Dig This: #HellaBlack Live Mixtape, Vol. 4: Pride Edition

Celebrate Boston’s queer Black artistry at this one-night-only popup

As Candace McDuffie wrote in a 2020 DigBoston cover story on the series, “HellaBlack is a way for the Boston Center for the Arts to celebrate culture centering around the work of Black artists in the city,” with BCA Director of Theatre Arts Lyndsay Allyn Cox aiming to uplift those creatives in the process.

As they emerge from the pandemic with those goals still in mind, BCA organizers have announced the #HellaBlack Live Mixtape, Vol. 4: Pride Edition, “a one-night-only popup event that features six local LGBTQIAA+ Black artists and storytellers” at the BCA Plaza Theatre on Thursday, June 2.

This year, we welcome Almira, Dominic Glaude aka Diggity Dom, Ephraim Adamz, Kay Wattz, Lewis M, Uku Umlaw for a live show kicking off PRIDE month at Boston Center for the Arts (BCA). These LGBTQIAA+ Black artists will collectively bring an evening of rap, poetry, music, and other interdisciplinary artistic creativity that shows the breadth and richness of Black artistic and cultural traditions.

Lyndsay Allyn Cox also returns to BCA to curate #HellaBlack in its fourth iteration. Along with the live performances, BCA will host a market of Black-owned creative vendors in the Black Box Theatre, so that guests can shop and support local businesses before, during, and for an hour after the show.

“In the past couple of years since our last #HellaBlack event, people have grown, they’ve changed and they’re looking for ways to come together and celebrate,” #HellaBlack curator Lyndsay Allyn Cox said in a media statement. “We’re creating a place for emotion: mourning and celebration. The focus this year is Black Queer Pride and Black Joy. It’s important.”

“I’m so excited to help bring this program back to the public,” BCA Theatre Programs Manager Michaila Cowie added. “Every year we’ve done this, we’ve seen incredible talent and energy. #HellaBlack is one of the many ways Boston Center for the Arts aims to amplify and support the voices of Black artists living and working in and around Boston.”