Reminder. Safety means different things to different people. For some, the pandemic is over; for others, the risks are still very real. Wa Na Wari is a space of belonging, which means we do our best to make sure everyone belongs, including the most vulnerable among us. We prefer, and strongly encourage, that masks be worn while indoors at Wa Na Wari events, except while eating and drinking. We often have heaters on the porch and in the backyard, for those who prefer to eat or drink outdoors. We always have masks at the door if you need one. Thank you for your understanding and solidarity.
EVENTS
Comprehensive Plan Info Session (Virtual)
The City of Seattle has recently released a draft of its 20-year Comprehensive Plan called the
One Seattle Plan. For those who don’t know, a comprehensive plan is a state mandated roadmap for how the city will accommodate for population growth and invest in future developments. It will impact city zoning as well. The period of public review and commentary is now underway. It is a must that our community give direct feedback on this plan. CACE 21 will be hosting a Virtual Community Reading & Info Session of the Draft Comprehensive Plan every other Friday, 6-8pm, starting May 3rd over Zoom.
Civic Engagement Curriculum
Want to learn how to influence the government?
Understanding how to make changes through our governing systems is notoriously difficult. CACE 21 is partnering with the Seattle Dept of Neighborhoods to develop a culturally-relevant civic engagement education program called PACE (People's Academy for Community Engagement). The program is meant to better equip Black homeowners and community members to advocate for their own needs when influencing city government. The curriculum will cover foundational information about the city government structure, policies, and rules of engagement, and will be taught by subject matter experts that specialize in topics related to homeownership.
Participants will receive a monetary stipend of $50/hr to attend the course.
May 4th and May 11th from 9am to 3:30pm at Byrd Barr Place (722 18th Ave Seattle).
Applications are now open! There is no age restriction for the class, and childcare will be provided for children above the age of 3. We invite Black community members to come learn alongside us!
Apply Here
Afrikan Marketplace
Support local vendors and craftspeople. Shop at Wa Na Wari’s Afrikan Marketplace for jewelry, baked goods, vintage items, clothes, medicinals, and more!
Comprehensive Plan Info Session (Virtual) (Copy)
The City of Seattle has recently released a draft of its 20-year Comprehensive Plan called the
One Seattle Plan. For those who don’t know, a comprehensive plan is a state mandated roadmap for how the city will accommodate for population growth and invest in future developments. It will impact city zoning as well. The period of public review and commentary is now underway. It is a must that our community give direct feedback on this plan. CACE 21 will be hosting a Virtual Community Reading & Info Session of the Draft Comprehensive Plan every other Friday, 6-8pm, starting May 3rd over Zoom.
Cake and Conversation (Copy)
Love Offering is Wa Na Wari’s community meal program that pays Black and Indigenous chefs to provide culturally-relevant meals to the community, free of charge, every Tuesday & Thursday from 4-6pm. We have also started hosting Coffee & Cake every Wednesday, 4-6pm. Enjoy a free beverage and slice of cake as you take in the beautiful artwork.
CACE 21 will be hosting gallery tours for our network of Black homeowners the last Wednesday of every month, during Coffee & Cake with Cake & Conversations. Tea will also be served! We encourage you all to come, bring family and friends, meet other homeowners, and see beautiful Black art!
Art Opening
Join us for art, live music, and refreshments. Featuring work by Gherdai Hassell, Nandi Jordan, Kino Galbraith and Kelsey Van Ert, and Djakou Kassi Nathalie. Saturday, April 27th, 6pm-8pm
Cake and Conversation
Love Offering is Wa Na Wari’s community meal program that pays Black and Indigenous chefs to provide culturally-relevant meals to the community, free of charge, every Tuesday & Thursday from 4-6pm. The gallery has also started hosting Coffee & Cake every Wednesday, 4-6pm. Enjoy a free beverage and slice of cake as you take in the beautiful artwork.
As a continuation of Teatime with Theryn, CACE 21 will be offering gallery tours for our network of Black homeowners the last Wednesday of every month, during Coffee & Cake–Cake & Conversations. Tea will also be served! We encourage you all to come, bring family and friends, meet other homeowners, and see beautiful Black art!
African Marketplace
Shop for vintage textiles, art supplies, jewelry, clothes, and decor at our African Marketplace, Saturday April 20th, 11am-5pm
Artist Talk (virtual) with Marin Burnett
Virtual Artist Talk with Marin Burnett
Thursday, April 18th 12pm pst
On Wa Na Wari’s Youtube and Facebook
www.youtube.com/@wanawariseattle3432
Blumeadows
Join us for a Saturday evening of music with Blumeadows! April 13th, 5pm-8pm
SUNDAY DINNER for SIMON BENJAMIN - screenings + conversation in community
SUNDAY DINNER for SIMON BENJAMIN - screenings + conversation in community
A partnership between Wa Na Wari, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Black Cinema Collective
April 7th, 4:00 pm - 6:00pm
Sunday dinner, Sunday pie, Sunday roast, Sunday greens, Sunday rice and peas, Sunday at grandma’s house. Throughout the African Diaspora we share traditions of Sunday dinners, a special mid-late afternoon gathering around slow cooked food, donning our Sunday best for worship at church. Historically it was the time when families, neighbors, and friends, would take the time to check in with community kin and leaders, guide the younger generations through games and storytelling, while honoring family elders and their memories. Sunday was the time to gather, to be in our best dress, to give thanks in the transition from the work of the last week, into the possibilities of the new one to come.
