651 ARTS SECOND ANNUAL JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION, co-presented with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and The Center for Fiction, creates a portal of sonic liberation in Downtown Brooklyn during a one-day event featuring DJ Reborn and Friends.  Co-curated by pioneering global DJ and arts educator Reborn and 651’s Chief Curator Monica L. Williams, this year’s Juneteenth celebration highlights the role that sound plays in our quest towards freedom.  Centering Black women as sound ambassadors and Griots, participating guests reflect on the legacy of healing, intimacy and emancipation present in artistic process and presentation.  Drawing from African diasporic genres within music and culture ranging from jazz, gospel, future soul, hip hop, dance, afrobeat, and more, these multidisciplinary artists will connect dots and build bridges through panel discussion, community DJ workshop and culminating dance party.

The day-long event occurs on June 18, 2022 from 1pm to 8:30pm at The Center for Fiction and The Plaza at 300 Ashland.  Join us for one or all activities!  

Tickets for Sonic Liberation Opening Panel are free. Registration is required. Masks must be worn at all time in the building and proof of vaccination is required during check-in.

Admission to events on The Plaza are free. However, registration is required for the Community DJ Lessons and registration is encouraged for the Dance Party.  Register at 651ARTS.org via Eventbrite.  All local COVID-19 protocols will be followed to ensure the safety of the attendees.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. It is also often observed for celebrating African-American culture.  

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas. 

The Center for Fiction
1:00pm – 3:00pm
Registration is required.

Monica L. Williams, 651 ARTS’ Chief Curator and Director of Programs, will moderate this conversation with co-curator DJ Reborn and her collaborators from varied artistic disciplines about the role of sonic liberation in art and Black womanhood. Panelists include American contemporary artist Kara Walker, global sonic scholar Lynnée Denise, singer/musician/composer Madison McFerrin, and Tony-nominated actress Kara Young.

The Plaza at 300 Ashland
3:30pm – 5:00pm
Registration is required.

Music is the universal language that bonds us across the diaspora and beyond. The ability to creatively share one’s love of music is an expression of freedom.  We invite you to get a hands-on introduction to spinning music led by Sonic liberation co-curator DJ Reborn along with fellow Black Women mix masters DJs Monday Blue and Brina Payne.

The Plaza at 300 Ashland
5:30pm – 8:30pm
Reservations are encouraged.

651 ARTS’ Juneteenth Celebration will culminate with the Sonic Liberation Dance Party featuring sound conductors Quinnette, Lynnée Denise and Reborn.

Special performance by Lady Dragons, award-winning step team from Brooklyn Technical High School.

Juneteenth is sponsored in part by The Association of Performing Arts Professionals supported by The Mellon Foundation, Con Edison’s Al Fresco Series, and 651’s sponsor of music programming, The Baisley Powell Elebash Fund. Public funding is provided in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Monica L. Williams

651 ARTS Chief Curator and Director of Programs / Juneteenth Co-curator

Monica L. Williams is a conceptual performance artist and artistic leader who specializes in cross-sector collaborations. Over her 20-year career, she has produced, curated, and directed performances dedicated to the African Diaspora with major cultural institutions including TEDWomen, the World Famous Apollo Theater, National Black Arts Festival, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her latest work, In Love and Struggle, produced with The Meteor, is currently streaming on Audible.

She is the creator of LoveHustle, a seven-year exploration of artists work/life balance, and producing artistic director for Bailey’s Cafe As Quiet As It’s Kept. Her design of Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Special Project has received national recognition and philanthropic support for community-based arts with families of the incarcerated. She is the founder of Create Legacy, a creative self-development company and formally full-time lecturer in African American Studies Department at New York City College of Technology. Monica is a 2020 MAP Fund recipient, a 2016 CCCADI Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellow, a Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow, a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and a graduate of Wright State University and New York University.

DJ Reborn

Co-curator and Feature Artist

Chicago born, NY based DJ Reborn is a trailblazing, international DJ, sound collage artist and arts educator.

In the music world, she has opened shows for The Roots, John Legend, Jack White and Erykah Badu. In the art world, for celebrated artists Kara Walker, Wangechi Mutu, Carrie Mae Weems, Julie Mehretu and Sanford Biggers. She has rocked the decks on BET and for the NAACP Image Awards.

She has been an arts educator and mentor for a range of organizations including Urban Word NYC, Sadie Nash Leadership Project and the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

This phenom has graced many concert stages and festivals including Camp Flognaw, Glastonbury, The Kennedy Center, The Apollo, Carnegie Hall and The Sydney Opera House.

