Red Summer is an Artist, Educator, Historian and Curator from Chicago, IL. After studying Arts Education at Grambling State University, she went on to earn Master’s Degrees in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College Chicago and Heritage Preservation / Museum Studies from Georgia State University. Just after her graduation from Georgia State, she received a message that her graduate film project, Al Nisa, had earned her an honorary Doctorate degree from Starr King School of Ministry in San Francisco, CA.
Red molded her love of Art and History as a high school teacher in Chicago. Known for her out-of-the- box classes like “Cell Therapy: Goodie Mob and the History of Surveillance in the Black Community” and “The Message: How to Keep From Going Under”, she became a favorite of students across the campus. Soon after, she was invited to become an adjunct professor at the Chicago City College. By 2008, Red Summer had founded Two Fingers Press Publishing Company to encourage her students to write prose and poetry and Verbal Remedies to encourage young people to sharpen their public speaking and performance skills. In August of that year, she expanded both companies to work with students nationwide. After almost 2 years of touring, she landed in Atlanta, GA. In Atlanta, she garnered awards and laurels for her work in spoken word, performance and filmmaking.
Upon moving to the DMV area, Red resumed teaching high school students in DC Public Schools. She started the African American Art program at Luke C Moore High School. She also started the Mass Media program at Ron Brown High School. She is currently working with the Museum Studies program at Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
As the Lead Curator for the Hip Hop Museum DC, Red Summer is able to merge all of her passions for art, performance, history and cultural preservation into one. She designed the mobile exhibit for the Pop-Up Experiences, works with artists and institutions on partnerships and collaborations and assists in growing the collection for the museum. She has spoken at international Museum Conferences on how the Hip Hop Museum uses the Five Elements of Hip Hop to drive it’s programming, policies and community outreach. Red looks forward to being an integral part of the Hip Hop Museum team for many years.
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RED SUMMER
Chief Curator
