Art

Baltimore Times Publisher Joy Bramble Immortalized in Wax

WASHINGTON INFORMER — Joy Bramble, publisher of The Baltimore Times, was recently immortalized in wax for her 30-plus years of providing a Black media outlet. Bramble was honored with a proclamation from the Maryland House and Senate before the unveiling of a wax figure in her name at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore.

Published

7 years ago

May 6, 2019

Eunice Moseley Special to The Informer

By Eunice Moseley, Special to The Informer

Joy Bramble, publisher of The Baltimore Times, was recently immortalized in wax for her 30-plus years of providing a Black media outlet.

Bramble was honored with a proclamation from the Maryland House and Senate before the unveiling of a wax figure in her name at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore.

“I was surprised and honored,” Bramble said of the proclamation and unveiling. “The reason is what we’ve been able to accomplish with The Baltimore Times.”

As their first employee in 1986, I was a witness and full participant in those accomplishments. Bramble started The Baltimore Times with the blessing and help from her husband Rev. Peter Bramble, an Episcopal priest. I was straight out of college as a telecommunications major working at WEBB Radio as a paid intern when I was hired by Joy Bramble.

The Baltimore Times, when it changed from a monthly publication to a weekly, became the largest-circulated Black-owned newspaper in Maryland. It grew to have three sister publications — The Annapolis Times, The Prince George’s County Times and The Baltimore County Times. It was the first company to offer community events in Baltimore that provided free services with its Housing Expo (onsite pre-approvals), Health Expo (free health care screenings), Men’s Expo (free health care screenings) and Women’s Expo (free seminars).

“My whole life has been like magic,” said Bramble, a native of Montserrat. “I’ve never been afraid to try things. If that doesn’t work you move on. Set an example and keep trying.”

But Bramble didn’t start off in the states as a newspaper publisher. She began as an educator in the Baltimore City school system and even owned a lucrative corner store before deciding she wanted to saturate the city with “positive stories about positive people,” the motto for her newspaper.

“Someone broke into the store and I was afraid and decided to close it,” she said about her corner store venture.

As far as her role as a teacher, she said, “I feel if I am not making a difference I have to do something else. I found out how hard it was teaching in Baltimore schools. I knew that I wasn’t fulfilling my potential and that was not for me.”

Bringing “positive stories about positive people” and providing free community services to Baltimore city residents to help save lives and people’s homes was where she was able to fulfill her potential.

“Taking chances and learning,” Bramble told me of how she grew her newspaper. “And the people I’ve come in contact with. I made a difference in their lives, set an example. Look at you! You are a prime example.”

Bramble is talking about all the achievements I have made with her blessing and because of her urging. I came to The Baltimore Times because I love writing, but she saw that I could make a great salesperson. So we made a deal: she would let me write for the newspaper if I sold ads for her. She was right — I became the highest-paid salesperson at the newspaper.

My love for writing resulted in a position as entertainment editor at the newspaper. I am now a syndicated entertainment columnist with over 1/4 million readers a week nationwide. At one point as her business manager, she urged me in the strongest way to be her promotions director and because of it, I helped spearhead The Baltimore Times community event projects. The events garnered the newspaper recognitions from the city for serving the community with events held annually. Each of the four events raked up thousands of dollars in extra venue for the newspaper.

Bramble allowed me to learn all these skills on the job by not limiting me and by urging me. I was able to open up my own business, a public relations/business service company. She did not mind me moonlighting after work as long as I did my job at the newspaper. I founded “Uplifting Minds,” a free entertainment conference event for the newspaper, in 1999 to reach young readers — the fifth event.

In 2000, Bramble granted my request for ownership of the event and as “Uplifting Minds II” I took the free entertainment conference annually to communities in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston. I am only one of many employees Joy Bramble has helped in this way.

“Life is a challenge — I like challenges,” she said. “Someone tells me I can’t do something — I find a way. The statue will be unveiled at the State House. I’m getting a proclamation from the Senate and the House and the statue will be unveiled afterward at The Great Blacks in Wax.”

Moseley’s The Pulse of Entertainment column has an estimated weekly readership of over 250,000.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

Eunice Moseley Special to The Informer

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Activism

Black Repertory Group Needs Volunteers to Help Shape the Next Generation of Artists and Leaders

Legendary performers such as Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover worked with and were inspired by BRG’s founders. More recently, Grammy award-winning artist Kehlani attended the Black Repertory Group Summer Day Camp for several years.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy image.

By Sean Vaughn Scott, Special to The Post

For more than 60 years, the Black Repertory Group (BRG) has changed lives through the arts.

Founded in 1964 by educators and visionaries Birel L. Vaughn and Nora Vaughn, BRG has become one of America’s oldest continuously operating Black theater institutions. For generations, it has preserved culture, developed talent, and provided opportunities for young people to discover their voices and their potential.

