Filtering by: If These Walls Could Talk
ITWCT | Finale Celebration
Nov
19
6:00 PM18:00
If These Walls Could Talk, Featured Event

ITWCT | Finale Celebration

Still from The House that Slaves Built, directed by Gabriel Auffant.

Still from The House that Slaves Built, directed by Gabriel Auffant.

Finale Celebration

November 19, 2020 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM CST

Doors Open at 6:00 PM | Performance Starts at 6:30 PM

Tickets 
General $30
NCHM Members $25
Students (with ID) $20 

Come celebrate the conclusion of If These Walls Could Talk and the premiere of the film The House That Slaves Built.

If These Walls Could Talk has been a transformative project for the Neill-Cochran House Museum and for all who have engaged with the exhibit and its performances. Over the course of 2020, we have walked together in exploration of our site and of Austin’s past to better understand and in many cases discover the inequities embedded in our shared history that continue to leave their mark on our lives today. We have been honored to be a part of productive conversations not just about our past but about Austin’s possible future, and we are committed to continuing to be a part of the dialogue moving forward. As we get ready to say goodbye to the show in its physical manifestation, we invite you to come out and celebrate to celebrate the steps we have taken together.

This special performance will explore the legend of the ghost of Robert E. Lee, thought to have been seen in the 19th century haunting the NCHM, will celebrate this incredible and provocative show, and will see the premiere of the long awaited film The House That Slaves Built.

Do not miss your chance to be a part of it all!

Meet the Artists

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
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Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

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ITWCT Book Signing and Vocal Awards Celebration
Sep
1
5:30 PM17:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT Book Signing and Vocal Awards Celebration

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Book Signing and Vocal Awards Celebration

If These Walls Could Talk Event

September 1, 2020 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM CT

This event has sold out, but you can still watch live through our Facebook Page!

We are proud to present the If These Walls Could Talk Art Catalogue. To commemorate the release of the catalogue we will be hosting an If These Walls Could Talk book signing! Come get a catalogue, meet the artist, and have your copy signed!

In addition we will be presenting the long awaited Malindy Awards honoring the contributions of local vocal artists Sara Hickman, Geneva Marie Rawlins, Courtney Santana, and Pamela Hart to Austin's vibrant cultural life!

The event is free; however, capacity will be limited due to COVID-19 restrictions, so please register in advance. When you register, you also have the option to pre-order the catalogue. Catalogues are $40 with General Admission and $35 with Member Admission.

Come enjoy a Texas evening with art and music.

To protect the health and safety of visitors, the artists, and our staff, this event will take place outdoors with social distancing precautions, including required face masks while on site. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the If These Walls Could Talk exhibition, with group entries staggered every six minutes.

Malindy Award Honorees

Pamela Hart Hartbeat Productions.  "Austin's First Lady of Jazz"

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Pamela Hart was born in Los Angeles, California, and is passionate about singing and about the artistry of vocal jazz.  She has devoted over 25 years of her life towards singing jazz and keeping the jazz genre alive.  Pamela’s influence for jazz began at an early age when jazz was played in her home in Los Angeles, CA.  Pamela used to leave for school after the DJ Brad Pride, Jr.’s signing off the air with Nancy Wilson’s “I Had A Ball.”  Pamela’s mother, Christine Whitehead, always encouraged her to sing in front of family and friends.  After graduating from UCLA in Economics, Pamela moved to Austin in 1982. She began using the Austin Public Library to check out jazz vocalist records and learn more about Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and others.  The library became her source for learning more about jazz and vocal stylings.  Pamela began to participate with Boyd Vance and other groups to make public appearances for exposure and learning to perform.  Her first regular accompanist was Sandy Allen, whom she worked with from 1991 until his untimely death in 2008.

 

Sara Hickman Singer-Songwriter, Social Activist: 

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Sara Hickman is the quintessential musician with a social conscience. She is also one of the most beloved singer-songwriters, not only in Texas but in all of America. Hickman is an avid supporter of numerous charities and organizations benefiting children, women, and health. She helps these organizations by creating awareness, donating her time and, often, contributing portions of the proceeds from her record sales.  She has been awarded the Humana "Women Helping Women" award for her generous work with such organizations as Safe Place, Habitat for Humanity, House the Homeless, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Race for the Cure, and many other animal and human rights organizations. She was also made an honorary member of the National Association of Music Therapy because of her work in that area. 

