The theme of this year’s Juneteenth celebration at William & Mary is “Remembering, Restoring and Renewing.” The celebration will be held Thursday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the Sadler Center, and the event is free and open to the campus community and the public.
The program will feature three Williamsburg artists to lead the community in powerful and engaging performances and workshops that will give voice to the Juneteenth story. The artists include Tracy Holmes Parrott, spiritual movement artist and dancer; Steve Prince, director of engagement & distinguished artist in residence at the Muscarelle Museum of Art; and Williamsburg’s Inaugural Poet Laureate Lacroy “Atlas” Nixon.
“Juneteenth is an occasion to remember and honor our past, celebrate our present and look toward the future,” said Chon Glover, senior advisor to the president and co-chair of W&M’s Juneteenth Committee. “There’s no better way to share traditions and history than through art – in this case in spoken word, quilting and dance – that will both reflect and guide our understanding of where we have come from and where we want to go.”
Juneteenth is observed nationally on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 on which enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, received word of their freedom — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. It became an official Virginia state holiday in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021. William & Mary hosted its first virtual Juneteenth celebration in 2021 and its first in-person event the following year.
This year’s event is one of a number taking place in the Greater Williamsburg area in June, all coordinated through the Juneteenth Community Consortium. W&M’s Juneteenth event is organized annually by a committee that includes representatives from the university and community.
People interested in attending should register online. Parking will be available in the Zable Stadium parking lot. There will be a variety of local vendors and food options for attendees to enjoy throughout the afternoon. T-shirts will be on sale for $16.
About the artists
Parrott is a native of Williamsburg, Virginia, and a dedicated employee of William & Mary. As the leader of the Waste and Recycling Team in Facilities Management, she takes great pride in her work and is approaching nearly 30 years of service.
Family is central to Parrott’s life and a constant source of joy and inspiration. She is a loving mother of two grown children and a proud grandmother to a 10-year-old and a newborn.
Parrott is a founder of Free Spirit Ministry, where she ministers through praise dance, also known as spiritual movement. She is passionate about using dance as a form of worship and expression.
Prince, a native of New Orleans, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and his Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking and sculpture from Michigan State University. He has created several public and private commissions internationally, and he has received numerous honors for his art and scholarship.
Prince has shown his art internationally in various solo, group and juried exhibitions. He is an accomplished lecturer, workshop conductor and experiential art program designer through a variety of media. Prince has also created the award-winning Communal Quilt Project, and he is endeavoring to create a mile-long patchwork quilt comprised of the stories of an international populace.
Nixon was appointed Williamsburg’s inaugural poet laureate in 2025. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised in Williamsburg, Virginia, he earned his bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Liberty University and has been writing/performing spoken word poetry for 11 years. He is the founder of Slam Connection, a local slam poetry-based organization that uses poetry as a means for community action.
Nixon serves on the Executive Board for the Writers Guild of Virginia and is a current member of the Poetry Society of Virginia. He was also an artist with the Hope Booth Movement, an interactive immersive experience that combines art and technology to repurpose old telephone booths to produce messages of hope in a conversational format.
Since his inauguration as poet laureate, he has created “The Artist Garden,” an afterschool program that teaches students poetry performance and event management; hosted the first-ever poetry showcase in partnership with the Ampersand International Arts Festival; and partnered with the William & Mary Arts and Science Exchange to create virtual reality motion-capture experiences with the medium of poetry.
More information is available on the W&M Juneteenth website.