We were creating space for ourselves, centering our own positive stories

September 6, 2019 9:02 PM

As black marketers and curators, what do you think the mainstream is missing when it comes to creating events for our demographic? J, ONE MusicFest: Trick question. We are the mainstream. “They” are just good at repackaging it. WakandaCon, ONE MusicFest and The Culture LP on Taking Ownership Of Our Creativity (#blkcreatives) // The Women Behind WakandaCon Are Total Bad Asses: Geeky Girls Guide to WakandaCon // This isn’t another horror story about black motherhood. Coverage of the community has revolved around high maternal mortality rates, but I needed to read an article about joy. This is it. -- D.C.’s ‘Momference’ and sister circles celebrate black motherhood despite statistics (Washington Post)
posted by filthy light thief (2 comments total)

This is so cool! I've seen Wakandacon on my Twitter TL, the people who organize it do an awesome job.
posted by storytam at 3:00 PM on September 7, 2019

I'd heard about Wakandacon before, and recently the D.C. Momference story on Washington Post as linked above, and I was thrilled to see both were in their second years (Momference year 1 recap from Mimi Cute Lips; Chicago Sun Times on Wakandacon's future ambitions, on its second year), but being a fan of may artists to play at ONE MusicFest, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it as it hit its ten year anniversary this year (J. Carter shares his favorite moments, one from each of the past nine years, and a lengthier interview with Carter on the festival's history).

I was hesitant to roll them together in a single post, but seeing #blkcreatives group interview brought it all together, with a question for BIPOC/ non-white creators, artists, entrepreneurs and fans:

In an interview (YouTube) for their Essence Fest promo run (which was phenomenal this year) Richelieu Dennis mentioned something about the gigantic impact of Black Panther and how that success – while record and world breaking – didn’t necessarily translate over to our communities. BP was not your typical “Black movie” but it’s very apparent that when given the opportunity to express our true capabilities – not only do we succeed but we exceed expectations. How can we keep that same energy for the experiences that we curate?

Finally, in case this wasn't clear, I copied much of the original post text and the title from the linked sources. In reflection, I should have used quotation marks to make that more clear, but at least for the title, I ran out of characters. Still, I apologize if I was unclear in my presentation here.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:13 PM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]