Simon Benjamin, a Jamaican born artist based in New York, makes work about the colonial legacies that impact Afro-diasporic peoples through the lens of the Caribbean. On his first visit to Seattle as the 2024 Jacob Lawrence Gallery Legacy Artist-in-Residence, he is discovering new intersections in the Pacific Northwest. Coastal traditions and histories of movement and migration impact the traditions we keep, or how they evolve, and the interconnections we find along the way. For this Sunday Dinner engagement we will gather in ease with Simon for a select screening of his short films, enjoy some warm sustenance and story sharing traditions before we transition into another week.
Berette S Macaulay is an interdisciplinary artist and writer with creative and cultural practices in photography, mixed media, curating, and art organizing. She is the founder of Black Cinema Collective (BCC) which celebrates African and Afro-Diasporic films, and is a project of the collaborative arts incubator, i•ma•:gine | e•volve. She is currently serving as Guest Curator for the 2024 Jacob Lawrence Gallery Legacy Residency Program, its exhibition and supporting engagements.
CACE21 Black Homeowner Dinner
Mark your calendars! It’s almost time to break bread again. CACE 21 is hosting another Black Homeowner Dinner Saturday, April 6th 4-6:30pm at Byrd Barr Place (722 18th Ave, Seattle), formerly CAMP Firehouse. The Byrd Barr Place building was recently renovated. Those of you who spent time at CAMP over the years will be excited to see what they have done and how it can continue to serve our community. To RSVP for this FREE event click here. Stay tuned for updates!
Artist Talk with DK
Artist Talk
Saturday, March 23rd 1pm pst
In-person talk with artist DK at Wa Na Wari
Virtual Artist Talk with Christopher Iduma
Artist Talk
Thursday, March 7th 12pm pst
On Wa Na Wari’s Youtube and Facebook
www.youtube.com/@wanawariseattle3432
Active Imagination, A Workshop:
Art as Medicine.
Art isn't a Competition.
Sex isn't a Competition.
God isn't a Competition.
Promoting social emotional awareness via art making, this session is facilitated by interdisciplinary artist and poet, Dez'Mon Omega Fair. Dez'Mon is a founding member of QDC (Queer Death Collective, a grief group formed at the onset of Covid), sat on the board of Carnegie Picture Lab (a non profit developing art education for K-12 in Walla Walla) and is a teaching artist with Silver Kite (Community Arts for senior citizens) here in the Seattle Area.
This is an art based group, thus an invitation to participate fully and listen compassionately in a non judgemental, intuition forward space. We'll translate feelings and embody sensations, observe lived experiences with the voice, movement, and visual art forms.
No prior experience is necessary.
Though not required: wear comfortable clothing.
This workshop is also approachable for those who are sedentary.
Moonlight Screening
Join us at Wa Na Wari for a screening of Moonlight, on Wednesday, February 21st, 6pm
Valentines Movie Night
Join us for a Valentines Movie Night screening of Love Jones! Wednesday, February 14th, 6pm
Pancakes and Movie
Bring the whole family to Wa Na Wari for Saturday morning pancakes and a screening of Bebe’s Kids! Saturday, February 10th, 11am
Airbrush Collage Workshop with Brandon Donahue-Shipp
Registration Required
Sunday, February 4th 12pm-2pm
Brandon Donahue-Shipp will facilitate a 2-hour workshop in which he will give a demo on the basic fundamentals of airbrushing followed by a collaborative airbrushing exercise with participants.
Art Opening
Wa Na Wari is proud to present the art of Marin Burnett, Brandon Donahue-Shipp, DK, and Christopher Iduma
on view from February 3-April 20, 2024.
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 3, 2024, 6-8pm
Live music and refreshments will be offered. Free event.
Paul Rucker & Hans Teuber In concert
Join Wa Na Wari for a Sunday afternoon concert with Paul Rucker and Hans Teuber, Sunday, January 28th, 4pm. No tickets required. Free of charge.
The Jennings Family 2D Artist Journey
In this in-person, moderated discussion, facilitated by Jazmyn Scott (Arte Noir), NaKeesa Frazier-Jennings (Nakeesa Marie Enterprises), and George Jennings (former owner of George Jennings Art) will discuss their journey in the local Seattle art community and how they were able to build a following for George’s artwork and the various ways that they monetized it. George will begin the presentation by sharing his Black family art legacy that includes the story of how he became interested in 2D art as well as his journey to becoming a visual artist himself. NaKeesa will share how they found various ways to monetize George’s work.
Attendees will be encouraged to take notes and make a list of 3 actionable steps they can take toward monetizing their own 2D art practice.
Discussion will last for approximately one hour and there will be one hour available for Q&A and discussion.
This presentation would be ideal for 2D artists who are early in their career and would like ideas about how to monetize their work. Also for more seasoned artists who would like to hear about this Black family’s story and how they navigated and continue to navigate the Greater Seattle art community.
