SPACE IS THE PLACE!

Blackspace offers teens of African descent free workshops in the digital and creative arts. To stay in touch and for more updates, join our mailing list. 

 

In 2026 Blackspace offered free programming for teens, including a fashion summer camp, horror movie night, and monthly cypher! 

What an amazing year! RN Horror, our Durham youth horror movie collective, hosted free screenings of Black-led horror films, including: They Will Kill You, Night Patrol, Backrooms and more. We launched our first-ever fashion summer camp Vogue Visions, where kids and mentors gathered at the Scrap Exchange to create their own handbags, scrunchies, hoodies and upcycled outfits. As always, we hosted Rowdy Summer Cypher, our flagship event, where rappers, beat makers, poets and creatives gather to improvise, freestyle and create community together in the heart of the city! To support this important communtiy work – join our Patreon!  


GREAT GRIEF: A Love letter to our late executive director Josh “Rowdy” Rowsey

 

 

 

Check out some of our youth-produced projects! Listen to the relaxing vibrations of our LoFi Hip Hop album DurhamFi, inspired by our home the City of Durham, created in collaboration with Discover Durham and produced by Blackspace youth. Click image below or click here to stream on Spotify (album art Durham-based Black woman illustrator & animator @bunny_fart). 
 

Check our collaboration with Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy: Arc of Justice. We produced the music for this podcast series about reparations!

Check out Blackspace’s album Revenge of the Afronauts, Executive Produced by J Rowdy and mixed by Blackspace youth under the guidance of producer and sound engineer Rem. REVENGE is an album of original, refreshing North Carolina Hip Hop. Click here to listen to a podcast of the Afronauts on NPR/WUNC’s The State of Things talking about the album. Stream the album on Soundcloud here.

Blackspace was featured on BET’s late night show The Rundown with Robin Thede!


Blackspace, in partnership with Perkins + Will, Indulge Catering and late architect Phil Freelon, chartered a bus to DC to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Click here to view our recap video and watch testimonials with Genesis, Brentton, Jewel and Alex.

Blackspace and PBS NC collaborated on Classroom Connection, a show featuring PBS KIDS favorites alongside North Carolina educators. This short-form learning series delivers engaging math and literacy lessons developed by and featuring North Carolina teachers, aimed at Pre-K through third grade students to support their at-home learning.