Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM to 1:00 PM
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica
November 8, 2026 @ 1:00 pm Free + Open to the Public 18th Street Arts Center presents Revival_ _Revival, A Black Trans Processional by internationally recognized artist Sage Ni’Ja Whitson (they/them). This moving performance travels across sacred historic sites in the once predominantly Black community of Santa Monica and activates them through spiritual music, movement, and ritual traditions led by Black queer and transgender communities. Revival_ _Revival makes its path by the sites once home to sacred buildings bulldozed by time and gentrification. With a live sound score, the performance mixes gospel, house music, hip hop, and voice to transmute memory, land, and water into new imaginings, new futures. By combining Black spiritual traditions with multiple Black music forms, the work amplifies what they describe as “a shared holy” and celebrates interwoven histories of gathering, resistance, and celebration. Revival_ _Revival will culminate at Ocean Bay Beach, where the processional becomes a fellowship. “Sage Ni’Ja Whitson’s work traces hidden stories across Santa Monica, showing the ways Black queer and trans communities have always shaped this city,” says Michael Ano, Deputy Director of Artistic Programs. “The processional is a way of moving through history—honoring what has been erased, celebrating what endures, and bringing together the sacred and the musical as a force for community and transformation.” Audience members are encouraged to wear white clothing and white masks. The processional route will be accessible. More details will be released closer to the event date. Artist Bio Sage Ni’Ja Whitson is a queer & transgender artist who conjures the sacred and conceptual in science, technology, and art. Whitson’s anti-disciplinary constellation of creative works has received international awards and recognition, including a DAAD Visual Arts Award, Creative Capital Award, two Bessie Awards, and a United States Artist Fellowship. They are a ritual leader and spiritual practitioner that draws from knowledges in Ifá, rootwork, and multi-indigenous medicines. Whitson’s work has been supported, commissioned, and awarded internationally including the Smithsonian Museum of African Art, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Montévídeo, and the California African American Museum. Whitson is a Full Professor of Black Study at UC Riverside. Learn more at www.theunarrivalexperiments.com. Funders and Partnering organizations Funders: Mike Kelly Foundation for the Arts, LA County Department of Arts and Culture, The Andy Warhol Foundation, and Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Spacer Partnering Organizations: About 18th Street Art Center 18th Street Arts Center amplifies the impact of artists on society. Conceived in 1988 as a radical think tank in the shape of an artist community by Linda Frye Burnham and Susanna Bixby Dakin, 18SAC supports artists from around the globe through its residency programs to imagine, research, and develop significant, meaningful new artworks and share them with the public. We provide artists the space and time to take risks, and to create experiences and partnerships that foster positive social change. For more information, please visit 18thstreet.org. About Quinn Research Center Quinn Research Center is an educational archive that includes photographs, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, letters and other items, collected by Dr. Alfred Quinn, a prominent educator and member of the Santa Monica community in the mid-late 20th century. Carolyne and Bill Edwards, as the founders and stewards of the Quinn Research Center, are actively seeking recognition of Santa Monica’s lost cultural heritage, which included a once thriving community of color.