Last fall, The Africa Center, a museum located on 5th ave in Harlem, NY, hosted a Kinema OpenAir Screening Event of 'John Lewis: Good Trouble'. Over 100 people gathered, bringing their chairs, dinner, children and dogs to watch the film in the Center’s outdoor courtyard. Before the screening, there were voter and census registration tables and representatives, as well as a Harlem-based youth black activist group, all of whom made remarks prior to the film screening. The Center’s director, Uzodinma Iweala also spoke and emceed the event. The audience’s response was inspiring and so successful that The Africa Center is already planning their next outdoor screening event. We even made the local news!

A note from Uzodinma about the screening event:

As most of the other public institutions in the country and around the world struggle to adjust and acclimate to the newly hyper-digitized environment of today we are constantly looking for ways that our community can gather, learn, grieve, and celebrate safely. Accessible and open programming is one of the pillars of our institutions in our aim to engage our communities. Because of Kinema we were able to hold an incredible and impactful community event without the stress of technical difficulties. In addition to the physical and logistical challenges of this moment, we are in a perpetual state of reconfiguration around the current political and cultural moment, and events like this allow us a space of dialogue and sharing that is urgently necessary.

We were able to hold space for our community to not only watch this momentous film, but engage with the League of Women Voters and the Census 2020 to make sure the event facilitated civic engagement as well. This event enabled us to continue the legacy of Congressman Lewis.

If you are interested in hosting a screening, check out our best practices guide.