Happenings August 21st-27th

                                                 

Join Music Nerd X Association for Creative Enlightenment for Solange: A Seat at The Table - a vinyl listening experience. Taking place on August 21^st from 7pm -1pm at 315 Laskin Rd, in Virginia Beach the event is curated by Dj Chef Dro and hosted by Brittney B. A Seat at The Table is Solange’s third studio album and her first number one album. Released in 2019, the timely composition explores themes of racial injustice and Blackness in America with soulful ballads like Cranes in the Sky and funkier joints like Don’t Touch My Hair. The listening experience should be one for the books as Black American women and culture come under attack. Copies of the album on vinyl will be available for purchase. For more information or to purchase tickets click here. 

On August 23^rd the Washington National Opera is presenting a free broadcast of George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, as part of the Opera in The Outfield series. Porgy & Bess follows a disabled Black street beggar living in Charleston, SC as he tries to free Bess from the clutches of her possessive, drug dealing lover. You can visit @washnatopera to learn  about the costumes created by Paul Tazewell, who also won an Oscar for his costume design for the film Wicked. Visit www.kennedycenter.org to learn more. 

          

Visit The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC for the last two weeks of Essex Hemphill: Take Care of Your Blessings. Hemphill was a DC poet, performer, editor and activist that worked to give voice to the LGBTQIA community in DC during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The exhibition is a collection of work by artists who knew and/or collaborated with Hemphill and runs through August 31^st. For more information visit phillipscollection.org. 

Celebrate the 16^th anniversary of the Bronzelens Film Festival taking place August 20-24th, 2025 in Atlanta. During the festival on Saturday, August 23^rd the Bronzelens Filmmakers Ball - a sneaker ball will be held to highlight the contributions of people of color who have worked to make Atlanta at top filmmaking destination outside of New York and L.A. No tickets will be sold on site and ticket sales for the ball end on August 23^rd. For more information and to purchase tickets go to bronzelens.com.

                                                    

Inspired by the Netflix show Heeramandi, Pankti Doshi presents the first ever Heeramandi | NYC South Asian Jewelry Bazaar. The showcase takes place on Saturday, August 23^rd at Semicolon Cafe from 5pm-9pm and features jewelry from Matsya, SoniGal by Neha, Tijori, Gulaabi Baby and more. Shoppers can enjoy chai/coffee, snacks and henna by AA Henna AA. For more information click here.

DC Plant Week is back from August 25th-31st when local shops will be celebrating plants with daily deals and exclusive events. The week of events includes a Plant Care Basics workshop at Dacha Beer Garden on August 27^th, Terrarium bar for Anacostia Watershed Society on August 30^th and more. For more information go to @dcplantweek.

               

The Museum at FIT is kicking off it’s fall Fashion Culture Program on Tuesday, August 26^th at 5:30 pm with Robin Givhan presenting her new book Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh. Givhan, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism is known for her sharp, yet poignant observations on culture and fashion, wrote about Abloh as the first Black designer to be appointed Creative Director at Louis Vuitton. The talk will be followed by a book signing. For more information and to register go to fitnyc.edu.