The Third Street Box Office Project
Summer 2024
In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act passed on July 2, 1964, The Paramount Theater of Charlottesville hosted area artists to activate a local remnant of the South’s segregation laws, The Paramount’s Third Street Box Office. Artists presented temporary exhibitions that addressed the history of segregation and civil rights. The community was invited to visit the space for the duration of summer 2024 to learn more about the project and witness the work of each artist.
Three selected artists received an honorarium of $2,500 each to present an original work on the site of The Paramount Theater’s Third Street Box Office. Selected projects were on display for three weeks.
The Third Street Box Office at The Paramount Project was supported by a grant from The League of Historic American Theaters (LHAT) DEIB Initiative with the stated goals of sharing our historic, exterior space with community artists to extend our mission; igniting dialogue and fostering conversation; drawing attention to artists in our local community; and driving visitors to the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville.
New City Arts provided consulting support for The Third Street Box Office at The Paramount Project.
The Artists
Kori Price
Kori Price is a multi-disciplinary artist and photographer based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Originally from Culpeper, Kori has been proud to call Central Virginia home for most of her life and is passionate about telling the stories of her community. Kori holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and seeks to maintain a balance between her technical and creative interests with her work. She is a founding member of the Charlottesville Black Arts Collective and currently serves as its president. Kori has been a resident artist at New City Arts Initiative as well as a writer-in-residence at McGuffey Arts Center. Her work has been exhibited at New City Arts Initiative, The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, Studio IX, McGuffey Arts Center, and Second Street Gallery.
Tobiah Mundt
Tobiah Mundt is a self-taught fiber artist who was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She studied Architecture at Howard University in Washington, DC, and eventually left the field of Architecture for sculpture. She uses needle felting, wet felting, and rug tufting techniques to create colorful forms and figurative pieces that illustrate and invoke emotion. She is the Co-Owner and Creative Director of The Hive, an arts and crafts bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she teaches fiber arts, blurring the line between art and craft. Tobiah has exhibited her work in Texas, Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Nick Brinen
Nick Brinen is a licensed and registered architect in Virginia, Texas, and New York. He is a Founding Partner of Studio Figure, where he oversees all project typologies across various scales. He is LEED AP BD+C and NCARB certified and a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects. In addition to co-directing projects at Studio Figure, Nick has taught architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, University of Virginia, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design. Currently, he is an Architecture Professor at James Madison University where his research focuses on the tolerances between hyper-local material resources and participatory-practice models with community based projects.
Exhibtion One: Walking Dualities
KORI PRICE
July 2 – July 23
We walk in dualities of space and dualities of time. We are a product of history, a preamble of what comes next. Our present carves a path between the past and the future.
In the installation, Walking Dualities, Black people from our present become apparitions representing Black folks from our country’s not-so-distant segregated past. These apparitions are en route to The Paramount Theater’s 3rd Street Box Office. Each apparition is captured in a moment of their time and shown converged all together to merge their past with our present. At the Box Office, a mother and daughter walk up to purchase a ticket, sharing the same space with a couple who are there to do the same. Each photograph in the installation compresses time into a singularity where we can exist in unison with these apparitions from the past and those unseen and unknown who will come after us.
Walking Dualities is also a nod to W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness and a reminder that the double standard of the American declaration that “all men are created equal” has not yet been actualized. While the Civil Rights Act and continued activism have created significant change for Black people in our society, the generation-spanning wounds of segregation can still be felt today. Through something as quiet as unconscious bias or as vocal as white supremacy, the legacy of segregation and the Jim Crow South continues to affect current systemic and social issues. As our society continues on its path toward equity, it’s important for us to understand how both the whole picture and the nuances of the past have informed and led to our present. We must not only interact with the facts of the past, but we must stop to feel and empathize. As you walk alongside these apparitions from the past, I invite you to envision what it would mean to use this alternative box office, this alternative entrance. What it would mean to have structures and signage put in place to keep you out of sight, to live a life where you are an invisible part of society.
One week after Kori’s exhibit was installed, a vandal slashed and cut down the banners in the middle of night. Kori repaired and reinstalled her artwork. With the help of The Paramount staff, the exhibit was taken down in the evenings and rehung in the mornings each day for the remaining duration of the exhibition.
“It was important to me to repair and re-install my art as soon as possible and make sure that I didn’t hide the damage that had been done. Inspired by the Japanese ceramic art tradition of Kintsugi, a method of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer and gold or silver dust, I chose to apply gold leafing to the areas where the banners were cut. These areas not only remain as documentation of the vandalism that occurred, but are a metaphor for resiliency, fortitude, and healing.”
Exhibtion Two: Shadows of the Past
TOBIAH MUNDT
August 6 – August 27
Shadows of the Past is a response to a call to activate The Paramount Theater Third Street Box Office. This installation is a visual and auditory reminder of a time when these larger than life lines and shadows were people who, despite having to wait in a segregated line and use a segregated entrance, were still excited to see a show. They hold the memory of that excitement mixed with the emotion that comes when one is told before entering a building that they are less than those that are allowed to use the front entrance.
As these lines tell the story of what once was, they reach toward you to ask what is next? This installation will fade over time, but my hope is that these lines, shadows and words will stay bold in your minds and hearts so that we do not allow the past to be forgotten or repeated.
Exhibition Three: Ascending Light
NICK BRINEN
September 3 – September 24
Ascending Light seeks to be a living testament to resilience and unity.
It is a visual narrative that weaves together the struggles and triumphs within the history of segregation and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. Each “step” simultaneously represents hurdles and progress made, while the radiant glow in the evening hours symbolizes the hope and determination that continue to propel us forward.
The re-imagined entrance, once segregated, now becomes a symbol of inclusivity and progress. It speaks to the transformative power of art, transcending barriers and fostering a sense of unity among all who pass beneath it. The interplay of light and shadows during the day serves as a metaphor for the complexities of our history, while acknowledging the darkness of the past while illuminating a path towards a brighter future.
The Third Street Box Office
The Paramount Theater in Charlottesville first opened in 1931, bringing a grand movie palace to a small college town of 15,000 residents during a rising time in the early history of motion pictures.
The Theater opened as a segregated building that required Black patrons to use a separate entrance on Third Street. Only balcony seating was available to Black patrons, and access to concessions and restrooms was separate from white patrons who entered the building with greater ease and comfort from Main Street.
The Paramount Theater of Charlottesville acknowledges that this practice and the laws of segregation are a scar on its history and on the history of the United States. However painful, these memories cannot be erased, and today’s citizens must live with this shameful inheritance.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Marquee Sponsor
Producer Marquee Sponsor
Producer Sponsor
With Generous Grant Support from
Awards
