Gourd Craft at 18th Street Arts Center

Join the Quinn Research Center and 18th Street Arts Center for an interactive workshop that explores the rich traditions of gourd making in Black communities across the American South. Participants will learn hands-on techniques for crafting and decorating gourds while delving into the cultural, spiritual, and communal significance of this historic art form.

Gourd making, rooted in African diasporic practices, has long served as a vessel—both literal and symbolic—for storytelling, survival, music, and ritual. In the South, gourds have been transformed into water vessels, instruments, and artistic expressions, often passed down through generations. This workshop uplifts these legacies, celebrating the creativity at the heart of Black cultural resilience.

As part of the Historic Broadway Project, this workshop honors the artistic and social histories that shaped the Broadway community, connecting ancestral practices to place-based memory and ongoing cultural preservation in Los Angeles.

This program is generously supported by the Mike Kelly Foundation for the Arts and the Quinn Research Center and made possible in part with 150th Anniversary Microgrant support from the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs.

Space is limited, RSVP at 18thStreet.org.