Reclamation Day: A Reunion of Hope
Description
On June 20, 2026, two weeks before the United States marks its 250th anniversary, something new begins.
Reclamation Day is a new national ritual where we tell the truth about our history, repair our relationships, and reimagine our future together.
Across art installations, DJ sets, shared meals, short films, live performances, participatory murals, and interactive spaces, you'll move through three immersive zones: Reclaim, Repair, and Reimagine, each designed to help us confront the past, connect in the present, and shape the next 250 years together.
Featuring over 40 artists and organizations, Reclamation Day brings together bold ideas and creative expression touching on themes of land, reparations, identity, sovereignty, hope, and what it truly means to belong to one another.
General admission to Reclamation Day is free and open to all. A separate ticket is required for the film screenings and the closing performance with Joey Bada$$ & Mato Wayuhi.
Step into something bigger than yourself, a movement to repair what's been broken and build the solidarity needed to shape what comes next.
Come as strangers. Leave as kin. Pull up to the reunion.
Agenda
- All day
Doors Open
Doors and registration open at 12:00 pm ET. All participants must be registered to attend. Day-of registration will depend on capacity. Food and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) will be provided throughout the day, with the first 400 guests receiving a complimentary drink ticket. A cash bar will be available thereafter.
- 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Opening Ceremony (Come Close: A Return to Us)
The opening ceremony is a collective moment of arrival. Through song, presence, and ritual, we begin by closing the distance that keeps us from listening and remembering.
- 1:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Zones & Activations Open (Reclaim. Repair. Reimagine.)
The zones that make Reclamation Day come alive open, each offering a distinct experience that you can explore at your own pace. Reclaim: This zone centers history, memory, and lineage and features art installations, photography, and artwork that uplift what Black, Indigenous, and working-class communities have preserved and passed down despite colonization, slavery, and erasure. Repair: This zone focuses on relationship, accountability, and care. Here you will find BLIS's signature Solidarity Gym, a facilitated and embodied practice space that invites reflection on harm, solidarity, and what it means to stay in relationship when we treat healing as an everyday practice. Reimagine: This zone opens space for collective imagination and possibility. It includes interactive experiences, creative workshops, and future-facing prompts that invite participants to explore what becomes possible when we treat hope as a discipline. There is no single way to move through the day. You are welcome to wander between zones, join activities as they call to you, take breaks, and return. However, please be advised that the general admission portion of the event ends at 7:00pm and entry for the closing performance will begin at 7:30pm. Guests who have a ticket for the closing performance are welcome and encouraged to stay, but after 7:00pm we will transition from the general admission exhibition into the closing performance.
- 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Lunch from Melbas (Rooftop)
Soul food from Melba's served on the roof!
- 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Reclaim DJ Set (Rooftop)
Lovie will be playing music on the rooftop, rooted in reclaiming our sound, our time, our love, and our presence.
- 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Reclaim Film Block (80 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11249)
Short films spotlighting Indigenous-led efforts to reclaim buffalo and land, followed by a panel with those who brought the stories to life.
- 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Repair DJ Set (Rooftop)
Roselle will be playing music on the rooftop centered on songs that call us back to ourselves, blending contemporary protest songs with music that restores our connection to ourselves and one another.
- 3:45 pm - 5:15 pm
Repair Film Block (80 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11249)
Short films highlighting modern reparations efforts from New York to Tulsa, followed by a panel with the legislators and advocates working to make reparations a reality.
- 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Reimagine DJ Set (Rooftop)
Bridge will be playing music on the rooftop, rooted in futurism and imagination, blending sounds from across the diaspora, inviting us to imagine new worlds into being.
- 5:15 pm - 6:45 pm
Reimagine Film Block (80 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11249)
Short films on the decades-long fight to free Leonard Peltier and an Afrofuturist vision of reparations made real, followed by a discussion on imagining justice beyond the limits of the present.
- 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Light Bites from Buffalo Jump (Rooftop)
Light Native American bites from Buffalo Jump NYC.
- 7:30 pm - 9:15 pm
Closing Performance (Joey Bada$$ & Mato Wayuhi)
Until Next Time is the closing performance with Mato Wayuhi and Joey Bada$$, bringing the day to a powerful close as we honor what was shared and carry the energy from the reunion back out into the world.
