Art & Soul kicks off Black History Month ahead of NBA All-Star

February is about to be a busy month for Hoosiers, but before Downtown Indy is taken over by NBA fans, the 2024 Art & Soul aims to showcase the talent of local Black artists. For the last 28 years, the Indy Arts Council has taken the month of February to highlight the talent of Indianapolis’ multidisciplinary Black artists — whether they be dancers, painters, authors, poets or musicians — in a month-long exhibition with pop-up performances and events. This year, Art & Soul’s theme is “The Naptown Experience” to not only celebrate the four featured artists, but the long history of African American creatives in Indy. “Every year, the Arts Council, they go by the theme of the national theme of the Smithsonian,” said Art & Soul producer Valerie Phelps. “So, I took that theme and I put the Naptown experience into it because that’s how we’re known nationally. Artists still refer to us as Naptown.” READ MORE: Meet the Artists XXXVI is here Indy-based poet jus Will said he started writing poetry in eighth grade but pursued hip-hop and rapping as a career first. However, as he got older, jus Will said the poetry scene in Indy started to...