arts@wheaton Archives

“Welcome to our galaxy of harmony and melody, music and philosophy, good vibes and love over everything else. Welcome to Freetown.” After a celebrated virtual visit last year, Trinidadian band, Freetown Collective, will be on campus, live, straight from performing at SXSW in Austin, touring for the first time in North America. Muhammad Muwakil and Lou Lyons, along with DJ Rawkus, redefine Calypso and Soca genres to create soulful, compelling, irresistibly infectious music, designed to lift people up and amplify issues of empowerment and Social Justice. Please join us for an evening of deeply inspired and moving music.

This event is made possible by WEB (Wheaton Events Board), the Evelyn Danzig Haas ’39 Visiting Artists Program and arts@wheaton.

In support of our performing artists and aligning with other local arts organizations, all indoor Arts at Wheaton programming, the Beard & Weil Galleries, and all events taking place in Weber Theatre or the Kresge Experimental Theatre will require gallery visitors and audience members to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.

14th Annual Mary L. Heuser Lecture featuring Sháńdíín Brown

RISD Museum Henry Luce Curatorial Fellow for Native American Art, Sháńdíín Brown (Diné), discusses the museum’s Native American Art collection history, new acquisitions, and upcoming exhibitions. The Henry Luce Curatorial Fellowship is the first full-time position at RISD Museum dedicated exclusively to the Native North American Art collection. About 1,000 objects make up the Native North American Art collection, with a diverse array of Tribal Nations represented. Sháńdíín is a jeweler, Native American Art professional, and citizen of the Navajo Nation.

Virtual via Zoom, register here.

Join us for a mid-day reception celebrating the opening of our latest gallery exhibition, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Perspectives on Mass Criminalization. Take a break, explore the exhibit, and enjoy a Knead Doughnut.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle is on display February 18–April 14, 2022. Masks are required in the galleries regardless of vaccination status.

***This event has been postponed***

Nicholas Kitchen, principal violinist of the Borromeo Sting Quartet, plays two of Beethoven’s most beloved sonatas, the “Spring” and the tempestuous “Kreuzer”. Professor of Music, Ann Sears accompanies Kitchen on piano.

Balla Kouyaté is a Master Balafon player, hereditary musician and Griot (‘Djeli’) from Mali, and an international Malian cultural ambassador. He is the recipient of multiple accolades including the NEA’s National Heritage Fellow in 2019. Balla will be joined by his band, World Vision, for a virtuosic concert of Malian traditional music and contemporary music fusions.

Masks are required for attendees at Arts at Wheaton events regardless of vaccination status.

February 18–April 14, 2022

The exhibition title is borrowed from Angela Davis’s 2015 book and is focused on prison abolition. The work in the show centers on the perspectives of people who have been or are currently incarcerated. Each of the exhibited projects allows us to see the impact the carceral system has on individuals, offering the viewer a chance to reevaluate their perspective on the dehumanizing and harmful effects of incarceration. But each of these projects also offers solutions in the form of information, actions, ways to connect, and alternatives to incarceration.

Ultimately, through the drawings, video performances, photography, writing, and gardens, the exhibition encourages visitors to ask “What would a future without prisons look like? What would it take to get there?”