Griots in Glam

The nearly 50 attendees’ elegance in dress and style matched the historic beauty of the 136-year-old mansion. It was an unusually glamorous affair. It’s unusual because poets don’t usually get to see fellow artists dressed in glam at a poetry show in a historic mansion. 

What occurred inside the Krueger-Scott mansion on Friday night was just as grand as the building. It wasn’t your average poetry show. In partnership with Dodge Poetry and as part of the North 2 Shore Festival supported by the New Jersey Economic Authority, Evoluculture curated a stirring and picturesque evening to celebrate Newark poetry.

In true poetry fashion, the evening couldn’t just be named the Poet’s Gala, or Griot Gala, or the Purple and Gold Griot Gala, but was named The Amethyst & Amber Griot Gala. Fittingly, guests, mainly poets from the greater Newark area, understood the dress code assignment. Women dressed in deep purple ball gowns, high-heeled shoes, and some accented hair accessories with purple and gold ribbons. Some men wore white or black suits, some accented with gold, a few with purple, and founder and CEO Sean Battle wore an amethyst suit with a kente print. The dazzling attire was poetry itself. “Evoluculture always seeks to branch out and place poetry in places where people may not think it could be,” said Battle.

The occasion would not be a true celebration of the written and spoken word if griots didn’t step up to the microphone to wow the audience with rhythms and rhymes. Organizers used the occasion to honor two Newark poets with the Breya Knight Griot Award for poetic excellence in the community.

The award is named for the late founder of the Breathing Poets Society, another local poetry collective. Powerhouse poet and honoree Ameerah Shabazz-Bilal is a curator and editor of the poetry anthology and collective When Women Speak. She performed her riveting piece, “For the Mamas,” after her acceptance speech. Young violinist J. Read, in his tribute to Newark poet Mia X, explained that when he couldn’t practice his violin at home, Mia opened her doors to him to practice in her own home. In her poetry performance, X is commanding and captivating when she recites: 

“Put a bug in my ear. 

Make me stand clear of the foggy truth and reigning fear

where tears are engraved in the rear 

of the bus – that the babies are crying on

And dying on

Off crack

And vials with black tops…”

United Airlines, one of the North 2 Shore Festival sponsors, sent a representative to the gala, Matteo Hunter. He also recited a poem to the packed house.

Officially named a historical landmark with the National Register of Historic Places, the Krueger-Scott Mansion consists of 40 rooms and maintains much of its original Victorian-styled architecture. Thought to be the first Black millionaire in Newark, Louise Scott bought the mansion in 1958 and operated a beauty school on the main floor. Today, the mansion is a co-working space for local artisans, an art gallery, and the lower level houses the Cry Out Cave and a collective of local poets.