- 9:15 pm - 11:30 pm
Final Celebration (DJ Set & Dancing)
Stick around after the closing performance as the music continues with a live DJ set and open dance floor. A chance to celebrate, connect, and end the night together.
- 11:30 pm - 12:00 am
Departure
You'll be asked to leave the space, but not the work.
Contributing Speakers, Artists, Storytellers, and Organizations
President Shannon Holsey
President Shannon Holsey serves as the President of the Stockbridge‑Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin. A longstanding advocate for civic participation and tribal sovereignty, she has brought over two decades of leadership experience in tribal governance, intergovernmental relations, and community development. President Holsey is committed to strengthening democratic engagement, advancing equity for Indigenous nations, and empowering future generations through education, cultural preservation, and civic leadership. President Holsey will offer opening remarks during the opening ceremony, Come Close: A Return to Us.
Joey Bada$$
Since unloading his breakout mixtape, 1999, Joey Bada$$ has been at the center of boom-bap lore for more than a decade. In the process, he has established himself as a compelling storyteller in the culture at large. He founded the rap collective Pro Era alongside Powers Pleasant, CJ Fly, and late rapper Capital Steez. His album All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ is linked above! Joey will perform the closing set of the closing performance: Until Next Time.
Mato Wayuhi
Mato Wayuhi is an Oglala Lakota artist who works in film/TV as an actor, producer, and musical composer, as well as writing his own music. Upon graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in film studies, Mato became the composer for the award-winning TV series Reservation Dogs and the feature-length documentary Free Leonard Peltier (2025) — the latter of which was nominated for Best Original Score by the 2025 IDA Awards. Mato stars as an actor in the new series The Lowdown, premiering on FX/Hulu. He is also featured on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood & Entertainment. Mato Wayuhi will perform the opening set for the closing performance: Until Next Time.
Rev. Jacqueline Lewis
Rev. Jacqui Lewis, a public theologian, activist, and Senior Minister of Middle Church Collegiate, will ground us in spirit, truth, and collective intention as we begin our time together in the opening ceremony, Come Close: A Return to Us.
Rebecca Nagle
Rebecca Nagle is an advocate, writer, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, who will debut selections from her newest podcast, First America, in the Reclaim zone, bringing forward stories that reclaim Native truth and history.
Tamika Abaka-Wood
Tamika Abaka-Wood will activate 1-800-Dial-An-Ancestor, a public service hotline spanning from 2021-2121, inviting you to call in, listen, and leave something behind in the Reclaim zone.
Andy Jacobs
Andy Jacobs is a member of the Delaware Nation, also known as Eelunapeéewi Lahkéewiit, Ontario. She is also a board member for the Lenape women's group Lenni Lenapexkweyok Naxpankuntitam. Andy will be speaking on the panel during the Reclaim film block.
Joey Fambrini
Joseph Fambrini (Mushhakòt Kshàxën / Windy Sky) is a Lenape, Filipino, and Italian multidisciplinary artist and certified artist with his nation, the Delaware Tribe of Indians, based in Lenapehoking’s “Brooklyn, NY”. His work centers on ancestral memory, land, and survival, depicting ancestors and sacred animals marked by the nuclear fallout and ongoing violence of colonialism, events that exist simultaneously in the past, present, and imagined futures. Joseph's work will be featured in the Repair Zone. As one of the few Lenape artists living on his ancestral homelands, Fambrini’s practice is both personal and political, holding space for grief, survival, and continuity. His work insists on the recognition of land as sacred and alive, challenging viewers to reckon with the histories embedded beneath the city and their own presence upon it.
Ben Scott Miller
Ben Scott Miller is an award-winning creative designer, coppersmith, and registered citizen of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, also tracing his lineage as a descendant of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. With a career spanning international advertising and fine metalwork, Ben’s practice is deeply rooted in the preservation and visibility of Indigenous heritage.
Kinfolk Tech
Kinfolk Tech uses immersive technology, public art, and community-led design to help displaced and excluded communities tell their own stories. They'll be debuting an artificial-reality monument rooted in New York's history in the Reimagine zone.
NDN Collective
NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, they are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms. NDN's art and filmmaking will be activated across multiple zones at Reclamation Day.
Bridge
Bridge is a Brooklyn-based DJ and multidisciplinary creative whose sets weave together classic and gospel house, disco, and ballroom into transporative, vocally driven experiences. Bridge will be playing on the rooftop for the Reimagine set.