The results speak for themselves.

Long before international recognition, Kehlani performed on the BRG stage. During a summer day camp production of “Princess and da Frog,” she portrayed Ray, the lovable firefly whose light guided others through the darkness. Her journey is proof that today’s camper may become tomorrow’s artist, entrepreneur, educator, or leader.

Located at 3201 Adeline St. in Berkeley, BRG continues that mission through its Youth Summer Day Camp of the Arts.

BRG is currently accepting applications and maintains an open enrollment program. Students may enroll throughout the summer as space permits and immediately become part of the BRG family.

We are also proud to be a multicultural opportunity program, welcoming children and families from all backgrounds, cultures, and communities. Through theater, music, dance, public speaking, visual arts, technical theater, and leadership development, students gain confidence, discipline, creativity, and lifelong skills.

As our programs grow, so does our need for volunteers.

We are seeking community members to assist with youth mentoring, registration, costumes, set construction, painting, props, ushering, photography, social media, marketing, technical theater, and fundraising activities. Whether you volunteer for a few hours or throughout the season, your support directly impacts the lives of young people.

BRG also partners with churches, civic organizations, alumni associations, fraternities, sororities, and community groups through theater party fundraisers, group sales, and buy-out performances. These partnerships have helped organizations raise funds while supporting arts and cultural programming.

The theater also serves as the home of the Berkeley NAACP Chapter, which meets every second Saturday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m.

For more than six decades, the Black Repertory Group has remained committed to one belief: every child deserves an opportunity to shine.

The next great artist may already be among us.

The next Kehlani may already be walking through our doors.

We invite you to volunteer, enroll, participate, and become part of the legacy.

For more information please go to www.blackrepertorygroup.com, call (510) 652-2120, or email info@blackrepertorygroup.com

Sean Vaughn Scott is the director of the Black Repertory Group.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

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Art

Oakland Director Boots Dazzles Once Again in ‘I Love Boosters’

Riley’s creative output is influenced by progressive ideals. His work, which includes six albums, the 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You,” and the 2023 comedy series “I’m a Virgo,” always shows that the alienation working-class people feel is inevitable under capitalism, he recently told The Guardian.

Published

4 weeks ago

June 10, 2026

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Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, and Keke Palmer star in “I Love Boosters” playing now in theaters. Directed by Oakland resident Boots Riley. Image courtesy of Neon.

“I feel lonely,” Keke Palmer’s character Corvette says in the first few minutes “I Love Boosters,” the new comedy adventure film from Oakland-based director Boots Riley.

“I wish I could feel lonely,” Naomi Ackie’s character Sade responds. “Try having kids.”

“I Love Boosters” teems with kaleidoscopic colors, sharp playful social critique, otherworldly plot twists, and fast-paced action, but it’s grounded in its main characters’ simple and relatable motivations: They want to be less isolated, and more free to pursue their own creative endeavors.

They’d like to design clothes and run a fashion boutique, but, unfortunately, they’re mostly busy surviving. Corvette and Sade, along with Mariah, played by Taylour Page, hustle and scheme through their brilliant scrappy organized crime group, the Velvet Gang. The gang regularly boosts clothes in the Bay Area and sells them at discounted prices.

Riley portrays the gang in a positive light in “I Love Boosters,” echoing the sentiment and title of a song he recorded 20 years ago with his hip-hop band, The Coup, where he praises boosters for providing poor communities with nice clothes they can afford: like a Robin Hood of the ’hood. But while morally righteous, materially, the gang is troubled. Corvette is haunted by unpaid bills and fears getting kicked out of the building where she squats, a shuttered fast-food chicken joint.

One thing that separates Riley’s film from most others about criminal gangs is that the Velvet Gang’s members work for a living. Theirs isn’t a greedy fantasy of becoming filthy rich, or for one last hit: Boosting is a job that still doesn’t pay nearly enough.

Visually, the film is a mix of psychedelia, afro-surrealism, noir, and perhaps a comic book.

The villain, Christie Smith, played by Demi Moore, an evil genius billionaire and fashion designer who runs the expensive clothing company the gang boosts from. She repeatedly appears on the news to put a target on the Velvet Gang members’ backs. When the gang ends up connecting with those who Christie directly exploits –workers here in the Bay Area, but also those in sweatshops overseas– the fight against Christie can commence; and uncoincidentally, Corvette starts to feel less lonely.

I don’t want to say much about that fight, but it’s delightful. Sci-Fi elements (which appear connected to Marxist theory) enter into the narrative to tie what’s become a pretty scatterbrained story together. Grounded by Palmer’s acting, “I Love Boosters” is a total joy and a refreshing break from the typical narratives we see these days. It’s totally over-the-top, but it knows it is.