The Festival included 9 performances of music, live painting and spoken word. Many of the performances were done under the 400-year old Copper Beech on Beechwood’s grounds, which many artists felt was symbolic of the 400 years since the beginning of slavery in the US and felt the tree “bore witness” to. In addition, 18 original artworks were created by 11 visual artists on black lawn signs and laid out in a river along the road, called “The River Of Amplified Voices.” The Festival ended with a community conversation, facilitated by renowned jazz singer Frederick Johnson, who is also trained as a healer who works with communities to have difficult conversations. Many important themes came out of the honest conversation including:
-The trauma of living in a country where racism is persistent and systemic
-The need for healing & humanity
-The fear in raising Black children, especially sons
-The relentless, 400 yr oppression and persecution of Black people, yet their resilience in spite of it
-The complexity and diversity of the Black experience, yet the solidarity of spirit across that diversity
-The desire for Black artists to tell their stories and speak their truth but not be burdened with the responsibility to educate others on why a Black life should matter or to have to “teach” how to be anti-racist