Layqa
Layqa Nuna Yawar is a muralist and multidisciplinary artist whose large-scale public works combine portraiture, symbolism, and storytelling to explore displacement, migration, and social equity. In the Reimagine zone, he will host a participatory mural, inviting attendees to contribute their visions, stories, and symbols of a more just and liberated future.
Intelligent Mischief
Intelligent Mischief, a creative studio and design lab, will host a Social Dream Space in the Reimagine zone - a participatory installation where attendees gather to imagine futures rooted in disciplined hope.
Relative Arts
Relative Arts is a brick-and-mortar community space, open studio, and shop that showcases contemporary Indigenous fashion and design. They'll host an interactive mannequin activation in the Repair zone.
Why We Can't Wait Reparations Network
The Why We Can't Wait Reparations Network is a national network bringing together organizations and individuals across generations, disciplines, and fields to advance full reparations at the federal, state, county, municipal, and communal levels. WWCW is the largest network advancing reparations in the United States, working with descendant communities, advocates, and allies to address the ongoing impacts of enslavement, exploitation, segregation, and anti-Blackness. The Network moves through organizing, research, policy, advocacy, and creative communication - each a channel for transformation rooted in collective power and consensus. At the Repair Zone, WWCW will activate an installation titled "We Kept the Receipts."
Indigenous Led
Indigenous-led elevates the power of Indigenous-led conservation rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing. Their film IINNIIWA: The Blackfoot Buffalo Story, will be screening during the Reclaim film block.
LUSH Cosmetics
LUSH Cosmetics will activate a mini-spa in the Repair zone, offering a space for rest, care, and restoration.
Brandon Lazore
Brandon Lazore is a member of the Snipe Clan from the Onondaga Nation. His life has been shaped by both the city of Syracuse and the community of Onondaga. He was raised by his maternal grandmother in Syracuse and by his father on the Nation, moving between two worlds that deeply influence who he is and the art he creates. Brandon's work will be shown in the Reclaim zone.
Lovie
Lovie is a Brooklyn-based DJ whose sound is rooted in a soulful and eclectic selection. As a former theatre artist, she brings her love of storytelling and empathy-building to the dance floor, and makes mutual exchanges of joy and collaboration with her audience as she interweaves soul, disco, and house into a sound that creates warmth. Lovie will be playing on the rooftop for the Reclaim set.
Sky Walker
Skylar (Sky) Walker is a Black American paper collage artist based in New York. She is inspired to delve into fantastical realms of self-exploration and liberation using her collage work. These collages hold truths of pain, joy, protection, fear, and hope simultaneously, opening a space where the self attunes to the world around us. Her work is an ode to history, honoring those who paved the way, and a visualization of a future, offering paths toward freedom that unfold across space and time. Sky's work will be featured in the Repair and Reimagine Zones.
Ella Mahoney
Ella Mahoney is a visual artist, illustrator, educator, and a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Her interdisciplinary practice focuses on oil, acrylic, and silk painting that evoke the movement, memory, and atmosphere of northeast coastal environments, and, more specifically, Aquinnah. Her work will be featured across the Reclaim zone.
Roselle
A storyteller first, Roselle’s artistry is deeply informed by her Afro-Indigenous roots. Raised by the chief of her tribe, The Chappaquiddick Wampanaog of Martha’s Vineyard, Roselle’s late mother Alma Gordon inspired tenacity, a baton that Roselle carries on and off stage. She rides melodies, taps into the sacral with the bass of house, and succumbs to the refrains of jazz - a sojourn sure to inspire the revolutionary within. Roselle will be playing on the rooftop for the Repair set.
Jeremy Dennis
Jeremy Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer and an enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation whose work centers Indigenous identity, land, and memory. His photographs will be featured in the Reclaim zone.
Dana Davenport
Dana Davenport is a Korean and Black American interdisciplinary artist working across installation, sculpture, video, and performance. Her braided chandeliers will be featured in the Reclaim zone, alongside a live braiding activation.
Nia Burnley
Nia Harris Burnley is a New York City pianist whose music speaks directly to the soul. Having graced the keys since age three, this Howard University graduate carries forward the legacy of her grandfather, legendary jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris, while forging her own distinctive path in the music world. Nia will be performing during the opening ceremony: Come Close: A Return to Us.