Saturday, December 2nd 12pm - 2pm at Wa Na Wari
Registration Required
Wind is in the Cane, Come Along
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of this Harlem Renaissance classic with Quenton Baker, Kamari Bright, Bettina Judd, Elisheba Johnson, and Barbara Earl Thomas.
Friday, December 1st, 7PM at Wa Na Wari.
Holiday Marketplace and Vintage Sale
We're hosting a holiday marketplace and vintage pop up. There'll be art, jewelry, vintage treasures, Wa Na Wari hoodies, and more. This is where you get that holiday gift list handled. Come spend time with the new exhibit AND do some shopping.
Art Opening: Honored To Tell
Honored to Tell
An exhibit of art and oral histories created by the first cohort to graduate from the Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute
November 4th, 2023 - January 20th, 2024
Art Opening
Saturday, November 4th 6-8pm
Wa Na Wari, 911 24th Ave, Seattle WA 98122
Refreshments provided
6pm-8pm Exhibit open
6:30 Artist talk
7:00 Akoiya Harris & Nia Amina Minor dance performance
Featured artists: Brenetta Ward, Akoiya Harris, Ariel Paine, Sierra Parsons, Ricky Reyes, Nia Amina Minor, Brea Wilson, Eboni Wyatt
Artist Materials Market
This weekend come and get all kinds of things to feed your creative process! Awesome vintage too!
October 28th and 29th. Noon to 5pm.
Walk the Block
Walk the Block returns!
Walk the Block is an annual, one-day art festival that transforms Central District porches, parks, yards, side streets, and small businesses into outdoor galleries, stages, dance floors, and gathering spaces. Featuring Black and Indigenous artists, musicians, performers, and chefs, along a one-mile route, Walk the Block welcomes all ages and all people to enjoy art, gather, walk, roll, ride, eat, drink, and dance their way through the neighborhood.
Prayers to the Body that Holds Me: Rituals of finding safety in our bodies
dani tirrell and The Congregation presents, Prayers to the Body that Holds Me: Rituals of finding safety in our bodies. PBH is an improvisational performance practice developed by dani tirrell, The Congregation, and guests. These rituals are part of an ongoing research that dani has been moving with for over the past 8 years.
Date: August 26, 2023
Time: 5:00 pm ~ Meditation/Prayer/ Intentions - 6:00 pm ~ Performance
Location: Wa Na Wari
Prayers to the Body that Holds Me: Rituals of finding safety in our bodies ask the questions….How does one seek and hold safety in their body in a world that deems Black, Queer, Women & Femmes, Trans and Gender Free people unworthy of safety? How do we hold each other as we seek safety in our bodies collectively and individually? What does our world look like if safety was not our concern? Can we actually be safe?
The Congregation is collaborating with Wa Na Wari in the historical Central District of Seattle to invite rest and disruption, care and anger, love and rage as a way to seek what the world can not hold for us.
PBH features local and non local makers to explore themes of care, bravery and safety.
Features artists:
Nia-Amina Minor (Seattle)
dani tirrell (DC / Seattle)
Tariq D, O’Meally (DC)
Jamison Curcio ( DC)
Malik Burnett (DC)
Ronya-Lee Anderson (DC)
Prayer/Meditation/Intention Setting:
Rev Kelle Brown (Seattle)
Sounds by:
DJ Hershe (Seattle)
Mary Edwards Performance and Installation Reveal
The Call in the Limitless Space comprises a collection of short, recorded reflections from people in the Wa Na Wari community who reflect on themes of spatial reclamation, Black Joy and belonging, specifically to their ancestral lineage or connection to Seattle's Historic Central District.
These recordings will be digitally ported into a vintage telephone booth which will serve as a permanent, interactive installation for Wa Na Wari. The stand-alone recordings will also provide a soundscape for listening components of the ASAP/14: Arts of Fugitivity Conference.
On August 21st, the artist will be facilitate a soundwalk and workshop where participants will engage in what will be, at once, an ecological practice, a method of inquiry, a call to action, and a guided meditation on reclaiming natural and architectural spaces through resonant humming and a call-and-response of place-naming as an invocation, helping to give a voice and harmonic convergence to something that is already there, yet calls for “unearthing.”
Participants will be asked to consider any creative responses and expressions that further acknowledge and contribute to the community’s sense of recollection and restoration.
On August 25th, the project will culminate with a live performance, with a text score drawn from this deep, active listening. All are encouraged to participate regardless of background or ability in sound practice. Mary will also reveal the sound installation in the phone booth on the Wa Na Wari property.
Artist Talk with Mary Edwards
Mary Edwards is a composer and environmental sound artist whose practice encompasses installations, film scores and performance. Themes of temporality, impermanence, nostalgia and the natural world recur throughout her work. She is å in the invisible architecture and the emotive, historic, cinematic and spatial properties of sound. Listening is an inherent and integral part of her process in conveying how all sounds have the potential to be habitable, and can be transformative once you get inside them, as they are simultaneously intimate and immense.