 

Courtney Santana  Musical Artist and founder of Survive2thrive

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Courtney Santana is the CEO of Survive2Thrive, a nonprofit she founded in 2006 to provide direct services for victims of domestic abuse. Courtney has a diverse background in volunteerism and community philanthropy and has been invited to speak about the power of empowerment over victimization as the best method for victim success globally. Santana has been in the music industry for over 22 years. She has been a featured vocalist and background vocalist on over 15 albums and has performed or recorded with and alongside Brannen Temple, Guy Forsyth, Patrice Pike, Strings Attached, Malford Milligan, Matt Wilson, Nakia, Chanel Haynes, and more.  She has also opened for national acts like Kirk Whalum, Kyle Turner, Salt N Pepa, and Musiq Soulchild. She released her single Survive in 2017 and will release a full length album in Fall of 2020. She has been nominated by the Austin Chronicle for best cover band 3 times.

 

Geneva Marie Rawlins  Vocalist, Pianist, Music Director and Instructor

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Geneva Marie Rawlins (1930-2020) made her life in Austin, beginning with a 1965 gig headlining Geneva and Her Gentlemen at the Jade Room downtown and then as the house band for The Club Seville at The Sheraton Crest (now The LINE Austin) at E. Cesar Chavez and Congress Ave. for the first half of the 1970s. After Geneva and Her Gentlemen went their separate ways at the end of the 1970s, she continued to perform as a solo jazz pianist and vocalist in Central Texas throughout the 1980s and 1990s, often giving her time and musical talents in support of Austin’s Women & Their Work. From 1977 to 2007 Geneva was also Director of Music for the historic Wesley United Methodist Church in Central East Austin, mentoring generations of upcoming musicians.

Meet the Artist

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
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Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

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ITWCT | The Ghost of Robert E. Lee
May
1
7:00 PM19:00
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | The Ghost of Robert E. Lee

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The Ghost of Robert E. Lee

If These Walls Could Talk Performance

May 1, 2020 | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM CST

Doors Open at 7:00 PM | Performance Starts at 7:30 PM

There is an old legend that if you walk past the Neill-Cochran House at night you will witness the sight of General Robert E. Lee on the upper balcony. This legend was told amongst the freedmen of the historic Wheatville community. In her performance The Ghost of Robert E. Lee, Jennifer Cumberbatch builds upon this legend and the Ginger Geyer Mercy Seat sculpture with a live performance on the front porch of the Neill-Cochran House Museum. The performance will also feature the premiere of the film If These Walls Could Talk: The House That Slaves Built. 

The Ghost of Robert E. Lee is the powerful finale and closing reception of the provocative exhibition If These Walls Could Talk. Come enjoy refreshments, the scenic beauty of the Neill-Cochran House Museum, entertainment, and your last chance to join in the conversation. \

Tickets 

Students (with ID) – $20 

Friends of NCHM – $25 

Standard -$30

Meet the Artist

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
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Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

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ITWCT | Beats All I Ever Saw and Annual Easter Egg Dye-o-Rama
Apr
10
12:00 PM12:00
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Beats All I Ever Saw and Annual Easter Egg Dye-o-Rama

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Beats All I Ever Saw

and Annual Easter Egg Dye-o-Rama

If These Walls Could Talk Performance

April 10, 2020 | 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM CST | Free Event


The Performance

Join the Neill-Cochran House Museum for its annual family-friendly Easter egg event. In addition to egg dying for children, this year’s festivities will include a Red Velvet Cake competition with a celebrity judge and audience taste-testing and vote. Jennifer Cumberbatch’s Beats All I Ever Saw will feature music and dance to communicate the historic significance of the cakewalk. The performance and Red Velvet Cake Competition also serve to honor the significance to the Adams Family, who started the Adams Extract and Food Coloring business.

