COLUMBUS, Ohio — The King Arts Complex in Columbus is moving ahead with its HeART of Protest campaign. It’s giving artists in the community a chance to speak to global social injustices, what’s been going on in 2020 with COVID-19 and the deaths of many African Americans like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

What You Need To Know


  • The showcase features 46 days of dance, films and more to honor the 46 years of George Floyd's life

  • 20 Columbus organizations are participating and asking people to exercise their right to vote

  • The HeART of Protest continues all the way up to election day in November

Protests around the country have been marked with people flooding streets, but the King Arts Complex is taking a different approach. That approach is 46 days of artistic protests that will tell the stories of Black Americans from slavery to now.

“It’s an opportunity for artists to vent into take the pain that they're seeing and put it on a canvas put it on paper, create music to speak to this as, you know, a process of healing as we can go back to it. And remember the emotions we were going through," said Jevon Collins, the Performing Arts director at the King Arts Complex.

Collins said it’s also a chance to reflect and speak to those events that have occurred in 2020, including the death of George Floyd. So artists will “present 46 days and honor the 46 years of life for George Floyd of arts programs that speak to the history of African Americans.”

The 46-day HeART of Protest campaign kicked off on Juneteenth and will continue to focus on four main areas: pain, promises, protection and progress. They'll be expressed through art exhibitions, performances and films around the city.

“The pain is to discuss the pain that African Americans have endured through their time here in America. The promises or the promises that have been given to you know an African American community," Collins said. 

He added it’s also about how African Americans protect their own and how they’ll move forward. 

While artists are doing the work, Collins believes it is just as much for them as it is for the listener or viewer as they seek to heal and find ways to make impact. At least 20 different organizations around Columbus are taking part in the protest. Different events to commemorate the 46-day artistic protest will continue up until election day in November.

As each event takes place, all of them will be used as a way to encourage people to exercise their right to vote. For more information, click here.