Charlotte museums collaborate on Smithsonian exhibit celebrating Black men

What’s happening: It’s the first stop in the Southeast for the exhibit, which was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and the eighth of a 10-stop tour.

• This is the debut exhibit for the Levine Museum’s new location at Three Wells Fargo Center. They sold their old building off 7th Street earlier this year.
• “We haven’t gone anywhere,” Levine Museum president and CEO Kathryn Hill told Axios. “We’re going everywhere.”

Why it matters: The exhibit is designed to encourage people to put away biases about Black men and to avoid putting people in silos, Marquette Folley, content director at the Smithsonian told Axios.

• “Anyone can come here and find answers on how to be their better selves,” Folley said.

The exhibit usually has three-month stops rather than its six-month stay in Charlotte. It has also never been shown in collaboration by two separate museums like this.

What to expect: It pays homage to modern men like rapper Kendrick Lamar, NBA superstar LeBron James and former NFL quarterback turned activist Colin Kaepernick.

• It also recognizes men like Charlotte artist Romare Bearden, playwright August Wilson and photographer Gordon Parks.
• The exhibit includes seven themes, split between the two museums. Both will display loving.
• Levine Museum will show catalysts, myth-breakers and community; The Gantt will house storytellers, fathering and imagining.

Details: “Men of Change” runs through March 12. Admission to the exhibit is free at both museums.

Zoom out: Six local men of change, representing catalysts, myth-breakers, community, storytellers, fathering and imagining, will be included in the exhibit in early 2023, with works commissioned by local artists.

• You will also be able to nominate more local men during the exhibit’s run.
• The goal is to highlight men in the community doing work that often goes unnoticed, Gantt president and CEO David Taylor told Axios.

Of note: At the exhibit’s opening reception Friday night, The Males Place, Inc. received a $25,000 grant through the The Ford Fund Community Award, which supports grassroots organizations supporting Black men and boys.

Take a look inside the exhibit: