Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

A Second Annual Juneteenth Month Celebration featuring a concert with Living Water Ministries’ Ensembles, an art exhibit featuring Brandon Virgil, Sr. and Rodrecas Davis, and a special spoken word performance by Alayna Chadwick will take place Thursday, June 1, 2023, 5:00 - 8:00 PM at the Biedenharn Museum and Gardens in Monroe. Gates open at 5:00 PM, and the concert begins at 6:00 PM. The event is free to the public, but donations are appreciated. Guests should enter through the Riverside gate. The program is the first of many Juneteenth activities planned in Monroe for June. The concert begins at 6:00 PM. However, guests will want to come early to view an outdoor art exhibit featuring works by Brandon Virgil, Sr., and Rodrecas Davis. Raised in Lake Providence, LA, Brandon Virgil Sr. currently resides in Monroe, LA. He is a self-taught artist passionate about visual, graphic, and abstract art. Brandon also studied graphic design at Northeast Louisiana University. He is well known for his portraiture and graphic design works. The passion to draw started in elementary school, though the local school didn’t include art in the curriculum. As a board member of Black Creative Circle, one of Brandon’s desires is to provide art opportunities to rural area schools. Most of Brandon’s artworks memorialize precious moments in the lives of many people. That within itself is a priceless reward for which Brandon is extremely grateful. A native of Monroe, GA, Rodrecas Davis is a 2006 graduate of the University of Georgia Fine Arts program - with an emphasis in drawing and painting. Primarily a mixed media artist, Davis is also a former columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald and Code Z Online: Black Visual Culture Now. Davis has presented papers at several academic conferences, including the HUIC Conference (Hawaii University International Conferences) Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, for which he discussed manifestations of Hip-Hop culture in the visual arts. His work has been featured in the Politics Issue of Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Color Lines, and over sixty exhibitions. Mr. Davis is a Professor and Head of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. For more information, contact Ralph Calhoun, Executive Director, Biedenharn Museum & Gardens 318-355-7658, [email protected].