Arts & Culture ARRAY Announces First Tier of 2023 Summer Programming
June 08, 2023
LAWT News Service
Ava DuVernay’s Peabody Award-winning arts and social impact collective, ARRAY, announced the first tier of its 2023 summer programming slate.
Curated by ARRAY Senior Vice President of Public Programming Mercedes Cooper, the wide-ranging slate will include a film series dedicated to the cinematic inspirations of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Emmy Award®-winner Niecy Nash-Betts (“Dahmer,” “When They See Us,” “Rookie: Feds”) featured in ARRAY’s Masterclass program and the debut of two new commissioned projects from ARRAY’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project.
All ARRAY programming is free to the public in keeping with the collective’s mission of igniting social change through the cinematic arts.
Inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting entitled “Hollywood Africans in Front of the Chinese Theater with Footprints of Movie Stars,” ARRAY’s “Hollywood Africans” film series will showcase movies from the artist’s vast personal collection of VHS tapes.
The summerlong presentation will include monthly screenings at ARRAY’s Amanda Cinema beginning June 10. The first double feature of the series is Akira Kurosawa’s seminal “Rashomon” (1950) and “Black Orpheus” (1959) directed by Marcel Camus.
Gordon Parks’ “Shaft” (1971) and Martin Brest’s “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984) will screen on July 15. Lisane Basquiat, Jean-Michel's sister, the co-administrator of The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, will join this screening and discussion.
The screening series will conclude on August 5 with George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and John Sayles’ “The Brother from Another Planet” (1984).
In addition, ticket holders will have an opportunity to create a self-portrait in the ARRAY x Basquiat “We Wear Crowns'' Art Studio, powered by ARRAY 101. This program was created in partnership with The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the “Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure©” exhibit currently showing in Los Angeles at The Grand LA.
Inaugurated by Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima (“Bush Mama,” “Harvest: 3000 Years,” “Sankofa”) in 2021, the ARRAY Masterclass continues with an acting lab crafted and led by Niecy Nash-Betts. The event will take place on ARRAY’s Creative Campus in Historic Filipinotown on July 8.
In response to George Floyd’s murder in 2020, ARRAY launched the Law Enforcement Accountability Project known as LEAP. Since then, it has commissioned, funded, developed and released six artist’s works across various mediums that center officers who murdered innocent, unarmed Black citizens. The project will culminate with a four-day pop-up exhibit in concert with the Los Angeles Design Festival on June 22-25.
The project debuts are works by choreographer Francesca Harper and multimedia artist Julian Stephen. “The Reckoning,” a dance film by Harper, reflects on the case of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones who was killed while sleeping on her grandmother’s couch during a raid by Detroit Swat as they taped a segment for a reality television show.
“The Aura,” an audio drama experience by Stephen, collates varied perspectives to highlight 23-year-old Elijah McClain who died after being restrained by police and then administered a high dosage of ketamine by paramedics while walking home from the store.
“ARRAY’s focus on instigating narrative change through our non-profit ARRAY Alliance allows us to gather audiences around issues aligned with our core mission and everyday work,” said Cooper.
“With film and art as the doorway, this summer’s programs invite conversations around otherness, authority and privilege, love and loss, as well as Black masculinity. Our ongoing goal is to catalyze art as a tool for education, understanding and healing.”
Tickets for ARRAY in-person events are free and open to the public with advance registration two weeks before each event at ARRAYPLAY.COM. Seating will be accommodated on a first come, first served basis.