Black Seattle Nerds Get a Weekend to Geek Out in the Central District
Seattle Black nerds: It's time to break out your Afro Samurai cosplay. From Aug. 28 to 30, the second annual Seattle Black Nerd Fest will take over the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in the Central District.
Over the three-day (free) festival, Black nerd culture will be front and center with workshops, talks, a "Nerdlesque," and a market. Plus, they scored a huge get this year: Oakland-based filmmaker Boots Riley will host a screening of his latest film I Love Boosters. For LANGSTON Executive Director Ebony Arunga, having a place for Black nerds to be seen and heard was of paramount importance while putting together the festival.
"These are folks who actually go to comic cons, and they get they are one of five Black people in the space," said Arunga of last year's turnout. "They're really looking for their people, and so to be able to come to this event and be centered and have Black folks be the majority — that was special. The happiness that came with that was really amazing to witness."
However, "nerd" or "Blerd" (Black nerd) can really encompass a lot of different types of people: There are the Comic-Con fanatics who love all things Marvel and DC; cosplayers who dress up as their favorite anime character; gamers who know how to lock into Fortnite or tabletop role-playing gamers who have yearslong campaigns in Dungeons & Dragons; and folks who genuinely just love something a lot: books, movies, sports, math, data, magic, and the like. Cognizant of that diversity, Seattle Black Nerd Fest wants to capture everyone with an array of programming.
"What we're trying to do is essentially say there is more than one way to be a nerd. Being a Black nerd does not look one way. There are several intersections within the Black nerd culture, and we're here to celebrate them all," said J.R. Lester-Peters, LANGSTON's interim marketing director. "What we're cultivating here is space for people to come with their random quirks and interests, and find community and connection and bond over that, and maybe even some new stuff that they never considered before."
And the schedule is jam-packed. Over the course of the entire weekend, Fourth Emerald Games is hosting a game room featuring table-top, retro, and card games, as well as a gaming tournament with a Super Smash Bros. final. On Aug. 29, SBNF is activating Pratt Park with their Brown Sugar Fantasy Jam, which will have a karate demonstration by Butokukan Karate as well as a cosplay showcase and sets by musicians like Skye-Dior and collective People Need Water. And on Aug. 30, Gruff Webb will put on a magic show and then host a sleight-of-hand workshop for beginners. Throughout the fest there are panels on "touching grass," natural magic, cosplay figure drawing, historical research, artificial intelligence, and surveillance.
Filmmaker Riley garnered critical acclaim for his first film, Sorry to Bother You, which satirically ripped apart the horrors of capitalism and wage labor with a stylish flair. His latest, I Love Boosters, is a similar ode to "boosting" culture in the Bay Area with a surreal twist that connects a shoplifting squad with Chinese factory workers. Gabriel Teodros, South Ender and LANGSTON director of programs and partnerships, knew Riley through the music world and is bringing him to SBNF, where he'll host a Q&A moderated by journalist and Emerald contributor Gennette Cordova after the screening.
Notably, SBNF has no incredibly expensive weekend passes or tickets: All their programming this year is free. While they are not ruling out charging an entrance fee in the future, Arunga said it was important for the SBNF organizers to keep the event as accessible as possible, which is part of how they want to use the space to connect back to communities who have previously called the neighborhood home.
"Black Seattle is facing unique challenges that are not necessarily unique globally, but unique to this community in that a lot of the folks who are from the Central District have been pushed out into areas that aren't necessarily keeping them connected to Langston," Lester-Peters added. "So it's our mission always to continue to cultivate this sense of home and belonging for Black folks, but especially in ways that are inclusive and inviting for everyone to feel like they have a place at Langston."
Aug. 28–30, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave. S. Free. Find more information about the weekend's programming over on LANGSTON's website.
The Emerald's arts coverage is supported in part with funding from 4 Culture and the City of Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture. The Emerald maintains editorial control over its coverage.
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