Eatonville Rising Briefing & Brainstorming

July 14, 2025

Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.

― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

NY Nathiri welcomed guests from the following organizations:

Art & History Maitland, Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Blue Bamboo, Caribbean American Passport Newsletter, Central Florida Composers Forum, Central Florida Vocal Arts, Crealdé School of Art, Descolonizarte Teatro, Downtown Arts District, Enzian, Hebni Nutrition, Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center, Open Scene, Opera Orlando, Orlando Science Center, Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, Orange County Regional History Center, Orange County Pubic Libraries: Eatonville Branch, Orlando Shakes, Orlando Story Club, Performing Arts Matter (PAM), Rollins College, So You Want Your Name in Lights, Timucua Arts Foundation.

As a result of a Blockbuster Grant from Orange County, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community will be regranting about $130,000 divided among various groups that propose projects that will compliment the August, 2027 celebration of the 140th anniversary of Eatonville - the first incorporated African American community and the September, 2027 celebration of the 90th anniversary of the publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Applications will be available in the first quarter of 2026.

The Orlando Science Center modeled this with their Pompeii exhibit. Projects that were regranted funding included Creative City Project building a large volcano that “erupted” at Immerse Festival, a series of dinners prepared by chefs using ingredients available in Pompeii, and a play about the women of Pompeii.

Some projects are already in the works for Eatonville Rising: A play about Zora Neale Hurston and her relationship with Rollins College during the Jim Crow era and a play based on the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Also projects with Eatonville Public Library Branch; the Matilda Moseley House Museum; eSteamed Learning; and the Art & History Museums of Maitland.

All were encouraged to use their creativity to develop programming that fit their own organization’s mission but also could be promoted as collateral programing connected to the Eatonville Rising project. The performance, exhibition, even does not need to be located in Eatonville, nor during those two months of 2027, nor literally tied to Eatonville, but can be conceptual. 

Brainstorming discussion

 Themes that could inspire:

Firsts

Poetry

Legacy

Freedom

Icons

Black Communities

Historic Places

Anthropology

Caribbean

Intersections

Underappreciated

Folk stories

Quilting

Orlando memory.org stories from Eatonville residents

Specific ideas

Combine related foods and movie

Outdoor screening

Zora’s ethnographic films and other short films

Set her text to music for choir or others

Have a badge or seal that participating organizations can display

Make a parade float that is in all the parades that year

Storytelling contest

Storytime guest readers

Quilt making in public

Teaching quilt making

Poetry contest

Jazz concerts

Taste of Eatonville

School tour

Papermaking with native plant seeds

AR tour of Eatonville

Listening to residents