Public ProgramS

Film Screening at Amqui Station
Sunday, August 26, 2018
12:00 PM 3:00 PM
Amqui Station (map)

Amqui Station will host four screenings of Crystal Z Campbells's film, Go-Rilla Means War, in conjunction with the Amqui Station Farmers Market on July 15 & 29 and August 12 & 19. Step inside the museum to cool down and view the approximately 20-minute film, which, like Amqui Station, is a relic of the past imbued with stories of abandonment, acquisition, exchange, community development, and revitalization.

About Amqui Station & Visitor's Center
Amqui Station is a former train depot that was famously saved from demolition by the country music singer Johnny Cash. Now a museum and educational center, Amqui Station hosts educational programs, tours, and special events year-round. Now in its fifth season, the Amqui Station Farmers Market sells fresh local produce, baked goods, and handcrafted objects. The market matches SNAP (EBT) tokens up to $20 per person every week for fruits and vegetables. Learn more about Amqui Station at www.amquistation.org.

Sitting at the Welcome Table: Millennial Diets
Saturday, August 25, 2018
6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center (map)

Sitting at the Welcome Table celebrates Black culinary traditions while examining related histories of dispossession and displacement since the Emancipation Proclamation. Join the artist Thaxton Waters and guest speakers for a history lesson focusing on Black millennial dietary preferences. The Nashville artist and cook Viktor Le Givens will prepare special tastings inspired by the discussion; first come, first served. This event coincides with the monthly Jefferson Street Art Crawl. #MagicOnJeffersonStreet

H*T Chicken Sh**t Pop-Up Restaurant
Saturday, August 25, 2018
6:00 PM 9:00 PM
Westwood Baptist Church (map)

Stop by Tunde Wey's three-day pop-up restaurant where the chef will be selling Nigerian-style hot chicken in exchange for property or cash. All proceeds will be used to purchase or rehab property in North Nashville, with the goal to create permanently affordable housing in the 37208 zip code. Learn more about the pop-up at www.hxtchickenshxxt.com.

H*T Chicken Sh**t Pop-Up Restaurant
Friday, August 24, 2018
6:00 PM 9:00 PM
Westwood Baptist Church (map)

Tunde Wey at Creative Mornings
Friday, August 24, 2018
8:30 AM 10:00 AM
Fort Houston (map)

Hear from Tunde Wey at Creative Mornings Nashville, where he will invite the audience to contemplate how communities are built, maintained, and destroyed. Wey is a Nigerian immigrant chef/ writer working at the intersection of food and social politics. His work engages systems of exploitative power, particularly race, global capitalism, from the vantage point of the marginalized other.

H*T Chicken Sh**t Pop-Up Restaurant
Thursday, August 23, 2018
6:00 PM 9:00 PM
Westwood Baptist Church (map)

Cooking Workshop for Moms: Feeding the Family
Thursday, August 16, 2018
6:00 PM 7:00 PM
Lentz Public Health Center (map)

Andrea Chung’s sculpture at Lentz Public Health Center is accompanied by free cooking workshops geared toward women who are expecting, mothers who are breastfeeding, and mothers in communities fractured by processes of gentrification. In this workshop, sample and learn how to cook delicious, quick, and inexpensive recipes. Taneesha Reynolds, a certified nurse-midwife, and Ashley Couse, a doula, holistic-health counselor, and childbirth educator, will discuss strategies for feeding one’s family as they prepare zucchini chips and one-pan chicken fajitas. Participants will receive free boxes of fresh produce, courtesy of the artist. Limited to 20 participants. Drop-in or register via Eventbrite.

Film Screening at Amqui Station
Sunday, August 12, 2018
12:00 PM 3:00 PM
Amqui Station (map)

Amqui Station will host four screenings of Crystal Z Campbells's film, Go-Rilla Means War, in conjunction with the Amqui Station Farmers Market on July 15 & 29 and August 12 & 19. Step inside the museum to cool down and view the approximately 20-minute film, which, like Amqui Station, is a relic of the past imbued with stories of abandonment, acquisition, exchange, community development, and revitalization.

Biscuits & Braids
Saturday, August 11, 2018
8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Brooklyn Heights Community Garden (map)

Join the artist Seitu Jones and Nella “Miss Pearl” Frierson, the founder of Brooklyn Heights Community Garden, for this special event. Jones will fire up his outdoor bread oven, baking hundreds of biscuits for the neighborhood. This will coincide with Frierson’s Braid-a-Thon, an annual event where young women can get their hair braided before going back to school.