Kianna Pete
Kiana Pete (Diné/Navajo) is a climate justice and education policy advocate. Kiana's social media content will be played on loop in the Repair zone and she will be on site capturing content throughout the day.
Da'Shaune Marisa
Da’Shaunae Marisa is a creative entrepreneur and visual storyteller working across photography, film, and public art. Through this work, she reimagines traditional visual narrative by centering healing, joy, and creative expansion. Her practice spans photojournalism for international publications, fine art collage rooted in ancestral memory, and brand collaborations that merge storytelling with social impact. Da'Shaune's work will be featured in the Repair zone.
Debbie Ann-Paige
Debbie Ann-Paige is a public historian and genealogist specializing in local African American history. Her research on locating and identifying the Cherry Lane Cemetery, the final resting place for formerly enslaved and free Black Staten Islanders, will be featured in the Reclaim zone. Debbie is a featured panelist during the Repair film block.
Mer Young
Mer (Chichimeca & Ndé) is an Indigenous multidisciplinary creator whose body of work includes collages, drawings, paintings, and murals. Young created the main flyer for Reclamation Day, and works will be featured in the Reimagine zone.
Shawn Escoffery
Shawn Escoffery is a photographer who uses his passion for life and the built environment to uncover beauty in images of everyday life, often overlooked. His photography will be displayed in the Reclaim zone.
Michelle Kelly-Woodard
Wëli kishku elankumakik ok winkalichik, Ntëluwensi Michelle Kelly-Woodard Ni Lenape. Michelle Kelly-Woodard She is a enrolled tribal member of Delaware Nation, Anadarko Oklahoma. Michelle is a board member for the Lenape womans group Lenni Lenapexkweyok Naxpankuntitam/ Planning together with a collective matriarchs from Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, Munsee-Delaware Nation, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma, and Delaware Nation of Oklahoma (the 5 Federally recognized Lenape Tribes USA & Canada). She is an indigenous teacher that focuses in S.T.E.A.M. and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. She works with local indigenous educators, and tribes creating empowering learning environments among Indigenous youth, parents and elders. She holds a bachelors degree in Biology, Natural Science, minors in Chemistry and liberal arts. Michelle focus her life about learning, teaching, regalia making, agriculture, travel, creating new connections and friendships, hunting, fishing, and advocating for her people & their ways. Michelle is a featured panelist during the Reclaim film block.
Lurie Daniel Favors
Lurie Daniel Favors, Esq. serves as Executive Director at the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College. She is an author, activist and attorney with a longstanding commitment to racial and social justice. She also hosts The Lurie Daniel Favors Show on Sirius XM’s Urban View Network, a national talk show that tackles issues of race, gender, culture, politics and the law and its accompanying podcast, Lurie Breaks it Down. She served as a commissioner on the New York City Racial Justice Commission and currently serves as a commissioner on the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies. Ms. Daniel Favors earned her J.D. from New York University, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar. Laurie is a featured panelist during the Repair film block.
Kyle Mays
Kyle T. Mays is an Afro-Indigenous (Saginaw Chippewa) writer and scholar of US history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture. He is an Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mays' new book, When We Are Kin: The History and Future of Afro-Indigenous Solidarity, will be available for free at Reclamation Day.
Nkechi Taifa
Nkechi Taifa is a civil and human rights attorney, scholar-activist, author and motivational speaker. She is Executive Director of the Reparation Education Project, Inc. and President of The Taifa Group LLC. A visionary thought leader and nationally recognized expert and commentator on race and justice issues, Taifa will be providing remarks during the opening ceremony: Come Close: A Return to Us.
Deyah Cassadore
Deyah Cassadore is a hairstylist, makeup artist, and proud member of the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache. Deyah will be activating a live hairbraiding installation in the Repair zone.
Aminah Howell
Aminah Howell is a hairstylist who specializes in creative styling for natural hair, color, and weaves. Aminah will be activating a live hairbraiding installation in the Repair zone.
Dioganhdih
Dioganhdih ( Haudenosaunee - Akwesasne Mohawk) is a two-spirit artist and horticulturist bridging realities and recalling ancestral memory in a multi-disciplinary approach. Dioganhdih’s practice revolves around designing and building heirloom seedkeeping gardens, weaving hip hop lyricism and oration into performance, crafting beats and engineering soundscapes while documenting through photography, collage and experimental video. Their art speaks to topics and lived experiences of navigating two spirit identity while preserving cultural identity, the landback movement amidst rise of global facism, archiving ongoing rematriation side quests and future world building as an act of resistance.
