues that are answered by picking out details from a work of art from our collection. This month look closely at works by Hale Woodruff and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
Monday, February 1
Music: Chantae Cann
Chantae Cann is a singer and songwriter who specializes in rhythm and blues traditions, infused with joy and positivity. The Chicago-raised Cann has recorded with India.Arie, Snarky Puppy, Avery Sunshine, and Lil' John Roberts. This DIA exclusive performance was recently filmed live and demonstrates her range with music from her Billboard chart-topping recordings, Journey to Golden and (Sol Empowered).
Wednesday, February 3
(L) Wind Down Wednesdays: Beef with Chef Kyle L. William and Mixologist Jennifer Peeples 6:30 p.m.
New to DIA Black History Month programming, these one-hour demonstrations with local chefs and area mixologists prepare their favorite meals with complementary cocktails. Each duo demonstration will be followed by a live virtual conversation and Q&A. To attend the following events, visit dia.org/BlackHistoryMonth
Thursday, February 4
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Artist Demonstration: Gayle Watson 1 p.m.
Join DIA Studio Instructors and local artist Gayle Watson in a conversation about making art with community groups, then follow along as Gayle demonstrates the Notan technique of using scissors and a few sheets of black and white paper to make simple and elegant works of art.
Friday, February 5
DFT @ Home: Unapologetic, 9 a.m.
This documentary by filmmaker Ashley O’Shay follows the work of two millennial Black women who are fed up with misdeeds committed by Chicago law enforcement, and the political system that is unwilling to hold those accountable. The women, spoken-word artist Bella “Ambrell Gambrell” Bahhs and PhD candidate Janaé Bonsu work to rally the community and challenge a power structure that historically turns a deaf ear to young, Black, female voices.
Saturday, February 6
Detroit Institute of Awesome! I❤ My Blackness & Yours: Celebrating Black Photographers: Our Stories Matter 11 a.m.
This two-part series highlights the stories of Black photographers whose work affirms and celebrates Blackness by putting it in the center of the frame, while teaching audience members how to tell their own stories. In this installment Andrea J. Loney’s will read the picture book “Take a Picture of Me, James VanderZee!”
This program by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice project for kids, celebrates Blackness through photography. Registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent via email after registration is complete.
Sunday, February 7
(L) Art Talk: The Black Body’s Connection to its Environments, artist Senghor Reid 2 p.m.
Detroit artist Senghor Reid will discuss his new work that explores the interactions between the human body and the environment, creating visual representations of dreams, memories, and traces of human contact with nature. This event is sponsored by the DIA Center for African American Art.
Monday, February 8
DFT @ Home: Films of Reverend Solomon Sir Jones
In 1924, Baptist minister Reverend Solomon Sir Jones began recording everyday life using 16mm film equipment in all-Black towns in Oklahoma, built and governed by Black settlers. Jones’ 29 reels of silent, black-and-white celluloid are now considered the definitive film record of the Great Migration of the 1920s. The surviving footage preserves images of worship, sporting events, schools, parades, businessmen, Masonic meetings, picnics, funerals and Juneteenth celebrations. This program is a selection of scenes curated and scored by Alvin Waddles and Marion Hayden.
Wednesday, February 10
(L)Wind Down Wednesdays: Fish with Chef Max Hardy and Mixologist Melanie Mack 6:30 p.m.
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 11
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Lecture: Exploring the DIA’s African Art Collection 1 p.m.
DIA curator Nii O. Quarcoopome participates an in depth look at works in the DIA’s African collection.
Friday, February 12
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Hale County This Morning, This Evening follows Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, two young African American men from Hale County, Alabama over the course of five years, while one attends college in search of opportunity, and the other becomes a father to an energetic son. This open-ended, poetic film invites the audience to experience both the mundane and the monumental moments in their lives, which communicate the region’s deep culture and provide glimpses of the complex ways the African American community’s collective image is integrated into America’s imagination
Saturday, February 13
Detroit Institute of Awesome! I ❤ My Blackness & Yours: Celebrating Black Photographers: Nothing About Us Without Us 11 a.m.
Nothing About Us Without Us, with a reading of Carole Boston Weatherford’s picture book “Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America”
This program by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice project for kids, celebrates Blackness through photography. Registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent via email after registration is complete.
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
(see Feb. 12 for description)
Sunday, February 14
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
(see Feb. 12 for description)
Virtual Panel Discussion: The Art of Business | A Celebration of African American Entrepreneurs 11 a.m.
