Moss’ inaugural guest performing arts curator unveils a trio of spring performances featuring Black Southern artists
A trio of spring performances is the culmination of a new collaboration between the Moss Arts Center and North Carolina artist Shirlette Ammons, who is serving as the center’s first independent guest performing arts curator. Ammons brings a new perspective to the center’s lineup, creating a focus on Black Southern artists who effortlessly cross genres and revitalize time-honored music traditions.
Since its opening in 2013, the Moss Arts Center’s programming has consistently represented artists of diverse ethnicities, orientations, and viewpoints, and the center continues to bring voices of artists representing multiple experiences and perspectives into the spotlight. Recently added to this focus is diversifying who is making the center’s programmatic decisions.
“Supporting positive change means reaffirming our commitment to serving the entire community, presenting historically underrepresented voices and perspectives, and fostering meaningful dialogue,” said Margaret Lawrence, Moss Arts Center director of programming. “We are so fortunate to be working with Shirlette Ammons, a brilliant artist and thinker whose ideas deeply enrich this season’s programming. And we plan to continue this program. That means building cultural consciousness within our organization, identifying areas where we can reflect and grow, and finding new ways to listen to and collaborate with those who share our commitment to justice.”
One critical piece of Ammons’ work as guest curator was a series of conversations with Virginia Tech students and faculty members, which helped inform her curatorial process. Ammons named her selection of performances “Up 86” in honor of North Carolina Highway 86, which provides a route between central North Carolina and Virginia and represents how these performances connect communities separated by winding roads.
“In the planning stages of this series, I traveled to Virginia Tech twice, navigating remote stretches between Durham and Blacksburg,” Ammons said. “The landscape reminded me of the small eastern North Carolina plot that raised me, the rural swaths connecting beatdown bungalows, open pastures, and single-wides. I thought about the music that might waft through each kitchen, past walls of family portraits, and out flimsy screen doors. I began making a mental playlist of the songs that came to mind. The artists conjured over that 3 1/2-hour drive extend vastly beyond this performance trilogy. But, in various ways, they are represented in the works of Sonny Miles, Rissi Palmer, and yours truly.”
“Up 86” performances
Rissi Palmer
Thursday, March 30, and Friday, March 31, 8 p.m.
Moss Arts Center Cube
A country singer and songwriter from Raleigh, North Carolina, Rissi Palmer's gift lies in reaching across all musical boundaries. While Palmer made her mark in country music, she is equally at home in R&B, bringing the entire spectrum of popular music to bear on music she calls “Southern soul.” Palmer’s 2007 debut single, “Country Girl,” made her the first Black woman to chart a country song in over 30 years. As a passionate voice for country artists of color and those who have been marginalized in mainstream country music, Palmer launched her own radio show, “Color Me Country with Rissi Palmer,” on Apple Music Country in 2020. Rissi will record an episode of the podcast with Richmond artist Tony Jackson on Thursday, March 30, in the Cube. The event, which requires registration, is free and open to the public.
Shirlette Ammons
Friday, April 7, 8 p.m.
Moss Arts Center Cube
Shirlette Ammons is a Durham, North Carolina-based poet, musician, emcee, and film creative whose highly collaborative work defies genre. Interrogating her own relationships to gender, Blackness, and Southernness, Ammons’ upcoming recording, “Spectacles,” is, according to writer Grayson Currin, a “poignant expression of her own multitudes, rendered by a modern wellspring of Black Southern brilliance and her wider creative community.” Please note that this performance contains mature language.
Sonny Miles
Friday, April 14, 8 p.m.
Moss Arts Center Cube
Sonny Miles is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Citing gospel, funk, and neo-soul as his biggest influences, he fuses catchy, relatable lyrics with soulful compositions to create a unique sound. Miles has amassed over 500,000 streams on Spotify alone, with his entire catalog attracting 12,000 monthly listeners on the platform. His feature on “Raleighwood Hills” by Lesthegenius was selected by President Barack Obama for his “Favorite Songs of 2019” list.
“Sonny, Rissi, and I are part of a regional music community with limbs that reach back and forth, across genre- and borderlines; down into the murk of Black Southernness; across time to invite new interpretations of old sounds and experiences; and out into a world where next door neighbors are divided by fields, and fences, and party lines,” said Ammons.
Ticket information
Tickets are now on sale for “Up 86” performances. Each performance is $15 for general admission and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.
Please note, “Up 86” series performances are not included in subscription packages and subscriber discounts do not apply.