Linda Tigani
Linda Tigani is the Chair and Executive Director of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), where she leverages over a decade of government experience to work with New Yorkers to create meaningful change and advance racial equity. Prior to this role, Tigani was the acting Chief Equity and Strategy Officer for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she led the Race to Justice team, an internal initiative to transform the agency into an anti-racist organization. She worked with New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan and across the health department to implement an equity-focused strategic plan in all agency programming and operations. Linda is a featured panelist during the Repair film block.
Charitie Ropati
Charitie Ropati (Yup'ik & Samoan) is an Indigenous climate justice advocate and water engineer, recently appointed as a Youth Climate Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General. She has worked on water and pipe infrastructure for rural Alaska Native communities and is originally from the Native Village of Kongiganak in Southwest Alaska. A graduate of the Columbia University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering (Water Resources), Charitie is a World Wildlife Fund Conservation Leadership Awardee, Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awardee and has keynoted at the UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum at the United Nations Headquarters on behalf of her Arctic community. She continues to advocate for Indigenous human rights and the protection of land, water, and sovereignty. Charatie will moderate the panel during the Reclaim film block.
Get Free
Get Free is a youth-led movement to repair past harms, remove ongoing barriers to equality, and realize a future where freedom is for all. Get Free will have a table to provide more information about their organizing hubs and nationwide demonstrations around the 250th.
John Pepion
John Isaiah Pepion is a Plains Indian graphic artist, muralist, and educator from the Piikani Band of the Blackfoot Confederacy. He is based on the Blackfeet Reservation in north-central Montana. He is best known for his ledger art, a tradition developed by Plains tribes when buffalo hides, once central to painting, became scarce, leading artists to adapt their work to ledger paper. His work blends traditional Blackfeet design elements with bold linework and vibrant color, resulting in contemporary illustrations that are instantly recognizable. John's work will be featured in the Reclaim zone.
Raka
Raka is an American DJ and producer from the Philadelphia metro area, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing inspiration from UK rave culture, he channels 90s nostalgia into a modern, high-energy sound. His sets and productions blend feel-good soulful house, UK funky & garage, and classic dance influences with contemporary high-energy styles such as tech house and minimal deep house. Raka will be playing during the closing performance.
James Candelaria
James Candelaria is a contemporary ceramic pottery artist from the Pueblo of San Felipe, specializing in pieces that are utilized in many cultural ceremonies and events within the Pueblo. In the last few years, Candelaria has begun specializing in pieces that recognize organizations, programs, and institutions, using his unique designs to highlight the importance of agencies that do important work for Native Americans. James' work will be featured in the Reclaim zone.
OR1EL
Oriel Ceballos is a Brooklyn-raised artist, author, curator, and educator whose work spans visual art and storytelling, born in Panama. Commissioned to create the cover art for BLIS Collective's first printed zine in 2023, his work will be featured in the Repair zone.
Texas Tribal Buffalo Project
The Texas Tribal Buffalo Project is a Lipan Apache-led, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the first Native woman-led organization of its kind in Texas, focused on restoring kinship between Texas Indigenous Lineal Descendants and our Buffalo relatives through ancestral governance, cultural resilience, and deep care for the Land. T TTBP is a featured panelist during the Reclaim film block.
David Smith
David is a North Carolinian with strong familial ties throughout the Deep South. Guided by stories from his elders, David documents family ethnographies tracing his enslaved ancestors’ arrival in Louisiana, his great grandparents’ survival of sharecropping, the Great Depression, and World Wars, and his grandparents’ persistence through Jim Crow segregation as original members of New Orleans’ oldest Black neighborhoods. These stories ingrained David’s early sense of pride, politics, and self-expression. To further express this history, David studied economics in undergraduate and graduate school, centering the impact of capitalism on the outcomes of Black labor, housing, and ecology in the South. These themes directly translate into David’s art: vibrant colors illuminating the brash brass and spirit of the Tremé, lush backdrops of the land that cultivated him, and Black folks defiantly poised towards liberation and self-determination. David's work will be featured in the Reclaim zone.
