By Dan Fuller, Utica Institute Museum Co-Director
This Fall, Sipp Culture is sponsoring Back Porch Thursdays at the Utica Institute Museum with a series of arts & culture public events for the community. So far, we’ve held two events with a couple more scheduled in the coming weeks.
We kicked off Back Porch Thursdays this Fall with a September session featuring A.J. Haynes, lead singer for the soul power band Seratones. Through her work as a community activist focusing on reproductive rights, A.J. is building a community focused on collective care and renewal. She spoke with Museum co-director Jean Greene in a conversation centered around the many ways in which art and music can become a site for healing. She also discussed her upcoming project “Mother Your Mind” which she envisions as a multidisciplinary artistic journey into the powerful ways maternal energy can infuse our work for social justice.
“It was a gift to be able to commune with A.J.,” Greene shared. “To be able to sit with her wisdom, creativity, and vision for how art carries us toward healing and liberation.”
Our next conversation on October 7th highlighted the work of Bailey Hutchinson, AKA Mecca X, centering around a project they are developing called the TruCulture Community Market. The conversation delved into Mecca X’s background as a third generation grower and how an extended visit to Trinidad and Tobago informed ways of thinking about the power of Afro-Indigenous cultural practices to radically re-envision our communities as centers of production outside of capitalist power structures. As a New Orleans native who now grows on their family farm in Hattiesburg, Bailey sees the project bridging these two communities into a larger network of people committed to transformational healing practices.
“Bailey reminds us, through her art, and her advocacy, that culture is not just about what we make – it’s about what we remember,” Jean commented. “That was an important piece to share with our audience.”
As part of Utica Institute Heritage Week on the Utica Campus, we have several other events coming up. On Tuesday, October 28th at 11:30 a.m., we will be hosting a Lunch & Learn with Dr. Ivory Phillips who will be speaking about the Ayers Case. A longtime friend of Utica, Dr. Phillips was heavily involved in the efforts to keep the Utica Campus open and maintain its HBCU legacy. Lunch will be provided, but you’ll need to request your free ticket here: https://events.humanitix.com/holtzclaw-lecture-dr-ivory-phillips-and-the-ayers-case
On Thursday, October 30th at 3 p.m., the Utica Institute Museum will also be hosting artist Kira Cummings for a Back Porch Thursday session on pyrography, the art of creating with fire! Cummings has exhibited her work throughout the South and will be bringing us along into her current project focusing on the intersections of history, fame, and craftsmanship through her woodburning portrait series.
Many thanks to Sipp Culture for their support of Back Porch Thursdays at the Museum!