Her recent projects include Everywhere We Are is the Farthest Place, an ode rather than elegy to the transforming Arctic landscape. It comprises a composition and ambient field recordings she gathered from landings around Svalbard, Norway while on a sailing expedition on a research vessel above the 78th parallel. It documents the sound properties of glacial geology and oceanographic data, intended to provide access for all through sonification by “de-centering the centered and un-othering the others”; Fathom, a site-related soundscape launched during the 2023 World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE) Conference, Listening Pasts/Listening Futures and Conservation/Conversation, both for Atlantic Center for the Arts; Endeavour: A Space Trilogy for the NASA Expedition of Dr. Mae C. Jemison; Everyday Until Tomorrow, a conceptual “Library Music” soundtrack for TWA Terminal 5 at JFK airport; Something to (Be)Hold, a permanent large-scale public sound work produced by The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery concurrently with her first career survey; and Tamalpais Higher, a geophonic reimagining of a seismic event based on a blind thrust fault running through Mount Tamalpais north of the San Francisco Bay.
She holds an Interdisciplinary MFA in Sound and Architecture from Goddard College and has been awarded residencies at the ACA Soundscape Field Station at Canaveral National Seashore, Headlands Center for the Arts, The Arctic Circle, The William T. Davis Nature Conservancy and InSitu. Her commissions include works for Invert/Extant, The Beach Institute Savannah, The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Foundation, 429 Architectural Spaces, Condé Nast Gallery and The Joshua Tree Cultural Preservation Center.
Workshop with Mary Edwards
The Call in the Limitless Space comprises a collection of short, recorded reflections from people in the Wa Na Wari community who reflect on themes of spatial reclamation, Black Joy and belonging, specifically to their ancestral lineage or connection to Seattle's Historic Central District.
These recordings will be digitally ported into a vintage telephone booth which will serve as a permanent, interactive installation for Wa Na Wari. The stand-alone recordings will also provide a soundscape for listening components of the ASAP/14: Arts of Fugitivity Conference.
On August 21st, the artist will be facilitate a soundwalk and workshop where participants will engage in what will be, at once, an ecological practice, a method of inquiry, a call to action, and a guided meditation on reclaiming natural and architectural spaces through resonant humming and a call-and-response of place-naming as an invocation, helping to give a voice and harmonic convergence to something that is already there, yet calls for “unearthing.”
Participants will be asked to consider any creative responses and expressions that further acknowledge and contribute to the community’s sense of recollection and restoration.
On August 25th, the project will culminate with a live performance, with a text score drawn from this deep, active listening. All are encouraged to participate regardless of background or ability in sound practice.
Soundwalk with Mary Edwards
The Call in the Limitless Space comprises a collection of short, recorded reflections from people in the Wa Na Wari community who reflect on themes of spatial reclamation, Black Joy and belonging, specifically to their ancestral lineage or connection to Seattle's Historic Central District.
These recordings will be digitally ported into a vintage telephone booth which will serve as a permanent, interactive installation for Wa Na Wari. The stand-alone recordings will also provide a soundscape for listening components of the ASAP/14: Arts of Fugitivity Conference.
On August 21st, the artist will be facilitate a soundwalk and workshop where participants will engage in what will be, at once, an ecological practice, a method of inquiry, a call to action, and a guided meditation on reclaiming natural and architectural spaces through resonant humming and a call-and-response of place-naming as an invocation, helping to give a voice and harmonic convergence to something that is already there, yet calls for “unearthing.”
Participants will be asked to consider any creative responses and expressions that further acknowledge and contribute to the community’s sense of recollection and restoration.
On August 25th, the project will culminate with a live performance, with a text score drawn from this deep, active listening. All are encouraged to participate regardless of background or ability in sound practice.
Finding Our Way Home: Closing Activation
This Sunday August 13th, is the Closing Activation of the Altar installation We Lost People: Diaspora Departure by Berlynn Beam and Chase Keetley. Which has been kept and cared for by the Wa Na Wari, in order to facilitate an experiment in creating a space for Black folks to gather and honor their ancestors. The Altar will now be moving onto Oakland California, where it will reside at the artist’s residence. Until they find another space for the Alter to reside. We ask for the surrounding community to see the altar off. To come pray to the altar one last time. To bring offerings to honor and feed your ancestors. To come as you are, and join us in a moment of quiet reflection and celebration of this beautiful gathering place. Like seeing a relative or a close friend move on, because that is what this is. A moving on or departing from what once was. This departure should symbolize why our permanence is so
fragile. As Black people, we are always moving and changing in ways according to the circumstance we find ourselves in. We are used to being uprooted and being transplanted into foreign soil. In other words we are used to dealing with uncomfortable situations all the time, it is in our nature to adapt to any and every situation we see ourselves in. We are nomadic by nature, and so must have cohabitants in ourselves in knowing that change is our only constant, our permanence. We are here to celebrate that, and how even such a thing as an altar is never
permanent until it finds its way home.
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Past Events
2022
Intertwined
Through April 15, 2022
Wa Na Wari, in collaboration with the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), presents Intertwined by Hank Willis Thomas and Portland-based artist and storyteller Intisar Abioto. Nine banners, each four feet tall, featuring the artists’ words and images, can be seen along 23rd Avenue, Jackson Street, Union Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle’s Central District through April 15, 2022.