Local African American entrepreneurs come together to discuss the process of following their passion and establishing a business in Southeast Michigan. Moderated by Jasmin DeForrest, each panelist will discuss the motivations, challenges, and joys of being in business. Featuring Asia Hamilton, Norwest Gallery; Alexis Sims, Leaf Me Co.; Roland Coit, Burn Rubber Sneaker Boutique; and Yolanda Williams, CREAM Blends Body Care.
Monday, February 15
Music of Florence Price
American composer Florence Beatrice Price became the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra, when Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her Symphony No. 1 in 1933. Her Fourth Symphony was first performed on November 4, 1940 by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Detroit Institute of Arts Auditorium.
In recognition of this pioneering composer, the Noah Jackson String Quartet and pianist Michelle Cann recently recorded a performance of Price’s music for smaller ensembles. Available Feb.15–28.
DFT@ Home: Short Films Series: THE #technoMecca @fusicology MIXTAPE #movementdetroit2012 #weekdend #wrapUp
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill focuses on Detroit dance culture in the late 80’s and how it influenced the development of electronic dance music and hip hop.
DFT@ Home: Short Film Series: Al Ester - The Detroit Sound Project
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill tributes legendary DJ Al Ester illustrating how his soulful, studied work made him one of the prominent early figures in Detroit techno and house music.
Tuesday, February 16
(L) Art Talk: Hughie Lee-Smith: A Detroit Story, Alona Cooper Wilson, Ph.D. 6:30 p.m.
Art historian Alona Cooper Wilson discusses a group of paintings the celebrated artist completed during his years in Detroit, while studying at the Detroit Society of the Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies) and Wayne State University and working in a Ford Motor Company plant. This event is sponsored by the DIA Center for African American Art.
Wednesday, February 17
(L) Wind Down Wednesday: Poultry with Chef Angela Michelle and Mixologist Devan Clark 6:30 p.m.
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 18
(L) Thursdays “at” The Museum: Lecture: “In Our Own Voice”: African American Artists 1 p.m.
Enhance your awareness of the creative contributions of African Americans from the 19th century through the present day joined by Valerie Mercer, DIA curator of the Center for African American Art . This talk provides a lens to examine issues of race, gender, politics and culture.
Friday, February 19
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
Considered “too militant” for broadcast television in 1972, Nationtime is a documentary by filmmaker William Greaves (1926–2014) at the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Ind. This historic event gathered voices from across the political and cultural spectrum including Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, Richard Roundtree, Bobby Seale and Isaac Hayes. This new 4K restoration by IndieCollect and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is narrated by Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and returns the film to its original 80-minute length and quality, bringing a vital historical moment to life.
Saturday, February 20
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
(see Feb. 19 for description)
Sunday, February 21
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
(see Feb. 19 for description)
Monday, February 22
DFT@ Home: Short Films Series: Robert A. Hill - THE OLD WESTSIDE
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill focuses takes viewers on a tour of the mostly vanished homes, schools, churches and small businesses that lined a once vibrant Black Detroit neighborhood that is a poignant meditation on the places we call home.
Wednesday, February 24
(L) Wind Down Wednesday: Vegetarian with Chef Ederique Goudia and Mixologist Randall Coats
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 25
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Film: Mandabi 1 p.m.
This deeply funny, engaging and powerfully indignant 1968 feature film by legendary Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembène was the first movie ever made in the Wolof language—a major step toward the realization of Sembène’s dream of creating a cinema by, about, and for Africans. Newly restored; in Wolof and French, with English subtitles.
Friday, February 26
Music: Charity
A life-long Detroiter, Charity performs a range of genres that span folk and alternative R & B, with generous influences from gospel and pop music. This intimate performance will feature music from her new recording project Tinderheaded.
Saturday, February 27
(L) Detroit Institute of Awesome! Wimee’s Words 1 p.m.
This live and engaging online puppet show features fun lovable robot Wimee who inspires kids to learn through creativity, interactive songs, wordplay and more. This episode is inspired by Romare Bearden’s mosaic, Stamping Ground. Interact directly with Wimee through the chat options and your suggestions will become a part of the episode! Registration required.
January 25, 2021 (DETROIT)—The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) continues its annual tradition of commemorating Black History Month with a full calendar of cultural events, despite looking different from years past. Partnering with a community advisory team, the DIA has developed virtual-only programming including concerts, art talks, films, programs for seniors and families and more.
This year’s celebration was shaped by community advisors Drake Phifer, owner of the production company Urban Organic; Rochelle Riley, Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit; and Errin Whitaker, a Detroit artist whose work focuses on African American identity. Black History Month at the DIA is generously supported by Arn & Nancy Tellem and additional support is provided by TD Bank.
All events are listed under their start date, and end on Feb. 28 unless otherwise noted. Events with (L) are live online events.
