OnRaé LaTeal is a musician, producer, activist, and educator based in Washington, DC. She has held a variety of roles at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian’s contemporary art museum on the National Mall. She recently managed ARTLAB, the Hirschhorn’s digital art studio for teens, which offers racially inclusive and diverse educational experiences for youth. She is currently serving as Education Coordinator of the Smithsonian’s new community engagement initiative “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past.” She is also the founder of two DC-based grassroots programs rooted in the arts, technology, and racial and gender equity, the Black Girls Handgames Project and Freedom Futures Collective.
In this conversation, OnRaé provokes us to consider what it means to be on the right side of history. She inspires us with her album, We Keep Us Safe, a 23-song visual album that she created with student artists and activists reimagining public safety. She challenges us to work harder for racial and educational equity in our communities. And with her work, she demonstrates the creative potential of music to energize and coalesce social movements to effect change nation wide. We hope you'll find inspiration in OnRaé LaTeal’s call for all of us to imagine the just and compassionate world of our wildest dreams.