Renovation of Churchill House, Rites and Reason Theatre to usher in new era for Africana studies

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Since the early 1970s, Churchill Residence on the Brown College campus has been a essential hub for scholarship and performance concentrated on the society, politics and background of the African diaspora. Fifty several years later on, a big renovation to the building claims to help many extra decades of boundary-breaking, believed-provoking investigation and resourceful perform.

Around the subsequent 15 months, Churchill House — very long residence to Brown’s Section of Africana Scientific studies and its accompanying Rites and Purpose Theatre, 1 of the oldest continually working Black theater organizations in the United States — will be expanded and retrofitted to make place for the department’s escalating ranks of college and learners and to guidance its flourishing theater enterprise.

The intestine renovation, which started this summer season and is envisioned to conclude in Fall 2023, will characteristic a dazzling, modern-day addition with new offices and a school library and lounge, expanded area for graduate learners, an entrance and outdoor terrace obtainable to men and women with disabilities, and a refreshed George Houston Bass Carrying out Arts House, where by Rites and Motive Theatre has mounted dozens of original productions. 

The program to renovate Churchill Dwelling and the theater are rooted in component in the 2021 recommendations of Brown’s Task Power on Anti-Black Racism. Noliwe Rooks, chair of Africana research, said the University’s assist for the in depth renovations appear at a pivotal time of development for the office.

A few new additions to the faculty — Kim Gallon, Renée Ater and Keisha Blain — are kickstarting fascinating new cross-disciplinary projects on campus and igniting countrywide conversations about women’s historical past, digital humanities and the legacies of racial slavery. And amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated systemic racial inequalities in the U.S., and the latest police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so a lot of other Black Individuals, desire in courses on race and inequality amongst Brown college students has surged more than 180 took Africana experiments programs in Spring 2022.

“This growth of Churchill House’s bodily footprint is a reflection of our department’s growing intellectual footprint at Brown,” Rooks claimed from the 3rd flooring of Andrews House, the place division faculty, team and graduate learners will be primarily based throughout development in the 2022-23 educational calendar year. “It’s built to not only satisfy our existing desires, but also make home for more school, graduate college students and undergraduates. It presents us the chance to think about how we’d like to expand our scholarship and optimize our beneficial effect on the area in the a long time and many years to come.”

‘There’s a good deal occurring inside’

Developed in 1907, Churchill House was originally residence to the Rhode Island Women’s Club and was named soon after the organization’s founder, Elizabeth Kittredge Churchill. The University bought the setting up in 1970, and two several years later on, the University’s nascent Afro-American scientific studies method moved in.

Given that then, Afro-American scientific tests at Brown — now called Africana studies — has observed continual advancement. After the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice advised in 2006 that Brown “take methods to strengthen and develop the Division of Africana Scientific tests,” the University brought a checking out committee to campus to give tips for way in long term choosing. As a outcome, given that 2009, cultural icons these types of as the late Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe have occur to Brown as faculty and browsing fellows, enriching academic and cultural lifetime on campus.