- Hi, I'm John Sloan III, and here's what's coming up on One Detroit Arts and Culture.
Detroit's Museum of African American History, a flashback to the holidays downtown as the Detroit Historical Museum celebrates Hudson's during the holidays, and a unique take on a traditional opera.
It's all ahead on One Detroit Arts and Culture.
- [Narrator 1] Support for this program provided in part by The Kresge Foundation, the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.
From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.
Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.
- [Narrator 2] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.
Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving.
We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.
Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.
- [Narrator 1] Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, Nissan Foundation, and by contributions to your PBS Station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
(upbeat music) - What up, though?
Welcome to One Detroit Arts and Culture.
I'm John Sloan III, a Detroit-based artist, activist, founder of Ghost Site Creative Productions, and producing artistic director of the Obsidian Theater Festival.
And while I manage to keep myself pretty busy, I'm thrilled to be guest hosting for Satori Shakoor as she wraps up the reprisal of her role in the groundbreaking play, "The Kink In My Hair."
I'm glad to be coming to you today from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, or as we lovingly refer to it, The Wright.
Coming up on the show, the Detroit Historical Society looks back at the spectacle of Hudson's during the holidays with a special pop-up exhibit.
And Aida is coming in concert to the Detroit Opera.
But first, I had the honor to sit down with the Manager of Community Engagement here for The Wright, Yolanda Jack.
She gave us some wonderful insight into Kwanzaa and to the rest of the exhibits happening here at the museum.
Yo, how are you?
- I'm great, John, how are you?
- I'm doing great, thank you, Happy Kwanzaa.
- Happy Kwa, Habari Gani.
- Habari Gani.
- Yes, indeed.
- Excuse me, I'm sorry.
- This is all about Kwanzaa holiday season.
- No, you taught me better.
You did, yes.
- Hey, we're getting ready to get into it and it's really an exciting time for us here at the museum.
- So talk to us for a second about what the Wright is doing to celebrate Kwanzaa this year.
- So the Wright is doing a little bit differently than what we have been doing over the past few years.
We have one celebration this year on December 29th.
From 5:00 PM until 9:00 PM the marketplace will be here and we'll have a great program from six to eight and folks can shop.
And the focus is youth entrepreneurship, youth leadership.
And so you'll see youth vendors, youth businessmen, and women.
Kwanzaa brings out the best of our community, of our culture.
It highlights these seven amazing principles that have gotten us to 2022.
And it helps us understand how we get from here to beyond.
- So I think sometimes there's confusion amongst some people who don't necessarily celebrate Kwanzaa on a regular basis about what Kwanzaa is in specific.
Is it a religion?
Is it like, what are all these questions and things?
You and I both know how it started.
But let's just fill in the people, just in general.
- So that's a fair question.
It's a new holiday, it's new-ish, it's only not quite 60 years old yet.
- 66, right.
- Right, and so the thing is it was founded in California by the study of Dr. Maulana Karenga.
Kawaida is the system that he created and developed out of his studies of the continent of Africa.
And he synthesized, I guess, kind of distilled these seven principles from all of his studies.
These are things that you find across the continent of Africa.
And the celebration itself is a collection of these principles, these thoughts, and how they did things in Africa and how they've come here to the United States.
How the members of our community here in the US have throughout history, since enslavement, how we've had self-determination and unity and collective work and responsibility and cooperative economics and purpose and faith.
- Creativity and, yeah.
- Exactly, so these things have have made us be who we are in the United States today and across the diaspora, obviously.
But it's an American holiday that is spread out through the diaspora.
And so we're thinking about how we celebrate those principles.
And so that's what the main gist of Kwanzaa is.
Kwanzaa begins on the 26th of December and continues every day until the first of the new year.
So every day we celebrate a principle.
- Can you talk for a minute about what you see as the purpose and the mission, the importance of the Charles H. Wright to this city and to this community?
- This museum has been an institution for over 50 years.
It's almost 60 years now.
Dr. Wright founded the museum in his home when he was an obstetrician and gynecologist collecting items and artifacts from around the world.
So, he understood the significance of telling the story, holding the stories.
And then as we grew the institution, when we literally got into this beautiful facade that we're standing in here now.
This place holds memory, holds story, holds culture.
It is a place holder, but it is also a place where if you are not of the African diaspora, if you don't feel connected to it in that way, you can come and learn about it.
So it's an educational institution.
It is a place where culture is celebrated, held.
And so the placement of this place in the city, in the heart of our city, is important.
- So tell us about some of the amazing things, we know Kwanzaa's coming up.
- Oh yeah.
But tell us about some of the amazing things that the Wright has coming, the exhibitions and any new events.
- Oh man.
Our exhibitions, we have some awesome, awesome exhibitions.
