Cheekwood Estate & Gardens Announces Black Arts Bash

We have an announcement from our friends at Cheekwood! They are hosting the annual Black Arts Bash, happening on Saturday, August 20. The event will celebrate Black culture with music, visual art, dance, spoken word and more.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – From morning to night on Saturday, Aug. 20 Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
will celebrate Black culture at the annual Black Arts Bash. The event showcases music, visual art,
dance, spoken word and more. Families will enjoy storytime and hands-on activities for children as
well as a collaborative art project and tasty fare from local Black chefs. The Black Arts Bash takes
place from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022.

“I am thrilled and honored to be a part of Black Arts Bash,” says event co-chair and Executive
Director of Development in Institutional Management at Tennessee State University LoLita Toney.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate and showcase Black
culture in its various forms. I am delighted that Cheekwood is continuing this event.”
Millennial black plant enthusiast and self-proclaimed “plantrepreneur”, Colah B. Tawkin will hold a
live taping of her podcast, Black in the Garden, Saturday morning. Tawkin’s podcast resides at the
intersection of Black culture and horticulture, covering a range of topics that directly influence Black
plant keepers as they impact and influence the world.

Performances on the Arboretum Lawn Main Stage

11:30 – 12:30 p.m. – Khrys Hatch is a songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. His origins
in Nashville immersed him in a wealth of diverse musical talent, shaping his genre-bending sound. A
mix of soul, rock, hip-hop, R&B, and jazz, Hatch pulls in various influences.

1 – 1:30 p.m. – Spoken Word Poetry by Southern Word. Through the literary and performing
arts, Southern Word offers creative solutions for youth to build literacy and presentation skills,
reconnect to their education and lives, and act as leaders in the improvement of their communities.

2 – 3 p.m. – Singer-Songwriter, Larysa Jaye, brings a twist to the Acoustic Soul Music scene.
Based in Nashville, Tenn., her newly released single, “Birmingham”, is quickly touching hearts across
the country.

3:30 – 4 p.m. – the Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company aims to rally communities
around the beat of the drum to unify, heal and inspire. The Tennessee based performing arts
company was started in 2007 by Maria Estes Hall and is rooted in educating and cultivating an
appreciation for African culture and music.

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. – Lauren McClinton is an alt-R&B/soul singer and songwriter from Los Angeles,
Calif., who knew music was her calling from a very young age. In 2017, while earning her Master’s
degree at Lipscomb University, Lauren decided to make music a full-time career. In October 2019,
McClinton released her debut EP, “DAWN”, a robust neo-R&B project, steeped in captivating lyrics
and deeply emotional vocal arrangements.

6 – 7 p.m. – Originally a football-playing engineer with a stint at NASA, Jason Eskridge could never
shake his passion to make music. His desire is to create music that causes the listener to love
themselves, love their fellow man, think harder, think deeper, think broader, laugh until they cry,
laugh when they want to cry, try something new, remember something old, and ultimately live life to
the fullest.

7:30 – 8:30 p.m. – As a trumpeter, composer, vocalist, lyricist and producer, Rod McGaha is unique
in his ability to combine a wide variety of influences into an eclectic, globally conscious blend which
rings totally fresh. McGaha is an artist able to bring many gifts to his music. While he is admired for
his unique talents as a powerhouse instrumentalist, singer and tune writer, it is McGaha’s presence as
a performing artist that has garnered him respect from some of the best players in the industry. A past
winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for Outstanding Jazz Trumpeter and the Oak Lawn Jazz
Festival All Star Award, McGaha has joined the ranks of some of the most promising jazz players
today.

Art Exhibition

Take in the Black Arts Bash art exhibition, featuring works by rising 10th to 12th-grade students from
the greater Nashville area who identify as black or mix-race alongside works by four local artists. The
four artists will participate in a panel discussion at 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening:

– Barbara Higgins Bond, Award-winning Illustrator
o XPayne, a“Black-pop” artist
o DaShawn Lewis, photographer (@dash.on.community)
o Kimberly Manson, photographer (@kimjpics)

The exhibition will be on view in the Frist Learning Center Great Hall through Sept. 2, 2022.

Community Quilt Activity

Learn about the colors and symbols in African textiles, including Kuba cloth, Adinkra cloth, and
Mudcloth and see how artists, brought these fabrics to canvas. Drawing inspiration from the
meaningful patterns and brilliant colors, participants will choose a fabric square and use stamps
depicting traditional symbols and designs to create their own design. Each completed square will be
added to a larger canvas to create a “community quilt” display. The community quilt activity will take
place in Massey Auditorium inside Botanic Hall from 12 – 5 p.m.
Cuisine

Home-cooked favorites will be provided by chefs from Onyx Foods, including David Swett, Jr., Albert
Lovelace, and Troy Stovall, served from 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Southern comfort options will be
available throughout the day from food trucks including Bag Lady’s, Early Eats, Smokin’ Buttz, Strike
Out Wingz and Rolled 4 Ever.

Reservations are required for the Black Arts Bash which runs from 9 a.m.to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug.
20, 2022. Admission is free for Cheekwood members. Tickets for not-yet members are $20 Gardens
Only or $25 for Gardens & Mansion. To learn more and purchase tickets visit cheekwood.org.
The Black Arts Bash is sponsored by Bank of America and Ernst & Young.

For more information including purchasing tickets click here.