2022-2024: Shirlette Ammons

Launched in 2022, the independent performing arts curator program brings new perspectives to the Moss Arts Center. The guest curator handpicks a selection of performances to be included in the center’s season.

North Carolina artist Shirlette Ammons served as the center's first independent guest performing arts curator.

See Ammons' selections from the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons below. Please note: these events have already occurred.

In Her Own Words

Ammons reflected on her curation process for the 2022-2023 season and her travels along Highway 86.

This trio of performances connects neighbors separated by winding roads.

The artists conjured over that three and a half hour drive extend vastly beyond this performance trilogy. But, in various ways, they are represented in the works of Sonny Miles, Rissi Palmer, and yours truly. Sonny, Rissi, and I are part of a regional music community with limbs that reach back and forth, across genre- and borderlines; down into the murk of Black Southernness; across time to invite new interpretations of old sounds and experiences; and out into a world where nextdoor neighbors are divided by fields, and fences, and party lines.

In the planning stages of this series, I traveled to Virginia Tech twice, navigating remote stretches between Durham and Blacksburg, each trip made identical by shallow morning dew and provoking terrain. The landscape reminded me of the small eastern North Carolina plot that raised me, the rural swaths connecting beatdown bungalows, open pastures, and singlewides. I thought about the music that might waft through each kitchen, past walls of family portraits, and out flimsy screen doors. I began making a mental playlist of the songs that came to mind.

Curating this series has been an expansive experience for me. As participants, I hope you are inspired to spend more time getting to know your neighbors, their journeys, and the paths they pave.

— Shirlette Ammons