Writing Workshop with Rajnii Eddins
Saturday April 23rd, 2022
Low key jazz night with Rodger Pegues and Jason Chambliss
Friday, April 15th, 6pm-8pm
Brunch celebration with Aisha Harrison and Chloe King
featuring beats by Larry Mizell and food by Chef Tariq Abdullah.
Saturday, April 2nd, 2022
In-person at Wa Na Wari
Ezra Wube, Virtual Artist Talk
Streamed on WNW’s Youtube and Facebook
March 31st 12pm
Silent Disco with DJs Topspin and Lady Coco
March 26th, 6pm-9pm
New dance works by Akoiya Harris, marco farroni, and Cipher Goings
March 13th at 2pm
In-person, mask required
Collaborative writing workshop for aspiring self- ublished authors and writers of all levels. Hosted by Seattle Urban Book Expo (S.U.B.E.)
March 12th, 2022
Mushroom Cultivation for Beginners
In-person workshop with Darren Le Baron
March 6th, 2022
Psychedelics in Africa: The Untold Story
In-person workshop with Darren Le Baron
March 5th, 2022
Aliyah Niambi Concert
Outdoors at Wa Na Wari
February 24th, 2022
Artist Talk: neec nonso
February 10th, 2022
Streamed on Wa Na Wari’s Facebook and Youtube
Poetry Workshop with Anastacia-Renee
Feb 8th, 2022
Virtual event
2021
Joy Has a Sound Book Release events
In the anthology, Joy Has a Sound: Black Sonic Visions, Wa Na Wari makes a home for the essays, poetry, scores, scripts and silences of Black poets, musicians, artists and scholars. Assembled by editors Rachel Kessler and Elisheba Johnson, Joy Has a Sound wonders about the time- traveling, place-making power of sound.
BLUMEADOWS celebrates the legacies of Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix through music.
Saturday, November 27th, 2021
This event is outdoors with heaters and hot cocoa.
Put the Black in Black Friday.
Support local vendors and artists when you shop for vintage clothes, plants from @thepowerplant.seattle, art inspired pieces from @thecurlynugget, life changing teas from @2witchesapothecary, skincare from @solglowbyayers, books from @wanawariseattle
Walk The Block
This fall Wa Na Wari is taking art to the streets for our 2021 Fall Fundraising Event. We are creating our own one-day art walk in the Central District, and it's called “Walk the Block.”
October 16th, 2021
Wa Na Wari presents The Porch.
Music from our porch to yours. Join Wa Na Wari, online, for musical performances from our region's greatest to get you through your day.
September 13th-October 4th, 2022
Tiffany Wilson, Adra Boo, Chelsey Richardson, Thaddeus Turner
Pan Afrikan Marketplace
Saturday and Sunday September 18th and 19th
Curated by Afua and WNW, come find vintage and antique materials for your artwork and support local Black vendors selling their locally made products.
Details
Funktional Urban Design Lab, For The Pacific Northwest: A Workshop with Xenobia Bailey
Free Virtual Event
Sunday, September 26th, 2021
W E by Vanessa German
Saturday, August 21 2pm-4pm PT, Sunday, August 22, 12pm-2pm PT
In-person. Mask required.
Confessional Poetry with Jibade-Khalil Huffman
Saturday, August 14, 2021
In-person event at Wa Na Wari. Mask required.
Art Opening
Wa Na Wari is proud to be a part of the Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair and to present the works of Adetola Abatan, Natalie Ball, Amber Flame, and Vanessa German, on display from August 6th to December 31st, 2021.
Opening Reception: Friday, August 13 from 7-9pm.
In-person. Mask required
Their Names are Mine Book Reading by Rajnii Eddins
Sunday, August 8th 6pm-7:30pm
Outside with masks
Seattle Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
[ONLINE] Saturday, July 31st
Wa Na Wari and The Grocery are partnering with BLT to increase the visibility of Black artists from the PNW on Wikipedia.
Artist Talk with Shoccara Marcus
Thursday, July 26th
5:30-6:30pm
On WNW’s Facebook Live and Youtube Page
bit.ly/wanawarilive
Join Wa Na Wari as we listen to exhibiting artist Shoccara Marcus where she will discuss her art practice and her body of work “Choreographing My Past.”
Artist Talk with Lisa Myers Bulmash and Carletta Carrington Wilson
Thursday, July 22nd
Facebook Live & Youtube
Pan Afrikan Market Place
Sunday, July 18th
Wa Na Wari Gallery
Curated by Afua and WNW, come find vintage and antique materials for your artwork and support local Black vendors selling their locally made products. Free meals from Feed the People community kitchen.
Is Your God a Violent God? A Theology for Survivors w/J Mase III. How has religion impacted the ways we experience violence as targeted communities?
July 10, 2021
In-Person at WNW Socially Distant or on WNW’s Facebook and Youtube Channels
Silent Disco with DJ Topspin and DJ SummerSoft
Friday, July 9th, 2021
Join Wa Na Wari for a fun dance party in our backyard with Silent Disco headphones (Sanitized and Safe), DJ's TopSpin and SummerSoft with drinks by Erudite & Stone.
BLUE MEADOWS TRIO (JUNETEENTH AFTER PARTY)
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021
MIXED MEDIA MATERIAL YARD SALE: SALE of both common and odd materials for the creative mixed-media artist.
