Throughout Los Angeles, CA, I conceive, organize, and facilitate socially relevant public programming and events for cultural institutions and organizations. Doing so has bolstered each institution's visibility and garnered thousands in attendance.
A select list of public programs I’ve organized & facilitated:
The Last Bookstore’s Afrofuturism Book Club (2018 - 2021)
For three years, I facilitated and curated Downtown Los Angeles' Last Bookstore's Afrofuturism Book Club, where connoisseurs of Black sci-fi gathered monthly to discuss both new and classic titles within the genre. The book club had its popularity written in an article for the Downtown LA News.
Ford Digital Festival: Movement/Matters - 2020
In 2020, from the Soul Train line to the Ovahness Ball to Krumping at Black Lives Matter protests, Black Street and Club Dance in Los Angeles has allowed dancers to occupy space, create community, and flip the scripts ascribed to Black bodies in motion. Curated by Tyree Boyd-Pates, Movement/Matters is a day-long celebration of how L.A. dancers have found connection, care, power, and potential on the dance floor and in the streets. Watch the festival videos below and enjoy the playlist as well.
LA Philharmonic’s Power to the People! Festival
(March - April 2020)
The Power to the People! festival celebrates the role artists have played and continue to play in advancing social change, civil rights, and humanitarian causes. Musicians of every genre help us to see the world as it is and imagine the world as it could be. They bring injustices to light and inspire people to act. The artists, musicians, and activists who make up the Power to the People! festival have something to say, and we invite you to join the conversation.
In addition to traditional concerts, the Power to the People! festival includes free and low-cost humanities activities taking place at Walt Disney Concert Hall and venues across the city. Curated in collaboration with Tyree Boyd-Pates, these events feature some of our country’s leading public intellectuals, provocative conceptual artists, and socially engaged educators who aim to inspire your own sense of creativity and community.
Here is the essay, “Artists as Activists” I published to coincide with the festival as well as a playlist below.
Sweat The Technique: The Politics and Poetics of Hip Hop - March 11, 2020:
Legendary rapper Rakim discusses his new book, Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity from the Lyrical Genius, and Hip-Hop’s role in contemporary activism with Hip-Hop artists Chuck D of Public Enemy and Talib Kweli. The conversation was moderated by Tyree Boyd-Pates, humanities curator of the Power to the People! festival.
Fashion Pioneers/Tastemakers: Black Design Collective - November 19, 2019:
Clothing designers produce an aesthetic expression that transcends time and context, whether through costumes in feature films, music videos, or the everyday. Find out how Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, Angela Dean of Deanzign, Kevan Hall of Kevan Hall Designs, and T.J. Walker of Cross Colours—together, the founders of the Black Design Collective—joined by Tyree Boyd-Pates, CAAM History Curator, created iconic looks that defined fashion for a generation and made it more accessible and inclusive.
Leveraging Influence: Black Celebrity and Activism w/ KRS-One - February 26, 2019:
A public program that examined how black celebrity and activism have been instrumental in leveraging influence for equity and equality. This session was with prominent Hip Hop artist and scholar, KRS-One
CAAM’s MLK Day - Year: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020:
An annual public program that explores Dr. Martin Luther King’s Jr’s. legacy and its impact on the civil rights movements of today. Highest attendance has been at 5,000+ people.
Other public programming…
In Conversation: Dr. Brenda Stevenson with Tyree Boyd-Pates - November 16, 2018:
Presented in conjunction with California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865, UCLA history professor Brenda Stevenson and curator Tyree Boyd-Pates discussed the history of enslavement in California and how the institution transformed after Reconstruction.
History of Central Avenue (Program Series) - October, November, December 2018:
Devised a three-part public program that explored the history of Los Angeles’ main Black thoroughfare, Central Avenue, and its rise and eventual decline from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s.
“gOD Talk: A Black Millennials and Faith Conversation Series.” - August 25, 2018:
National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the California African American Museum. It was a public program that explored the intergenerational pursuit of religious equity by Black millennials within spaces of electoral politics, entertainment, and religion.
Screening: Let it Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992 with director John Ridley and ABC Networks - October 17, 2017:
A public program that explored the impact of civil unrest in the United States in light of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Los Angeles Uprisings of 1992.
A Historical Perspective on Silent Films - September 6, 2017:
A public program that exhibited a collection of the race films movie genre that highlighted African American women and gender activism in the early 20th century.
Frame by Frame: The Media’s Response to the LA Uprisings of 1992 - June 7, 2017:
A public program that explored themes of policing, media bias, and political history in light of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Los Angeles Uprisings of 1992.
Can We All Get Along: 25 Years Later - May 18, 2017:
A public program that explored themes of civil rights, policing, and electoral politics in light of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Los Angeles Uprisings of 1992.
#BlackGirlsMatter - March 16, 2017:
A public program that explored the intersections of women and gender activism contemporarily with consideration to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
