Culture as a Weapon

Sistas’ Place opened on September 23, 1995, the born date of revolutionary musician John Coltrane. Its founder, Viola Plummer, the late chairperson of the December 12th Movement, envisioned it being a place where Black people could gather and feel free. Over its 30 years, Sistas’ Place has fulfilled that vision – as a jazz unicorn, a coffee shop, a community center, a cultural gathering place, and a liberated zone in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn. Our stage has been graced with jazz masters and spoken word virtuosos. The overriding sentiment artists express about performing at Sistas’ Place is that it feels like “home.” The give and take between the artists and the audience is electric.

The Sistas’ Place theme, “Culture as a Weapon,” reflects our awareness of the connection between Black culture and Black people’s struggle for human rights and liberation in the U.S. and internationally. The mantra is inspired by the great African leader and thinker Amilcar Cabral who articulated that culture is an essential form of resistance by oppressed people and insurance of their survival. At Sistas’ Place, we bring to our community the politics of culture in all its forms