- This event has passed.
Art & Literary Festival: The Harlem Renaissance
November 14, 2025 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Joslyn Castle & Gardens & Metropolitan Community College present the 16th Annual Art & Literary Festival celebrating the Harlem Renaissance from Nov. 13-16. The main event of the festival is the production of an anthology of dramatized short stories, essays, and poems titled “Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, “adapted by Scott Working of MCC and directed by TammyRa’ of Great Plains Theatre Commons. The evening will include selections by Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Gwendolyn Bennett, Helene Johnson, Angela Weld Grimke, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Free lectures on the art and literature of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as Omaha’s role in it, will be offered before each performance.
Schedule of events:
Thursday
- Poetry Night from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. in the Carriage House featuring Noni Williams, Paula Bell, and “LP.” Free
Friday
- Peggy Jones: “The Harlem Renaissance and Aaron Douglas” from 6 to 7 p.m. Free
- Dramatic Performances at 7:30 p.m.; doors at 7. $22
Saturday
- Public reading of two original one-act plays by local playwrights Kim Louise and Peggy Jones at 2 p.m. Free
- Eric Ewing: “Our Role in the Harlem Renaissance” from 6 to 7 p.m. Free
- Dramatic Performances at 7:30 p.m.; doors at 7. $22
Sunday
- Ramon Guerra: “Literature of the Harlem Renaissance” from 6 to 7 p.m. Free
- Dramatic Performances at 7:30 p.m.; doors at 7. $22