The performance is inspired by Ginger Geyer’s sculpture of a Sunbeam mixer covered in red velvet cake batter, titled Beats All I Ever Saw. The performance also serves as a recognition of Mary Cochran Bohl’s intense admiration of her Grandma Rose’s cake baking skills.


The Eggs

Each year, the Neill-Cochran House Museum opens its doors to feature free, hands-on Easter egg dyeing, scavenger hunts, self-paced tours, and (weather permitting) lawn games with space to picnic in the shade.

Though the museum will be open for free, the suggested donation for each egg is $2 with all proceeds benefiting ongoing programming at the Neill-Cochran House Museum.

The museum will provide blown (emptied) eggs, dyes, wax resists, tables, chairs, and volunteers to offer help with the process. Visitors are also welcome to bring their own boiled or blown eggs. While the eggs dry, visitors are invited indoors to visit the ongoing If These Walls Could Talk and Reckoning with the Past: Slavery, Segregation, and Gentrification in Austin exhibits.

Meet the Artist

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
Ginger-Geyer-HiRes6524-2017-fagan--1024x552.jpg

Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

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ITWCT | Make America Sing Again
Mar
26
5:30 PM17:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Make America Sing Again

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Make America Sing Again

If These Walls Could Talk Performance

March 26, 2020 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM CST

Make America Sing Again is Jennifer Cumberbatch’s salute to the great Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in addition to other American vocalists. The performance was inspired by Ginger Geyer’s sculpture Make America Sing Again, which was inspired by the hat worn by Aretha Franklin during her special guest appearance at Barak Obama’s Presidential Inauguration. 

The event will also honor some of Austin’s vocal heroes with Malindy Awards, named after African American Poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s character Malindy. 

Tickets 

Students (with ID) – $10 

Friends of NCHM – $15 

Standard -$20

Meet the Artist

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
Ginger-Geyer-HiRes6524-2017-fagan--1024x552.jpg

Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

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ITWCT | Oratory Sunday
Mar
8
2:30 PM14:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Oratory Sunday

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Oratory Sunday

If These Walls Could Talk Performance

March 8, 2020 | 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM CST

Doors Open at 2:00 PM | Performance Starts at 4:30 PM

Oratory Sunday is a historical fiction call and response between historic Wheatville’s Reverend Jacob Fontaine and Reverend H.B. Rose of the Neill-Cochran House.  

In addition to Jennifer Cumberbatch’s performance, Reverend G.V. Clark and Mary Cochran Bohls on behalf of her grandfather, H.B. Rose, will be presented with Jacob Fontaine Awards for their faithful contributions and services to the community. 

Tickets 

Students (with ID) – $10 

Friends of NCHM – $15 

Standard -$20

Meet the Artist

Screen-Shot-2019-09-25-at-1.01.54-PM-225x300-1-1.png

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

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ITWCT | Community Bus Tour
Feb
29
10:30 AM10:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Community Bus Tour

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Community Bus Tour

If These Walls Could Talk Event

February 29, 2020 | 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM CST | Tickets $40

The community bus tour connects the dots between the lives of the black and white founders of Austin, including the Wheatville and Clarksville Freedman communities, Governor Pease’s mansion, the Texas Governor’s mansion, and the Neill-Cochran House Museum. Attendees will enjoy a traveler’s shoebox feast, reminiscent of the scrumptious meals packed for black travelers by their families and communities during the Jim Crow Era when black people were denied service at restaurants. The event includes a live performance by Jennifer Cumberbatch.

Celebrate Black History Month by attending one of two tour options on February 29 at 10:30AM or 1:30PM.

Meet the Speakers

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Ginger Geyer

Austin artist Ginger Geyer grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, attended the University of Arkansas and earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting and art history from SMU. She also has a lay degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in pastoral ministry. Formerly an art museum professional (Dallas Museum of Art and Kimbell Art Museum), she occasionally consults on collection management and architecture. For 15 years she directed artist workshops and curated the gallery for the H.E. Butt Foundation retreat center, Laity Lodge. All of this, plus being a mother of two and grandmother of one have informed her avid studio practice. Writing, serving as adjunct professor at both Seminary of the Southwest and Concordia University, and making art with  homeless people have also influenced her art. For thirty years, porcelain sculpture has been the primary medium for combining her quests into art history, museology, spirituality, and culture. A large body of “not quite trompe l’oeil” works are accompanied by ever-changing narratives. A retrospective of her work in early 2020 at the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin takes it beyond the gallery scene into an immersive experience throughout the historic house and its slave dependency. “If These Walls Could Talk” is a collaborative with a performing artist to explore both the privileged  and the enslaved who graced these grounds. More information can be found at www.gingergeyer.com, Instagram and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas.

