‘The Juke Joint Experience’ Project Culminates in March
Chy’Na Nellon, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literatures and cultural studies in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English, and a researcher at the World Languages and Digital Humanities Studio (WLLC) presented “The Juke Joint Experience: A Celebration of Black History in Arkansas Through Music and Storytelling” from March 12-14 at the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in downtown Fayetteville.
Nellon’s three-day event included two workshops led by featured performers and live performances at The Juke Joint, a live exhibit called B.C.’s Blues Shack. Featured performers included Agnolia Gay and Tim Anthony, who are members of the Arkansas Arts Council’s Artists on Tour Roster. The project utilized a professional-grade 360-degree camera for recording and filming, the footage from which will then be used to create an immersive Juke Joint experience in Virtual Reality (VR).
“This event, which bridges live performance and immersive virtual worlds, will focus on the culture and traditions of Black Americans,” Nellon said. “Through reenactment and storytelling, these experiences will take viewers on a journey through time into authentic experiences of Black southern culture with particular attention to the contributions of Arkansas through the interpretive lens of Arkansas artists.”
This experience is a collaboration with Orson Weems from the Music Education Initiative, the U of A’s World Languages and Digital Humanities Studio, the U of A’s World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department, and Evan Alvarado from Cache Studio.
Both workshops were held on the U of A campus. The first workshop, held March 13, focused on learning African drumming. The workshop was led by performers Tim Anthony and Alvis Diaab of the Afrodesia School of Performing Arts in Little Rock, Arkansas. The 90-minute workshop met at the Chi Omega Greek Theater where participants learned the basics of traditional African drumming using hand-carved Djembe and Conga drums.
The second workshop, entitled “Literature, Music, and Social Movement” was led by Agnolia B. Gay, a master teacher, writer, poet, and educator, held at the World Languages & Digital Humanities Studio in the J. B. Hunt Center for Academic Excellence on March 14. Workshop participants created a haiku, a short poem, and a choreopoem inspired by live music and singing from Lady Georgia and the Afrodesia Band.
Footage from the live performances at the Pryor Center, which includes a 45-minute engaging performance and a guest artist’s talk back, will be used to create the third component of the Juke Joint Experience: an immersive VR experience. Production for this stage of the project is slated to complete over the next year.
The objective of Nellon’s research is to identify the differences and overlap between ‘in person,’ live, engaging, interactive, performance and VR experiences. This interdisciplinary project includes university educators, specialists and departmental support, diverse community and culture representatives and the greater Fayetteville and Little Rock communities. Nellon will also conduct interviews and collective feedback from participants from the live performance and the VR experience.