Saturday, June 5th, 2021
"No Heaven for Good Boys" A Book by Keisha Bush w/ Lisa Lucas
Wednesday, June 2nd
Co-presented by The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle Public Library and Wa Na Wari : Black Art Center and hosted by Seattle Public Library as a Zoom webinar
I Speak to God in Public, by Bart Fitzgerald
Sunday, May 23
Free Community Portraits with Intisar Abioto
Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16 from 12pm-3pm
FILM & DISCUSSION: Keepers of Nations --The Power of Women of African Descent.
Friday March 26th
Films for Isolation, March 18th, 6pm
Featuring short films by Rikki Wright, Clifford Prince King, Sydney Canty, and Alima Lee. Curated by Alima Lee.
Wa Na Wari and Jacob Lawrence Gallery present: Human Design and the Long Con
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Join us for a screening of two films by Ilana Harris Babou: The Long Con and Human Design. Following the screening we will have a talk back with Ilana and Kemi Adeyemi, curator and founder of The Black Embodiments Studio.
Film Screening of Cosmic Slop: Space Traders
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Following the viewing we will have a talk back with producer Reginald Hudlin and longtime collaborator Charles Johnson.
Charcoal, Wood, and Metal: Charmaine Lurch’s Being, Belonging and Grace
An online lecture by Katherine McKittrick
February 16th, 2020 12pm-1:00pm
Concert with Brown Calculus
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Brown Calculus explores the soundscapes of the post-soul movement. Keyboardist and beat maker, Andre Burgos, and singer/songwriter, Vaughn Kimmons, are Geminis, illuminating the sacredness of Black music, seeking to bring about community on Earth and beyond.
Virtual Concert Experience with Wizard Apprentice
January 14th 2021
A performance and exhibit which will take place in a venue created in Mozilla Hubs, which can be experienced via laptop, smartphone, or Occulus VR headset. Wizard Apprentice will orient you and take you on a tour of the space. There’ll be opportunities to explore, mingle, and attend a musical performance by Wizard Apprentice.
Feed the People X Wa Na Wari New Year’s Day: Beans and Greens
January 1st, 2021
Start your new year off right with our favorite southern tradition, eating black eye peas and greens for good luck. While we can’t meet in person this year we must keep up the tradition, so come by the Feed the People community kitchen to get vegan, Black eyed peas, greens and cornbread.
2020
Black Listening: A multi-media performance by Zachary James Watkins
Dec 27, 2020
Join Wa Na Wari for an experimental multimedia performance by current exhibiting artist Zachary James Watkins. Watkins will be performing a piece that is a continuation of their exploration “Listen to Clarence” online at Wa Na Wari.
Artist Talk with Andrea Colman
Dec 12th, 2020
Artist Andrea Coleman will talk about her multimedia practice and her work currently on view at Wa Na Wari.
Live studio stream with the artist L. Haz
Dec 5th, 2020
Watch artist Zahyr Lauren aka The Artist L. Haz while they create new work live. Viewers will also have the opportunity to ask the artist questions about their process and practice.
Art21: Borderlands - Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
North Seattle College Art Gallery and Wa Na Wari are partnering to screen Art21: Borderlands with a post-screening discussion.
A vast geography encompassing open deserts and densely populated metropolises, the borderland between the United States and Mexico has long been a site of not only political conflict and social struggle but also intense creative ferment.
Black Lunch Table at Wa Na Wari
November 20th, 2020
Black Lunch Table creates a space for people, art, Black studies and social justice issues. The Black Lunch Table (BLT) is an oral-history archiving project. Our primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein cultural producers engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues.
Sacred Stoops: A Lecture by Germane Barnes
Tuesday, November 24th
Join Wa Na Wari and Seattle Public Library for a rebroadcast of a lecture by architect Germane Barnes about the “porch” in Black communities.
Black Lunch Table Online "Edit-a-Thon"
November 3rd, 2020
We will create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles pertaining to the lives and works of Black visual artists.
Wa Na Wari Virtual House Party 2020 Fundraiser
October 28th, 2020
Join us to celebrate the house that fights displacement with Black art, Black culture, and the self-determination of Black people.
Experimental Mapping in the Central District, A workshop with Sara Zewde
Wednesday, October 21st, 2020
A partnership between Wa Na Wari and Seattle Public Library
Cultural Puppet Making and Stop-motion Animation Workshop
with Gabrielle Tesfaye
Saturday, September 26th, 2020
Films by Gabrielle Tesfaye
The Water Will Carry Us Home and My Love, Ethiopia.
September 25th, 2020
Wa Na Wari and Sankofa Film Society bring you an evening of films by Gabrielle Tesafye. Immediately after the films, please join us for a talk back with filmmaker Gabrielle Tesfaye and Zola Mumford.
Virtual House Concert with Cedric Watson playing and exploring the Black roots of Creole, Cajun, and Zydeco music.
Creole, Cajun, and Zydeco music!
September 16th, 2020, 6pm
Artist Talk with Lisa Jarrett: House/Field/Home
September 1st, 2020
Lisa Jarrett's intersectional practice considers the politics of difference within a variety of settings including: schools, landscapes, fictions, racial imaginaries, studios, communities, museums, galleries, walls, mountains, mirrors, floors, rivers, and lenses.
