SGVAP Presents: FIELD TRIP– A Community Led Bus Tour of Louisville’s Black Architecture and Cultural Landmarks

October 17th 12pm – 4pm Speed Art Museum Ahead of Brandon Ndife’s forthcoming exhibition, the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program invites community members to co-lead a bus tour of architecture and public spaces significant to Louisville’s Black cultural history. Inspired by “Claiming Open Spaces,” a 1996 documentary by Austin Allen about public parks told from the perspectives of the African American communities who use them, this program archives and educates people on the way Black Louisville life has shaped and been shaped by the built environment of the city. In this contemporary era of mass gentrification and land theft that has worn away predominantly Black communities nationwide, this program rejects that erasure and offers local community members, scholars, and artists a moment to historicize their landmarks themselves. Each location on the bus tour has been pre-selected by community stewards to educate us on their chosen location and will allow for a non-traditional collection of sites and locations. Some of the sites chosen have been Shawnee Park, Portland Memorial Baptist Church, Flock of Finns, Parkland Library, and more! To archive Louisville Black public space filmmaker Imani K. Dennison has been commissioned to join this tour and turn FIELD TRIP into a short documentary.