Delfina Roybal
Delfina Roybal is an Indigenous (Mexican and Diné descent) organizer, communications strategist, and civic researcher based in New York City. A recent graduate of Columbia University with a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Political Theory, she is the founder of Native Action NYC, a political power-building organization promoting civic engagement for Indigenous New Yorkers, and currently serves as a policy fellow on the Eli Northrup for State Assembly campaign while working alongside the team for Conrad Blackburn for State Assembly. Delfina is a featured panelist during the Reimagine film block
Brandon Clarke
Brandon Clarke is a Miami-based artist whose work explores the intersections of identity, memory, and historical narrative. Drawing on his background in architecture, Clarke employs structure, form, and color as frameworks to build meaning. Brandon's work will be displayed in the Reclaim zone.
Willi White
Willi White, an enrolled member and citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from the Black Hills of South Dakota, is a film director, producer, and multi-disciplinary creative. He produced the Camera d’Or-winning film WAR PONY (2023) and worked on titles such as WINTER IN THE BLOOD (2013), AMERICAN HONEY (2016), and WOMAN WALKS AHEAD (2017). He is a 2016 Sundance Institute Indigenous program fellow and 2019 ARRAY Alliance grantee. Willi is part of the producing team on the Emmy-winning documentary LAKOTA NATION v. UNITED STATES (2023) and directed and produced the short film GIIWE: BRINGING LEONARD PELTIER HOME (2025). Willi is a featured panelist during the Reimagine film block.
Brea Baker
Brea Baker is a writer and freedom fighter whose book, ROOTED: The American Legacy of Land Theft & The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, was published with PRH/One World Books. ROOTED details her family’s experiences across the South and makes another case for reparations to include land distribution. ROOTED has been celebrated in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Apple Books, the New York Times, iHeart Radio’s The Breakfast Club, Harper’s BAZAAR, Ms. Magazine, and more. Brea's book, ROOTED will be available for free at Reclamation Day.
Nish
Nish Newton (they/them) is the star and a crucial creative collaborator of Space to Breathe, and an artist who utilizes their background as an educator of History and Sociology to wage a better world. They are also a practicing gender doula whose work is informed by the old ways of our elders and the new ways of our descendants. Their distinct approaches have led them to facilitate social justice spaces alongside Sonya Renee Taylor, adrienne maree brown, Dr. Angela Davis, and other beacons of transformative change. Nish is a featured panelist during the Reimagine film block.
Jean-Pierre Brutus
Jean-Pierre Brutus is a senior counsel in the Economic Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Convener of the New Jersey Reparations Council. He leads and manages the Institute’s reparations advocacy. He is a co-author of “More than a Check: Building Narrative Power for Black Reparations” in Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st – Century Social Movements, alongside BLIS co-founder Trevor Smith. He was a member of Liberations Ventures’ Reparations Narrative Lab and represented the Institute as a community fellow on the Rutgers- Newark Crafting Democratic Futures Project on community dialogues on reparations. Jean-Pierre will moderate the panel during the Reimagine film block.
Trevor Smith
Trevor Smith, poet and Executive Director of BLIS Collective, will guide the gathering, with his poetry woven throughout the Repair zone.
Black Veterans Project
BVP is the first comprehensive effort to build the collective power to demand federal accountability, advance policy change, and redress America's legacy of racism and discrimination against Black veterans and military families. BVP's work will be featured in the Reclaim zone.
New York Cash Alliance
The New York State Cash Alliance is a collaborative space to advance guaranteed income (GI) and cash-related advocacy in New York. Formed in 2024, we are a growing coalition of community organizers, activists, artists, cash beneficiaries, and advocates who understand the power of cash to address economic inequities and are pushing forward legislation that would provide a guaranteed income in the state of New York. The New York Cash Alliance will have a table to provide more information about the coalition.
