Ta-Nehisi Coates' salon-style ideas festival kicks off at the Apollo this weekend

Writer and public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates is inaugurating a new salon-style festival of ideas at the Apollo Theater, beginning Friday and running through Sunday evening.

“I don’t think there’s been a point in American history where African American artists and writers have more prominence than they have right now,” Coates said on Thursday on WNYC’s “All of It.”

The new festival, officially known as “[at] The Intersection: The Apollo’s Festival of Arts & Ideas,” features Black artists and thinkers selected by Coates and Leatrice Ellzy, the Apollo’s senior director of programming, to engage with each other and the audience in panel discussions, interviews, keynote speeches, musical performances and more.

Programming kicks off in earnest on Saturday morning with opening remarks and a conversation between Coates and the Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins.

Among the many scheduled events are talks from author Marlon James and SZA’s Creative Director Sage Adams, as well as a panel discussion including playwrights Michael R. Jackson and Jordan E. Cooper.

Kamasi Washington and Stefon Harris will also perform. To close the festival, Coates will sit with actor Kerry Washington to discuss her new memoir, “Thicker than Water.”

“The folks that are gathered – I’m fans of all them,” said Coates. “I’m looking forward to just hearing them talk about their art and how they make it.”

Coates has served as the theater’s master artist in residence since 2019, after the Apollo commissioned a stage adaptation of his epistolary novel “Between the World and Me.”

The theater’s executive director, Kamilah Forbes, said that Coates had been discussing such an event with the theater since 2019.

Forbes said she’s especially excited for how the Apollo's small size can bring audiences closer to the luminaries on the program.

“The No. 1 message I get is that the Apollo is so much bigger on TV,” Forbes said. “This weekend is going to be really exciting having these voices in this super intimate and cozy space.”

Harlem residents and business owners can get half off on all tickets, with an ID that shows proof of their ZIP code. Anyone interested can also enter the code APOLLO to receive $45 single-day passes.

A full schedule, tickets, and other details are on the theater’s website.