 
Screen-Shot-2019-09-25-at-1.01.54-PM-225x300-1-1.png

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

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Black Builders of a White City: Erecting Race in Early Austin
Feb
27
5:30 PM17:30
If These Walls Could Talk, Modern Times

Black Builders of a White City: Erecting Race in Early Austin

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Black Builders of a White City: Erecting Race in Early Austin

Modern Times 14: The Other Midcentury Modern

February 27, 2020 | 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM CST

Who built this city?

 Join us for an afternoon conversation and performance with Dr. Ted Gordon and Ms. Jennifer Cumberbatch. Dr. Gordon will speak about the important role the institution of slavery played in the birth and growth of Austin and the realities of everyday life for the enslaved through the lens of two buildings practically adjacent to each other and built within a dozen years of each other. Gordon will use the Neill-Cochran House and the God Start building, to talk about the contradiction between the importance and skill of Black skilled labor in early Austin and the debased social status of Blacks as enslaved and forepersons. Gordon will also talk about how skills practiced in slavery could also be the basis for freed black people to construct their own lives in freedom. Ms. Cumberbatch will bring to life the memories of formerly enslaved Austinites and their families through a one-woman performance drawn from oral histories recorded during the 1930s through WPA funding.

Meet the Speakers

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Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch

Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.

 
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Edmund T. Gordon

Edmund T. Gordon is the founding chair of the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology of the African Diaspora, and Vice Provost for Diversity at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gordon is also the former Associate Vice President of Thematic Initiatives and Community Engagement of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement as well as former Director of the Center for African and African American Studies at The University of Texas. His teaching and research interests include Culture and power in the African Diaspora, gender studies (particularly Black males), critical race theory, race education, and the racial economy of space and resources. His publications include Disparate Diasporas: Identity and Politics in an African-Nicaraguan Community, 1998 UT Press. Dr. Gordon received his Doctorate in Social Anthropology from Stanford University and his Master’s of Arts from Stanford University in Anthropology and Master’s degree in Marine Sciences from theUniversity of Miami.

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ITWCT | Rise & Shine Encore
Feb
20
5:30 PM17:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Rise & Shine Encore

Rise & Shine

An If These Walls Could Talk Performance

February 6, 2020

Doors Open at 5:30 PM | Performance Starts at 6:00 PM

Rise & Shine features a lively interpretation sharing the history of the Neill-Cochran House Museum, through dramatic monologue, music, and dance by a lively fictional character. Through this performance Jennifer Cumberbatch presents the intersection of history between all the characters connected with the Neill-Cochran House Museum and the surrounding community.  

The performance is inspired by Ginger Geyer’s powerful sculpture Rise & Shine.

Tickets 

Students (with ID) – $10 

Friends of NCHM – $15 

Standard - $20

View Event →
ITWCT | Rise & Shine
Feb
6
5:30 PM17:30
If These Walls Could Talk

ITWCT | Rise & Shine

Rise & Shine

An If These Walls Could Talk Performance

February 6, 2020

Doors Open at 5:30 PM

Performance Starts at 6:00 PM

Rise & Shine features a lively interpretation sharing the history of the Neill-Cochran House Museum, through dramatic monologue, music, and dance by a lively fictional character. Through this performance Jennifer Cumberbatch presents the intersection of history between all the characters connected with the Neill-Cochran House Museum and the surrounding community.  

The performance is inspired by Ginger Geyer’s powerful sculpture Rise & Shine.

Tickets 

Students (with ID) – $10 

Friends of NCHM – $15 

Standard - $20

View Event →