(Black PR Wire) – Accomplished actor, director, educator and lifelong children’s literacy advocate LeVar Burton will serve as host of the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the televised semifinals on June 1 and finals on June 2, 2022, near Washington, D.C. Burton has won Emmy and Grammy awards and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He will serve as grand […]
Category: Arts & Culture
Posted inAfro Briefs
How does the plot end for movie theaters?
By JOSH DAVIDSBURG Capital News Service It’s been a rough year for movie theaters. Movie theaters are trying to do what they can to get people into seats. This motion graphics essay looks at the state of the theater industry and if the web of recent blockbusters is enough to save them.
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Snoop Dogg’s Son Named Creative Director for Crypto Gaming App
LOS ANGELES, CA (December 23, 2021) – Former UCLA football athlete Cordell Broadus is championing his own lane of innovation in the cryptocurrency and non-fungible token (NFT) industries. The new play-2-earn (P2E) gaming app Doge Dash tapped Cordell Broadus as its’ first-ever creative director to oversee its brand and artistic framework. Following his withdrawal from […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Denzel Washington on directing: ‘I’m still learning’
By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer Preparing to direct “A Journal for Jordan,” a bittersweet love story opening on Christmas Day, Denzel Washington says he took a “master class.” That master class consisted of starring in a movie directed by Joel Coen, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which opens the same day. “I steal from the […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Josephine Baker and James Baldwin: The JBs take France, become activists, make America appreciate them
By Micha Green AFRO D.C. and Digital Editor mgreen@afro.com Black American art and artists have historically been lauded as the first of its kind then imitated by or duplicated for White performers and audiences. However, with the realities of American racism and prejudice, African American artists did not always have chances to thrive in their […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Black people’s undeniable impact on TikTok
By Aysia Morton Special to the AFRO Without a doubt, Black TikTok creators have a major impact on today’s pop culture. The app gained notable popularity during quarantine and now has amassed over one billion users across the globe. As with many trends in popular culture, Black people have been on the forefront of content […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Confessions of a style fanatic: Top 10 Black style icons of all time
By Tonaé Lee When you think of “Style Icon” what comes to mind? I think of people who are timeless and classic with their fashion choices. Versatile and original. In my opinion, Black creatives and designers are the blueprint for a lot of the hot trends and pop culture today. It’s just like how the […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
African culture is the inspiration behind the modern art movement
By Nicole D. Batey Special to the AFRO As the largest continent in the world, encompassing 54 countries, over one billion people, and so many countless aesthetic traditions, the demand for African art cannot be circumscribed by the global market. The influence of African art is so far-reaching that the mainstream, more commercial sector of […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Swan Song film review
By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic “I love you Cameron Tanner. Always have. Always will.” Most husbands adore their wives’ words of love. Cameron’s (Mahershala Ali, Moonlight) ambivalence stems from his secret, painful ordeal. He’s dying and his wife Poppy (Naomie Harris, Moonlight) doesn’t know it. Convulsions. Blackouts. Brain disease is draining the […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Quan Howell new movie, new music, ‘Your Energy’
By Micha Green AFRO D.C. and Digital Editor mgreen@afro.com Every industry took a hit during the pandemic, and the entertainment field definitely was no different, but as the world is opening back up, artists, such as Quan Howell, are releasing new work and projects. Howell recently appeared in the new Melvin Childs film, For the […]
Posted inBooks
bell hooks, author, professor and feminist, dead at 69
By Stephon Johnson Acclaimed and celebrated author bell hooks passed away Dec. 15 at the age of 69. According to her niece Ebony Motley, as reported by the Lexington Herald Leader, hooks had been battling an unknown illness. Motley also said that hooks was surrounded by close friends and family as she died. hooks (whose real […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Alicia Keys’ ‘Keys’ album returns her to her piano homebase
By Gary Gerard Hamilton The Associated Press Alicia Keys hasn’t felt completely free for much of her career. That may sound surprising, but these days the heralded musician is loving the makeup-free skin she’s in and settled into a space of confidence and liberation. That’s readily apparent in her eighth studio album, “KEYS,” which represents […]