Film Screening at Amqui Station
Sunday, July 29, 2018
12:00 PM 3:00 PM
Amqui Station (map)

Sitting at the Welcome Table: Latchkey Diets
Saturday, July 28, 2018
6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center (map)

Sitting at the Welcome Table celebrates Black culinary traditions while examining related histories of dispossession and displacement since the Emancipation Proclamation. Join the artist Thaxton Waters and guest speakers for a history lesson focusing on latchkey diets beginning in the 1970s. The Nashville artist and cook Viktor Le Givens will prepare special tastings inspired by the discussion; first come, first served. This event coincides with the monthly Jefferson Street Art Crawl. #MagicOnJeffersonStreet

H*t Chicken Sh**t Dinner
Thursday, July 19, 2018
7:00 PM 9:00 PM
The Post East (map)

On July 19, the chef and cultural critic Tunde Wey will host a dinner at The Post East as part of his project SAARTJ: H*t Chicken Sh**t. The dinner will engage the public in dialogue about gentrification and its racialized peculiarities in Nashville. This is a ticketed event.

A project by the chef and cultural critic Tunde Wey, H*t Chicken Sh**t is designed as a critique of the gentrification of Nashville, with the main dish operating as a metaphor for the continued appropriation of Black culture (foodways) and wealth (labor and land). In this project, Wey asks, “What if gentrification wasn't inevitable? What if there was another way?”

On July 19, Wey will host a dinner at The Post East and engage guests in dialogue about gentrification and its racialized peculiarities in Nashville. The dinner conversation, which will be robust and candid, presupposes that there is a solution to the problem of gentrification. Wey will share the way forward with dinner guests.

This is a ticketed event priced at $55 per person —“gentrification prices," according to the chef — targeting the demographic of relatively affluent consumers (as measured in wealth, education, or class privilege) who benefit often and considerably from gentrification. Learn more about the project and make your reservation at www.hxtchickenshxxt.com.

Film Screening at Amqui Station
Sunday, July 15, 2018
12:00 PM 3:00 PM
Amqui Station (map)

Amqui Station will host four screenings of Crystal Z Campbells's film, Go-Rilla Means War, in conjunction with the Amqui Station Farmers Market on July 15 & 29 and August 12 & 19. Step inside the museum to cool down and view the approximately 20-minute film, a relic of the past that is, like Amqui Station, imbued with stories of abandonment, acquisition, exchange, community development, and revitalization.

Cooking Workshop for Moms: Breastfeeding
Thursday, July 12, 2018
6:00 PM 7:00 PM
Lentz Public Health Center (map)

Andrea Chung’s sculpture at Lentz Public Health Center is accompanied by free cooking workshops geared toward women who are expecting, mothers who are breastfeeding, and mothers in communities fractured by processes of gentrification. In this workshop, sample and learn how to cook delicious, quick, and inexpensive recipes. Ashley Couse, a doula, holistic-health counselor, and childbirth educator, will discuss breastfeeding as she prepares lactation cookies and taco soup. Participants will receive free boxes of fresh produce, courtesy of the artist. Limited to 20 participants. Register via Eventbrite.

S.O.S Free Seeds Library Workshop
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
12:00 PM 2:00 PM
McGruder Family Resource Center (map)

Modeled on the Little Free Library network, the project provides eight Nashville neighborhoods with kiosks bearing free seeds for edible plants and flowering cover crops. The seeds are for anyone to take, share, and plant. Help youth in the McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency (M-SPAR) create seed packets to replenish the libraries and design planting guides for new growers. This workshop will be led by M-SPAR staff and students.

