Art. Culture. Life.

NBAF is a cultural compass and living archive. Explore what we’re reading, hearing, seeing, and creating below.

NBAF Bookshelf

“The Tradition” by Jericho Brown

Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry that hits with truth, rhythm, and tenderness.

Atlanta-based Jericho Brown challenges legacy, love, and survival in every line.

The Tradition explores cultural threats on black bodies, resistance, and the interplay of desire and privilege in a dangerous era.
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"To read Jericho Brown's poems is to encounter devastating genius."

- Claudia Rankine

Creative AF (Artist Feature)

Creative AF is our monthly nod to the culture-shapers, boundary-pushers, and vision-bearers whose work makes us pause, move, and think.

Dread Scott

Dread Scott is a visual artist whose works are exhibited across the US and internationally. In 1989, his art became the center of national controversy over its transgressive use of the American flag, while he was a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. President G.H.W. Bush called his art “disgraceful” and the entire US Senate denounced and outlawed this work. Dread became part of a landmark Supreme Court case when he and others defied the federal law outlawing his art by burning flags on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. He has presented at TED talk on this.

His work has been included in exhibitions at MoMA PS1, the Walker Art Center, Cristin Tierney Gallery, and Gallery MOMO in Cape Town, South Africa, and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, The National Gallery of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum. He was a 2021 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow and has also received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and United States Artists as well as a Creative Capital grant.

In 2019 he presented Slave Rebellion Reenactment, a community-engaged project that reenacted the largest rebellion of enslaved people in US history. The project was featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Christiane Amanpour on CNN, and highlighted by artnet.com as one of the most important artworks of the decade.

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Road Trip - For the Culture Chasers

Detroit, MI

The Motor City is on the move — murals, music, and the resurgence of its Black creative renaissance. Long time NBAF Fam jessica care moore, our favorite Detroit Butterfly is the city’s Poet Laureate and has a new film out.

What’s Poppin:

- Charles H. Wright Museum – Immersive, beautifully curated exhibitions
- He Looked Like A Postcard - Film by jessica care moore
- BLKOUT Walls Murals - Creativity and Inspiration through street art

Playlist

Sweet Spots Playlist. Created by Atlanta based photographer and film maker Melissa Meli-Mel Alexander.

A Letter from the NBAF President

Greetings,

I’m Leatrice Ellzy, President and CEO of the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF). I’m honored and excited to return to the institution where my professional journey in Black arts and culture began. This return comes at a time when so much of what we hold sacred, our identity, creativity, and cultural storytelling, is being challenged, censored, and erased. It’s not lost on me how urgent this moment is.

For generations, Black people looked to the North Star, not only for direction, but for deliverance. It was a signal. It was a quiet, brilliant guide through the dark. A reminder that even in uncertainty, we can chart our own course.

As I begin this new chapter at NBAF, I find myself asking: What is our compass now? When the stars are obscured, the maps redrawn, and the ground shifting, what orients Black artists, thinkers, and communities? Is it ancestral knowing? The impulse towards dignified resistance? The clarity of imagination? Or simply, each other?

This season, we move with intention toward discernment more than destination. It is not the rush to arrive, but the refusal to drift. The practice of holding space, holding true, and holding truth.

My commitment to you as we move ahead is clear: collaborative leadership, visionary programming, and a deep, abiding love for this work. As we strengthen our operational capacity and restore the full scope of our programming, you’ll see us re-invest in artists across disciplines, design programs rooted in joy and resistance, and return to our full citywide summer festival.

This vision is possible. More importantly, it’s essential. But it requires the collective effort of the entire village. I invite you to build with us by giving $100 to the Festival Fund and encouraging your friends and family to do the same. These are the initial steps of collectively building something bigger than ourselves. I love this for us. Let’s get to work!

With gratitude and purpose,
Leatrice Ellzy
President + CEO
National Black Arts Festival