Event Series: African American Museum in Philadelphia’s ‘Beyond Sustenance’ Transformative Agriculture Series

African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) has launched a new series, ‘Beyond Sustenance,’ which explores the connections between African-American agricultural and culinary traditions.

The series will illuminate ways in which African-American agricultural heritage extends beyond the basic functions of providing food and nourishment.
“Beyond Sustenance is a means for us to explore African-American culinary tradition, and complex connections to the land,” said Adrienne Whaley, ‎curator of education and public programming at AAMP.
It will build upon the museum’s current exhibitions: John Ficara’s “Distant Echoes: Black Farmers in America” and “Syd Carpenter: More Places of Our Own.”

While the first event in the series, “Cooking it Real: A Farm to Table Brunch Experience,” has already passed, there are stilly plenty of events left in the series for people to participate in.

Two hands-on workshops designed to celebrate the fertility of the land and its role in supporting individuals, families and communities will take place on August 9 and 24.

The first will be the “Vegetable Patch” workshop on Saturday, August 9 from Noon to 3pm, which invites the young and young at heart to work on various planting projects. The second workshop, “Plant Art” on Saturday, August 24 from noon to 3pm will teach children to transform vegetables and flowers into masterpieces such as stamps and stationary.

The series main event will be a Beyond Sustenance Heritage Dinner on Sunday, August 17, 4-7pm. The evening will begin with an interactive museum tour and AAMP’s Education Department will engage guests in dialogue through storytelling while First Person Arts spoken word artists, placed throughout the galleries, tell stories of their connection to urban farming and the land. Guests will also eat a dinner prepared by the Center for Culinary Enterprises. Cost is $60 for general admission and $50 for AAMP and FPA Members.

In addition, AAMP is inviting participants to share their recollections of farming, gardening, cooking and eating. In the museum, visitors can use AAMP’s Talk Back Wall to record your reactions to our current exhibits on contemporary African American farmers.

“The Talk Back Wall in our gallery is meant to be an opportunity in our gallery for people do that on site. So the idea is that we post questions or prompts up on the wall and then give folks the opportunity to respond,” Whaley said.

AAMP will also be sharing photos of people’s comments on the wall via Facebook, Twitter and the Beyond Sustenance webpage, she added.

People can also share their thoughts directly on Facebook and Twitter (#BeyondSustenance) and using the Beyond Sustenance page on AAMP’s website.