Program Themes

With a robust schedule of exhibitions, educational and public programs, MoAD generates and sustains a high level of public interest in and engagement among multigenerational and multicultural audiences both within and beyond the museum walls. At the core of our examinations is the understanding that despite differences in race, ethnicities, and beliefs we are all inextricably linked through our shared African ancestry.

Our exhibitions, education and public programs present a historical and contemporary view on Africa, the African American experience and the African Diaspora within the broad framework of four themes: Origin, Movement/Migration, Adaptation, and Transformation.

Origin

Our origins are in Africa, life started in Africa, we share a common DNA, we share a common African ancestry.

Our African ancestry is examined from a historical to a contemporary perspective focusing on the African groups/tribes from which the African Diaspora emerged; their beliefs, traditions, cultural, political and social practices, aesthetics, arts and crafts. The African roots of contemporary social, artistic and cultural forms of expression and practice that defne the modern Diaspora are explored.

Movement/Migration

As we move (migrate) whether involuntarily or voluntarily we bring our traditions and beliefs with us.

The migrations of Africans to the New World via the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the resultant African Diaspora are explored. Through our programs we trace the roots of the social, cultural, and artistic beliefs, practices and traditions that Africans brought with them to the New World, focusing on music, dance, visual art, crafts, religion, cosmology, food culture, folklore, folktales, and language patterns, among others The African Diaspora as a social and cultural phenomenon that continues to evolve due to ongoing migrations and porous transnational boundaries are examined.

Adaptation

Some traditions and beliefs are retained, others are (have to be) adapted; old cultural traditions and beliefs have to be reinvented in new ways.

The modern forms of cultural expressions that emerged from African traditions, beliefs and practices brought to the West via the African Slave trade and their continuing adaptations within Africa and beyond are examined. Programs explore the extraordinary variety of ways they were adapted across the Diaspora (United States, Cuba, Brazil, South America, the Caribbean, Europe) through creative reinvention, innovation and cultural resiliency. Issues of cultural retentions, survival, syncretism, adaptations of aspects of African culture, language, cosmology, symbology, social practices, religion and art forms are explored. Programs also look at the resistance to syncretism and adaptation as evidenced by Pan Africanism and the Back to Africa Movement.

Transformation

We transform ourselves in dialogue with new places, creating new traditions and new cultures. Our resiliency is defned by our creativity and innovation.

The modern and contemporary African Diaspora within the United States and across the globe that emerged over centuries and continues to organically develop is examined. Programs examine from a historical to a contemporary perspective how, even as they retained some aspects of traditional African cultures, people of African descent forged new identities, defned their place and made their mark on and contributions to their new societies and communities. Programs examine the profound and transformative impact they have had on the cultural, artistic, social, economic, political landscape across the globe. Focusing on the 20th to the 21st centuries, we present the most current trends and innovations in art making, in thinking, approach and technology as evidenced in all forms of social, artistic and cultural expressions.