BAM!: Chicago’s Black Arts Movement

Primary author: Thabiti Lewis
Co-author(s): Pavithra Narayanan

Primary college/unit: Arts and Sciences
Campus: Vancouver

Abstract:

The film examines the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, which is an epicenter of the black diaspora. The film “BAM! Chicago’s Black Arts Movement” features interviews with Museum director Carol Adams, publisher and poet Haki Madhubuti, Safisha Madhubuti, Eugene Redmond, Mwata Bowden, Angela Jackson and many other artists and scholars. The film introduces viewers to the history of Chicago’s Black Arts Movement (BAM) and reflects on the extensive national and international impact of Chicago’s Black writers, musicians and community organizers and the organizations and institutions that they supported and founded including the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), Negro Digest/Black World, Ebony Talent Agency (ETA), the DuSable Museum, Third World Press, Johnson Publishing, Kuumba Theatre, and the South Side Community Arts Center.
The film explores the 1960s era of art and politics and why Chicago emerged as one of the most important cities and was able to be such an influential matrix for Black communities across the country seeking to duplicate Chicago’s institutional building and arts scene.
Preview of Film: https://vimeo.com/295695342
Runtime: 55 minutes