Brain-map your Charleston week with notes and notions, too.
Maura's Three for the Week in Charleston, 4/15- 4/21
April is all over the Charleston map, culturally and cognitively, too, from mind-expanding music to a host of new notions to mull. All of which look to be excellent brain food—and testament to why this city is a draw for cultural connoisseurs. Here’s more on the ever-absorbing roster of TEDxCharleston; a fascinating lecture on Harriet Tubman at the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center; and a four-day foray into the world of jazz greats taking place throughout town. Get booking, and flex your own frontal lobe.
Gain a new view on Harriet Tubman at the CofC’s Avery
Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St. in downtown Charleston, April 15, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Harriet Tubman is the ultimate freedom fighter, and recently, her symbolism has been subject to various reclamation projects: from the planned redesigned $20 currency to the latest erected monuments across the nation, even to the ways that Tubman's Combahee River raid leadership can be reclaimed from different groups diametrically opposed to each other.
In her lecture “Shifting Symbols of a Black Feminist in Motion: Reclaiming the Land/Body/History of Harriet Tubman,” Janell Hobson, professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at the University of Albany, State University of New York, will explore the shifting historical symbol that is Harriet Tubman and her significance to body politics, space and place, and Black feminist potential in our present and future moments. Hobson is also editor of the acclaimed Ms. Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project and a regular contributing writer to Ms. Magazine.
To reserve a spot, visit https://calendar.charleston.edu/event/shifting-symbols-of-a-black-feminist-in-motion-reclaiming-the-landbodyhistory-of-harriet-tubman.
Tap into the braintrust at TEDxCharleston
Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St. in downtown Charleston, April 17, at 12:30 p.m.
TEDxCharleston “Uncharted” gathers fine Charleston minds to level a considered gaze on new and unexplored realities. Among the Ted talkers in the 2024 program are Vikki Matsis, co-founder of the non-profit Media Reform, SC, which was the driver behind local community radio station Ohm Radio; journalist and author Herb Frazier; singer-songwriter Emily Curtis; musician and composer Peter Kfoury; and Dr. Jeannelle Perkins-Muhammad, a licensed marriage and family therapist supervisor who addresses the systemic racism that impacts the mental and emotional health of Black couples.
For tickets and information, visit tedxcharleston.org.
Immerse yourself in jazz from near and far at Charleston Jazz Festival
Various venues throughout Charleston, April 18 - 21
Charleston is one of the earliest incubators of jazz, and each year Charleston Jazz Festival amplifies that harmonic convergence of the African rhythms of local Gullah praise houses as woven into American musical stylings.
Opening day on April 18, known as Lowcountry Jazz Day, showcases local and regional performers resonate at Music Farm, transformed into a "jazz club," with Benny Goodman-style clarinetist Pete Neighbour, a Lowcountry-inspired original concert by The Southern Pines, as well as the five-headed, funk-driven Mike Quinn and the Parade Band.
The festival the heads over to Charleston Music Hall for international headliners, with René Marie and Experiment in Truth and Joshua Redman Group on April 19, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Arturo O'Farrill Latin Jazz Quintet on April 20.
The April 21 Charleston Jazz Festival finale at Firefly Distillery includes the pre-show with the Charleston Jazz Academy, the opening act with the modern Latin vibes of the Abdiel Iriarte Experiment, and Charleston favorite Charlton Singleton and his band Contemporary Flow.
For more information, visit charlestonjazz.com.
Bonus: Heads up for a community ticket to Blackstar Symphony
Charleston Gaillard Center, 95 Calhoun St. in downtown Charleston, April 27
Nab a $20 Community Ticket for the upcoming Blackstar Symphony: The Music of David Bowie, with special guest artist John Cameron Mitchell. Under the artistic direction of Donny McCaslin, conductor Tim Davies takes on Bowie’s seminal album, Blackstar, leading 65-piece orchestra —- with keyboardist Jason Lindner, who helped create the original recording, and bandmates Jonathan Maron on bass and drummer Nate Wood, as well as Bowie’s longtime bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey, vocalist David Poe, and special guest artist John Cameron Mitchell. The concert folds in Charleston Symphony, too, for an epic sonic journey, Bowie-style.
Culture South Exclusive: For a limited time, unlock special $20 tickets to Blackstar Symphony from Monday, April 15, at 11 a.m. to Tuesday, April 16, at 11 a.m. (Excludes box tier, no retroactive discounts, fees are additional).
Visit gaillardcenter.org and use code: STARDUST20.