Celebrating Black Stories spotlights Black narratives that transcend national boundaries, culture, and language with films in English, French, Shona, and even ASL! Join a young astronomer during a lunar eclipse, a meaningful first visit to a barbershop, and witness the magic of a neighborhood castle all in one sitting with this immersive collection of films highlighting Black storytelling.  

These audience favorites and award-winning films, from the latest edition of New York International Children’s Film Festival, are sure to inspire curiosity and conversation for viewers big and small. In English or with English subtitles. (63 min.) 

Powerful films for ages 8 and up, in the DIA’s Lecture Hall.

Thank you for your interest. This event is sold out.

Join us for a panel discussion with Detroit artists Sydney James, Hubert Massey, and Mario Moore, co-organized by Cranbrook Art Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts, with introductions by Laura Mott, chief curator, Cranbrook Art Museum, and Katie Pfohl, associate curator, Contemporary Art, Detroit Institute of Arts. 

Organized to accompany Cranbrook Art Museum’s exhibition Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit, on view through March 3, 2024, this discussion will take place in the DIA’s Rivera Court, the location of Diego Rivera’s iconic Detroit Industry Murals.  

The Detroit Industry Murals are a hallmark of the DIA and the city of Detroit, and have influenced generations of artists, particularly those who are part of Detroit’s vibrant contemporary mural movement. During this discussion, James, Massey, and Moore will discuss Rivera’s enduring influence on mural practice in Detroit.

A symbol of creative vibrancy for the city, contemporary mural work also raises questions of representation, equity, and ownership connected to Rivera’s explorations of labor and industry almost a century ago. This vital dialogue among artists will explore how mural work continues to shape Detroit’s artistic and cultural landscape. 

Image: Hubert Massey, Sketch for Detroit-Crossroad of Innovation (in process). Courtesy of Dr. Hubert Massey. 

Quilting has a rich and varied history throughout the world, with its earliest roots in ancient Egypt. Explore different quilt patterns, then create a design of your own using fabric glue to board.

Free with admission. All supplies provided.

Join local artist Eleanor Anderson and have fun creating a project using collage technique and printmaking materials to make a one of a kind monotype to take home. This project will celebrate chance, mark-making and play.  Free with admission, all materials provided.

This program is made possible by the PNC Foundation.

Bring the family for an afternoon of live music and dancing in the DIA's Rivera Court as Lisa McCall - choreographer, producer and educator who choreographed and managed Aretha Franklin's dancers - guides us through the roots of African American dance. Inspired by the acrobatic performances of the Nicholas Brothers as seen in the 1943 film Stormy Weather, Lisa and her dancers perform Lindy-Hop, Tap and will even demonstrate some basic steps that will get you out of your seats and on the dance floor! 

While at the museum, be sure to check out the DIA's special exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971 on view February 4 – June 23, 2024. 

For families of all ages.
 

Madelyn Porter invites you to celebrate Black History month with a joyful and inspiring tribute to African American History through music, prose, poetry, folktales, song, and dance.

Madelyn Porter has been telling stories since she was able to speak and has worked as a professional storyteller/actress for the past forty years creating engaging, immersive programming for audiences of all ages. 

For families of all ages. 

Join us for a special screening of the upcoming Disney+ docuseries CHOIR. Based on the moving and motivational story behind the Detroit Youth Choir (DYC) and its Artistic Director Anthony White, the six-part docuseries follows the kids of the Detroit Youth Choir as they prepare for the performance of a lifetime.

This true-to-life story is sure to inspire audiences of all ages and have you singing along with this joyful group as they learn lessons about music and life in general. The screening of the first episode will be followed by a Q&A and a special performance of the Detroit Youth Choir.   

For families of all ages. 

Black musicians have always been integral to country, folk, blues, and Americana music genres; in many instances, it was Black musicians who first created these forms. The American music industry has an equally long history of not supporting them, or excluding them completely.

For these reasons, Black Opry was founded by Nashville's Holly G. as a collective of like-minded musicians, writers, producers, and supporters who created a website where Black artists could be heard and celebrated. The Black Opry Revue is the touring element of this collective and highlights their diversity of sound and stories. Every Revue features a unique line-up of Black artists.

For this program Friday Night Live will include performances by Isaiah Cunningham, Christine Melody, Jett Holden, and Nathan Graham. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.  

Black History Month at the DIA is generously supported by Arn & Nancy Tellem.

The Scar of Shame was one of only three feature films produced by the Colored Players Film Corporation, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1926 and produced silent romantic melodramas that featured all-Black casts and were shown to Black audiences. Harry Henderson plays a classic pianist and Lucia Lynn Moses a would-be cabaret singer; star-crossed lovers kept apart by the class divisions between educated strivers and the working poor who succumb to poverty, alcoholism, and crime.

The ambition of The Scar of Shame was to present realistic Black characters with no resemblance to Hollywood stereotypes, and to depict the ways in which middle-class Blacks in the 1920s struggled to create new American identities without abandoning their community.  

This screening will include Mercy the Mummy Mumbled (1918), a silent short from the Ebony Comedies series produced by the General Film Company. It will be presented with a live musical score composed and performed by saxophonist Mike Monford. (82 min.) Free with museum admission. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

Black History Month at the DIA is generously supported by Arn & Nancy Tellem.
 

(USA/1926—directed by Richard E. Norman) 

In The Flying Ace, the charismatic Laurence Criner stars as Captain Billy Stokes, a World War I pilot who returns home to find both romance and a plot involving a gang of payroll thieves. The fact that Black Americans were not permitted to serve as pilots in the US Armed Forces in 1926 did not stop writer-director Richard Norman from putting a valiant Black aviator at the center of his film.

His Florida-based Norman Pictures was one of the leading producers of race films alongside the Lincoln Motion Picture Company and the Micheaux Film Corporation. This remarkable film was preserved by the Library of Congress, and will be presented with a live score composed and performed by Alvin Waddles (piano), Marion Hayden (bass) and Vincent Chandler (trombone). Free with museum admission. (65 min.) 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.