Reclamation Day: A Reunion of Hope is an immersive cultural gathering and community exhibition that brings people together to reclaim history, repair relationships, and rehearse a liberated future ahead of the United States' 250th anniversary.

12:00PM – 11:30PM ET

June 20, 2026

Lenapehoking
25 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY

On June 20, 2026, ahead of the United States' 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. A first-of-its-kind immersive cultural gathering and community exhibition featuring over 40 artists and organizations who are actively shaping narratives around reparations, Land Back, sovereignty, solidarity, and a new economy.

Across three zones, Reclaim, Repair, and Reimagine, you will be placed inside the tensions, contradictions, joy, and love that make up this country, and be invited to reflect, feel, question, connect, and illustrate what the next 250 years of this country must look like.

Come as strangers.
Leave as kin.

Pull up to the reunion.

Register Below

Contributing Artists

  • 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.

  • 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 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.

    Joey will perform the closing set of the closing celebration: Until Next Time.

  • Mato Wayuhi

    Mato Wayuhi will perform the opening set of Until Next Time, the evening's closing performance.

  • 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 a Cherokee journalist and author, will debut selections from her podcast in the Reclaim zone, bringing forward stories that reclaim 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.

  • 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.

  • Cali M. Banks

    Cali M. Banks (Lenape/Scottish) is a lens-based artist whose work reclaims identity through experiential photography and filmmaking. Her work will live within the Repair zone.

  • 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.

  • Layqa Nuna Yawar

    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.

  • Sky Walker

    Skylar (Sky) Walker is a Black American multidisciplinary artist whose collage-based practice explores Black identity, memory, and liberation through fragmented and layered forms. Her work will be featured across the Repair and Reimagine zones.

  • Trevor Smith

    Trevor Smith, poet and Executive Director of BLIS Collective, will guide the gathering, with his poetry woven throughout the Repair zone.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Da’Shaunae Marisa

    Da’Shaunae Marisa is a multidisciplinary artist and visual storyteller working across photography, film, and public art. Her practice reimagines visual narratives by centering healing, joy, and creative expression. Her work will be featured across the Reclaim and Repair zones. She will also host a live photo activation, A Soft Place to Land, inviting participants into a moment to be seen and captured with intention.

  • Kianna Pete

    Kianna 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Deyah Cassadore

    Deyah Cassadore is a hairstylist, makeup artist, and proud member of the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache. She will be activating a live hairbraiding installation in the Repair zone.

  • Kamau Ware

    Kamau Ware is a multidisciplinary artist, historian, walker, and founder of Kamau Studios, where he leads the Black Gotham Experience, an immersive experience celebrating the impact of the African diaspora in New York City. Kamau will provide historical context during the opening ceremony and closing performance.

  • Aminah Howell

    Aminah Howell is a hairstylist who specializes in creative styling for natural hair, color, and weaves. She will be activating a live hairbraiding installation in the Repair zone.

  • Oriel Ceballos

    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.

  • 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 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.

  • 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. Clarke's art will be displayed 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Kyle T. 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 featured in the Reclaim and Repair zones.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. Candelaria's work will be featured in the Reclaim zone.

  • 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.

  • Taylor Uchytil

    Taylor Uchytil is a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe and an artist from Nevada, currently based in New York City. She reimagines the traditions of her Paiute tribe into fashion. Her work is a tribute to her younger cousins, symbolizing resilience, hope, and gratitude.

    Taylor’s signature beading style is inspired by the hood of her childhood cradleboard (1999). The artist hand-beads each piece with the intention of bringing the wearer a sense of security and comfort, similar to the feeling of a baby in a cradleboard. Her work will show up in multiple zones.

Reunion Partners

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Lush Cosmetics

    LUSH Cosmetics will activate a mini-spa in the Repair zone, offering a space for rest, care, and restoration.

  • 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.

  • Texas Tribal Buffalo Project

    Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, dedicated to healing generational trauma among the Lipan Apache and surrounding Native tribes in Texas, will join a panel discussion following the Reclaim film block to reflect on restoration, land, and cultural continuity.

  • American Indian Community House

    The American Indian Community House (AICH) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization serving the needs of Native Americans residing in New York City.

  • 5ASIDE Media

    5ASIDE Media is a hub for all things soccer, connecting the Diaspora through the lens of Black culture. 5ASIDE will be recording a live episode from the Reclamation Day podcast room.

  • Reparations Education Project

    The Reparation Education Project (REP), a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, supports the escalating movement for reparations as a resource for those exploring historical and current information and analysis on reparations.

  • First Nation's Performing Arts

    First Nations Performing Arts is an Indigenous-led initiative that increases visibility of Indigenous performing arts workers while Decolonizing the performing arts field.

  • Native Organizers Alliance

    Native Organizers Alliance builds power through skills building and effective organizing for Indigenous people.

  • Why We Can't Wait Network

    The Why We Can't Wait Network is a national network of organizers pushing for federal reparations policy. The Network will activate an installation, titled "We Kept the Receipts," in the Repair 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.

FAQs

  • 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.

    BLIS has an active membership of over 40 organizations, content creators, storytellers, and researchers who are shaping narratives about repair and redistribution across society.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Reclamation Day will take place on Lenapehoking (New York City) at 25 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, New York, across two floors.

  • Reclamation Day starts at 12:00 pm. ET and ends at 11:30 pm ET.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • No prior experience or expertise is required. This gathering is designed to be accessible, welcoming, and exploratory.

  • Complimentary food and drinks will be available throughout the day, provided by BLIS in partnership with local vendors, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. The first 400 guests will receive a complimentary drink ticket, with a cash bar available for additional beverages.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 Ave.

    When you arrive at the hotel, a guide will be in the lobby to help direct you to the screening space.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Yes! We welcome volunteers and collaborators. If you're interested in getting involved, please reach out to us at info@bliscollective.org.

  • 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.

  • 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.

RECLAMATION DAY SPONSORS