This year there’s a lot of ways we are continuing our work of reclaiming, repairing and relating to the banjo as Black folks. Much of it is community based, resource based, earth based and learning based. We love sharing the ways this happening so here’s an update on some of the latest developments from this year so far! Thanks to you, our work feels supported and we want to keep you informed about the ways we are creating change and impacting our world day by day, not just during Black Histories and Futures Month! Thank you to all the organizations we are in collaboration with at this time 🙏🏽💜✨🪕😊🙌🏽🌸🐐🐑🪵🌱

We are so excited to be creating an online opportunity for us to share our work and to be supported by our community in doing so! Details for this will be out later this month but we are so excited for the vast array of projects we will be able to fund and manage by creating this expansive opportunity for sponsorship, reparations, self-determination within the solidarity economy! OCF is such a great platform for this type of work! For anyone who wants to buy a raffle ticket to win a banjo from Pisgah Banjos, you can do so here and provide funds for another Black Banjo Build opportunity later this year in Kansas City! https://www.pisgahbanjos.com/product/arnoldshultzraffle2023/?fbclid=PAAaYxyMgdgJwZpE22avYb15GkZ6RLI5OwZvnxceFvYTYy5Tzmrn725IDZWH0

The Black Banjo Reclamation Project has been featured in this month’s edition of the Bluegrass Breakdown, a publication put out by the California Bluegrass Association. Hannah was interviewed and shares some dialogue and thoughts on all things banjo and the cultural challenges and connections being made as we address Black relations with the banjo in a landscape of white America. We hope this article is useful to folks who are just becoming introduced to our work, plus lots of great photos and many other Black organizations featured this month like the Black Opry and the Black Banjo and Fiddle Fellowship through the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. https://californiabluegrass.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BGB2023-02-rev1.pdf

Folk Alliance International was a conference held in Kansas City and there were Artist Residents from BBRP who were able to attend! A conference that focuses on Folk Music Industry and business, this was a great opportunity for Patrice and Bailey to learn and network with artists from around the country. This was also a great moment to appreciate the musical culture of KC which is where we will be hosting banjo building workshops later in the year! http://folk.org

Patrice, a BBRP Artist Resident living in Oakland is now headed to East Tennessee for the String Band Summit! This is another opportunity for learning that is also happening virtually and is being put on to bring together folk musicians, academics and community. https://etsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAufuqppzgpH9XHIOWBX_KxCFGlL6_QJ850

The animals are a crucial part of the banjo, the Akonting and our understanding of the banjo as an earth-based indigenous folk tradition. While goats and lambs are quite different, they are both bovine creatures with many similarities. Hannah and Grace attended a course in Northern California focused on learning about lambing, otherwise know as sheep giving birth! This is the beginning of the life-cycle and connects us to animals whole being, not just after it has passed onto a realm where it’s body is transformed into a sacred instrument. 

The BBRP will be featured at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in an exhibit called Women in Old Time Music which will be opening in Bristol Tennessee next month! The exhibit focuses on women and takes time to explore the growing capacity of inclusion and recognition in the genre which is necessary for growth in this world and in white musical spaces https://birthplaceofcountrymusic.org

Hannah interviewed with Scripps News recently and the story will be shared Tonight! 2/9 at 5 pm pst/ 8 pm est. A small segment for Black history month will be shared about the BBRP to share a look at our work to share with the broader community around the country. Tune in here! https://scrippsnews.com