Sitting at the Welcome Table: Post-War Cooking
Saturday, June 23, 2018
6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center (map)

Sitting at the Welcome Table celebrates Black culinary traditions while examining related histories of dispossession and displacement since the Emancipation Proclamation. Join the artist Thaxton Waters and guest speakers for an interactive history lesson focusing on canned and frozen post-war cooking. The Nashville artist and cook Viktor Le Givens will prepare special tastings inspired by the discussion; first come, first served. This event coincides with the monthly Jefferson Street Art Crawl. #MagicOnJeffersonStreet

Cooking Workshop for Moms: Pregnancy
Thursday, June 14, 2018
6:00 PM 7:00 PM
Lentz Public Health Center (map)

Andrea Chung’s sculpture at Lentz Public Health Center is accompanied by free cooking workshops geared toward women who are expecting, mothers who are breastfeeding, and mothers in communities fractured by processes of gentrification. In this workshop, sample and learn how to cook delicious, quick, and inexpensive recipes, including a pregnancy smoothie and crockpot-prepared red beans and rice. Taneesha Reynolds, a certified nurse-midwife, will discuss pregnancy issues, focusing on weight gain, exercise and nutrition, and increased protein and iron intake. Participants will receive free boxes of fresh produce, courtesy of the artist. Limited to 20 participants.

Sitting at the Welcome Table: Farm-to-Table
Saturday, June 2, 2018
6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center (map)

Sitting at the Welcome Table celebrates Black culinary traditions while examining related histories of dispossession and displacement since the Emancipation Proclamation. Join the artist Thaxton Waters and guest speakers for an interactive history lesson focusing on farm-to-table cooking from the late-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The Nashville artist-chef Viktor Le Givens will prepare tastings inspired by the lesson’s theme; first come, first served.

The Food Rights Selfie Workshop
Saturday, June 2, 2018
11:00 AM 1:00 PM
West Nashville Dream Center (map)

NOTE: The event time has changed. It was originally scheduled for 12–2pm.

This is an all-ages art workshop about food rights. Juan William Chávez will discuss his mobile sculpture, Food Rights Bike, and highlight the food-supplementation programs at the West Nashville Dream Center. The workshop will conclude with an activity using selfies on social media to share ideas about food inequality; participants will create signs and props to include in the selfies. Follow the social-media hashtag #foodrightsbike.

Kick-Off Reception
Friday, June 1, 2018
6:30 PM 8:00 PM
Lentz Public Health Center (map)

This event will provide an opportunity to meet and mingle with the artists and community partners of Build Better Tables and to learn about the programs happening this summer.

Panel Discussion: Our Bodies, Our Babies, Our Communities
Thursday, May 31, 2018
5:30 PM 7:30 PM
Lentz Public Health Center (map)

Inspired by Build Better Tables, Lentz Public Health Center has organized an illustrious panel that will provide a framework for understanding the damage done to communities and neighborhoods as a result of inequitable policy and planning decisions. Featuring Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, Assistant Director and Assistant Professor, Division of Public Health Practice, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Meharry Medical College; Ingrid Ross Cockhren, psychologist; Dr. Freida Outlaw, Director, Meharry Youth Wellness Center; D’Yuanna Allen-Robb, Director, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health, Metro Public Health Department; artists Andrea Chung and Thaxton Waters, and curator Nicole J. Caruth. The presenters will focus on solutions, including ways to mobilize Nashvillians in current planning processes.

Attendees may complete the Community Health Assessment form, which helps the Nashville Public Health Department determine where to allocate resources. Every voice is needed.

S.O.S Free Seeds Library Workshop
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
12:00 PM 2:00 PM
McGruder Family Resource Center (map)

Modeled on the Little Free Library network, the project provides eight Nashville neighborhoods with kiosks bearing free seeds for edible plants and flowering cover crops. The seeds are for anyone to take, share, and plant. Help the youth in the McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency (M-SPAR) paint seed libraries, make seed packets, and brainstorm ways to lead the community in demonstrating neighborliness. This workshop will be led by M-SPAR staff and students.

"Sitting at the Welcome Table" Preview
Saturday, May 26, 2018
6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center (map)

Get a taste of what the artist Thaxton Waters has in store for Sitting at the Welcome Table, his project celebrating Black food and culture. Waters will lead an edible garden tour and facilitate a history lecture on the themes of migration, displacement, and gentrification. Tastings will be provided; first come, first served. This event coincides with the monthly Jefferson Street Art Crawl.

S.O.S Free Seeds Library Workshop
Saturday, May 19, 2018
9:00 AM 11:00 AM
Brooklyn Heights Community Garden (map)

Modeled on the Little Free Library network, the project provides eight Nashville neighborhoods with kiosks bearing free seeds for edible plants and flowering cover crops. The seeds are for anyone to take, share, and plant. Help design seed packets and accompanying planting guides that explain the advantages of combining certain plants, including attracting pollinators and repelling pests. This workshop will be led by the artist Courtney Adair Johnson.