New Links to Black Futures 2025

NOVEMBER 20-23, 2025

UMBRELLA Art Fair

The Square 1850 K Street NW, Washington DC

Sunday, November 23rd

Doors at 10:45am, Talk at 11am

Basement Level UMBRELLA Art Fair

LINDSAY ADAMS IN CONVERSATION WITH CHARLOTTE NEWMAN

A Collectors’ Coffee presented by CulturalDC in conjunction with the UMBRELLA Art Fair. Join artist Lindsay Adams in conversation with art collector Charlotte Newman. Guests will gather for coffee, dialogue, community, and connection with space for audience questions and informal networking.

This event is hosted by Conrad Woody and Charlotte Newman

Lindsay Adams (b. 1990, Washington, D.C.) is a writer and painter working across traditional mediums. Employing her educational foundation as a social scientist, with a background in foreign relations, sociology, and cultural anthropology, she systematically engages in her work with precise critical analysis and a perceptive understanding of the complex fabric of social dynamics. Lindsay received her B.A.s in both International Studies: World Politics and Diplomacy and Spanish from the University of Richmond and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Embracing her intersectional identity, Lindsay’s work serves as a reflection of self, exploring personal and collective histories and the role imagination plays in mining the complexities and nuances of life. Her current body of work is a conceptual investigation of the balance between the known and the possible, examining themes of place, liberation, expanse, and freedom. Each intuitive mark invites a dialogue between reality and dreaming, as she mines through layers of gesture and color to build worlds. Adams alternates between abstract and representational forms, employing formal techniques that highlight the physicality of paint and the delicacy of gesture. In this way, she weaves multiple paintings within one, crafting a rich tapestry informed by interconnected experiences that invites reflection on the boundlessness of dreaming. Her work highlights her interest in constructing imagined ecologies—spaces in which rhythmic gestures and dynamic hues engage in a continuous dialogue.

She has been the recipient of the Helen Frankenthaler Award (2024) and the New Artist Society Merit Award (2023). Her work has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C., and is included in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art and Northwestern Law School. Most recently, she presented solo exhibitions at PATRON Gallery, Chicago, IL, and Sean Kelly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. In 2025, Adams was commissioned by the Obama Presidential Center for a public installation titled Weary Blues, reimagining one of her gestural, gem-colored abstract paintings. Named after the Langston Hughes poem of the same name, the work integrates visual art and Black literary legacy into a communal café space. Currently, Adams is an Artist-in-residence at the World Trade Center through Silver Art Projects.

Charlotte L. Newman is an art collector, patron, and cultural strategist building the Scott-Newman Collection, an eponymous tribute to her parents and a continuation of her family’s legacy of cultural stewardship. Focused on global contemporary art and the African diaspora, the collection reflects Charlotte’s belief in art as historical record, future inheritance, and social catalyst. Her passion for art began in childhood under the guidance of her godmother, Afro-Caribbean artist Tina Dunkley, an early influence that led her to major in Art History at Wellesley College.

Charlotte founded the Scott-Newman Collection to support artists of African descent and deepen institutional and patron engagement with their work. The collection spans figurative and abstract practices rooted in mythology, spirituality, archives, and literary narratives, alongside artists interrogating race, gender, and social memory. Artists in the collection include Luke Agada, Kwesi Botchway, Caitlin Cherry, June Edmonds, Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Derek Fordjour, Alteronce Gumby, Caroline Kent, Gordon Parks, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Vaughn Spann, and Charisse Pearlina Weston. Works have been loaned to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

Alongside collecting and lending, Charlotte actively builds infrastructure to strengthen cultural ecosystems. She is an Executive Producer of Alteronce Gumby’s documentary Color and founded Crown + Capital, a private network connecting collectors, creatives, and investors at the intersection of art, culture, and technology. She serves on the Tate’s African Art Acquisition Committee, contributing to acquisitions and patron strategy, and previously served as a jurist for the Yaa Asantewaa Art Prize, the first art prize in Africa dedicated to women artists.

Charlotte also brings experience in capital allocation and economic policy to her cultural work. She previously created and led Amazon Web Services’ global Underrepresented Founder & Investor program, served on the Amazon Catalytic Capital investment committee, and is a Venture Scout with Zeal Capital Partners’ Barclays Black Formation Investments program. Earlier in her career, she worked in economic policy on Capitol Hill for Members of Congress including Senators Cory Booker and Chris Murphy.

Named VentureFuel’s 2025 Visionary of the Year, Charlotte regularly hosts salons, supports institutional initiatives, and champions artists and emerging patrons. Her collecting and patronage have been profiled by Sugarcane Magazine, Wellesley College Magazine, Passage Arts, and Artsy, which named her one of the “16 Black Art Collectors Shaping the Future of the Art Market.” She has also been featured in Gallerie 88 and Morgan Stanley’s Mosaic magazine.

Charlotte holds a B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. 

Conrad is a Partner and Head of Odgers Berndtson’s U.S. Corporate and Government Affairs Practice in Washington. His portfolio of search work includes advising clients on government affairs, corporate communications/public affairs, economic development, trade association CEO and leadership roles. Prior to joining Odgers Berndtson, he was a Principal at Korn Ferry and a key member of the firm’s Government Affairs Practice. Before this, he was with Goldman Sachs, where he was a member of the campus and diversity recruiting teams. He began his career as a staffer on Capitol Hill. Conrad has a degree in political science from Howard University.

Jamal Gray, a native Washingtonian, joined the CulturalDC team in January 2022. He is a musician, organizer, and curator. Most recently he served as the General Manager at DC Arts Center and as the Artist and Community Liaison at Meow Wolf. In 2017 he founded the Uptown Art House, a creative incubator for progressive Artists and Activists, where he served as Co-Director. As leader of avant garde jazz troupe Nag Champa Art ensemble, the D.C. native has used his ingenuity to bridge the gap between the city's underground art and music scenes. Gray has used his unique conceptual perspective when transforming recognized venues such as The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Capital Fringe, down to unconventional spaces such as warehouses and open lots.

As part of our legacy gifts, CulturalDC is proud to support the Collectors’ Coffee. CulturalDC has also provided support for Black Public Media and a curated program of Torrents artists selected by Jamal Gray at the UMBRELLA Art Fair. For additional details, please visit www.umbrellaartfair.com

Sunday, November 23rd

2-3:30PM

Basement Level UMBRELLA Art Fair

Black Public Media Gaming Panel

"From Fact to Fiction: When Reality Inspires Your Indie Game" In this Black Public Media session, artist and writer Dominick Rabrun (“Veve-Punk: Mind Singer”) and director MaryAnn Talavera (“Plastic Seas”) will discuss the inspirations for their indie games. Moderator extraordinaire DaPurpleSharpie is curious to explore how both artists are using narrative games to explore real-world topics, like Black history and climate change. Talavera, who was born in the Dominican Republic and lives in New York, is developing a game that playfully highlights the enormous amounts of plastic waste in the Caribbean. Rabrun, who was born in Haiti and lives in Maryland, has created a vertical slice for his point-and-click adventure game focused on a priestess facing off against a French super soldier during the Haitian Revolution. Both artists showed work at the 2024 Torrents Festival, in partnership with Umbrella Art Fair. After the session, head to the 5th floor to check out videos from four Black Public Media games currently in development.

www.blackpublicmedia.org

www.umbrellaartfair.com

Torrents 2025 Artist presenting at

UMBRELLA Art Fair

Maurice James

Brittany Mona

Nate Gski

Qrcky

Alexis Gomez

MJ on the Wall

Khadija Jahmila

TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures 2024