Miss Monroe
Miss Monroe is a New York City–based DJ known for her high-energy, genre-blending sets and magnetic “girly-pop doll” stage presence. A staple in the downtown nightlife and fashion scenes, she has performed at some of NYC’s most iconic venues including Elsewhere, The Amber Room, Deluxx Fluxx, and Baby’s All Right. Miss Monroe’s career highlights include DJing the Met Gala After Party and headlining a 2,000+ person event at Elsewhere, solidifying her reputation as one of NYC’s most exciting rising DJs. Her dynamic sets blend hip-hop, baile funk, house, disco, and global sounds, creating an infectious dancefloor energy that bridges nightlife, fashion, and culture. Miss Monroe will be playing with leelander during the closing performance.
leelander
leelander is Onöndowa'ga:' a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians from the Cattaragus Reservation and who has developed a deep passion for DJ'ing, working closely on soundscaping a runway show mix, or playing at different events around the city where community is created through sound. Behind the decks you can expect a blend of lively sounds of jersey club, current tracks in rotation mixed together with 90's deep house anthems, an echo of ballroom and tech-house that blend together to create a groovy and lucrative performance that will be sure to make you move. leelander will be playing with Miss Monroe during the closing performance.
The Horizons Project
The Horizons Project strengthens connections and collective action among US pro-democracy movements and networks. They will be featured facilitators in the Solidarity Gym experience at Reclamation Day.
Iron Path Farms
Iron Path Farm & Studio is an indigenous two-spirit-led art, rematriation, and land stewardship project bringing together indigenous people and folks in diaspora for peacebuilding.
Yolanda Hoskey
Yolanda Hoskey is a multidisciplinary artist from East New York, Brooklyn, whose work investigates Black identity, national mythology, and the distance between how communities are seen and how they see themselves. Rooted in a background in Theatre Arts and Film, she came to photography through a deep belief in the power of narrative — that images, like stories, can shift how the world understands itself.
One of Many Studio
Nour Batyne is an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator, & creative producer working at the intersection of immersive storytelling, futures thinking, & social change. She is the founder of One of Many (OoM), an experience design studio bridging healing & justice work by connecting people with what it means to be a Future Ancestor. Through OoM's residency in the Great Rift Valley, she convenes changemakers to address critical conversations of our generation, including one of the world's most acute water crisis. Nour is a Next Generation Foresight Practitioner Fellow at the School of International Futures & served as Associate Instructor for Columbia University's Nonprofit Management Program.
Patricia Tarrant
Patricia Tarrant is the Executive Director of the American Indian Community House, where she has served in a variety of leadership and administrative roles since 2005. An enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota and a member of the Flint Knife Clan, Patricia has dedicated her career to advancing Indigenous representation, cultural preservation, and community well-being.
FAQs
- What is the BLIS Collective?
BLIS stands for Black Liberation-Indigenous Sovereignty. We are a national Solidarity and Action Hub that sparks radical collaboration and narrative alignment across Black, Indigenous, and transformative social movements to repair, decolonize, and reshape culture. BLIS has an active membership of over 40 organizations, content creators, storytellers, and researchers who are shaping narratives about repair and redistribution across society.
- What is Reclamation Day?
Reclamation Day is a new national ritual created by the BLIS Collective, a day to tell a fuller, truer story of this nation’s history, repair our relationships with one another, and reimagine what our shared future can become.
Reclamation Day 2026, takes place in New York City as a large-scale, immersive cultural gathering and community exhibition. Organized across three interconnected zones, Reclaim, Repair, and Reimagine, the day invites participants to move through art, film, conversation, and embodied experiences that deepen understanding, build connection, and spark collective imagination.
- Consent & Participation Notice
By completing your registration for Reclamation Day: A Reunion of Hope, you are providing informed consent to being photographed and filmed at the event. This footage may be used by BLIS Collective for promotional, storytelling, and research purposes, including. on our website, social media, and in other communication.
Any contributions you make in the interactive installations may be collected and used by BLIS to better understand the impact of the gathering and to accurately reflect the community present.
Reclamation Day is a learning experience and BLIS may use participant contributions for research purposes. Any findings shared externally will appear in aggregate or anonymized form.
- Why does this moment matter?
We're hosting Reclamation Day two weeks before the United States marks its 250th anniversary, to offer a different kind of commemoration before the official narrative takes hold.
Across the country, this anniversary will be marked by celebrations of American exceptionalism, while museums, classrooms, and cultural institutions working to tell a fuller story of this nation are being defunded, restricted, or erased.
We are being told that words like diversity and equity cannot be spoken. We are witnessing a rising wave of suppression, an active effort to narrow what can be remembered, taught, and imagined.
Reclamation Day is our response.
A space to tell the truth together. A space to reclaim memory, practice repair, and imagine futures where we can all thrive.
