Black Visionaries: Visionary Frequencies of Technology, Creativity, and Black Futures

On Friday, May 23rd, from 6-9 pm, Weeksville Heritage Center is honored to present Black Visionaries: Visionary Frequencies of Technology, Creativity, and Black Futures, a special activation of our commissioned augmented reality mural Black Visionaries by Nona Hendryx and Dream Machine Studio.  

The legendary Nona Hendryx will host the evening, featuring a dynamic lineup of guests and collaborators, including Craig Harris, LaFrae Sci, Carl Hancock Rux, For The People, Maya Georgieva, and Sam Mejias. Together, they’ll lead a night of sonic and communal exploration rooted in Weeksville’s five foundational pillars: Oasis, Self-Determination, Creativity, Stewardship, and Land.

Structured as a live call-and-response, audience members will contribute real-time lyrical and conceptual input, which the artists will transform into an improvised, collaborative soundscape.

Evening Program

6pm: Doors Open  – Enjoy light refreshments and get a chance to experience the Black Visionaries mural in our gallery. 

6:45pm: Program Begins – Panel discussions and musical call-and-response performances exploring Weeksville’s five pillars: Oasis, Self-Determination, Stewardship, Land, and Creativity

7:45pm: Visionaries Jam – A jam session led by For The People Band, Craig Harris, LaFrae Sci, and Carl. Rux

8:15pm: Audience Q&A 

8:45pm: Program Ends 

9pm: Doors Close

Visionaries Panelist & Musicians

Nona Hendryx

Nona Hendryx is an art-rock Vocalist, Composer, Technologist, and Multidisciplinary Artist whose career spans decades of sound & style evolution. She is a founding member of the Rock, Gospel, R&B Afrofuturistic group Labelle, responsible for the No.1 hit ‘Lady Marmalade’ (“Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi C’est Soir?”), and she currently holds the post of Ambassador for Artistry in Music for Berklee College/Boston Conservatory. Her audio-visual productions, inspired by Afrofuturism, have been presented by The Metropolitan Museum, Mass MOCA, MOMA, Park Avenue Armory, Moog Fest, Miami Basel, London’s Serpentine Gallery, and Somerset House. Her groundbreaking project, The Dream Machine Experience, a music-driven Mixed Reality installation combining AI, AR, and VR applications, was presented at Lincoln Center, NY, in the Summer of 2024. Nona is passionate about Music, Visual Art, and Technology and continues to be a prolific artist.

Craig Harris (Trombonist and Didgeridoo) 

Craig Harris is a trombonist, composer, and bandleader whose visionary sound has shaped the course of creative music. Launching his career alongside Sun Ra, Harris has since led ensembles like Nation of Imagination and Harlem Nightsongs, while contributing to an extensive discography. His original works—including God’s Trombones, Souls Within the Veil, TriHarlenium, Brown Butterfly, and BREATHE—use music as a force for cultural memory and social commentary. An NAACP Image Award nominee and co-composer of the Oscar-winning Judas and the Black Messiah score, Harris continues to create boundary-pushing work. His recent projects include FESTAC ’77 and Harlem Sonic Communiversity, which bring his compositions directly to the communities that inspire them. A recipient of numerous honors, including the Jazz Journalists Association’s Jazz Hero award, Harris remains a vital advocate for art as public service. His latest recording, Managing the Mask, was released in 2022.

LaFrae Sci (Percussionist and Technologist)

 LaFrae Sci is an imaginationist, educator, composer, and sound scientist (physics) with a career spanning 30 years and 40 countries. Her creative process embraces percussion, DIY, modular and hardware synths. As a composer, she writes for theater, film, and large and extended jazz and classical orchestras. Bedrock to her artistry is the roots and the fruits of the blues from spirituals to Afro-diasporic futuristic soundscapes that explore time travel, prayer, meditation, and the African American ecstatic tradition. Perhaps her proudest achievement yet, Frae-Frae was appointed executive director of williemaerockcamp.org in 2020. She has spearheaded the organization’s expansion to a full suite of year-round, STEM-informed programming – currently serving over 600 girls in NYC.

Carl H. Rux (Spoken Word Artists and Poet) 

Carl Hancock Rux is a multidisciplinary artist and author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta; the novel, Asphalt; and the Obie Award-winning play, Talk. His music has been released internationally on several labels including Sony/550, Thirsty Ear, and Giant Step. Mr. Rux is also co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines and an artist in residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award , the Alpert Award in the Arts, and a Global Change Maker award by WeMakeChange.Org. Mr. Rux’s archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts.

For The People (Band) 

Born on the East Coast, raised in the West. Growing up in LA, Kobie enjoyed music from all over the city as he developed as a young saxophone player. Throughout his development he played often with musicians from the Leimert Park community. There, he received private lessons from Ricky Washington and had the honor of knowing legends like Reggie Andrews, who were responsible for shaping popular jazz artists like Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin. A recent graduate from The New School, Kobie is now making waves as one of the new rising artists from LA. He recently finished his debut EP “For The People” followed by a nearly sold out concert at the renowned venue, Public Records.

Maya Georgieva – Senior Direction Innovation Center, XR AI, and Quantum Labs.

Maya Georgieva is a futurist, immersive storyteller, and global thought leader shaping the future of learning and creativity. She is the founding Senior Director of the Innovation Center and XR, AI, and Quantum Labs at The New School, where she leads cutting-edge initiatives at the intersection of technology, design, and education. At Parsons School of Design, she teaches the largest immersive storytelling course in the U.S., guiding students in crafting speculative worlds through spatial computing and generative AI. Maya’s work blends narrative design with emerging tech to explore new modes of storytelling and provoke meaningful dialogue. Her projects have been featured at SXSW, UNESCO, SIGGRAPH, iLRN, and MIT. A sought-after speaker and collaborator, she works with artists, designers, and technologists to expand the possibilities of multisensory storytelling across academia and industry.

Sam Mejias – Dean of the School of Art, Media and Technology, and Asso.

Professor of Social Justice and Community Engagement. A multi-instrumentalist, sound designer and multimedia producer, Sam Mejias (he/him) is Associate Professor of Social Justice and Community Engagement in the School of Design Strategies, and a Visiting Fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Working primarily as an ethnographer, Sam’s research explores the cultural politics of social justice and civic engagement in the US, Europe and the Middle East. His projects investigate how design, discourse and communication influence the promotion of critical learning, equity, and civic engagement in the lives of young people in formal and informal spaces.

This project was made possible with the support by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.