DAYTON, Ohio — The arts are a platform for letting creativity shine. A Southwestern Ohio arts collective helps promote the black community through its work and special events.
Dana Graham has always loved the arts. For years acting was her passion, but she realized that was not enough.
“A part of me wanted more and to be more in my community, especially with creating social experiences that incorporated black arts, black culture, and black creativity,” Graham said.
That’s why she created Scripted in Black (SIB) in 2018. She inspired it from her experience interning at a theater company in upstate New York. This exclusive multidisciplinary artistic collective promotes the work of black and brown artists.
“It simply came from the need to want to tell our stories, our experience and our culture differently, and not dominated in spaces that were white, censored and privileged, accessible, and felt familiar and at home,” she said. declared.
She shares this mission with the Dayton community through the Scripted in Black Meet and Greet event. It not only features the work of other black artists in the community, but also the work of the Deeply Rooted and 523 brands. The brand offers shirts, bags, and other apparel.
“You have different options that you can choose from to really express your blackness in the best way you know how,” she said.
This is just one of many events planned for the SIB. They plan to hold movie nights and even an event to promote health and fitness for black and brown women. Through these events, Graham hopes people of color will learn to better appreciate their culture.
“I just feel like if we don’t surrender to ourselves and give the experiences we know we deserve, it doesn’t make us feel as great and as resilient as we really are.” , she said.
