National Black Theatre / APOLLOS / CAAPA Ann. A Wknd of Cultural Elevation in the Hamptons, Aug 1 & 2

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The Apollo, CAAPA, National Black Theatre,

and Celebrating Creatives of Color,

Announce
Weekend of Cultural Elevation in the Hamptons

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From Immersive Performances and Artistic Celebration, to Community-Centered Gathering, the Weekend Will Spotlight

the Enduring Power of Black Creativity Across Generations 

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This summer Weekend of Cultural Elevation comes back to the Hamptons for two days, as five important cultural institutions — The Apollo, Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA), The Church in partnership with the Celebrating Creatives of Color Committee, Evidence Dance Company, and National Black Theatre invite audiences to experience a dynamic series of free and ticketed programming centering Black storytelling, performance, and community to kick off August. From the return of The Apollo’s celebrated summer benefit, Apollo in the Hamptons, to an interdisciplinary performance honoring Black musical traditions and a beloved community arts fair, the weekend offers a vibrant celebration of Black artistry and cultural legacy. See full line up below.

A Weekend of Cultural Elevation, is a collaboration that brings together a dynamic coalition of cultural organizations whose work spans dance, music, theater, visual art, and community engagement. By uniting artists, audiences, and missions, the partnership creates a unique opportunity to celebrate the breadth of Black artistic expression while demonstrating the power of collective action to deepen cultural exchange, expand impact, and honor the enduring influence of Black artists and institutions on American culture.

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The full lineup is as follows:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026

BUILDING OUR HEAVEN: COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENTS:

Featuring The Coalition For African Americans

In The Performing Arts And Evidence Dance Company

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Time: 10 AM – 2 PM
 Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center 551 Bridgehampton–Sag Harbor Turnpike

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10:00 AM – Vocal Masterclass
Featuring internationally acclaimed soprano Angela Renée Simpson
This free community masterclass, provided by CAAPA, is for aspiring artists and community members with an opportunity to engage with a world-class performer and educator in an intimate learning environment.

1:00 PM – Community Dance Workshop
Facilitated by Ron Brown and Arcell Cabaug of Evidence Dance Company
This interactive workshop is free and open to the public and will invite participants of all ages to explore movement, creativity, and self-expression through dance.

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CELEBRATING CREATIVES OF COLOR

Time: 10:30 AM – 5 PM
The Church, 48 Madison Street, Sag Harbor 

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10:30 AM – Noon Special Program (RSVP Required; $10)
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM Art Show & Sale & Book Signing (Free; Suggested Donation $5)

The 6th Annual Celebrating Creatives of Color (CCC) art show, art sale and book signing will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at The Church, 48 Madison Street, Sag Harbor, New York. The event will feature artists and authors of color from the East End

and beyond, who will show and sell their work and engage with visitors throughout the day. CCC is a revival and renewal of Sag Harbor’s Historically Black Beach Communities’ history of supporting local charities through the arts. The event begins with a special program from 10:30 a.m. to noon (doors open at 10:00 a.m.), including remarks by life stylist and author Harriette Cole, storyteller Muriel Monik Johnson, author of The Queen of Sugar and With Love From

Harlem ReShonda Tate, and the presentation of the Living Legend Award to acclaimed artist Nanette Carter. The special program will conclude with a dynamic conversation between noted scholar and author Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. and ABC News anchor Linsey Davis. Tickets for the special program are $10 per person, with advance RSVP required.

The art show, sale, and book signing continue from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with no RSVP required and a suggested donation of $5 or more at the door. Original fine art, pottery, jewelry, clothing, and more will be presented. Proceeds from admission donations and participating artists’ contributions will benefit The Church and the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center.

Visit TheChurchsagharbor.org for more information and to RSVP. 

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APOLLO IN THE HAMPTONS

Time: 6 PM Cocktail Hour; 7 PM Dinner & Dancing Location: EHP Resort & Marina, Si Si Restaurant 295 Three Mile Harbor Rd
East Hampton, NY 11937

After a seven-year hiatus, Apollo in the Hamptons made its triumphant return in 2025. The celebrated event returns in 2026 for an unforgettable evening of dining, dancing, and A-list entertainment in support of The Apollo’s mission to champion Black artists and culture.

For more information: Apollo in the Hamptons.

Tickets: Apollotheater.org

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2026

ON OUR TOES IN THE HAMPTONS: BUILDING OUR HEAVEN

Time: 2 PM – 4 PM
Guild Hall – 158 Main Street East Hampton, NY 11937

Co-Presented by the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) and National Black Theatre (NBT)

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On Our Toes in the Hamptons: Building Our Heaven is an interdisciplinary performance exploring the spiritual and artistic evolution of Black classical music. Blending live music and spoken word, the program centers Black music as a space of resilience, transcendence, and cultural expression.