We're standing right here in front of the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum, which is a museum within a museum.
They've been here for a few years and will be here until their true facade gets established on Willow Run.
We also have "To Whom Much Is Given," a wonderful exhibition that closes in a few weeks that's speaking about Detroit legacy and our leaders here, Josephine Love and Dell Pryor.
And it was curated by their family member, granddaughter, and cousin Malika Pryor.
In addition to Tuskegee and to whom much is given it's the "44" exhibition, 44 busts of President Obama.
It's a revisit of an exhibition that was here, "Dreams of the 44th President."
And in addition to those exhibitions we have of course, the Detroit Jazz and the Jazz Legacy Exhibition and the one that everyone comes here for "And Still We Rise", our permanent collection, our permanent exhibition.
So these are the things that you can come and see and learn about.
There are all kinds of new workshops and programs.
Of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming next month in a few weeks.
Black History Month coming up, Women's History Month.
We are so excited about 2023 and how we're able to reconnect and broaden the conversation about history and the projecting of history, the historical tenets and thoughts and values into the future.
- That's fantastic, well, I encourage everybody to come.
I encourage you to join, become a member of the Charles H. Wright Museum.
Support this amazing Detroit landmark.
Next up, don't you think the holidays bring back a sense of nostalgia?
If you grew up around Detroit, you probably remember Hudson's.
Maybe you shopped downtown during the holiday season or saw Santa.
Maybe you had or still have some Santa Bears decorating your home.
Well, the Detroit Historical Museum is celebrating that old Detroit tradition with an exhibit called Hudson's Holidays.
Back for its second year.
Let's take a look.
(upbeat music) - When I think of the holidays, I think of Hudson's.
Growing up in Detroit, one of my first memories of the holidays was getting all dressed up and going downtown to Hudson's to visit Santa.
- I became enthralled with the store and the traditions the first time my folks brought me downtown to the store and I'd never seen a store that big and I just went nuts.
- [Delisha] Nobody did it quite like Hudson's did it, from the big tree to all the beautiful things to buy.
I mean, it really was a place of wonder.
- [Michael] The show began on the sidewalk.
The minute you came inside, you were literally thrown into a different world with beautiful architecture and lighting and drapes and things like that.
You forgot all your troubles.
- We're sitting here today in the main area of our Hudson's holiday exhibit in the Detroit Historical Museum.
The holidays are a time when you wanna share stories with your family.
You want your kids to experience the things that you experienced when you were a kid.
And one of the things that we hear about here at the Detroit Historical Society most often is Hudson's.
- The company meant so much to so many people in this marketplace.
That store, you know, during the holidays, employed 10,000 people.
A hundred thousand people a day would visit that building to not only shop, but dine.
The company through the years created so many of our iconic events.
The Thanksgiving Day parade was begun by the company in 1924.
- Hudson's was a huge department store and it had restaurants, it had Santa, and it was kind of the special place that you went, particularly at the holiday season.
Here at the museum, we wanted people to have the idea and the feeling of what that might have been like years ago when when our grand department store, Hudson's was in its heyday.
- [Michael] What we did is we edited down a lot of things.
What would be the most relevant for the greater public?
- There's a surprise and a delight to take you back to the Hudson's holiday experience.
And I love that about how we've set it up here.
It's not just one place, but it really is a vibe, if you will.
- This exhibition was designed in much the same way that a department store was is exactly what our exhibits team was thinking about when they put this thing together.
We've created 11 popups all through the museum space.
When I was first touring this as it was kind of being put up, I realized, you know, as you walk down the stairs, right at the bottom of the stairs is some signage and advertising from Hudson's back in their basement shops, which were kind of their bargain, that's where you got the term bargain basement, right?
One of the things that I love is that we actually created a little mini popup exhibit inside of the elevator.
And it's so, it's really fun that we've been able to recreate that experience of going from floor to floor and experiencing this big department store by putting those departments in different places all throughout the museum.
- The Santa Bears are my favorite part of this exhibition.
I think the first Santa Bear came out in 1985.
I remember that one.
I definitely remember the 1986 Bear because he had the little 1986 on the sweater.
But we always got Santa Bears for Christmas.
Every year, the Santa Bears were part of our Christmas tradition.
- My favorite part of the museum, you know, I kind of really love holiday sparkles, so I do love all of the Christmas lights and the sparkly stuff here in Toyland, which is where we're sitting.
I also really love the fashion.
Our fashion collection here at the Society is amazing.
- [Michael] In terms of what the public will be interested in, certainly Santa Bears has created a huge interest, just from the social media thus far.
The delivery wagon that was created for the 75th anniversary of the company.
Shopping bags, you know, that we hadn't previously displayed through the years.
Photographs that we blew up, things that were donated from the public, the red carpet that you see here as you come into the Toyland area.
