Dreaming of Juneteenth Justice & Joy

Dreaming of Juneteenth Justice & Joy

I’ve been dreaming about this AfroPortals Project for many years now and have been trying to figure out how to resource the container, the partners and the space to bring it to fruition. This past week, our newly minted shipping container arrived at Liberation Park in East Oakland ready for its new mural by Artist As First Responder Muralist-in-Residence Christopher Burch. We are excited for you to see it in its glory over Juneteenth weekend in Oakland, California.

While AfroPortals Project Space & Archive is a physical location, it is also a concept that we are excited to offer to our community and partner with Black creatives to produce and program a myriad of Afrofuturist events over the next year.

For the last twelve months, we have been in partnership with the Wallace Foundation as an organizational grantee of their five-year Arts Initiative aimed to understand how arts organizations rooted in communities of color define and advance their organizational well-being. The AfroPortals cross-sector collaboration between Artist As First Responder, the Black Cultural Zone CDC, and Eastside Arts Alliance aimed to animate the visions of the Black community to address racial inequity through activist-informed art practices including exhibition, digital archiving, augmented/virtual reality, and new media will serve as a classroom for these considerations.

So, for Juneteenth I invite you to dream and experiment with us in manifesting the world you want to create knowing that your Ancestors paved the way.

Your freedom is their freedom.

Ashara

“All Blues: Hermon Futrell, Kef Parker, Andrew Wilson” Opens in Detroit This Weekend!

Saturday, June 10th 3:00-7:00pm

“All Blues: Hermon Futrell, Kef Parker, Andrew Wilson” is a group art show exhibiting the works of Hermon Futrell, Kef Parker, and Andrew Wilson curated by Ashara Ekundayo.

This show is a distinct conversation between the intricate cotton fiber works, the welded metal, stitched leather, and oil painted silk and linen canvases share a poetics on the ethics of hard labor and industrialization in the United States and particularly, in Detroit where all three artists reside.

4130 Cass Ave suite c, Detroit, MI 48201

RSVP to the Opening Here!

Meet the 2023 Juneteenth AfroPortals Artists!

Saturday, June 17, 2023 12pm - 8pm

Join AAFR at the launch of our AfroPortals Project Space & Archive in collaboration with Shared Studios & Black Cultural Zone!

. Dream . Create . Share .

Make your own dream passport!

Step into the portal for a face-to-face visit with folks from Rwanda, Mexico City & Barbados!

Receive Reiki healing and herbal medicine!

Booth S55, Lake Merritt Amphitheater (Right in front of the Henry J Kaiser Theater) on East 12th Street & Lake Merritt BLVD

Look for the Gold Shipping Container!

Volunteer At AfroPortals Project Space & Archive!

Saturday June 17, 2023 12pm - 8pm

Artist As First Responder is in need of 25 volunteers that can help us facilitate an AfroPortals Dream Passport Workshop which includes craft making and community conversations. These two hour shifts do not require physical labor, just good vibes and creativity!

Sign Up Below!

Booth S55, Lake Merritt Amphitheater (Right in front of the Henry J Kaiser Theater) on East 12th Street & Lake Merritt BLVD

Sign Up Here!

Men's Wellness Fellowship Gets a New Home!

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 6:30pm-8:30pm

Our Men’s Wellness Fellowship returns this month, and this time we are happy to announce a partnership with the Huey P. Newton Foundation!

This free & all ages community fellowship experience is specifically for men of color and co-founded & hosted by Karega Bailey of Sol Affirmations and AAFR Social & Creative Economies Fellow Christian Walker.

Thanks to our sponsors at the City of Oakland ReCAST Grant!

Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, 1427 Broadway, Oakland

RSVP Here!

AAFR at #NewYorkArtWeek

Artist As First Responder had a blast at New York Art Week! We saw amazing art and beautiful people, as usual — New York owes us NOTHING!

Follow Us On Instagram to Keep Up!

Thank You to Trayvon Smith, the Inaugural Resident at AAFR’s Black Curator’s Lab

AAFR is so happy to have hosted multidisciplinary photographer, Tray Smith to our Black Curator’s Lab (BlkCL) Studio this Month!

During his time at BlkCL Tray spent most of his time taking advantage of the Digital Print Lab, where he focused on developing a curated experience called “Grace, Love, and Desire” pictured above. To learn more about Tray and his work, be sure to follow him on Instagram!

The BlkCL is a studio-based residency for ideation, research, making, and rest for Black independent curators living and working primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Designed and stewarded by independent curator Ashara Ekundayo.

Thanks to our first year sponsors the African American Art & Culture Complex, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the Culture Change Fund!

Become A Patreon Member to Listen to Tray’s Upcoming Interview!