Local high school students and teachers celebrate Black History month through the arts

Community artists and students of the arts invite the public to join them in celebrating the contributions of Black people in American culture through performances of many kinds at “Freedom Speaks.”

The event will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Arkansas Arts Academy in Rogers and will include food, dance, music, spoken word, fashion and more.

Among the distinguished guests for the evening are Korto Momolu, international fashion designer and Bravo’s “Project Runway All Stars”; Anthony Ball, a renowned musician in Northwest Arkansas; activist, poet, author and NAACP guest speaker Drekkia Writes; Colby Davis of the NAACP; the Arkansas Gospel Chorale; and more. Dominique Blake of “Good Day NWA” will emcee.

Tickets are $5-$10, and proceeds go toward the spring dance concert at the Arkansas Arts Academy.

Todd Belin, a dance teacher at Arkansas Arts Academy, curated the brand new program because he wanted a more inclusive event for Black History Month.

During February, Belin said, it feels like people are “shouting Black this and Black that, but this (event) is about inclusion, about diversity and how everyone plays a part.” Freedom Speaks should seem like an open invitation to feel like you’re a part of it, too. “It’s not about Black history, but American history — how African Americans sculpt parts of American history.”

Belin hopes that the process of putting on Freedom Speaks will help his students learn that they don’t have to be afraid to be a part of celebrating Black history, since it’s an integral part of American history. Ideally, he would like it to create a positive shift in perspective, showing that the two are equal, inextricably linked and to point toward the positive contributions of Black people.

Belin asked other teachers to join him in the endeavor of fostering a family vibe in the school and community and was open to whatever skill they could add to the mix. The result is eclectic.

Ceramics and many types of arts will be on display, Belin said. Spoken word will be performed, as will gospel and musical theater. Momolu will put on a mini fashion show. Colby Davis will speak. When a guest speaker recites poetry, students’ listening and attention skills will be tested — they’ll be painting their interpretations of the poem on canvas.

“I want to instill in children that you can come from nothing and still be something,” Belin said. “To give them incentive (despite that) place that has a hold on you… to encourage the students to push for (their) dreams.”

A.J. Harris, an English teacher at Arkansas Arts Academy, said that Freedom Speaks is designed to pay tribute to the groups and individuals who withstood injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. is among those, but so is the less spoken of Philip Randolph, who was critical in bringing people to participate in the March on Washington.

“I believe the goal is to pay homage to them and the groups, like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, that all contributed to the freedoms I get to experience,” Harris said.

Harris would have been happy playing some role in the background of Freedom Speaks, such as running audio or supporting the production from the audience. But word got around that he has a talent for rap, so the teacher will be on stage for a rap solo that summarizes Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

A portion of his performance will include lines like “Freedom speaks tellin’ men they’re not result of melanin. Hoping for his children (they’re judged for the) content of character, not color of skin.”

“I don’t feel that I have done it justice, but I tried my best,” Harris said. “That’s what we tell our students — that’s all you have to worry about.”

Harris does quote King, but only for a line at a time. The rest is written from scratch

Taylor Woods, a 10th grader at Arkansas Arts Academy, is a student choreographer for Freedom Speaks. She found a passion last year when a friend asked her to choreograph her senior solo. When a teacher saw the resulting performance, she asked Woods to choreograph a song for this new event.

“It was always a thing in the back of my mind that I wanted to do,” Woods said. She even had a song in mind, Kendrick Lamar’s “United in Grief.” “The lyrics touched me, especially for (Black History) Month and what we’re celebrating.”

Woods brought her idea to the girls who will perform the dance and ran it by them, hoping that if they liked the origins of the idea, they would be more comfortable portraying the message on stage.

The song’s lyrics delve into the struggles of Black lives, how Black people are treated and the fact that while everyone grieves differently, we all have something in common because we all grieve, Woods said.

“I wanted the girls to act it out,” she said. “Dance isn’t just entertainment, it’s theater, acting and has emotion through it all.”

Woods hopes the audience will take a second to listen to the lyrics and let the performance connect their “hearts, souls and minds” in the emotional experience.

Emma Gastineau, an 11th grader, will perform two dances, but she also has a poem that will be on display for the evening.

Freedom Speaks is “an inclusive activity to educate and celebrate Black history,” she said. The dance aspect will be one to look forward to, with both contemporary and rooted dance on stage. But you’ll want to stop for a few minutes in the lobby to take in the “Golden shovel poems” Gastineau and her classmates created and will have on display.

Golden shovel poems are an exercise that takes another artist’s original poem and uses each word of it as the final word of the students’ lines of poetry. The students get to craft something new around the structure of something older. It gives the reader two works to absorb, since you can still read the original along the right side.

The result is a long but worthy read.

Harris said he’s looking forward to seeing his colleagues’ contributions and his students in action.

“Audiences can expect a variety of talented people honoring the achievements of people who told the truth,” he said, hoping it unites people of all walks. “There’s only one human race. There are different ethnicities, but one race.

“There will be good food, people of different colors and shapes and sizes and different people with one purpose: to speak on freedom.”

(Courtesy Photo/Todd Belin) Arkansas Arts Academy students practice for their performances in “Freedom Speaks.” The students and distinguished guests will present a variety of music, dance, spoken word, poetry, fashion and musical theater at the event on Thursday.