Awujo @ LA: Community Forum, Lives of Meaning, Black Pot Supper Club

The Awujo Experience is a gathering of descendants, scholars, artists, and cultural practitioners, engaged in ethical storytelling, land and memory work, data sovereignty, and shared governance.

Rooted in the belief that collective vision becomes a living legacy, we invite you in this historic moment to join us on April 7th for an evening designed not as an event but as a space to listen, to reflect, and to contribute to the legacy of placemakers and placekeepers.

The Experience

Awujo Forum

Is a community forum centering descendants, placekeepers, scholars, and cultural practitioners in a facilitated conversation about how African American communities are preserved, honored, and carried forward.

This is a living dialogue, rooted in intention, care, and shared responsibility. Outcomes will inform data ethics, data sovereignty, annual convening, and collective action.

Lives of Meaning

An immersive encounter with the photographic and documentary work of Michael Legato, centering dignity, humanity, and lived experience. This collection does more than simply reflect on the past; it prioritizes the present, inviting us to see, feel, and remember differently.

Black Pot Supper Club

A curated culinary experience by Chef Martin Draluck, where food becomes archive, memory, and offering. Drawing from historical cookbooks and cultural traditions, this shared experience invites connection through story, taste, and remembrance.

Awujo, a Yoruba concept of community and collective action, calls us into relationship. Not as an audience, but as participants. Not as observers, but as co-creators. You are invited to bring your whole self, your story, your family story, community memory, questions, and purpose; for an experience grounded in belonging, dialogue, and collective imagination.

Our sincerest thanks to Outsider Preservation Initiative at the University of Virginia and the Mellon Foundation for a mini-grant providing seed funding allowing for the inaugural Awujo Forum, presented by VISION Collective, LLC., a community of practice dedicated to ethical storytelling, shared authority, co-creation, and restorative justice.

Our deepest gratitude for Wren T. Brown, our gracious host of Awujo Experience @ LA and a placekeeper; and Bridgid Cheadle and the Blackbird House Flagship team for community and collaboration introducing Awujo Experiences: Forums, Roundtables, and Podcasts. This engagement would not have been possible without the co-creation team: Dr. Justin Dunnavant, Rita Cofield, Michael Legato, Dr. Kenvi Phillips, Martin Draluck, Jennifer S. Heslop of Empathy Blueprint, and Eola Dance.

Space is intentionally curated to honor belonging and the depth of this experience. Every voice matters. Every presence shapes the room.

In Solidarity!

Presented by VISION Collective LLC.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Jennifer Heslop