Whew… When @versailles73 asked me to come on as an EP for Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage, we both knew this project was going to Cannes. No question. And two years later, here we are. On the Croisette. At the Marché du Film. With this beautiful film about a giant.
Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte and raised in Harlem during the Renaissance. A son of the Great Migration who turned magazine clippings, fabric, paper, and paint into some of the most important visual storytelling this country has ever produced. He showed Black life with the love and the complexity it deserves. Jazz, blues, the rural South, conjure women, Harlem street corners. All of it. National Medal of Arts recipient. Founding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem. A champion of younger Black artists until the day he died in 1988. His work lives in the Met, MoMA, the Whitney, the National Gallery. And still, too many people walk past his name without knowing the depth of what he gave us.
That is exactly why our stories need to be told. If we do not tell them, who will? Nobody is coming. We are the ones.
This film almost did not happen the traditional way. We had to take another route. The @southerndocfund stepped in as our fiscal sponsor. SDF is a Durham based nonprofit that exists specifically to champion Southern documentary makers, with a real commitment to Black voices and other underrepresented storytellers from the South. Grants. Fiscal sponsorship. Mentorship. Community. Without them, this film does not get finished. Period.
And let me be honest about the moment we are in. There is an active attack on our stories. Funding is being cut. DEI is being dismantled. Books are being banned. Archives are being scrubbed. Films like this one are harder to make and harder to fund than they were five years ago. So getting here, to Cannes, with this project, with this team, is bigger than a screening. It is a refusal.
I am so grateful. To Deborah Riley Draper/Coffee Bluff Pictures for her vision and her trust.. To every funder, believer, and ancestor who got us here. To Romare for the door he kicked open.
I cannot wait for the world to see this film.
Still high from the inaugural Colour of Cannes Honours in direct partnership with the Marché du Film.
The mission is clear. Create a recurring space inside the Marché that connects filmmakers of color and creative leaders with the relationships, visibility, and market pathways to actually move projects forward. Access with intention. That is the work.
So honored to sit on the inaugural advisory board for what @versailles73 and @titi_deuce built. It was a complete success.
The panel was dope. @iammikkitaylor moderated a powerhouse room. Marcie Cleary, one of the top Black entertainment lawyers in the country. Darrien Gipson, executive director of SAGindie. Valerie Mosley, a financier who has managed more than $20 billion in her career. And Salma Abdullah of the Austrian Film Institute bringing the global distribution lens. Law, money, production, and distribution in one room. Every part of the value chain.
The Vanguard Award went to Crystine Zhang, the producer behind Sundance breakout Josephine. Her slate moves from Asian stories to the Holocaust to a little girl of color who witnesses a murder, opposite a Channing Tatum performance no one has seen from him before. She treats risk as opportunity. That is exactly what vanguard looks like.
Here is what hit different. At a moment when the arts are not a priority back home and funding is being rescinded for us, on the global stage they are not afraid of the word diversity. The Marché welcomed this in. They platformed the vision Deborah and Tiara built and stood next to it.
Special thanks to the queen @estelledarlings for hosting. She showed up because she believes in the mission, and her presence set the tone for the entire room. She us one of one.
Cannes 2026. See you next year!
✨Meet the team behind ROMARE BEARDEN: A Life in Collage✨
In 9 days, we screen at the Marché du Film at Cannes, and we're celebrating the people who made it possible.
We are so proud of this film and even prouder of the people who are a part of it.
#RomareBearden #Cannes2026 #MarcheDuFilm #MeetTheTeam #BehindTheScenes
Yesterday was everything. 🏌🏾♀️
So grateful to every single person who pulled up for the 4th Annual Baller Alert Foundation Golf Tournament. Every swing, every dollar raised, every laugh out on that course goes right back to the kids and the communities that need more love poured into them.
This is what it looks like when we show up for our own. Big thank you to our sponsors, our golfers, our volunteers, and everyone who made yesterday possible. You turned a tournament into a movement.
We’re just getting started. 💚
#BallerAlertFoundation #BAFGolf #ForTheCulture #ForTheKids
Honored to join the inaugural board of The Colour of Cannes Honours, debuting at the Marché du Film this May.
The film market at Cannes is where hundreds of millions in deals get done every year. The Colour of Cannes is making sure filmmakers of color and culture forward storytellers are inside that room, not adjacent to it. Ownership, access, and visibility at the level where the business actually moves.
Big respect to founders Deborah Riley Draper and Tiara Chesmer-Williams for building this with intention.
More soon. See you on La Croisette.
Cannes, we’re coming. Honored to share that ROMARE BEARDEN: A LIFE IN COLLAGE, directed by Deborah Riley Draper and produced by Coffee Bluff Pictures, is screening at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m proud to serve as Executive Producer on this one.
