With its diverse makeup and active cultural scene, metro Atlanta could proclaim any place on the calendar as Black History Month.
But February is the customary time of the celebration everywhere, and Atlanta mounts a particularly strong representation of black performing and visual arts throughout this month. Here's a glance at what's in store:
- The metro area's most comprehensive celebration, Roswell Roots, presents 20 distinct events, ranging from the soul-stirring slave shouts and songs of coastal Georgia's McIntosh County Shouters (8 p.m. Feb. 9, $30) to the belly-stirring Cornbread Cook-Off (1-3 p.m. Feb. 25, free) at which everyone in attendance gets to sample and judge.
Popular every year is the Unity Concert & Reception (7 p.m. Friday, free), featuring some of the northern suburbs' top church choirs. Singers from Zion and Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist churches will be joined by the Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy Choir, comprised of some 80 9th to 12th grade students.
A range of exhibits includes "Painting My Way Out of Hell," opening Wednesday at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center (free), by Milton Vines, who was paralyzed in a work accident a decade ago and began creating vibrantly colored canvases in response to the dull brown shades of the Roswell Nursing and Rehab Center where he resides.
Roswell Roots tickets and information: 770-594-6232, www.roswellroots.com. The McIntosh County Shouters also perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Lovett School's Hendrix-Chenault Theater, 4075 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-262-3032, www.lovett.org.
- Mardi Gras falls on Feb. 21, and Synchronicity Theatre aims to bring a little of its spirit to Atlanta with the family-friendly zydeco musical "Petite Rouge" opening Feb. 25 at 7 Stages Backstage Theatre. Joan Cushing's play imagines a Cajun Red Riding Hood with a big, bad gator in the wolf role.
Through March 25. $15-$20. 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-484-8636, www.synchrotheatre.com.
- Robert Battle brings Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre to Atlanta for its first national tour since the choreographer took over as only the third artistic director of the revered New York troupe.
The five Fox Theatre programs, Feb. 16-19, mix some fresh moves along with the classic closer, the Ailey-choreographed "Revelations." Rennie Harris' recent world premiere, the hip-hop-fueled "Home," commemorates World AIDS Day and is in memory of Ailey, who died of the disease in 1989. Other highlights will include Battle's "Takademe" (1999) and Paul Taylor's "Arden Court" (1981).
$25-$65. 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
- Two Southern museums with deep collections of one of the region's most celebrated self-taught artists have pooled their strengths for the 60-work exhibit "Bill Traylor: Drawings from the Collection of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts," opening Sunday at the High.
In a simple-yet-sophisticated style dominated by flat figures in geometric silhouette, Traylor drew scenes from the sidewalks of Montgomery, where he moved in 1928, as well as memories of Alabama plantation life. (Born between 1852 and 1856, he was freed by emancipation in 1863).
Through May 13. $18; $15 students and seniors; $11 ages 6-17; free ages 5 and younger. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-4200, www.high.org.
- Stories from African and African-American traditions will be spun by the Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center at 7 p.m. Friday.
$3, $1 children, at the door. 980 Briarcliff Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-872-5338, www.callanwolde.org.
- Keyed to its ongoing exhibition "Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment," the Atlanta History Center presents a day of dance, music, comedy performances and kid-friendly crafts, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 11. Highlights of the "Dancing Through Time: Apollo" program include tap demonstrations and workshops exploring the legacy of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and stand-up comedy performances by Quincy Bonds and Kenneth “Big Kenny” Johnson.
"Apollo" exhibit runs through March 4. $16.50, $13 ages 65 and up and students 13-18, $11 ages 4-12. 130 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-814-4000, www.atlantahistorycenter.com/dancing.
- Grandparents who lived though the segregation era may want to enlighten the extended family at "Ruth and the Green Book," Feb. 7-26 at the Center for Puppetry Arts.
The “Green Book” was a travel guide that showed 1950s black tourists where it was safe to dine and stay overnight in an America that outlawed black guests in many hotels and restaurants. Atlanta author Calvin Alexander Ramsey follows the journey of an African-American family from Chicago to Alabama, told through the eyes of 8-year-old Ruth. Puppetry center artistic director Jon Ludwig's adaption, suggested for ages 9 and up, combines puppetry and animated projections inspired by Floyd Cooper's book illustrations.
$25. Ramsey will appear at a meet-and-greet event, discussion and book signing after the 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 performance. 1404 Spring St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org.
- "Although I love a beautiful vase of flowers, a sumptuous landscape or a sunset," artist Faith Ringgold told Oxford Art Online, "I will not be moved to paint one of these without a meaningful personal reference that is also political."
That thought proves out in "American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold's Paintings of the 1960s," an exhibit opening at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art on Thursday.
The touring show includes the University of California-San Diego art professor's landmark series "American People" (1963-1967) and "Black Light" (1967-1971), along with related murals and political posters. The works represent what the museum bills as "an unprecedented artistic exploration of the intersections of race, gender and class made in direct response to the social upheavals of the 1960s."
Through May 18. Suggested donation: $3. 350 Spelman Lane S.W., Atlanta. 404-270-5607, www.spelmanmuseum.org.
- Other notable Black History Month exhibits include:
"The Southern Way: Grits, Gals and Glory," paintings by Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay, through March 23 at Auburn Avenue Research Library. Reception and artist talk: 4 p.m. Saturday. Free. 101 Auburn Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-730-4001, www.afpls.org/aarl.
"George Washington Carver," a biographical show on the life of the Tuskegee, Ala., scientist, conservationist, educator and humanitarian, continues through May 27 at the Carter Presidential Library & Museum. It includes more than 100 artifacts from Carver's personal life and work, along with animation, videos, interactive displays, a diorama of his childhood farm and a re-creation of the Jesup wagon, his mobile classroom. $8; $6 ages 60 and up, military and students with IDs; free ages 16 and under. 441 Freedom Parkway N.E., Atlanta. 404-865-7100, www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/events.
"60 Years of Art, a Diamond Jubilee Celebration," paintings, cartoons and book illustrations by Atlanta artist James Hiram Malone, opening Feb. 13 at Hammonds House Museum. Through April 10. $4, $2 children, students and seniors. 503 Peeples St. S.W., Atlanta. 404-612-0500, www.hammondshouse.org.
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