The History and Politics of Black Hair and Beauty: A new online lecture series at Wa Na Wari
June 21st and August 4th
The current art exhibitions at Wa Na Wari showcase the work of Lavett Ballard, Lisa Jarrett, Elise Peterson, and Jamaal Hasef Tolbert. These works all explore ideas of Black hair, the Black beauty industry and the Black body. Please join us for a lecture series that dives deeper into these themes while helping us understand the social, political and economic history around Black hair and beauty.
A Space To Rest with the Nap Ministry: A Black and African Diaspora Online Experience
Sunday, August 2nd 2pm-3:30pm (PST)
Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, will hold space for collective silence, daydreaming, and a moment of deep connection to our Ancestors
a convoluted remedy to my soft hands
A performance by Maya Vivas
Thursday, July 23rd 5pm(PST)
Live feed and premeditation converse while maneuvering through accrued diasporic therapies and rumination.
Constructing a Black Ass Show
Ayana Evans is presenting a 30 minute online performance for the Wa Na Wari community and beyond. Evans is best known for her on-going performances/public interventions: "
June 24th at 12pm(PST) and 2pm (CST) on Instagram Live.
“This is WAK” - a virtual post-colonial karaoke soiree/party/jam
June 10 7pm EST time 4pm PST (happy hour)
Join us for a live socially distanced collective catharsis that combines quarantine, institutional critique and post-colonial karaoke! (On Zoom).
Autumn Knight: Our Water is Melted Snow: An experimental participatory performance
May 22nd, 2020
Tap into an experimental half-hour with artist Autumn Knight. This participatory performance explores a multitude of themes from the uniqueness of Seattle as a place, to the experience of eating together.
Friday Night (Virtual) Comedy with Solomon Giorgio
May 8th, 2020
Friday Night (Virtual) Comedy with Danielle Radford
April 3rd, 2020
Wa Na Wari's Birthday (Virtual) Dance Party!
April 5th, 2pm - 4pm
Wa Na Wari is turning one years old and we want to celebrate with you! Join us for a virtual dance party with DJ Vitamin D and performances by Yirim Seck and Black Stax
Art Opening for Artists Lisa Jarrett, Elise Peterson, Jamaal Hasef, and Lavett Ballard
Saturday, March 14th, 2020
Jam the Ballot Box: Primary Election Party and Parade
March 9th, 5pm-7:30pm
Musicians Owuor Arunga and Aaron Walker Loud will lead a musical procession to drop our ballots off to the Garfield Community Center ballot box
Sanctuary Print Shop at Wa Na Wari
Saturday February 29, 11:30AM-1:30PM
For this special POC-led and -focused printmaking session at Wa Na Wari, Sanctuary Print Shop: Seattle curator, Thea Quiray Tagle, will lead an interactive printmaking session and conversation about placemaking and the power of print. No experience necessary- wear close-toed shoes and comfy clothes you wouldn't mind getting paint on (just in case!)
Living Room Concert with Tiffany Wilson
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Join us for an hour of incredible music by the Northwest's Tiffany Wilson. Tiffany Wilson is a true musical artist and songwriter whose voice speaks to something real and soulful...more details
The Value of Our Stories Workshop
Thurs, February 27, 2020
Join an interactive workshop with Seattle-raised spoken word poet and educator Rajinii Eddins.
A Presence Scene: Writing Workshop with Civic Poet Jourdan Keith
February 4 - 25th (every Tuesday in February)
Each week participants will select a piece of art from the exhibits as the subject for their creative writing response. Using prompts to explore ekphrastic writing examples and techniques, we will generate working drafts during each Workshop. Select one Workshop or participate in all four to build your skills as we develop a supportive writing community.
Film Screening: Whispering Into the Void by Amir George
Wa Na Wari and On the Boards have partnered to bring filmmaker Amir George to Seattle to screen his new film series “Whispering into the Void.”
Screening with Talk-back and Q&A with Amir George and Inye Wokoma:
Saturday, January 25th at On the Boards in the Studio Theater
Sunday, January 26th at Wa Na Wari: 911 24th Ave, Seattle, Wa 98122
Jaleesa Johnston Artist Talk
January 10, 2020
Join Wa Na Wari for an artist talk with exhibiting artist Jaleesa Johnston. Johnston will talk about her current exhibition and her practice as a performance artist
Vanishing Seattle Film Series Launch
January 16, 2020
Vanishing Seattle is excited to launch its series of short films that take a deeper dive into the stories of legacy, resistance, and resilience behind the #VanishingSeattle hashtag! We are premiering with a film about Wa Na Wari!
Come join us at Wa Na Wari for the film screening (directed by devon de Leña + Chimaera Bailey) -- plus art, food, & community. The event will also feature music and performances by Yirim Seck and Ebo Barton.
