AMPLIFY

Beechwood Arts & Innovation created The AMPLIFY Festival, with the input of the black artists and performers who have been featured at Beechwood in the past 10 years, to amplify black artist voices, create awareness and understanding of the impact of systemic racism and #BLM issues in our communities and our country. Created in the immediate aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by police, AMPLIFY provided a platform for the black artist community to control the narrative, tell their stories through visual art & performance and engage in conversation about the trauma, complexity, frustration of systemic racism and their hope for a different future. Many performances were done under the 400 year old Copper Beech on Beechwood’s grounds – symbolic of the 400 years since the beginning of slavery in the US. Beechwood’s building was also known to be part of the Underground Railroad.

The Original AMPLIFY Festival comprised three integral parts:

Visual Art:

Visual Artists formed “The River of AMPLIFIED Voices” by creating 18 paintings on each side of black lawn signs. Some artists collaborated, with each of them painting a single side of a double-sided sign while others chose to paint 2 perspectives themselves, one on each side of the signs. The signs were displayed at Beechwood along the street, where they could be seen by cars traveling in either direction. The images reflected the wide & complex range of emotions, from sadness to anger to hope and more.

Performance:

A wide range of performers created 9 live performances specifically for the AMPLIFY festival and centered around #BLM issues or honoring black composers, leaders, ancestors. The performances ranged from spoken word/slam poetry to opera and violin to world fusion belly dancing to live body painting. The performers told stories, made pleas, spoke truths, created awareness and revealed the complexity of racism and its impacts. 100% of donations made during the live stream and for the duration of the festival went to the artists on top of the fee Beechwood paid.

Conversation:

Each performance was followed by a LIVE conversation with the performers. The final event of the AMPLIFY Festival was led by jazz great, Frederick Johnson who, in addition to performing with many jazz greats, such as Aretha Franklin & BB King, Miles Davis & Dizzy Gillespie, also trained as a healer, working with communities in conflict to create conversation that opens up the heart and transform the outcome into song. Johnson facilitated a conversation with all the AMPLIFY participants and members of the younger generation that they invited to join. Many themes came out of the conversation including thoughts and stories around: 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 how to be anti-racist.