Akron Soul Train is an artist residency program connecting and empowering the community and artists by granting fellowships that provide resources for all creative disciplines to foster a more vibrant downtown Akron.

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Now showing at the Akron Soul Train Gallery

Opening Reception for both exhibits is Friday, Nov. 5th 11am-7pm

Reshaping the Narrative

A Project telling the migration stories of Akron’s African-American families 

Akron Soul Train and the Black Artists Guild are teaming up to produce an exhibition titled “Reshaping the Narrative”.  The “Reshaping the Narrative” exhibition will show positive stories of African Americans to promote equity, empathy and empowerment for all. The exhibition will include a 30-minute film telling the stories of some of Akron’s black families who migrated here, along with large photographs and a curation of family

heirlooms.  The exhibition will be accompanied with a virtual tour and artist talk shown live on Facebook. Communicating these stories across platforms will aid in reshaping the narrative of Akron’s African Americans and how they migrated north for a better life, for their survival, and how replanting their roots helped establish family legacies.

For more information about the project and artists involved, please click here

“We should be home”

The new work by Artist-in-Resident Arron Foster

Featured in the Burton D. Morgan exhibition space is the new work of Arron Foster.  Foster’s work also explores migration.  He states, “As an Appalachian transplant to Northeast Ohio, I am keenly interested in the deep connections between the two regions. Research and history have shown that throughout the 20th century, Akron, Ohio was an epicenter of Appalachian migration as large groups of both skilled and unskilled laborers poured into the region to work for

the tire and rubber industries. While some of these transplants would only stay for a season, others put down roots and became established parts of the community.”

“Migration has been an important part of the Appalachian experience and reflects the conditions of a changing world. While in residence, I strove to create a body of work that graphically represents the physical and cultural landscapes of the places people left and the places they settled in.  I believe that the shared exploration and interpretation of places can encourage empathy for the spaces we occupy and perhaps foster a greater sense of stewardship and care.”