Her ability to rock sets for diverse crowds and events ranging from clubs to galas to weddings has allowed her to continue to build a unique and dynamic resume that sets her apart from many in her field.

Reborn has been a longtime musical director and collaborator for multiple theatrical productions and is currently developing her own international performance piece centered around Women DJs.

In late 2020 she founded DJs For Justice,a coalition of DJs using their platforms in support of racial, social and economic justice.

Since 2018, Reborn is the opening DJ for the iconic Ms. Lauryn Hill’s world tour.

She most recently dazzled at the historic 2022 Academy Awards Governor’s Ball along side the incredible DJ D Nice.

Lynnée Denise

Panelist / Performer

Lynnée Denise is an artist, scholar, writer, and DJ whose work explores underground cultural movements, the 1980s, migration studies, theories of escape, and electronic music of the African Diaspora. Denise coined the phrase “DJ Scholarship” to re-position the role of the DJ from a party purveyor to an archivist, cultural custodian, and information specialist of music with critical value. Through interactive workshops, lectures, and presentations at universities, conferences, and performance venues, Denise harnesses music as a medium for vital public dialogue on transforming how music of the Black Atlantic is understood in its social context and beyond entertainment. Lynnée Denise was the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University and is currently the Sterling Brown ’22 Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College. She lives and works in London as a PhD student at Goldsmiths, University of London’s Department of Visual Cultures. Her first book project, Why Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton Matters, is set to be published in 2023 by the University of Texas Press.

Quinnette

Performer

Quinnette, a native of Louisville, Kentucky understood she could make music a life at the age of 14 by collecting records; her journey began growing up in the south where music was cherished by feeling, & was not conformed to any era or time. She is an audio engineer and editor. Shade 45, Sways Universe, featured a mix of hers. Adept at spinning vinyl and grooving with Serato: there is no limit to genre, as her unique mixes inspire soulfulness all round. As an educator, she uses music and technology to empower youth, teaching DJ skills and mentoring young children to encourage their dreams. Full service and smooth with it, producing beats and working the boards. She can rock the park or groove the club; she can even spin a stadium, as she did for 3 years as the DJ for the University of Kentucky Women’s Basketball and Volleyball Program. As the DJ for band Producing A Kind Generation, this commitment to kindness informs her endless versatility.

Photo: VISUALS by isa.

DJ Brina Payne

Community Lessons Facilitator

Brina Payne is a Chicago-born, New York-based DJ who has displayed her talents for a diverse clientele across the city and celebrates the best from all musical genres.  In her career, her talent has allowed her to play for various crowds throughout New York City venues such as The DL Rooftop, Monarch Rooftop Hotel, Fat Buddha, The Crown Rooftop, W Hotels, Red Rooster, Le Poisson Rouge, Good Behavior, Chelsea Music Hall and Brooklyn venues such as House of Yes, Elsewhere, Our Wicked Lady, Royal Palms, Ode to Babel as well as traveling for events in Tokyo, Japan and Los Cabos, Mexico.

She has performed for clients such as Budweiser, United Way, B.E.T., Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Top Shop, Maguire Shoes and Kingpins Denim as well as shared her skills at private events benefiting charities for causes like Lupus and Autism.  Follow her at www.instagram.com/brinapayne and www.brinapayne.com for more updates on new mixes and gigs.

DJ Monday Blue

Community Lessons Facilitator

Monday Blue is a Brooklyn based DJ, fluent in digital and vinyl, with over eight years experience spinning music that moves and elevates diverse crowds. The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes deejay, Monday Blue can be found playing at events throughout the U.S. Founder and resident DJ of Doyennes of Disc, a monthly vinyl party featuring all women DJs held at Brooklyn’s premiere vinyl bar, BierWax, Monday Blue flows easily in the digital realm; however, her heart beats with vinyl. You can listen to her playing her favorite wax live every Wednesday at 6 pm EST on Follow Your Bliss With Monday Blue and twitch.tv/DJMondayBlue and The Face Radio (thefaceradio.com).

Madison McFerrin

Panelist

Madison McFerrin is an independent singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY.  In December of 2016, she quietly introduced her soulful take on acappella to the world when she self-released Finding Foundations: Vol. I. Shortly after it dropped, tastemaking DJ, Gilles Peterson, snatched up her standout track, “No Time to Lose,” for his Brownswood Bubblers compilation. The New York Times went on to mention how her sound “shows wonderful vocal dexterity, deftly swerving from sharp, clearly enunciated staccato bursts to fluttery, free-form melismata.”

