Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition At The Schomburg Center

A Retrospective Of The First Positive Black Animation Characters To Appear In Television History

Exhibition Results

People Saw This Exhibition

Stats:

First time the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture has displayed an exhibition featuring art outside of their own collection
+145% increase vs. attendance estimate of 30,000 (reflects attendance for exhibition of similar duration)
One of the most requested exhibitions by the media for press coverage

Highlights:

“Family Driven”
“Speaks To Every Part Of A Family”
“Never Seen An Exhibition Like This Before For Adults”
“Outstanding”
“Phenomenal Success”
“Phenomenal Media Coverage”
“Sad To See The Exhibition Leave”

Demographics:

Multi-Cultural
Intergenerational – Children, Parents, Grandparents
K-12 school students – up to 4 school tours per day
Young Adults
Baby Boomers
Church Groups
Senior Citizen Groups
International Tourists

Schomburg Center Video Recap

Quotes from Dr. Kara Olidge, Deputy Director, Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, about the performance of the Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition

What I love about it, the intergenerational piece, is that when you have an exhibition that speaks to every part of a family, when you can have a Grandparent, a Parent, Children, their Children and they’re all in this together I think that is phenomenal, and they can all have a conversation around it in a real meaningful way and share stories that they brought up about civil rights and making that connection, it has been phenomenal.
Kara Olidge

Everybody could point to something in an exhibition and everybody had a memory about it, something in that was really great.
Kara Olidge

What I thought was interesting about kids…kids were actually transfixed by the process. They kept looking at the work and was like what is this, is this glass? Or if you look up close to it, it looks like it’s almost three dimensional. Like how did they do this? Who did this? Black people did this? You can do this for a living? So I think it also let our young people know there’s a whole world out there. That they have avenues. And that yes, not only did Black people do this but they were doing this in the sixties, they were doing this in the seventies. So this is not a new thing. And I think that is a wonderful thing to open up their minds to a whole different field of art and what they can do with animation
Kara Olidge

Exhibition Recap

Curator’s Talk

We held our first Curator’s Talk at the Schomburg Center on February 4, 2014. Attendees had an opportunity to see a preview of the exhibition and to hear us talk about our animation art. The session was moderated by Roy Paul. Michael A. Gonzales, who wrote a great article on the exhibition for Ebony.com also joined us on stage. Everybody had a funky good time!

New York Media Coverage

You can read the press release from the Schomburg Center here:

The exhibition was covered by the following national and local media in New York:

Online / Publications

Ebony.com
New York Times
USA Today Black History Month Supplement
NPR
Fast Company Design
Complex Art + Design
Hyperallergic
Essence Magazine – (Covered in the August 2014 issue)

WABC 7 NY – Here And Now
WNBC 4 NY – Positively Black

NY-1

You can see all of the press and social media coverage received for the Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition while in New York below:

Museum Partner

We would like to thank the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library, for hosting our first major Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution exhibition!

Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition At The Schomburg Center

Exhibition Results

Schomburg Center Video Recap

Quotes from Dr. Kara Olidge, Deputy Director, Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, about the performance of the Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition

Exhibition Recap

Curator’s Talk

New York Media Coverage

Museum Partner

Image Gallery

Related Exhibitions

Funky Turns 50: Black Character Revolution Firsts Panel Exhibition At Central Library Of Rochester & Monroe County

Vintage Black Heroes: The Chisholm Kid Panel Exhibition At The Western Folklife Center

Vintage Black Heroes: The Chisholm Kid Panel Exhibition At The Black History Museum Of Virginia

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