The Westbury Arts Center will celebrate Black History Month with three upcoming events highlighting the work of local Black artists and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Two sessions on Black artists of the Harlem Renaissance will be held at the Arts Center, and the third event, a multidisciplinary jubilee celebration, will honor Black military service members from 1776 to the present.
The first event, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., will feature a presentation on artists of the Harlem Renaissance by the gallery’s curator, Marcia McNair, who chose both the theme for the series and the Arts Center’s current exhibit titled “Strength through creativity.” The exhibit features the Long Island Black Artists Association and special guest Howard Cash. The exhibit runs until March 5.
A second session covering the Harlem Renaissance—a literary and cultural movement in Harlem in Upper Manhattan from roughly the 1910s to the 1930s inspired by iconic Black authors and artists who explored themes of identity, racism, and culture —will be held on Saturday, Feb. 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“This year being the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance, it’s a great time to celebrate the artists of the period, and to remind and educate people of their work,” McNair said. “We want the sessions to be inclusive of different art forms to create a more meaningful experience,” McNair said.
McNair’s presentation will feature the work of visual artists, musicians, and poets, including Jacob Lawrence’s “Great Migration” series of paintings, sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, painter Aaron Douglas, poet Langston Hughes, and musicians Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
Performers Claudette Morgan, Lein Barboza, Alexio Barboza will join McNair, performing songs by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and reading poetry.
As a Westbury Arts board member and curator of black history exhibits, McNair said she strives to help local black artists make their work known on Long Island and beyond.
The third event, a large-scale multidisciplinary jubilee featuring an art exhibition, a choir, song, dance, and spoken word performances, and refreshments, will be held at Westbury High School’s Cecil B. Rice Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The celebration will honor veterans, active duty service members, and Westbury icon Lt. Col. Spann Watson, an aviator who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
“It’s going to be a beautiful, reverent, celebratory community event, and a great learning opportunity,” said Westbury Arts Executive Director Tiffany Blair. “We invite everyone to come out and join us for it.”
