Arts & Culture

Artist Stephen Hamilton has partnered with the Now + There Public Art Accelerator program to create “The Founders Project,” a multimedia installation depicting Boston Public School students as the storied founders of West and West-Central African ethnic groups. The project comes with an accompanying curriculum showing teachers how to incorporate those African histories and narratives into their education plan.

Artist Nari Ward, born in Jamaica and living in Brooklyn, brings elements of his homeland — including goats — into his installations, which confront social inequities with wry wit and imagination. Three of his life-size concrete casts of goats are in residence through July 1 at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

The Boston Pops celebrates African American talent with two events at Symphony Hall this season. The Best of the Boston Pops, led by Maestro Thomas Wilkins on May 22 and 25, provides a lively overview of popular music from Duke Ellington to the film soundtracks of John Williams. Gospel Night, led by conductor/pianist/composer Charles Floyd on June 2, celebrates the spirit-lifting songs of the black gospel tradition.

Lyric Stage Company ends their season with a bang, showing “The Wiz” through June 24. The energetic performance retells L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” through the lens of modern African-American culture and features an all black cast.

Praxis Stage pushed the theatrical envelope once again with the U.S. premiere of “The Plague,” adapted by Neil Bartlett from Albert Camus’ novel “La Peste.” As in the original, the updated version features the spread of a plague, which leads to the quarantine of a nondescript city from the rest of the world. The study of humanity dealing with a crisis serves as an elegant allegory for the present day.

Bestselling author, Emmy Award winner and Grammy nominee Geoffrey Mark has diligently put together the ultimate “Ella” biography, covering not only her entire career with many never-before seen photos, interviews and anecdotes, but delivering  for the first time the true, untold story of Ella Fitzgerald — the woman.

On Saturday, May 19, artists, producers and DJs from Boston’s hip-hop history will convene at the Boston Public Library to preserve their industry memorabilia for posterity. “Show ‘Em Watcha Got Mass. Memories Road Show: The Hip-Hop Edition,” in collaboration with UMass Boston, aims to acknowledge the often-relegated artistic genre and to create a bank of historical documents of the movement.

Now that New York City’s Met Gala is out of the way, get ready for fashion slayage Boston style at Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s 111th student fashion show. In two shows on Saturday, May 19, “Eclipse: The 2018 MassArt Fashion Show” will feature original designs by seniors as well as select sophomores and juniors.

Garlic lovers across the Northern Hemisphere find themselves facing a similar sight: green sprouts forming in our cloves.

Photographer Valerie Anselme was tired of hearing, “You don’t look Haitian.” She was tired of having to prove her Haitian heritage because of her appearance, despite having two immigrant parents. So she channeled that frustration into her series “Faces of Haiti,” a grouping of minimalistic portraits of Haitian-Americans in all their differences.

Poet Charles Coe has christened Gallery J at the Boston Public Library Central with its first exhibit, “What You Don’t Know About Me,” on view through September 30. Featuring portraits of and quotes from Mission Hill residents, Coe illustrates the age-old adage, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

When Step Afrika! walks onto ArtsEmerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre stage to perform “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence,” the whole audience loses their breath. There’s no small talk, no prologue, no messing around — just strong drumbeats and powerful movement.