The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 when the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin prompted an international outcry on social media under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Since then, the movement has expanded physically — there are currently at least 23 Black Lives Matter chapters in the U.S., Canada and Ghana — and diversified its tactics for combatting injustice.
This month Nia Witherspoon, an assistant professor of theater in the ASU School of Film, Dance and TheatreThe School of Film, Dance and Theatre is part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts., is highlighting the role of the arts as a necessary component of the Black Lives Matter movement and movements for social justice more generally.
“We have to reconceptualize what we think of as art when we’re talking about black art,” said Witherspoon (pictured above). “Black art is absolutely fundamental and essential to black life.”
In conjunction with Mary Stephens, producing director of ASU’s Performance in the BorderlandsPerformance in the Borderlands is an initiative of the School of Film, Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University., Witherspoon has staged a series of workshops, performances and other events under the banner BlackARTSMatter, which will take place Feb. 19–28 throughout the Valley.
Mesa Arts Center, Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Black Theatre Troupe and South Mountain Community College are also involved, making BlackARTSMatter a community-driven event.
Check out the full event listing here or visit the Facebook event page.
More Arts, humanities and education
Pen Project helps unlock writing talent for incarcerated writers
It’s a typical Monday afternoon and Lance Graham is on his way to the Arizona State Prison in Goodyear.It’s a familiar scene. Graham has been in prison before.“I feel comfortable in prison because of…
Phoenix civil rights activists highlighted in ASU professor’s latest book
As Phoenix began to grow following WWII, residents from other parts of the country moving to the area often brought with them Jim Crow practices. Racism in the Valley abounded, and one family at…
Happy mistake: Computer error brings ASU Online, on-campus students together to break new ground in research
Every Thursday, a large group of students gathers in the Teotihuacan Research Laboratory (TeoLab) in the basement of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change building on Arizona…