Join us for FREE film screenings in the Justice Forum at the REACH.

Featuring a post-screening panel moderated by Ellington scholar Dr. John Hasse with artist Bentley Brown, NEA Jazz Master Terence Blanchard, and Dr. Tuliza Fleming, Interim Chief Curator of Visual Arts for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Part of the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters activities and Ellington 125.

During the sixties and seventies, artist Frederick J. Brown’s Soho loft studio in New York served as a gathering place for artists, musicians, writers, dancers and other creative personalities. Brown’s mural portraits, which combine his interest in African American and Native American culture, along with primitive folk art and European religious art, are noted for a distinctly bold style that bridges cultures and honors the human spirit.

His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the White House.

The video features comments by longtime colleagues about the artist, his colorful and forceful personality, and his famous studio, plus footage recorded over a 30-year period of Brown at work on various paintings and preparing major exhibitions.

Among the latter are a 1988 exhibition in Beijing (Brown was the first Western artist to have a one-man exhibition in China), the ambitious History of Art exhibit (from cave painting to the twentieth century), the two-story tall “Assumption of Mary” mural, and an exhibit of 350 portraits of major jazz musicians.

Patrons who make advanced reservations can pick up their tickets at the REACH Box Office on the day of the film beginning when the REACH Box Office opens at 12pm on Sundays. Patrons need to either print the email confirmation at home and present it to the REACH Box Office, or show the email confirmation at the REACH Box Office on their “smart device.” Tickets that have not been claimed by 5 minutes prior to the start of the film will be released and distributed to a stand-by line.

This is a first come-first serve event; a reservation confirmation does not guarantee you a ticket to the film. Please arrive early to exchange your email confirmation at the REACH Box Office for a ticket to be seated in the Justice Forum.