New Years Day: Beans ‘n’ Greens at WNW
January 1, 2020
Start your new year off right with our favorite southern tradition, eating black eye peas and greens for good luck. Food prepared by Inye Wokoma and Tarik Abdullah. $5 a plate or pay what you can
2019
Central District Stories: Neighborhood memories through poetry
December 19th, 2019
Wa Na Wari is partnering with the African American Writer's Alliance on the first of an on-going series called "Central District Stories." This series invites artists of various disciplines to share their stories and history of the neighborhood through art.
Holiday Jazz Show with BluMeadows and Friends
Saturday, December 7th, 2019
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, Film Screening
Wednesday, December 4th, 2019
Special Performance and Reception with Hanna Benn and C. Davida Ingram
Thursday, October 17th, 2019
Botanicals for Beauty and Self-Love
Fri, October 18, 2019
Our skin is the immune system's’ first line of defense, and is often where we first see the effects of spiritual and environmental stress. In this class, we’ll discuss nutritional support for glowing skin, featuring African ancestral herbs and foods that have long been used for beautification and vitality.
Poetry Redaction Workshop with Chantal Gibson
Saturday, October 19th, 2019
The workshop will lead guests though a poetry redaction exercise that re-contextualizes and reimagines problematic historical texts through the framing of James Baldwin.
Chantal Gibson: Reading
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Chantal will read from her book, How She Read. Copies of the book will be available for sale. How She Read is a collection of genre-blurring poems about the representation of Black women, their hearts, minds and bodies, across the Canadian cultural imagination.
West African Music and Dance with Thione Diop
September 21st, 2019
Gary Hammon Plays Original Compositions
Sunday, September 15th, 2019
Born and raised in Seattle's Central District, saxophonist and composer Gary "Jubil" Hammon spent decades in the Boston and New York jazz scenes before returning to Seattle to "give back to the community that raised him." Gary will be sharing work-in-progress excerpts from a new show he is creating that blends live storytelling and original compositions.
Draw Till You Laugh: A Comics Workshop for All Ages
Hosted by Wa Na Wari and Short Run Seattle
Teacher: Local comic artist Lauren Armstrong
Saturday, August 31st, 2019
Doll Making Workshop with Marita Dingus
August 11th, 2019
This workshop is fun for all ages. Come play with re-used materials and make a doll with nationally acclaimed artist Marita Dingus.
Home | Reclamation through Movement and Music
August 10th, 2019
Created & Performed by: Hannah Mayree and Nia-Amina Minor
Presented in association with: The Black Banjo Reclamation Project
Alchemy Poetry Series
Tuesday August 6th
Alchemy Poetry Series is a curated performance art experience that elevates voices that are often silenced. Performers in our community focus on the brilliance of storytelling by offering personal stories and reflections that are socially relevant
Okanomode: Performance
Saturday, July 20th
okanomodé [uh-kahn-uh-mah-day] is the sole lyricist & vocalist of the critically acclaimed experimental pop opera Now I'm Fine by Ahamefule J. Oluo
Hotter Than July Party
Unapologetic Artists and Creatives host the Hotter Than July party
July 7th, 2019
Vibes by DJs Topspin and N So, Food by Def Chef, Cocktails by Erudite and Stone
JusMoni and Stas THEE Boss
Saturday, June 29th
JusMoni- JusMoni aka Moni Tep (b. 1993) is a singer and songwriter whose body of work, to-date, includes five self-produced albums, performances across the United States and Canada, and collaborations with the best and brightest emerging talent of the contemporary R&B music scene.
Josephine Howell
Saturday, June 22nd
8pm - 9pm
“Josie” possesses a God-given endowment for the arts. She first explored her interest and abilities for singing in the children’s choir at her childhood church, The True Right M. B. Church. It was the beginning of the foundation that would sustain her through a life filled with the type of experiences that inspire every song, every word, and every moment she is on stage...(read more)
Performance: Rachael Ferguson, Sound Artist
Monday, June 3rd
Recordings of intimate moments of love songs, and original music mixed with anonymous testimonials regarding Black love. Different listening stations will be set up in the four corners of the room.
Artist Talk: Melanie Stevens
Sunday June 2nd, 2019
Opening Artist Reception
Saturday, June 1st
Artists: Melanie Stevens, Rachael Ferguson, Jeremy Okai Davis, Alisa Sikelianos-Carter
The Let It Go Art Exhibition Closing Party
Sunday, May 26th
Come celebrate the closing of the current art exhibitions at Wa Na Wari by the Unapologetic Artists and Creatives(UAC), Chi Moscou Jackson, Ariella Tai and Howard Mitchell. There will be kids activities and an artist talk with the UAC at 3pm. Come listen to DJ's Blendiana Jones and Toya B with a bar by Brown Liquor Company and catering by Def Chef.
Performance: Blu Meadows
Saturday, May 25th
The music of BluMeadows has been described as a mix of various styles, Afro-Cuban, funk, hip-hop, reggae, rock calypso and everything in between. BluMeadows says his music is best described as “consciousness” rock with a universal message.
Performance: Paul Rucker
Sunday May 19th, 2019
Paul Rucker is a visual artist, composer, and musician who combines media, often integrating live performance, sound, original compositions, and visual art. His work is the product of a rich interactive process, through which he investigates community impacts, human rights issues, historical research, and basic human emotions surrounding a subject.
Artist Talk: Ariella Tai
Friday, May 17th, 2019