Happy long weekend gorgeous!
Memorial Day marks the official start of Summer Fridays, a concept that had eluded me while working in DC but after I moved to New York, I began to observe with true devotion. Will we go so far as to start sending this out on Thursdays?! Who knows, life is a mystery.
It’s been two weeks since our series Black Twitter launched into the world, and we just want to again say THANK YOU to everyone who has been so gracious and supportive as we hosted screenings around the country. Thank you to everyone who watched, posted, and sent us notes about what they thought of the show. We love y’all.
Your besties at Culture House covered a lot of ground this week. With Nicole and Mikhael in Montreal for the XPFronts at C2, the premiere immersive experience conference. And Rae and I to the Cannes Film Festival. Once we regrouped for our weekly Founders Chat, we realized that these experiences got us all thinking about similar things: how to think outside the box about how and where to make our work.
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We witnessed an extraordinary amount of business being done, deals made, art delivered to highly enthusiastic and engaged audiences throughout these conferences, and it served as an important reminder. The doom and gloom, navel gazing and hand wringing that can take hold of the entertainment landscape throughout Hollywood only represents one sliver of the business, art and culture that is being done all over the world.
Sometimes you have to look up, and look out to find your next opportunity. Culture House is part of a massive diaspora, both in the traditional sense of being kids of immigrants (s/o to the streetwear brand, which we love), but also in the more disparate creative community sense…we are inspired by people from all over the world and reference that inspiration constantly.
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America as the land of opportunity is a well-tread cliche, but it's also a limiting one. There is opportunity everywhere if you look for it. So start asking Granny if anyone in the fam is Italian or Bajan, search the hashtags and hit the follows on your favorite Bollywood accounts, and take a cue from the White House’s obsession with Kenya. Think about new formats and mediums and collaborators. Don’t let the limits of an industry in flux stop you. And drop a pin, you know how we love an international hang.
IN THE CULTURE
For our DC massive: be sure not to miss this show on June 1st THE GATHERING : Join Nona Hendryx, Abby Dobson, Toshi Reagon, Joel Thompson, Carlos Simon, Courtney Bryan, Troy Anthony and more as they take you on a sonic melodic quest to “The Gathering.”
For our Readers Are Leaders babes: Don’t Miss this extraordinary profile of our hero and friend Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in the New York Times. You may remember that Ayana’s upcoming book is a Culture House Book club selection. Pre-Order your copy & thank me later.
For the Verite/Archival/Hiphop/Filmfest Icons: Catch a screening of dream hampton’s latest (and incredible) film, It Was All A Dream at the Tribeca Film Festival. Constructed from director dream hampton’s personal archive, It Was All a Dream is a visual memoir reflecting on the dawn of the golden era of hip-hop. It takes viewers inside the studio with intimate access to some o
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f rap’s most celebrated minds, including hampton’s neighbor The Notorious BIG, Wu Tang’s Method Man, Mobb Deep, Snoop Dogg and many more. With narration constructed from her previous work as the astonishing footage unfolds, hampton not only provides insight to this era of hip-hop but also firmly establishes her place in its story.
FINALLY, OUR GEMINI QUEEN…
Hiii Rae and Nicole here staging a semi-hostile takeover to ask you all to join us in wishing Carri a happy birthday!!!!!!!!!! Carri is a true phenom of all the things: vision, beauty, intellect, newsletters, friendship, and fashun. We love you to the moon BB!
That’s it from us! Wishing you lots of rest, relaxation, inspiration, and summer Friday vibes.
Carri, Rae & Nicole