- It's interesting when you think about kids now having the experience of, you know, shopping purely online.
Like, they don't even get the big Christmas catalog, much less the experience of going to a really beautiful department store or, or even a mall.
And so bringing an exhibit back like this one where it is all decorated and everything is sparkly and beautiful and you get to remember that and feel really special for a minute, gives the kids the opportunity to experience something that they're not experiencing in real life anymore.
This museum is a place where we want families to come together and come and visit us during the holidays.
We brought this really nostalgic exhibition to the public for that reason.
- It's about life and family and the opportunity to be together, which, you know, these days is certainly not something to be taken for granted.
So I really do think that it really is an inclusive exhibition that people can come and just really, you know, remember a simpler time and be amazed by these toys.
- [Rebecca] I think whenever you have the experience of being put back into a specific time, you have this moment where you get to imagine what it was to be there at that time, what those people's lives were like.
- [Elisha] I really hope that people come and enjoy it and feel really good when they're here.
- [Michael] I hope they take away, you know, a feeling of joy.
- This exhibit is going to remind you once again what it means to share memories with your family.
It's kind of the perfect entry to that holiday season for everybody.
- You can check out the exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum through December 30th.
Aida is known as an opera filled with grand pageantry on stage.
Well, Detroit Opera is bringing Aida to Detroit for the first time in a decade, and doing so in a rather unique way.
Aida in concert will give the audience the chance to soak up Verde's powerful music, featuring an incredible cast, including Angel Blue as Aida.
WRCJ's Cecelia Sharpe sits down with Detroit Opera's artistic director, Yuval Sharon to talk Aida, along with whatever else is in store for the Detroit Opera.
- We're here to talk about Aida, which is coming up on December 30th.
Talk about how Aida came about, because it's been almost a decade since it's been presented.
- Yes, you know, when I plan the season, I try to create a journey for the audience, which needs to include, I think, some of the real masterpieces of the genre.
And Aida is of course one of the most popular operas in the history of opera.
Now, it's also usually a very expensive opera to mount.
Most people hear the word Aida and they think, how many elephants are gonna be on the stage, you know, because there's this big triumphant march scene in Act Two, where most opera companies pull out all the stops with a bunch of different props and peop- you know, there's a lot to it normally and there's a lot of pageantry to it.
But I will say that in my overall mission for the opera, to invite the audience to think differently, even about the classic masterworks.
I thought that presenting this piece in concert was a great way to actually remove some of those assumptions about Aida.
Because a lot of that pageantry I think now we look at quite differently, because what's happening is, quite literally, enslaved people are coming onto the stage.
And in a less critical production, this can feel like an exploitative act, right?
Or it could be images that really trigger some really negative reactions in our audience, especially when it's just presented, you know, with no commentary, right?
And I think that actually that's really detrimental to what Aida's actually about and who Verde, the composer, what he really stood for.
He wrote this fairly late in his career.
It's one of his last operas.
And at that point he was, you know, he saw Italy reunified.
He was even a senator for his town.
What he was really after was not a kind of a song for the Empire, which is sometimes how Aida can come across.
It can really seem like it is celebrating, you know, victory and war and all of these, all these quite negative things.
But actually, it's quite an intimate opera that is fundamentally about individual freedom and how that individual freedom tends to get suffocated under the weight of an oppressive regime.
It's a strong political statement that he made.
And that doesn't always come across in Aida because of all the pageantry.
- What can the audience expect in this one night only performance of Aida in concert?
So, the audience, I think has total freedom in this concert, because there's no scenery for this production, right?
It will just be the concert presentation of the entire score of Aida from beginning to end.
So we still get to tell you the story of Aida, but the theatrical parts get to be completely in your own mind.
Another key element of this was my partner at Detroit Opera, the associate artistic director, Christine Goerke.
You know, she is one of the great sopranos of our day.
And we work very closely, she's quite close friends with Angel Blue.
And she's the reason Angel has agreed to do this, is because of her friendship with Christine and thinking what would they like to do together.
So Angel is doing Aida for the first time and Christine is doing Amneris, the rival to Aida, also for the very first time.
So this is an exciting role debut for both of these incredible artists, one of whom is a key member of the artistic team for Detroit Opera.
So, I think that's gonna be thrilling.
- So where can people get more information about this concert?
- Our website has all the up-to-date information, including tickets, time, all of that.
It's detroit opera dot o, r, g. And if you visit that, you can also see what's coming after Aida.
There are two coming up that I'm really looking forward to this season.
There is Handel's Opera, Xerxes, which is the first time the Detroit Opera has ever done this opera.
- [Cecelia] And what's the second piece?
