BLACK Lawrence

Barry Washboard Barnes kicking off our open mic today (4/10/26) at 7pm on the Lawrence Arts Center main stage 🎶

Cohosted by Alex Kimball Williams & Kareen King of the Free State Story Slam. The open mic portion of the evening begins at 7:30pm 🥳

We’re excited to share additional information soon!

That sweet Ann Dean Photography drop! 🥳

We had a lot of fun at the Lawrence Public Library this week on MLK Day 💙💙💙

Barry Washboard Barnes, Anthony Boynton, [honorary] Demetrius Kemp, & cofounder Alex Kimball Williams / Bad Alaskan 🎶

CONGRATULATIONS to Leah Evans, Tai Amri Spann-Ryan, & Alex Kimball Williams on their Rocket Grant awarded by Charlotte Street & Spencer Museum of Art 🥳

The project ties their artistic & community work to the historical Black Kansas artists & writers: Gordon Parks (photography), Langston Hughes (writing), & Nora Holt (jazz music). In Summer 2026, join our crew for a public presentation & performance of their creative research & art.

More info about the featured artists:

Leah Evans is a commercial photographer, artist, and activist out of Lawrence, Kansas. She is involved in several community organizations including B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence and Heartland Makers Collective. She also serves on the board of directors for Kansas Holistic Defenders. Leah's personal work often wanders around the intersections of art and social justice. She often uses art as a stepping stone to connect people and remind folks of their (and other's) humanity and inherent worthiness. When not making photographs, she enjoys dabbling in textiles, glass, and ceramic. In her spare time, Leah can often be found in her backyard swimming, gardening, and running around with her spouse, two kids, and two dogs.

BROTHER TAI AMRI SPANN-RYAN was raised in Lenni-Lenape land in South Jersey, right outside of Philly. He is Lawrence, Kansas' 2016 Langston Hughes Poetry Award Recipient, and is a
co-founder of the collaborative group B.L.A.C.K. (Black Literature and Arts Collective of Kansas) where he organizes events and readings. He gardens in Lawrence with his wife and three daughters, is a grades teacher at Prairie Moon Waldorf School in Lawrence, and studied creative writing at The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He is currently working on converting his collection of poems beautiful ashe: memoirs of a sweet black boy & other poems into an audiobook. For more information, please see his website, taiamri.com

Alex Kimball Williams is a protest musician, sound designer, & community researcher working & creating at the intersections of climate justice, public policy, & grassroots methods. She joins together tradition with creativity through reimagining Indigenous melodic motifs on synthesizers- & rewinding folk songs from the Negro spiritual pipeline on stringed instruments. Her performances have ranged from domestic violence centers, classrooms, protests, festivals, hospitals, & sacred places, & she is often featured in multidisciplinary collaborations including working with filmmakers, dancers, & visual artists. ⭐️

Support for this work is provided by a Rocket Grants project award, a program of Charlotte Street and the Spencer Museum of Art. Funding is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. More info: https://rocketgrants.org

Join us for our monthly open mic TOMORROW on Fri. November 7th at 7-8:30pm 🖤🖤🖤 Huge thanks to the Lawrence Arts Center for their collaboration! Alex Kimball Williams will be our host.

Catch our next open mic next Friday, November 7th @ the 10th & Mass Studios!

With fall in full swing, Readers' Services Assistant Shirley Braunlich highlights a cornucopia of upcoming local events and some book recommendations that creatively weave the power of community and imagination⁠.
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Learn more about these events and the incredible folks in our community who make them possible at the link below! 🔗⁠

https://lplks.org/blogs/post/embracing-community-with-a-literary-cornucopia/
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We can’t wait to host BLACK Lawrence tomorrow (6/6) from 3–4:30PM for their special Open Mic inspired by our “Bold Women” exhibition. We hope you’ll join us! 🎤✨💜

Renée Fleuranges-Valdes
"Akofena: Defender of the Land," 2022
cotton, silk, thread, yarn, Swarovski crystals, cotton fiber, piecing, appliqué, embroidering
Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund, 2024.0133

We're excited to be partnering with the Spencer Museum of Art this Friday for June's open mic!

We welcome all mediums & skill levels to our open mics 👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿

We'll begin with a presentation of a few of our members' work, & more into the open mic! We hope this slightly earlier time offering helps support folks in attending who aren't able to come to an evening time event.

Looking forward!

IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE! But, it takes a lot to manage a fun, safe and complete event to allow everyone the opportunity to celebrate. And that's where we need your help! Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up and volunteer to be a part of keeping the celebration moving and enjoyable for EVERYONE in attendance. Thank you! ~Lawrence, KS Juneteenth Organization

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C4FA9A723A20-56929081-2025