Saturday, August 17
Artist Talk/Education Session: What Our Ancestors Reveal If We Listen!
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Admissions is Pay What You Can
J.E. Dunn Construction Theater
Space is limited, RSVP Required.
Click here to RSVP
Engage in a discussion with artists and friends Gena Bardwell, Angela Hagenbach, and Phyllis Becker, who formed “Feeling the Gap” to share their passion for art, ancestry, and Black history. Witness how they renew and reveal their lives through legacy storytelling, music, poetry, monologue, and song. The session will culminate in a Q&A segment, providing an opportunity to interact with the artists.
Gena, originally from Kansas City, is now an actor, writer, professor, and Chair of the Department of Speech and Communication at Touro University in New York. Angela, the founder of the Black Ancestors Awareness Campaign, is also a Trustee at the Weston Historical Museum and a highly celebrated jazz recording artist. Phyllis serves as the coordinator for the Riverfront Reading series in Kansas City. Her most recent publication, Proof of Existence, was released by Scapegoat Press in 2024.
Additionally, she is the author of How I Came to Jazz and Other Poems, published by Helicon Nine Press in 2008. Witnessing the combined creative energy of these three amazing women will be a transformative experience you won’t want to miss.