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Past Performing Arts | Music
Presented by CAPA and Wexner Center for the Arts
Ohio Premiere
$17 members and CAPA subscribers $20 general public $14 students and seniors
Prices include a $2 CAPA facility fee.
At the request of the artist, all audience members 5 and older must provide proof of vaccination on entry, either in the form of their vaccination card or image of their card, along with their valid state-issued or university ID, or a negative COVID-19 test conducted no earlier than 72 hours prior to show time.
On sale for Wex members and CAPA subscribers only through July 28. Public sale begins Friday, July 29, at 10 AM.
ACCESSIBILITY We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Be uplifted by the jubilant harmonies, rhythmic grooves, and unabashed optimism of Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble as they electrify the historic Lincoln Theatre stage.
Evolving from Chicago-based artist and activist Damon Locks’s sound collage solo project, the Black Monument Ensemble (BME) is a powerful, intergenerational collective—ranging from 10 to 52 in age—that draws from the diverse wellspring of Black excellence in Chicago. Locks’s work, including BME, explores “The Black nod”—the unspoken exchange between Black people to acknowledge one another in public.
Featuring a rotating cast of creatives that has included Angel Bat Dawid, who last graced the Wex stage in 2019, BME’s street-level gospel weaves together sampled speech, electronic beats, dance, and live music—including vocals, horns, and drums—to form an improvisational tapestry unique to each performance.
Black Monument Ensemble on the artist’s website
Black Monument Ensemble on Instagram
Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble, photo: Eli Johnson.
Damon Locks, photo: Eli Johnson.
Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble, image courtesy of the artists.
Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble recorded their debut album, Where Future Unfolds (International Anthem, 2019), live in Chicago at the Garfield Park Botanical Conservatory. This marked the first time that Locks translated his poetry, collages, and compositions into large-scale, experimental performance. BME’s most recent album, NOW (International Anthem, 2021), was also recorded live as a means of communal resistance against the darkness brought on by the pandemic and social unrest of 2020. Fun fact: Damon Locks designed the cover art for Lonnie Holley and Wex alum Brian Harnetty’s The Star-Faced One, performed at the Wex in 2013.
Copresented by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts.
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY Greater Columbus Arts Council The Wexner Family National Endowment for the Arts Ohio Arts Council L Brands Foundation The Columbus Foundation Nationwide Foundation Institute of Museum and Library Services Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Mike and Paige Crane Axium Packaging CampusParc Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard Nancy Kramer Larry and Donna James Lisa Barton Johanna DeStefano Jones Day Alex and Renée Shumate
Past Performing Arts
Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble
