Baker Heritage Museum – Black History Month Event “Use Your Voice”

Area Businesses and Organizations in the Region,

On February 25, 2021 at 7:00 p.m., the Baker Heritage Museum will host its first, Virtual Black History Month Event, premiering on YouTube. The theme is entitled, “Use Your Voice”, whereby, participants will recite their original written piece(s). The Baker Chamber of Commerce agrees it is time for a project of this magnitude, especially with the restrictions due to COVID-19, in place. We are excited and eager to see this virtual project succeed and hope you will be a part of that excitement by supporting this event and future educational and informative projects.

We believe that this venue is especially important as a part of our ongoing mission: to research, document, collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit information and artifacts related to the history and heritage of Baker, Louisiana, its people and places; and to develop programs and projects that are educational and instructive in content. Now, as much as any time in history, it is imperative that we hear the voices of friends and neighbors in our community; that we overcome the obstacles that have allowed us to connect; that we use every avenue available to us to find new and meaningful ways to uplift ourselves and our community. Spoken word and poetry are both contemporary and traditional art forms that have taken on a new life and meaning in the modern age. This art form is evolving yet remains grounded in seeking to create understanding. We learn more each year about the positive effects of artistic communication, aside from the experience: that it fosters emotional engagement, a healthy means of expression, and potentially fosters empathy by activating pathways in the brain which can switch one’s perspective from self-reference to the content of other people’s minds, and with judgments requiring empathy.

I am so honored and excited to present this first ever virtual event and I do hope that you will consider offering support: