Black Theatre Girl Magic (BTGM) in partnership with the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) seeks Central Florida artists submissions for OMA’s “1st Thursdays Series”. The gallery will be available via live-stream on Facebook and Youtube from February 2nd-7th, 2021. This event aims to display portraiture art and poetry that centers the meaning of “Onija”.
Black Theatre Girl Magic purposely titles this February series, Onija. A Yoruban word meaning ‘fighter’. A person possessing great strength. For BTGM, this word closely ties to their mission of eliminating racist and ableist barriers of entry in all sectors of the entertainment industry. Drawn to the idea of displaying the possession of great strength, this series pushes to elevate the narrative of strength and fight from the African diaspora through the generations. It is this generational aspect that makes submissions from all ages both acceptable and necessary.
We are seeking submissions of portraiture, self-portraiture, and poetry that exemplify the fighting spirit of our West African inheritance through Black people in America and the African diaspora. As this event aims to center the art of Black people, we are specifically seeking submissions from Central Florida artists who are descendants of the African diaspora and/or American descendants of slavery (ADOS).
The deadline for portraiture artists submissions is January 17th, 2021 at 4 p.m. Please submit at https://omart.org/events/1st_thursdays/ which will open January 4th, 2021. In addition, please be aware that selected works must be dropped off and installed February 1st between 8 a.m and 5 p.m. The deadline for poets seeking to submit is January 17th, 2021 at 4 p.m. Please submit no more than 2 poems to https://forms.gle/G8qR2fdZyypdMnLDA.
For more information, check out Orlando Museum of Art’s submissions page. You can also find Black Theatre Girl Magic at www.blacktheatregirlmagic.org.
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Black Theatre Girl Magic is a community of Brown and Black identifying women with a mission to create a racially just, equitable, and accessible entertainment industry for Black and Brown women. They work to drive a cultural shift in theatre institutions to create safer spaces for the BIPOC community through public discourse and national legislation. BTGM aims to eliminate racist and ableist barriers of entry into all sectors of the entertainment industry. In addition, they elevate the valuable anti-racism work of other Black Woman-run organizations by sharing their resources and platform. BTGM is in the process of becoming a recognized non-profit organization and can be found at www.blacktheatregirlmagic.org.
