From Castle of our Skins BSU Fellowship Concert (Credit: Niko Alexander / FPoint Productions)
New curatorial leadership guides a season exploring how Black artists and communities preserve, transform, and carry culture forward.
BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Castle of our Skins, Boston’s foremost Black arts organization committed to nurturing cultural curiosity and Black artistry, is delighted to unveil its 14th season, Imprinted. Spanning October 2026 through June 2027, audiences are welcomed to a season of music, literature, interdisciplinary performance, community engagement, and collective reflection that delves into the marks we inherit, the marks we leave, and the legacies we carry forward.
Season 14 also signals a fresh chapter for Castle of our Skins, marked by the naming of Francesca McNeeley as Music Curator and Lyndsay Allyn Cox as Interdisciplinary Curator & Artistic Producer. This new curatorial leadership model arrives after the departure of COOS Co-Founder and longtime Artistic Director Ashleigh Gordon, whose artistic guidance shaped the organization and its vision for over a decade.
Imprinted investigates the diverse ways Black artists, thinkers, and communities shape, preserve, and advance culture. Through music, literature, performance, visual art, and collective practice, the season examines how traditions persist while constantly being reshaped by new generations.
From African-American spirituals moved from sacred settings into the concert hall, to the daring experimentation of the Harlem Renaissance; from stitched memorials commemorating lives lost to state-sanctioned violence, to the transformative ideas of the Combahee River Collective; Imprinted honors the people, concepts, and creative practices that leave enduring marks on our communities and our culture.
SACRED TRANSCENDENCE
October 17 | 12th Baptist Church, Roxbury, MA (Presented by Vivo Performing Arts)
October 18 | Quick Center, Fairfield, CT
Sacred Transcendence follows the path of the African American spiritual from the church pew into the concert hall. Featuring cherished spirituals and fresh interpretations by composers such as Florence Price, William Grant Still, and Shawn Okpebholo, the program examines how songs of faith, resilience, and hope continue to motivate generations of artists.
FIRE!!: A Celebration of Radical Black Expression
November 6 | Longy School of Music, Cambridge, MA
Drawing inspiration from the revolutionary spirit of the 1926 literary magazine Fire!!, this performance, conversation, and artist salon brings musicians, writers, thinkers, and audiences together in dialogue, opening space for experimentation, collaboration, and the sharing of ideas.
RADICAL IMPRINTS
BSU Intercollegiate Fellowship Concert
February 13, 2027 | Longy School of Music
The sixth annual Black Student Union Intercollegiate Fellowship culminates in Radical Imprints, an interdisciplinary performance showcasing the next generation of Black artists from colleges and conservatories across Greater Boston. Co-created alongside the fellows, the performance celebrates bold new voices, artistic collaboration, and collective imagination.
WITNESS: Art, Remembrance, and Collective Care
March 8-18, 2027 | Hibernian Hall, Boston, MA
WITNESS is an interdisciplinary residency that honors African American youth lost to state-sanctioned violence. Inspired by visual artist Rosalyn D. Elder’s embroidered memorials from The Requiem Project, the residency unites artists and audiences through exhibition, conversation, artistic engagement, and performance.
DeShaun Gordon King’s Sound Ritual: Catalyst
April 9, 2027 | Longy School of Music
April 10, 2027 | Brattleboro Music Center, Brattleboro, VT
Created by DeShaun Gordon-King, The Sound Ritual: Catalyst is an immersive musical experience that blends therapeutic music, chamber music, jazz, improvisation, electronics, and guided meditation, inviting audiences into a space of deep listening, reflection, restoration, and connection.
COMBAHEE: Black Feminism. Radical Roots. Liberated Futures.
April 25, 2027 | Museum of African American History, Boston, MA
Fifty years after the release of the Combahee River Collective Statement, COMBAHEE brings artists and audiences together through performance and conversation. Honoring the radical legacy of the Black feminist, lesbian, socialist organization founded in Boston by Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier, the program explores the lasting influence of Black feminist and queer thought.
SPOT/LIGHT: BLACK COTTON CLUB & WE BLACK FOLK
June 12 & 26, 2027| More Than Words, Boston, MA
COOS’ Spot/Light series, which highlights innovative local Black artists across genres, returns this June with two special evenings at More Than Words.
Beyond its seasonal programming, Castle of our Skins brings Black music, history, and creative practice into schools and community spaces through year-round edu-tainment workshops, youth programs, and partnerships. In 2026–27, COOS will workshop new student-centered repertoire with Project STEP through its Student Repertoire Commissioning Project, and continue year-long partnerships with the Quick Center for the Arts and ZUMIX. COOS will also continue edu-tainment engagements with partners including the Museum of African American History, Conservatory Lab Charter School, Boston School of the Arts, Rose Conservatory, Boston Housing Authority, United South End Settlements, and Boston Children’s Museum.
Season 14 marks the start of a new era for Castle of our Skins. Following the conclusion of Ashleigh Gordon’s tenure as Artistic Director after Season 13, the organization has adopted a collaborative curatorial leadership model designed to broaden the ways COOS approaches music, interdisciplinary art, and community engagement.
As Music Curator, Francesca McNeeley brings her extensive background as a performer, educator, collaborator, and longtime member of the Castle of our Skins artistic community to the organization's musical programming. As Interdisciplinary Curator & Artistic Producer, Lyndsay Allyn Cox contributes a wide-ranging interdisciplinary practice to COOS, creating opportunities for artists and audiences to encounter Black creativity across disciplines and forms. Together, McNeeley and Cox will work with Castle of our Skins’ artists, partners, staff, and communities to shape the organization's artistic future.
“We are incredibly excited about this next chapter,” says Castle of our Skins Executive Director, Dr. Ciyadh Wells. “Ashleigh’s leadership and vision have been foundational to who we are, and we are deeply grateful for the imprint she leaves on this organization. At the same time, we’re energized by what becomes possible when new voices and perspectives enter the conversation. Francesca and Lyndsay bring distinct but beautifully complementary practices, and we look forward to the collaborations, experiments, and new relationships that will emerge through their leadership.”
About Castle of our Skins
Founded in 2013 by Ashleigh Gordon and Anthony R. Green, Castle of our Skins is a Black arts institution dedicated to fostering cultural curiosity and celebrating Black artistry through music. In classrooms, concert halls, and beyond, Castle of our Skins invites Black heritage and culture exploration, spotlighting both unsung and celebrated figures of past and present.
Ciyadh Wells
Castle of our Skins
info@castleskins.org
