Connect + Engage
ORIGIN
The Go-Go Museum & Café is the culmination of decades of advocacy among a coalition of musicians, scholars, and organizers who have fought to keep D.C.'s indigenous music alive. On January 6, 2020, cultural activist Ronald "Moe" Moten put out an official call for funding to make this museum a reality.
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Hundreds of supporters responded by contributing to an online crowdfunding campaign.
The local radio station WPGC 95.5 hosted a 12-HOUR GO-GO RADIO-THON at the Central Communications/MetroPCS store that was the center of the DON'T MUTE DC movement that drew international headlines in 2019 when Go-Go music was briefly silenced in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood.
Many more museum supporters pulled over from cars, on Metro, and on foot to donate crumpled $1 and $5 bills to raise $17,363. While short of the modest goal of $25,000 for the museum's first phase, the hundreds of donations, large and small, inspired museum organizers to keep pushing.
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THE COVID EFFECT
Despite COVID-19, construction delays, and other fundraising challenges, the museum opened virtually on June 3, 2020, with its first history program.
The first event featured a live lunchtime conversation with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the FIRST ORAL HISTORY OF GO-GO IN 2000 and GO-GO LIVE author Natalie Hopkinson. The event closed with a performance by the First Ladies of Go-Go.
As we look toward a physical opening of the first exhibit in spring 2021, the museum will continue its programming virtually.
For Go-Go and Activism, click the link below.
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