While Juneteenth celebrations draw crowds across the Twin Cities this weekend, a new exhibit in St. Paul offers a more intimate way to celebrate Black pride. The weekend arts calendar also includes a feminist musical returning to the Ordway and a K-pop convention at St. Paul RiverCentre. 

Looking ahead, two events next week will celebrate Pride Month within Indigenous and Palestinian communities. 

An Afrofuture

Inside multidisciplinary artist Ron Brown’s north Minneapolis home, Black warriors stand guard, women traverse distant planets and ancestral figures gaze from his living room walls. Across his canvases, Black people are protectors and architects of their own futures. 

“I wanted to show the magnitude of our strength,” Brown said. “In my dreams, I envision oceans and oceans of strong Black men holding spears, riding tidal waves over the world.”

On Juneteenth, Brown will bring that world to the Art at 967 Payne gallery for “Blacknificent Vol. 3,” a career-spanning solo exhibit featuring two decades of paintings, comic strips, wearable art and hand-carved wooden furniture. 

Part of the exhibit recreates his living room, furnished with functional, handcrafted pieces. For Brown, the living room serves as a sanctuary for Black families to connect, map out futures and exchange love away from the pressures of the outside world. 

“Minneapolis has been ground zero for a lot of things we’ve seen in America lately, especially with ICE,” Brown said. “These paintings are kind of a culmination of me exhaling as far as all the things we’ve been facing in America.” 

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a safe space for Black folks. Maybe [“Black Panther’s] Wakanda. But Wakanda is an imaginary place,” Brown added. “My art is my spear.”

Before committing to his creative practice full-time, Brown spent 15 years as a health care worker in Minnesota, running a program that helped uninsured men access sexual health screenings and medication, while also bringing sex education into local public schools. 

“I really did love working in men’s health,” Brown said. But “I’d rather spend my life chasing my dreams and being who I dream to be. I’m a full-fledged superhero now. I’m an artist.” 

Meet Brown at the opening reception on Friday. 

Girl power at the Ordway

If you missed “Six: The Musical” during its pre-Broadway run at the Ordway back in 2019, you have another chance to witness the production at the theater this weekend. The musical reimagines the six wives of English monarch Henry VIII as a modern-day girl group participating in a singing competition. 

As the Tudor queens take turns telling stories through pop, R&B, reggaeton and dance music, they compete to determine who suffered the most under the king — all for a shot at becoming the band’s lead singer. As the competition unfolds, the women begin to reclaim their individuality and find solidarity with one another. 

K-pop in St. Paul

K-pop fans can head to St. Paul RiverCentre on Saturday for MNKpopConnect’s Summer Bash Kickoff, featuring live performances by dance teams, girl groups and solo artists. The event will also include a marketplace, games and dance challenges. 

If you can’t make it this weekend, an outdoor festival on June 24 will feature dance workshops, K-pop karaoke, food trucks, sing-alongs, a marketplace and a screening of the 2025 animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.” 

Both events are part of the lead-up to K-pop Minnecon, which returns to St. Paul RiverCentre on Aug. 29. 

Coming Tuesday: Two-spirit powwow

New Native Theatre will mark Pride Month with its fifth annual Two Spirit Powwow on Tuesday at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. 

The celebration will bring together Indigenous drummers and dancers competing for cash prizes, alongside Native-owned food trucks serving burgers and tacos. 

Coming Wednesday: Palestinian pride at the Main Cinema

Mizna and Sappho’s Social Club — a Twin Cities-based, BIPOC-led nonprofit — will host Queer Cinema for Palestine, a series of six short film screenings at Minneapolis’ Main Cinema. The program will explore the country’s resistance and struggle for liberation through the lens of queer, Palestinian filmmaking. 

Following the screenings, a panel discussion will feature University of Minnesota associate professor Sima Shaksari, activist Dani Hbos, and Christine Harb, a Palestinian American poet and public health practitioner. 

Mizna organizers are also raising funds for the Sameer Project, a rapid-response initiative distributing aid to displaced families in Gaza. 

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