Links to these events can be found at www.dia.org/BlackHistoryMonth.
Ongoing
Creating from Home: Mixed Media Nature Scenes
DIA art-making projects are inspired by works from the collection and provide step-by-step instructions to create artwork using materials found around the house. This project starts with a careful look at the Charles McGee painting Noah’s Ark: Genesis, inspired by his belief that humans and nature can coexist in harmony.
Crosswords!
The DIA’s Collection Crosswords feature clues that are answered by picking out details from a work of art from our collection. This month look closely at works by Hale Woodruff and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
Monday, February 1
Music: Chantae Cann
Chantae Cann is a singer and songwriter who specializes in rhythm and blues traditions, infused with joy and positivity. The Chicago-raised Cann has recorded with India.Arie, Snarky Puppy, Avery Sunshine, and Lil' John Roberts. This DIA exclusive performance was recently filmed live and demonstrates her range with music from her Billboard chart-topping recordings, Journey to Golden and (Sol Empowered).
Wednesday, February 3
(L) Wind Down Wednesdays: Beef with Chef Kyle L. William and Mixologist Jennifer Peeples 6:30 p.m.
New to DIA Black History Month programming, these one-hour demonstrations with local chefs and area mixologists prepare their favorite meals with complementary cocktails. Each duo demonstration will be followed by a live virtual conversation and Q&A. To attend the following events, visit dia.org/BlackHistoryMonth
Thursday, February 4
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Artist Demonstration: Gayle Watson 1 p.m.
Join DIA Studio Instructors and local artist Gayle Watson in a conversation about making art with community groups, then follow along as Gayle demonstrates the Notan technique of using scissors and a few sheets of black and white paper to make simple and elegant works of art.
Friday, February 5
DFT @ Home: Unapologetic, 9 a.m.
This documentary by filmmaker Ashley O’Shay follows the work of two millennial Black women who are fed up with misdeeds committed by Chicago law enforcement, and the political system that is unwilling to hold those accountable. The women, spoken-word artist Bella “Ambrell Gambrell” Bahhs and PhD candidate Janaé Bonsu work to rally the community and challenge a power structure that historically turns a deaf ear to young, Black, female voices.
Saturday, February 6
Detroit Institute of Awesome! I❤ My Blackness & Yours: Celebrating Black Photographers: Our Stories Matter 11 a.m.
This two-part series highlights the stories of Black photographers whose work affirms and celebrates Blackness by putting it in the center of the frame, while teaching audience members how to tell their own stories. In this installment Andrea J. Loney’s will read the picture book “Take a Picture of Me, James VanderZee!”
This program by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice project for kids, celebrates Blackness through photography. Registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent via email after registration is complete.
Sunday, February 7
(L) Art Talk: The Black Body’s Connection to its Environments, artist Senghor Reid 2 p.m.
Detroit artist Senghor Reid will discuss his new work that explores the interactions between the human body and the environment, creating visual representations of dreams, memories, and traces of human contact with nature. This event is sponsored by the DIA Center for African American Art.
Monday, February 8
DFT @ Home: Films of Reverend Solomon Sir Jones
In 1924, Baptist minister Reverend Solomon Sir Jones began recording everyday life using 16mm film equipment in all-Black towns in Oklahoma, built and governed by Black settlers. Jones’ 29 reels of silent, black-and-white celluloid are now considered the definitive film record of the Great Migration of the 1920s. The surviving footage preserves images of worship, sporting events, schools, parades, businessmen, Masonic meetings, picnics, funerals and Juneteenth celebrations. This program is a selection of scenes curated and scored by Alvin Waddles and Marion Hayden.
Wednesday, February 10
(L)Wind Down Wednesdays: Fish with Chef Max Hardy and Mixologist Melanie Mack 6:30 p.m.
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 11
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Lecture: Exploring the DIA’s African Art Collection 1 p.m.
DIA curator Nii O. Quarcoopome participates an in depth look at works in the DIA’s African collection.
Friday, February 12
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Hale County This Morning, This Evening follows Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, two young African American men from Hale County, Alabama over the course of five years, while one attends college in search of opportunity, and the other becomes a father to an energetic son. This open-ended, poetic film invites the audience to experience both the mundane and the monumental moments in their lives, which communicate the region’s deep culture and provide glimpses of the complex ways the African American community’s collective image is integrated into America’s imagination
Saturday, February 13
Detroit Institute of Awesome! I ❤ My Blackness & Yours: Celebrating Black Photographers: Nothing About Us Without Us 11 a.m.
