Gateway Arts District to Undergo Examination in MAPPING RACISM Event

Joe's Movement Emporium and Hyattsville Community Development Corporation have joined forces to produce an innovative, and informative project that will highlight what is now the Gateway Arts District and its intentional history of racial division. Mapping Racism is unlike any other collaborative arts and humanities project produced in this area. Its mission is to reveal the hidden architecture of segregation in Prince George's County, done in part through examining and exposing the use of restrictive deed covenants in the creation of new housing. This was long before it became one of the most welcoming and wealthiest minority-majority communities in the country.

Joe's has identified a talented group of artists such as Ally Theatre, Orange Grove Dance, and playwright Doug Robinson, to partner in creating programs based on the documentation and research provided by Hyattsville CDC. Andre Mazelin, a seasoned arts presenter based in Baltimore, will serve as Project Coordinator. These series of produced works and curated conversations will create the foundation for community building and further discussions on the history of discrimination in our area.

Mapping Racism will launch February 2019 with a series of public performances and discussions to explore, through art, the racist practices of the early twentieth century that defined the very neighborhoods we live in today. Hyattsville CDC's ultimate goal is to develop a useful online tool kit for property owners to cleanse their deeds.

With early support from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation's Cross-Sector Arts Partnership program and the Maryland Humanities Council, Joe's and Hyattsville CDC will present the series of exciting programming included below. The Cross-Sector Arts Partnership program aims to support strong, collaborative partnership models between arts and non-arts entities that provide a platform for artistic creation and strong community impact.