Because if the next 250 years are going to be different, we need new rituals.
We need Reclamation Day.
- Where is Reclamation Day taking place?
Reclamation Day will take place on Lenapehoking (New York City) at 25 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, New York, across two floors.
- What time does Reclamation Day start and end?
Reclamation Day starts at 12:00 pm. ET and ends at 11:30 pm ET.
- What time should I arrive?
Reclamation Day is designed as a continuous, self-guided experience; there is no single "start time," and you can move through the space at your own pace.
However, general admission tickets end at 7pm and doors open for the closing performance at 7:30pm.
- Do I need to stay for the whole day?
We encourage participants to join for at least 3-4 hours, but you are welcome to come for an hour or stay for the entire day. The zones and activations are open for several hours, and there's no "right" way to attend.
- Is this a conference or a festival?
Reclamation Day is designed as an immersive cultural gathering and community exhibition. There are no panels you sit through all day, and no single path to follow. You're invited to move at your own pace and engage in ways that feel meaningful to you.
- Is Reclamation Day free?
General access to Reclamation Day is free. The film screenings and closing performance require a separate ticket to help manage capacity and ensure a comfortable experience for everyone.
- Who is Reclamation Day for?
Reclamation Day is open to the public and intended for those who actively want to contribute in making the next 250 years of this nation remarkably better than the first 250.
- Do I need prior knowledge or experience of the topics or movements?
No prior experience or expertise is required. This gathering is designed to be accessible, welcoming, and exploratory.
- Will there be food or drinks?
We will serve complimentary lunch for approx 400 and light bites in the evening for approx 400, provided in partnership with local vendors. Non-alcoholic options will be available throughout the day, with alcoholic beverages being available for purchase starting at 5pm. The first 400 guests will also receive a complementary drink ticket for an alcoholic beverage.
Outside food and beverage are not permitted, but guests are permitted to leave and re-enter as capacity allows (with the exception of 7:00-7:30, when there is no entry). We are working on partnerships with local businesses to provide discounts for event attendees and will update this space with more information as it becomes available.
- Can I bring my kids?
Reclamation Day is a family-friendly daytime event. When alcohol service begins, the event will transition to a 21+ space at 5:00 pm ET. Please note that some content explores historical themes that may be difficult or complex for younger audiences. We encourage caregivers to use their discretion.
- How do I move through the space?
Reclamation Day is designed for you to move at your own pace. There is no single path. You're invited to explore the three zones in whatever order feels right to you. Some moments are meant for deep reflection, others for conversation and interaction, creativity, joy, and rest. Some activations will have set times or limited capacity, but most of the day is designed for open exploration.
- Where are the film screenings located?
Film screenings will take place at the Wythe Hotel, 80 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, NY, just a 3-minute walk from the main Reclamation Day venue at 25 Kent.
When you arrive at the hotel, a guide will be in the lobby to help direct you to the screening space.
- How can I stay connected after Reclamation Day?
Throughout the day volunteers and BLIS staff will be providing information to different coalitions and movement spaces that you can join to more fully participate in the movement.
- Will there be photography and videography?
Yes. Reclamation Day will be documented through photography and videography to help share and remember the experience. By attending, you consent to being photographed and filmed, and to BLIS Collective's use of this content for promotional and storytelling purposes. If you have questions or concerns, please speak with event staff.
- Is there re-entry?
Yes, re-entry is permitted with a valid ticket. Please note that re-entry is subject to capacity, and you may be asked to wait if the venue is full.
However, please be reminded that general admission tickets end at 7pm and doors open for the closing performance at 7:30pm.There is no reentry (or entry) between 7:00-7:30pm.
- What is happening between 7:00-7:30?
As we transition from the general admission exhibition to the closing gathering we will be unable to accommodate entry from 7:00-7:30. Guests who are already inside are encouraged to stay as the bar, installations, and other activations will remain open. Entry for the closing performance will begin at 7:30pm.
- Can I volunteer or get involved?
Yes! We welcome volunteers and collaborators. If you're interested in getting involved, please reach out to us at info@bliscollective.org.
- Is Reclamation Day accessible for people with disabilities?
Reclamation Day is designed with acessibility in mind. It will include a range of audio, visual, and sensory activations, and we are working with all partners to ensure installations and experiences are navigable.
Gallery
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