Celebrate Juneteenth at MoMI 2023

Please note the Museum will be open Monday, June 19, 12:00–6:00 p.m. 

Join us at Museum of the Moving Image for performances, film screenings, media-making activities, and a gallery talk to celebrate Juneteenth.

Although Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, enslaved black people who lived in Galveston, Texas, were not liberated until June 19, 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger arrived and proclaimed their freedom. Thus, the holiday of Juneteenth, which combines the words “June” and “nineteenth,” commemorates the official end of slavery in the United States. 

Join us for all the Museum events taking place during Juneteenth weekend: 

 

 

Celebrate the iconic performances of legendary black performers Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Lena Horne in The Wiz, by joining us for a matinee screening, and learn more about the performers and artifacts through a special gallery talk. Before or after the film, stop by our Media and Game Labs for fun activities related to The Wiz and Afrofuturism, including stop-motion animation, green-screen performances, game design, arcade games, and more. 

On June 18 at 12:00 p.m., MoMI community partner Edge School of the Arts in collaboration with LIFE Camp and Asase Yaa Dance & Drum Foundation presents an ensemble of young, aspiring dancers and drummers performing excerpts from their upcoming production Growing Up Saturdays. In observance of Juneteenth, the cast will perform works inspired by historical African American dance pioneers and their traditions, including a special Father’s Day tribute. At 3:00 p.m., DJ Crazy Ron, a member of MoMI’s Neighborhood Council, will be spinning the beats and rhythms of pioneering Black musicians in celebration of creative freedom. 

 

On June 19 at 12:30 p.m., enjoy a free gallery talk by local performer Renée Brailsford, who will discuss her experience as a dancer in The Wiz among artifacts from the film in our Behind the Screen exhibition. At 3:15 p.m., local musician Jerome Jordan will re-bridge the gap between the future and the past on a construction of pulsating air and vibrating wire that speaks of freedom beyond time and place. In the tradition of Afrofuturists, he sojourns through a harmonic, electromagnetic cosmos, striving to uphold the practice of improvisation, being in the now, one step ahead, and on the one, conscious of who came before and what is in the way.  

All programs are included with Museum admission. Request a film ticket upon arrival. Purchase general admission here.