Press Release: National Day of Racial Healing 2020 Makes WAVES
For immediate release. Original artwork created by Amanda Barnes for Initiatives of Change USA.
We welcome you into the Waves.
Initiatives of Change USA (IofC) is honored to announce our 2020 events
for National Day of Racial Healing beginning January 20th on Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Day.
WAVES is a continuation of Something’s in the Water, our 2019 theme marking the 400th observance of Jamestown, Virginia. The year 1619 is the earliest record of enslaved Africans arriving to a strange new world and the volatile making of what would become the United States. Through art installations, live performances, creative workshops, and intimate conversations, Something’s in the Water explored the dank, murky matter submerged below our society in ongoing systems of racism, terror, injustice and trauma.
With WAVES, IofC jumps deeper. We swim into the complex layers of migration and explore how our human stories came to be. By interrogating the transatlantic enslaved trade, colonization, and expatriation, we also lift up creative systems of resistance and resilience developed by marginalized individuals and communities.
The Featured Artist to launch our 2020 programming is Blitz “The Ambassador” Bazawule, who exemplifies WAVES and how to use multimedia, arts-based activism as forms of creative expression, facilitation and dialogue. Blitz is a critically-acclaimed interdisciplinary artist from Ghana (West Africa) who also lives in NYC and works diligently to connect audiences around the world to the everyday, human stories of African people.
Blitz “The Ambassador” Bazawule will make his debut appearance in Richmond, VA for WAVES 2020, National Day of Racial Healing.
On Jan. 20th, Blitz Bazawule will screen his award-nominated film, The Burial of Kojo (followed by a Q&A) from 3-5pm at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA).
On Jan. 21st, Blitz Bazawule will return to the ICA to lead a masterclass on design (12:30-2:30pm) and perform in a live concert (7pm). Tickets are free, required, and available through the EventBrite links above.
We are also excited to partner with critical cultural institutions within Richmond
for the 2020 National Day of Racial Healing including:
The December 2019 launch of Intersecting History, a multi-level partnership between IofC USA and Richmond’s cultural museums to amplify our shared history and future.
An art workshop, conversation and procession on pan-African mask cultures for children and youth led by visual artist SillyGenius on MLK Day (Jan. 20, 12-2pm), Art 180
A second exhibition and silent auction of Migration Flow, portrait drawings by Alfonso Perez Acosta for National Immigrants Day 2019 (Jan. 22, 1-7pm), Studio Two Three
A Drum Circle and Carnival Masquerade to transform historical harms in Richmond led by Dr. Ram Bhagat of Drums No Guns Foundation (Jan. 24, 6-9pm and Jan. 25, 8-10pm), Studio Two Three
We also celebrate the first cohort of Weavers in the Narrative Change Collaborative who will be sharing final presentations of their year-long projects in 2019 to unearth hidden racial histories in our city.
We invite you to join us for one or all of our 2020 events. View or download the full Schedule of Events. (Open PDF in browser for best results.)
National Day of Racial Healing is a nationwide event, created by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with the thematic approach of Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT). Initiatives of Change USA is leading this process in Richmond, one of 14 U.S. cities awarded grant funding to implement this work.
A special thanks to our amazing partners for WAVES 2020, National Day of Racial Healing.
