Black Theatre Girl Magic is holding its 4th annual Juneteenth Facets of Freedom event on Wednesday, June 19th. It is a celebration of Black Central Florida artists of every discipline - performing, visual, culinary and otherwise.
Attached to this event and as part of the nonprofit arts group’s Juneteenth remembrance and celebrations, there’s also the weekend’s kid-focused “Lunch and Learn” event, exploring Juneteenth through story time, face paint, music, food and other family-friendly activities.
Juneteenth is rooted in commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It became a federal holiday in 2021.
It’s based around June 19th, 1865, the day that word of freedom from slavery finally reached Texas, the last state notified…some two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Executive Director Mandi Jo John lists some of the many types of artists that will be at the Facets of Freedom event: “It features performances from musicians, visual artists have an exhibit of their works there, dance organizations from Central Florida throughout the community, we have praise teams, we also have Ballroom Scene that’s going to be doing some performances, as well as a live band, a DJ, and a lot of multidisciplinary arts experiences.”
She adds that Black-owned catering companies will also be on hand with food and Black-owned businesses will be present as well.
“It’s really a celebration of Black community and Black artistry here in Central Florida,” John says.
John stresses that the whole community is invited to this celebration, even – and perhaps especially – people who don’t have much cultural familiarity with or context for Juneteenth. “To immerse yourself in someone else’s culture, to immerse yourself in that community and to experience it for yourself I think is one of the most important ways we can be allies for one another. To show up, and not only support the work of the artists but to be witness to it, to take it in, is just really important."
“Because art has the unique ability, in any of its forms, to build bridges between one lived experience and another," John says.
And John points out that these bridges may be more important than ever.
She says social media posts about this year’s Juneteenth events are being met with significantly more hate, often from bots that have been programmed to respond repeatedly, at all hours, and in negative ways. “It’s never been easier for people who espouse hatred to drown out our voices.”
“Also, we’re seeing a lot of deplatforming of this conversation [around Juneteenth and racial equality]. There’s a narrative that exists that this conversation is not needed, that Juneteenth is not a real holiday,” she says, pointing out that Juneteenth existed as a holiday (sometimes known as Emancipation Day) for generations before its federal recognition in 2021.
“The idea that this holiday is made up and not needed or necessary is one I’ve been coming across a lot recently. So it’s interesting to see, this year, the pendulum swing in the other direction. But it just illustrates to me that this work is needed now more than ever.”
