Transit and transportation have served as forms of colonial violence, labor exploitation, and environmental disruption. Taking its instigation from artist Inas Halabi's Hopscotch (the Centre of the Sun's Radiance), which brings listeners on a journey between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Belgium, this workshop explored other dimensions of violence connected to transit + transportation systems, the borders they create/deflate, and the communities they connect/disconnect. The workshop also used the MBTA map as a survey tool to allow participants to discuss "unseen" realities of the transit + transportation system map and practice a communal reimagining, reorienting, and reconstructing of the map with an eye toward an equitable future.

As part of the workshop, we launched our first community repository for Decolonial Mapmaking.

This workshop was in partnership with payal kumar and Brookline Arts Center.

Liberation Ties was a gallery exhibition featuring local artists and activists from New England and New York states. The exhibition focused on connecting global decolonial struggles between communities of the diaspora and practicing collective reimagining of justice and liberation.

The exhibition was accompanied by a series of events to provide additional opportunities for learning, organizing, and engagement that foster community building and bridging, including facilitated panels and art-making workshops led by local artists, culture workers, and community organizers.

This initiative was in partnership with Patrick Crowley, Stay Silent PVD, and Trade Providence.

ROYA Commons was an arts and culture series of events bringing together creatives, artists, and art practitioners from across the city to enjoy community building exercises around playful reimagining of belonging in space, place, and time across Boston through an interactive art installation developed in partnership with Culture Crate. The installation debuted at the Fenway and toured across community locations, including designs by Youth Build Boston and the Fenway Community Center.

This initiative was in partnership with the Mayor’s Office for Arts and Culture (MOAC).

Starlight SLAM was a series of open stage showcases delivered by community artists, poets, writers, and art enthusiasts from the diaspora. Over three years, ROYA EFX featured partnered with local artists, creatives, and performers of color from across the greater Boston and Cambridge areas. Every year, the event opened selected artists and then transitioned into an open stage where ROYA invited the rest of the attending community to an open stage to share their arts and works in togetherness.

This initiative was supported by Central Square Business Improvement District (aka BID Central).

RAP SESSIONS was a collaboration with Rap Sessions hosted by Bakari Kitwana to commemorate the legacy of Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop for social justice.  Billy Taylor declared Jazz “the Classical music of America'' - rightfully asserting the significant role Jazz has in revolutionizing the music landscape, not only in its composition but in the power of infinite stories that reverberate beyond its audience.

Small Talk: Rap Sessions  featured a panel discussion between contemporary pioneers in this space who continue to push the art for liberation and then end the night with some live music by local musicians. This initiative was supported by Reevx Labs/Berkshire Bank.