By Brooks Welch

It’s Black History Month, but some may argue it’s Black Future Month.

Carnegie Hall is hosting a two-month Afrofuturism Festival from mid February to early April. Afrofuturism is a concept simplified on Carnegie’s website as “an ever-expansive aesthetic and practice—where music, visual arts, science fiction, and technology intersect to imagine alternate realities and a liberated future viewed through the lens of Black cultures.” Artists like Sun Ra Arkestra (performers at the festival), Parliament Funkadelic, Janelle Monae, and Solange Knowles have made contributions to the concept. Films like the 1982 feature ‘Brother from Another Planet’ and Marvel’s 2018 ‘Black Panther’ have also pushed Afrofuturism forward. The festival’s curational council is made of five Black Afrofuturism experts. The festival will consist of  over 80 events with over 70 partners to pull off the celebration of astro-Blackness. 

The two-month citywide Afrofuturism Festival begins on February 15th, ending April 10th.

Learn more about Carnegie’s Afrofuturism festival here.

Watch the festival’s trailer below: