From a press release:
“The team behind the Go-Go Museum and Cafe is set to cut the ceremonial ribbon in Washington’s historic Anacostia neighborhood on November 18, becoming the first institution dedicated to the celebration and preservation of go-go music, a syncopated, drum-driven funk that is Washington DC’s native musical and cultural form.
The Go-Go Museum is the brainchild of Ron Moten, a community organizer and innovative go-go promoter who rose to prominence as a co-founder of the #DontMuteDC movement to protect go-go music in 2019. Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, also a co-founder of Don’t Mute DC who published her 2007 doctoral dissertation and book on go-go music, serves as the museum’s chief curator. The museum opens at 1920 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. SE, in a historic strip just blocks from the Frederick Douglass national historic site and home, Busboys & Poets, and a string of vibrant community galleries and restaurants. It will occupy more than 8,000 square feet, include a cafe, and feature three distinct areas dedicated to exhibitions and interactives, as well as a recording studio and outdoor space with a stage for live performances.
The Go-Go Museum & Cafe will introduce technology rarely seen in area museums, including holograms of Backyard Band pioneer and “Wire” star Ralph Anwan Glover and Sugarbear of EU, both of whom visitors can interact with. A graffiti exhibit will similarly allow visitors to tag museum walls using digital spray cans. The museum’s collection includes artifacts such as a Rare Essence bomber jacket, DJ Kool touring jacket, a wig and touring outfit from Maiesha and the Hip Huggers’, a cutout Chuck Brown used for in-store promotions and more.
Perhaps most important, the museum will be a space for live performances, recording and organic events to help ensure that go-go culture is accessible to all in the community and that its unique sound lives on for future generations to experience and enjoy.
The Go-Go Museum will open for special events and to ticketed guests the first and third Saturdays of each month beginning with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, January 18.“