Castle of Our Skins’ Ruben McFarlane, Kelley Hollis, Ciyadh Wells, Brandie Garcia, Ashleigh Gordon, and Rachel Styles outside the organization’s future home in Boston. Photo courtesy of F Point Productions.
In Thursday’s (12/5) WBUR (Boston), Arielle Gray reports, “A new arts facility is coming to Boston in 2027. Castle of Our Skins, an arts institution that celebrates and aims to generate curiosity in Black music, cut the ribbon on Thursday, Dec. 5, at its new location … in Lower Roxbury/South End. The 2,491-square-foot space, which will be called Gold Hall, will function as a performance and community space for the organization. Castle of Our Skins was co-founded in 2013 by violist Ashleigh Gordon and pianist/composer Anthony R. Green. Both attended the New England Conservatory of Music and connected over their love of classical music. But they found that centuries of contributions of Black artists to the genre were often overlooked or ignored…. Over the past 11 years, the organization has programmed countless performances, concerts and education workshops that highlight Black artistry…. ‘Over the past four years, we’ve been working to find a permanent space,’ executive director Ciyadh Wells said. To secure the space, they worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture and the City of Boston’s Planning Department…. There’s an additional layer of significance to the location—it’s the site where the Harriet Tubman House once stood, a community space that was demolished in 2020.”
