Museum News

Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth has a ways to go before breaking ground

Rendering of National Juneteenth Museum

fortworth.culturemap.com

The National Juneteenth Museum, a museum dedicated to Juneteenth planned for Fort Worth's Historic Southside, still has a ways to go before it will break ground.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, was declared a federal holiday in the U.S. in 2021, and commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation's enforcement and the liberation of the remainder of the enslaved both in Texas and throughout the newly reformed United States, which happened on June 19, 1865.

The museum is the brainchild of Opal Lee, the Fort Worth activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. It's been in the works since 2021, when it was first announced; a design was revealed in 2022.

It will be housed in a 50,000-square-foot space at the corner of Rosedale and Evans Avenue in the Historic Southside Fort Worth. Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group with African American-owned design and build firm KAI Enterprises, the museum will contain galleries, a business incubator, food hall, Black Box flex space, and a theater.

Interior of National Juneteenth MuseumRendering by KAI Enterprises

The opening was originally targeted for June 2025. But the museum, which is expected to cost $70 million to build, has only raised $35 million so far, including donations from corporations like Bank of America, Frito-Lay North America, and BNSF Railroad.

The original timetable has been pushed to 2026, according to museum CEO Jarred Howard, who told CBS 11 that 2026 was a "really ambitious goal," but that they want the museum to be sustainable.

"So we won't put a shovel in the ground until we have the money to pay for it," he said.

Lee, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden in May, told BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group that it's "mind-boggling" to see it come to pass, stating that "I’ve had a little Juneteenth Museum in that very spot for almost 20 years, and to see it become a central place for discussion, collaboration, and learning seems to be the providential next step."

In a statement, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group partner Douglass Alligood called Juneteenth "not only American history – it is world history."

"Our hope is that this building will become a gateway to the Historic Southside community of Fort Worth while serving as a national and global destination," Alligood said.

Season of Love

Dallas-Fort Worth theater stars release original holiday album

Cherish Love Robinson Love's Holiday album

Photo by Jordan Fraker

The album is out now.

Move aside, "Jingle Bells." Members of Dallas-Fort Worth's theater community have debuted a new holiday album full of original songs, all spearheaded by singer/musician Cherish Love Robinson.

"A few friends invite me to their annual Christmas parties, and I’m usually the last one to leave, hanging out at the piano with a group of others, singing holiday classics," she says. "Every year, I promise myself I’ll record a Christmas song, but either I remember too late or forget altogether. Then in January, after watching a documentary about Quincy Jones producing ‘We are the World,' I realized I’d been wanting to do this for years."

Titled Love's Holiday, the nine-song album was recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely in Dallas (in the digital liner notes, Robinson dedicates a special shout-out to Oak Cliff). Robinson fully composed and produced all the tunes, with rapper Cya Fix collaborating on the song "Better."

"I didn’t want to hassle with licensing or digging for public domain songs, so I made the decision to create original material instead," she says. "I just started writing like a madman and didn’t stop until June."

The song list spans comedic — "A Birthday Christmas," "Broseph & Mary" — to soulful with "I Pray" and sassy with "Slayeigh." Songs like "RSVP" and "Home" evoke classic Christmas vibes.

Frequent theatergoers will likely recognize many of the singers, including Justin Locklear, Lee Walter (as Jada Pinkett Fox), Brett Warner, Quintin Jones, David Lugo, and Dallas Theater Center Brierley Acting Company members Blake Hackler and Sally Vahle.

Area musicians like pianists Rebecca Lowrey and Cody Dry, guitarist Ian Ferguson, bassist Benjamin Brown, and fiddler Kat Glaze lend their talents as well, with Robinson herself accompanying several songs on keyboard and percussion.

"When I sat down to think about who I wanted to collaborate with, I was lucky that everyone I asked said yes," Robinson shares. "I didn’t just want to work with talented singers; I wanted to bring in musicians who really inspire me as well."

Cherish Love Robinson.Photo by Jordan Fraker

Some of Robinson's notable onstage work includes The Witch in DTC's production of Into the Woods, Doloris Van Cartier in WaterTower Theatre's Sister Act, the rock musical Hundred Days at Circle Theatre, and Theatre Three's original musical Solstice, which she also co-composed.

Robinson's voice and vocal production have been featured on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and HBO’s Big Little Lies, with superstars Erykah Badu and The Roots of The Tonight Show, and on The Colbert Show as a background singer. As a producer, she has crafted and arranged vocals for artists such as Elle King, The Texas Gentlemen, and Paul Cauthen.

"My favorite time of year starts with my birthday in October, and it spans all the way through the holidays until New Year's Day," Robinson says. "Those months are absolutely my favorite. I have to remind myself not to start listening to holiday music too early!"

Love's Holiday is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music, and can be purchased for digital download here.

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