The performance features pianist and composer Damien Sneed alongside musicians from The Orchestra for Tomorrow, soprano Angela Renée Simpson, bass Solomon Howard, poet Mahogany L. Browne, and Evidence Dance Company.

Together, these artists traverse classical repertoire, African American sacred traditions, jazz influences, and poetry, creating a rich and immersive experience that honors the legacy and ongoing evolution of Black artistry across generations.

Tickets: https://bitly./4fMbhle

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National Black Theatre is a Tony Award and Emmy Award-nominated institution founded in 1968 by the late visionary artist Dr. Barbara Ann Teer. The nation’s first revenue-generating Black arts complex, NBT is the longest-running Black theatre in New York City, one of the oldest theatres founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation, and has been included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. NBT’s core mission is to produce transformational theatre that helps to shift the inaccuracies around African Americans’ cultural identity by telling authentic stories of Black lives. As an alternative learning environment, NBT uses theatre arts as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social issues impacting our communities. Under the leadership of Sade Lythcott, Chief Executive Officer, and Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director, NBT helps re-shape a more inclusive American theatre field by providing an artistically rigorous and culturally sensitive space for artists of color to experiment, develop and present new work. nationalblacktheatre.org.

COALITION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE PERFORMING ARTS (CAAPA)

The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts believes that the classical arts flourish when they reflect all voices—and when the Black diaspora is seen, heard, and celebrated. Our vision: “Bringing COLOR to the CLASSICSTM.” We are dedicated to making the classical performing arts accessible to the Black community through education, performance, and community engagement.

From neighborhood libraries and senior centers to celebrated concert halls, CAAPA creates spaces where multigenerational audiences and Black composers, musicians, and scholars come together in excellence and inspiration. More than performance, we are about

transformation—building pathways for artists, learners, and audiences to explore, create, and thrive in the classical arts.

Founded in 2002 and growing into a vibrant nonprofit rooted in the DMV and beyond, CAAPA stands on four key values: Creativity • Community • Education • Collaboration • Enrichment. Under the Interim Executive and Artistic Direction of Ayanna Freelon-Coleman, CAAPA continues to be a beacon of support and artistic relevance for black classical musicians. We invite you to join us—to experience the music, to deepen your connection to culture, and to help us foster a world where Black classical performing arts not only survive, but truly thrive.

For more information, please visit www.4caapa.org

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The legendary Apollo—the performing arts center and soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, The Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world. In 2024, The Apollo opened The Apollo Stages at the Victoria, marking the first ever expansion of The Apollo in its 90-year history. In 2025, The Apollo embarked on its first major full-scale renovation and restoration of its Historic theater to modernize and upgrade its facilities and artist and audience spaces. Construction on the theater—which first opened in 1914 and became The Apollo in 1934—is taking place in phases, with reopening anticipated beginning in late 2026 and a public opening in spring 2027.

With music at its core, The Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals, large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend The Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, The Apollo has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at The Apollo are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R. D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Jazmine Sullivan, Machine Gun Kelly, and Miri Ben Ari; and The Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy.

For more information about Apollo in the Hamptons, visit Apollo in the Hamptons.

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The Church was established in 2019 by artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik. Housed in a deconsecrated 19th-century church, its doors were opened in April 2021. Our mission is to foster creativity and to honor the living history of Sag Harbor as a maker village. The East End represents an exceptional artistic legacy, spanning the practices of indigenous art of several centuries ago, Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th Century, and the many celebrated writers, makers, musicians, and visual artists of the recent past and current moment. Core programming includes visual art exhibitions, concerts and events, educational programming, workshops, lectures, and an artist’s residency.

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RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE, A DANCE COMPANY 

Praised by The New York Times as “one of the most profound choreographers of his modern dance generation,”Ronald K. Brown blends African dance with contemporary choreography, music, and spoken word, to tell stories that illuminate fundamental aspects of the human experience. Founded in 1985 and based in Brooklyn, New York, EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, uses movement as a way to reinforce the importance of community in African-American culture and to acquaint audiences with the beauty of African dance forms and rhythms. In the four decades since the company’s founding, Brown has created over 30 works for EVIDENCE, and has garnered commissions from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, The Kennedy Center, The Joyce Theater, Ballet Hispanico, Malpaso Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire, and Harlem Stage, to name a few. Today the company tours extensively in the US, reaching annual audiences of more than 25,000. Through a profoundly unique repertory of dance works and community-based, intergenerational education programs, Brown’s work is designed to empower, educate and connect. An advocate for the growth of the African American dance community, Brown is instrumental in encouraging young dancers to choreograph and to develop careers in dance.

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