- [Yulov] The second piece is a contemporary piece called Fountain of Tears by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov in a production by the Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker, which first opened at the Scottish Opera and marks Detroit Opera's first international collaboration.
So we're very excited about that.
- So Yuval, what is next for the future of the Detroit Opera?
- I'd like to think that we are on a journey as a community with opera, and understanding why opera can be specific to Detroit.
I really am trying to take this audience and everyone who's even curious about opera, on a journey that helps them understand why opera is not an art form of the past, but it's an emerging art form.
And I'd like to see us continue that.
I think over the next few years, probably a similar mix of you know, classic stories told with a new perspective and also brand new pieces that are given the kind of masterwork treatment, like X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X that we did this past spring, which was such an exciting, groundbreaking work for us to do.
- Yeah.
- And really building on that and looking for me, the more that I'm here in Detroit, the more I'm looking to connect with this community and see what stories, what singers, and what directors, what conductors really resonate with what makes Detroit, Detroit.
- What advice do you have for those who aren't really ready to accept these new perspectives?
- I would say for the, first the advice I would say is, come with an open mind, you might be surprised.
There's always something new that can be discovered.
So I think that's the first thing.
And the second thing is actually this concert of Aida is a perfect response to people who maybe didn't like certain aspects of how we did one production or another.
This is a chance where the music is front and center and where nothing can distract you from just appreciating the best singers in the world right now, doing such great music.
- Yuval, thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do for opera, especially here in Detroit.
- Thank you.
- Aida in concert happens for one night only at the Detroit Opera on December 30th.
For more information on all of our arts and culture stories, go to our website at onedetroitpbs.org.
Thank you for joining me today and for this month, and thank you to The Wright for having us.
That's gonna do it for my substitute stint, but I'm gonna leave you with a Jit Masters performance from Detroit Performance Live from Marygrove.
Special thanks to everyone here at the One Detroit family.
From over here on our side to all of you at home, happy holidays.
♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, blow killers ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, blow killers ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, blow killers ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers ♪ (energetic dance music) (dance music continues) ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, blow killers, work it out ♪ ♪ Blow killers, hit it hard ♪ ♪ Blow killers, work it out ♪ - [Woman] One, two, three ♪ Back when Seven Mile was lit slid ♪ ♪ Cars bumper to bumper ♪ ♪ East Jefferson was off the hook ♪ ♪ I mean Jefferson was smothered ♪ ♪ But then you hit the bridge ♪ ♪ Crossed over to Belle Isle ♪ ♪ We've been on the route for two hours ♪ ♪ But only drove a mile.
♪ ♪ Been working hard all week ♪ ♪ Couldn't wait to get to Friday ♪ ♪ In my CD player, Anita Baker ♪ ♪ Got Jodeci and Sade ♪ ♪ Aww man, your system bumping ♪ ♪ Your speakers sounding loud ♪ ♪ But these fifteens in my trunk said ♪ ♪ They came to shut it all down ♪ ♪ Now dances come and go ♪ ♪ We know they changed like the weather ♪ ♪ But we started something decades ago ♪ ♪ But can't nobody do it better.
♪ ♪ And I would never lie to you.
♪ ♪ It ain't that easy to get.
♪ ♪ But pay close attention ♪ ♪ Detroit, long live Jit ♪ - Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
♪ To destroy your Jitterbug ♪ ♪ It is primarily done through Detroit ♪ ♪ Techno music ♪ - Somebody out there say this, long live Jit, long live Jit, long live Jit.
Let me hear y'all.
Long live Jit.
Long live Jit.
Long live Jit.
♪ The one time for the culture ♪ ♪ Two times for the love ♪ ♪ Three times for all the fallen soldiers ♪ ♪ The greats up above ♪ ♪ I'm a slave to the drums ♪ ♪ Mama, look what I become ♪ ♪ I try looking for competition ♪ ♪ But there seems to be none ♪ ♪ 6:00 AM in the morning ♪ ♪ We don't stop til the sun ♪ ♪ It's coming up ♪ ♪ My number's up and we just here to have fun ♪ ♪ You might not believe it, you might not even buy it ♪ ♪ But when you see the people move ♪ ♪ You might go home and try it ♪ ♪ I knew it like I was psychic ♪ ♪ Dope since flip phones and sidekicks ♪ ♪ The rhyme you hear is classic ♪ ♪ And the moves you see are timeless ♪ ♪ And I would never lie to you ♪ ♪ It ain't that easy to get ♪ ♪ Pay close attention ♪ ♪ Long live Jit ♪ - [Narrator 1] Support for this program provided in part by The Kresge Foundation, the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV From Delta faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.
Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.
- [Narrator 2] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.
Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving.
We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.
Visit DTEfoundation.com to learn more.
- [Narrator 1] Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, Nissan Foundation, and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
(upbeat music) (piano music)