In February of 2018, she gave her listeners more of her distinctive sound that Questlove dubbed “soul-appella” when she self-released Finding Foundations: Vol. II. Her SXSW 2018  debut led legendary KCRW DJ Anne Litt to remark, “there’s some sort of joy and beauty in the way that she performs that really drew me in all that much more.”  Pitchfork Magazine followed this up by declaring, “Madison McFerrin is making a cappella cool again” in a Rising Artist profile. She subsequently performed at Pitchfork’s Rising Artist showcase at Northside Fest, OctFest, Paris Avant Garde showcase and inaugural Midwinter Event at the Art Institute of Chicago. Along with these noteworthy performances, Madison has also dazzled European crowds with her one-woman show of looping hypnotic harmonies live from London to Poland.

Beyond the stage, Madison’s one-of-a-kind vocals can be heard in episodes of Comedy Central’s Broad City and HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness.

In December 2019, Madison paired her timeless voice with modern production by her brother, Taylor McFerrin, on her latest project, You + I.  The lead single “TRY” was premiered in her debut COLORS session, which has racked up over 1.8M views and landed on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist. In declaring her one of Brooklyn’s most fearless singers, DJ Booth remarked that the project was “fragile and overwhelmingly beautiful.” Despite COVID-19’s cancellation of her return to SXSW, Madison has continued to create during quarantine.  Via Bandcamp she has released timely new music such as “Stay TF Inside,” which was featured on VICE News – Receiver, and debuted her first foray into beatmaking with the We’ll Be Okay Beatpack. Most recently, her newfound production skills were showcased on “Hindsight” and her viral track, ”GUILTY,” which perfectly captured the mood of joy and relief following the historic verdict in the trial for the murder of George Floyd.

Kara Walker

Panelist

(B. 1969, STOCKTON, CA, USA)

Kara Walker is best known for her candid investigation of race, gender, sexuality, and violence through silhouetted figures that have appeared in numerous exhibitions worldwide. 

Born in Stockton, California in 1969, Walker was raised in Atlanta, Georgia from the age of 13. She studied at the Atlanta College of Art (BFA, 1991) and the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA, 1994). She is the recipient of many awards, notably the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award in 1997 and the United States Artists, Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship in 2008. Walker is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (elected 2012) and the American Philosophical Society (elected 2018). She was also named an Honorary Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2019.

Walker currently lives and works in New York City.

Photo: Ari Marcopoulos

Kara Young

Panelist

KARA YOUNG made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage’s CLYDE’S for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. She will next appear as a Series Regular in IM A VIRGO created by Boots Riley for Amazon.

Young can previously be seen in the Amazon feature CHEMICAL HEARTS alongside Lilli Reinhart and Austin Abrams. Prior to this, she appeared in HBO’s RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS and Netflix’s THE PUNISHER. She also starred in HAIR WOLF, the winner of the Sundance 2018 Short Film Jury Awards: US FICTION. Before the pandemic, Kara was starring in the MCC Theater’s ALL THE NATALIE PORTMANS, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award Nomination. Her many other stage credits include HALFWAY BITCHES GO STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN, NEW ENGLANDERS, REVOLVING CYCLES TRULY AND STEADILY ROLL’D, SYNCING INK, and PRETTY HUNGER. She also appeared in four seasons of MTV’s GIRL CODE.

She can currently be seen on the HBO Max original THE STAIRCASE.

Kendra Ross

Host

Kendra J. Ross is a proud Detroit native working as a dancer, choreographer, facilitator and community organizer in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. As a dancer, Kendra has worked with Urban Bush Women (UBW), Andrea E. Woods/Souloworks, Ase Dance Theater Collective, Monstah Black/Motion Sickness, MBDance, Melanie Green and as a guest artist with Oyu Oro.  Kendra is currently a company member of Movement of the People Dance Company and Moving Spirits. Kendra’s choreographic work has been presented at the Florida A&M University, the off Broadway show 7 Sins, Museu de Arte in Salvador, Brazil, Dixon Place, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Actors Fund Theater.   She has been an Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Bates College, and The Neighborhood Project Through 651Arts, a BAX Space Grantee, and a Visiting Artist at Atlantic Center for the Arts. She is currently the BedStuy Artist-in-Residence with the Laundromat Project. Along with sharing her art world-wide, Kendra serves as the Founder/Director of STooPS, an outdoors-based arts community building event that uses art as a catalyst to strengthen ties between different entities in Bed-Stuy, as a Facilitator with UBW’s BOLD (Builders, Organizers, and Leaders Through Dance) network, and as the 56th Assembly District Arts Council Coordinator for Assemblywoman Stefani L. Zinerman.  www.thekendrajross.com

Photo: Bostock Images