Talk Show Personality to Host National Black Artists in Central New York’s first-ever Black Excellence Event and Juneteenth Celebration
Syracuse, NY (June 9, 2022) – Dr. Juhanna Rogers invites the public to join her in celebrating the First Annual Queendom’s Artist Festival in Central New York. African American Artists from across the nation will convene in Cazenovia, New York (a suburb of Syracuse, New York), for a weekend of art, music, and entertainment.
“I have spent the last year as a visiting artist at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, which has permitted me to tap into my playwriting and work as an artist in a more fulfilling way,” said Dr. Rogers. “There, I have been working on my latest play, Queendom, and inspired to expand the spaces for other like-minded artists and friends to celebrate, create, and honor who we are.”
Dr. Roger’s latest play, Queendom, conceptualizes the promise of “40 acres and a mule. In Queendom, Dr. Rogers imagines a world where enslaved peoples are granted resources and funds to help establish lives in America, post-slavery. In the fictional town of Queendom, women prepare for the Kuumba festival. On the eve of this annual festival, the women of Queendom discuss traditions of being Black in America, their dreams, and the traumas that still haunt them.
The Queendom’s Artist Festival will be the first of a series of summer events to publicly introduce the play’s concept. The festival will feature a weekend of live readings, music, art, a Black Speakeasy experience, a Unity Gardening creation, the Queendom Ball (formal gala), a Soul Service Spiritual Brunch, and much more. Dr. Juhanna Rogers anticipates welcoming more than 300 attendees over the course of the weekend.
Dr. Rogers’ work as a visiting artist at Stone Quarry Art Park is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature as well as the following funders and sponsors: CNY Arts, The Gifford Foundation, Honey B Home & Essentials, The Ice Cream Stand, Syracuse Sounds of Music Association, Inc., Women’s Fund of Central New York, Sparkplug Foundation, VIP, Meiers’s Creek, On the One, and Stone Quarry Art Park.
QUEENDOM’S ARTIST FESTIVAL 2022
Date: June 17-19th
Location: Cazenovia, New York Stone Quarry Hill Art Park and “Hillcrest” Jephson Estate
Featured Artists: Over a dozen nationally recognized artists will be in attendance (see attachment), including the following:
- Artists
- Will Watson (Baltimore, MD) -Painter, Visual Artist
- Vickie Daniels (Indianapolis, IN) – Vocal Stylist, Musical Curator
- Simone “Symphonie” Owens (Syracuse, NY)– Vocalist, spoken word and visual artist
- Hosts: J, Tamisha Hallman
- Speakers: Sharon Owens, Vonzella McQueen,
Tickets: $100.00 Click Here to Purchase tickets
More Information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dr-juhanna-rogers-presents-queendoms-artist-festival-tickets-326361344567
“In 2020, the nation woke up to a reality that there was more work needed to create an equitable society and the field of arts,” said Dr. Rogers. “The Queendom Artist Festival in Central New York is a response for the need to diversify and expand spaces, and opportunities that center African American history, art, and projects that focus on progressive histories.”
Dr. Rogers noted that when people think about the last 100 years, they must meditate on how black musical, visual, and performance artists have evolved and expanded the landscape across genres.
“For centuries, Black art has undeniably shaped North America and the overall art culture that is loved and appreciated today. Thanks to our sponsors and the Stone Quarry Art Park, we will have the opportunity to highlight mediums and pieces across the diaspora.”
Queendom – Queendom is an in-process interactive outdoor performative experience that explores the dream and possibility of reparations. Written and produced by Dr. Juhanna Rogers, Queendom conceptualizes the promise of “40 acres and a mule.” Forty acres of land and a mule were to be bestowed upon enslaved peoples that were freed in America in the reparations package approved by President Lincoln’s administration. It was a promise later retracted after Lincoln’s assassination. In Queendom, Dr. Rogers imagines a world where enslaved peoples are granted resources and funds to help establish lives in America, post-slavery. In the fictional town of Queendom, women prepare for the Kuumba festival. On the eve of this annual festival, the women of Queendom discuss traditions of being Black in America, their dreams, and the traumas that still haunt them.
Dr. Juhanna Rogers –
Juhanna Rogers, PhD. is a motivational speaker, commentator, artist, and education activist, and Host of the WCNY/PBS television series “Behind the Woman”, and founder and contributor to the “4Mics” podcast out of her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Currently residing in Central New York, Dr. Rogers is committed to social justice, education, and the arts. She is a critical race scholar and builds platforms for critical conversations on race, justice, and equity. Dr. Rogers works globally to address equity in higher education, exploring ways through which underrepresented populations— specifically people of African descent— can improve their lives and communities. Her passion lies in bringing out narratives of the people she has met along the way, using their stories as tools for empowering students in urban communities. Dr. Rogers is also the Vice President of Racial Equity and Social Impact of CenterState CEO, an economic development strategist and chamber of commerce located in Syracuse, NY. In this role, Dr. Rogers helps develop and deploy DEI strategies that achieve more equitable outcomes both internally and across the organization’s portfolio of work. Dr. Rogers holds a degree in Integrative Arts from Penn State University, a master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs, and a PhD in Higher Education with a focus on Race and Equity from Indiana University. She and seven other colleagues made history at Indiana University as the largest group of Black women to graduate with PH.D. degrees, simultaneously, in the School of Education. This group of women—deemed “The Great Eight”— gained national attention and were selected as honorees for the 2016 Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list.
