Harlem Stage, Lincoln Center, and Park Avenue Armory join forces in celebration of Juneteenth with three FREE events all curated by award-winning multidisciplinary artist and Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director and Curator-in-Residence Carl Hancock Rux. Through these events, Rux not only honors this national holiday but also examines the very idea of freedom itself. The celebration kicks off on the evening of Thursday, June 16 at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse with a panel discussion with renowned scholars, activists, and artists. Then in the afternoon of Sunday June 19, Park Avenue Armory presents a special art installation. Finally on the evening of Sunday, June 19 Lincoln Center presents a multidisciplinary event that unfolds across the venue. All events are part of The Festival of New York.
Thursday, June 16, 7PM
Harlem Stage Gatehouse
Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director and Curator-in-Residence, Carl Hancock Rux moderates a panel discussion featuring journalist New York Times columnist, MSNBC political analyst, and best-selling author, Charles Blow, award-winning producer, director, and scholar Dr. Indira Etwaroo, and award-winning author, curator, and critic Tavia Nyong’o. The panel will discuss some of the myths of the Emancipation Proclamation and the truth of modern-day slavery, examining Juneteenth and emancipation, and its history — past, present, and future.
Sunday June 19, 3PM
Park Avenue Armory
Join us for an art installation of newly discovered works by Archer Aymes—protagonist of Rux’s Obie-award winning play Talk—for audiences to explore the story of Juneteenth through a critical fabulation of what freedom might have felt like to the emancipated.
Sunday, June 19, 7PM
Lincoln Center
Join us for the culminating event of I Dream a Dream That Dreams Back at Me: A Juneteenth Celebration, curated and directed by Carl. The site-specific evening long event unfolds across Lincoln Center, drawing inspiration from the narratives of enslaved people seeking and finding freedom—from Harriet Tubman to today—and reckoning with the question of whether true freedom has ever fully been achieved. The multipart event includes artists such as Nona Hendryx, Étienne Lashley and The Collective, Vernon Reid, a concert by Grammy winner, Cedric Burnside, and concludes with a Silent Disco Dance Party from DJ Belinda Becker, honoring contributions of Black Americans to modern music.
All Events presented in collaboration with Harlem Stage, Lincoln Center, and Park Avenue Armory as part of the Festival of New York.
