Hip Hop News: Ta-Nehisi Coates & The Apollo Have Banded Together for The Intersection Festival (2024)

Author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates is partnering with The Apollo for the inaugural '[at] The Intersection, The Apollo’s Festival of Arts & Ideas.' Announced on Thursday (June 15), the three-day event will be held from October 6-8 at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, where a range of creatives specializing in music, theater, film, television, and food will participate in festival engagements.

Including Black cultural movers and artists like Ted Bunch, Bisa Butler, Jordan E. Cooper, Stefon Harris, Michael R. Jackson, Diallo Riddle and more, keynote speakers and panels will be present for discussions on the vast landscape of global Black creativity. Music performances are also scheduled for the festival, while attendees can connect and engage between events.

“The Apollo sits at the intersection of many things, so it was only natural that '[at] The Intersection' would be a reflection of that," said The Apollo’s Executive Producer, Kamilah Forbes. “The festival will invite artists, thinkers, and creatives from across our diaspora to exchange ideas and examine this unprecedented time in history where Black people are leading in culture and art across the globe in ways that we have never seen before.”

Coates, who’s written books like Between the World and Me, We Were Eight Years in Power and The Water Dancer, is The Apollo’s Master Artist in Residence. The 47-year-old is also host of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast.

“Black artists and writers have a long tradition of coming together in community to discuss, debate and share their visions of the future. It’s an honor to partner with The Apollo in continuation of that tradition and shine a light and write ourselves back into history through the process of curating the first iteration of ‘[at] The Intersection,’ said Coates in a press release.

Tickets for [at] The Intersection are available now.