Nothing About Us Without Us, with a reading of Carole Boston Weatherford’s picture book “Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America”
This program by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice project for kids, celebrates Blackness through photography. Registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent via email after registration is complete.
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
(see Feb. 12 for description)
Sunday, February 14
DFT @ Home: Hale County This Morning, This Evening
(see Feb. 12 for description)
Virtual Panel Discussion: The Art of Business | A Celebration of African American Entrepreneurs 11 a.m.
Local African American entrepreneurs come together to discuss the process of following their passion and establishing a business in Southeast Michigan. Moderated by Jasmin DeForrest, each panelist will discuss the motivations, challenges, and joys of being in business. Featuring Asia Hamilton, Norwest Gallery; Alexis Sims, Leaf Me Co.; Roland Coit, Burn Rubber Sneaker Boutique; and Yolanda Williams, CREAM Blends Body Care.
Monday, February 15
Music of Florence Price
American composer Florence Beatrice Price became the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra, when Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her Symphony No. 1 in 1933. Her Fourth Symphony was first performed on November 4, 1940 by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Detroit Institute of Arts Auditorium.
In recognition of this pioneering composer, the Noah Jackson String Quartet and pianist Michelle Cann recently recorded a performance of Price’s music for smaller ensembles. Available Feb.15–28.
DFT@ Home: Short Films Series: THE #technoMecca @fusicology MIXTAPE #movementdetroit2012 #weekdend #wrapUp
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill focuses on Detroit dance culture in the late 80’s and how it influenced the development of electronic dance music and hip hop.
DFT@ Home: Short Film Series: Al Ester - The Detroit Sound Project
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill tributes legendary DJ Al Ester illustrating how his soulful, studied work made him one of the prominent early figures in Detroit techno and house music.
Tuesday, February 16
(L) Art Talk: Hughie Lee-Smith: A Detroit Story, Alona Cooper Wilson, Ph.D. 6:30 p.m.
Art historian Alona Cooper Wilson discusses a group of paintings the celebrated artist completed during his years in Detroit, while studying at the Detroit Society of the Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies) and Wayne State University and working in a Ford Motor Company plant. This event is sponsored by the DIA Center for African American Art.
Wednesday, February 17
(L) Wind Down Wednesday: Poultry with Chef Angela Michelle and Mixologist Devan Clark 6:30 p.m.
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 18
(L) Thursdays “at” The Museum: Lecture: “In Our Own Voice”: African American Artists 1 p.m.
Enhance your awareness of the creative contributions of African Americans from the 19th century through the present day joined by Valerie Mercer, DIA curator of the Center for African American Art . This talk provides a lens to examine issues of race, gender, politics and culture.
Friday, February 19
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
Considered “too militant” for broadcast television in 1972, Nationtime is a documentary by filmmaker William Greaves (1926–2014) at the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Ind. This historic event gathered voices from across the political and cultural spectrum including Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, Richard Roundtree, Bobby Seale and Isaac Hayes. This new 4K restoration by IndieCollect and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is narrated by Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and returns the film to its original 80-minute length and quality, bringing a vital historical moment to life.
Saturday, February 20
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
(see Feb. 19 for description)
Sunday, February 21
DFT @ Home: Nationtime
(see Feb. 19 for description)
Monday, February 22
DFT@ Home: Short Films Series: Robert A. Hill - THE OLD WESTSIDE
Detroit-born filmmaker Kristian Hill focuses takes viewers on a tour of the mostly vanished homes, schools, churches and small businesses that lined a once vibrant Black Detroit neighborhood that is a poignant meditation on the places we call home.
Wednesday, February 24
(L) Wind Down Wednesday: Vegetarian with Chef Ederique Goudia and Mixologist Randall Coats
(see Feb. 3 for description)
Thursday, February 25
(L) Thursdays “at” the Museum: Film: Mandabi 1 p.m.
This deeply funny, engaging and powerfully indignant 1968 feature film by legendary Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembène was the first movie ever made in the Wolof language—a major step toward the realization of Sembène’s dream of creating a cinema by, about, and for Africans. Newly restored; in Wolof and French, with English subtitles.
Friday, February 26
Music: Charity
A life-long Detroiter, Charity performs a range of genres that span folk and alternative R & B, with generous influences from gospel and pop music. This intimate performance will feature music from her new recording project Tinderheaded.
Saturday, February 27
(L) Detroit Institute of Awesome! Wimee’s Words 1 p.m.
This live and engaging online puppet show features fun lovable robot Wimee who inspires kids to learn through creativity, interactive songs, wordplay and more. This episode is inspired by Romare Bearden’s mosaic, Stamping Ground. Interact directly with Wimee through the chat options and your suggestions will become a part of the episode! Registration required.