The film traces Bearden’s journey from the studio to the streets. Archival footage, rare photographs, and intimate interviews stitched into a cinematic collage that mirrors his own artistic practice. It’s about how his work shaped modern art, Black visual culture, and the way we see home, memory, and community.
Every frame reflects the rigor and passion of an extraordinary team of filmmakers, producers, researchers, and Bearden advocates who tended this story with care.
If you’re in Cannes, pull up.
🎬 May 14, 2026
📍 Palais I, 2:00 PM
Come celebrate a giant.
#MDF26 #MarcheDuFilm #Cannes #RomareBearden #ALifeInCollage
We’re locking in golfers for the 4th Annual Baller Alert Foundation Charity Golf Tournament ⛳
📍 Miami Beach Golf Club
📅 Monday, May 4
🕛 12PM Registration
⛳ 1PM Shotgun
🥂 5PM Cocktail Reception & Awards
Join us for a day of golf, competition, networking, and giving back, supporting youth and underserved communities.
🏌️♂️ Competitions include:
Hole-In-One, Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, Putting Contest + more
🎟️ Secure your spot:
https://bit.ly/BAFGolf
Most people will see the final product, but they won’t see how it all came together.
This project started with a simple call from my little sister @iluvterricka , who told me her daughter Jordy was heading to Fisk University to be part of the first HBCU gymnastics team. As an HBCU alum, I immediately understood the significance of that moment. What I also understood was that this story deserved more than coverage. It needed to be documented.
I reached out to Deborah Riley Draper @versailles73 , a brilliant creative and filmmaker I have trusted for years. We saw the vision early and moved quickly. We traveled, secured access, invested in building a trailer, and positioned the project for the right partners.
Momentum was building. The story was resonating. We stepped into development conversations and began shaping what this could become on a larger scale.
Then the industry shifted.
The strike brought everything to a halt. Progress stalled, momentum slowed, and like many projects during that time, it was left in limbo.
But timing and alignment matter.
During a meeting with BET, I shared this project again. What started as a conversation quickly turned into an opportunity. With the right support and belief behind it, we were able to bring the vision back to life.
Flipped premieres April 7 on BET Digital.
This marks the first official project from Baller Alert Films @balleralertfilms , and it represents exactly the kind of stories we are committed to telling. Stories rooted in culture, impact, and legacy.
And we are just getting started. More to come.
I look forward to everyone experiencing it and understanding why this story matters.
Growing up in Southeast DC, Go-Go wasn’t just music, it was the rhythm of everyday life. From Chuck Brown to Rare Essence, Northeast Groovers, Backyard Band, Huck-A-Bucks, Maisha and the Hip Huggers, and E.U., this culture raised me.
I moved from DC to Miami almost 15 years ago, but as a third generation Washingtonian, that crank never leaves your DNA. So when Shawn Gee from Live Nation Urban tapped me to curate a Go-Go set through my company Baller Alert, I was all in. Bringing Go-Go to bigger stages has always been the mission.
Now here we are, year four.
Proud to team up with Front Porch to celebrate 50 years of Go-Go at Roots Picnic 2026 in Philly. A real cultural moment, hosted by Kenny Burns and Noochie.
We’re bringing the front line from your favorite bands together. One stage. One sound. One city’s legacy.
This is more than a show, it’s a celebration of what makes DC… DC.
All-stars loading. Stay tuned. Pull up. 🎤🔥
FLASHBACK FRIDAY 🎥✨
Before Baller Alert became a global platform, there was a prequel… and it all started in Washington, D.C. The founder @robinmlyon was a VIP coordinator turned club promoter at some of the hottest spots in the city: VIP Club, H2O, Platinum, and Eyebar.
If you know, you know.
A few weeks ago, we uncovered some old footage and got them digitized… and listen, the footage is GOLD. 🏆
Check this out: Kanye West on his College Dropout promo tour shutting down VIP Club.
Fun fact: Robin booked him for $5K per show and he ended up doing TWO shows that night at VIP and Platinum Nightclubs.
These moments are where the idea of Baller Alert was born.
More gems from the vault coming soon… stay tuned.
Knock knock. Yes, it’s really me posting 🤣 To my 200+ loyal followers… y’all are the real MVPs for staying even when I ghost this page.
So I’m going through an old box and find camcorder tapes (Gen Z, ask your parents). I get them digitized and suddenly I’m watching the pre-Baller-Alert era like a time capsule.
Back when I ran VIP at DC’s biggest clubs: VIP Club, Platinum, H2O, Eyebar. I was the plug, the gatekeeper, the “who’s spending what and where” strategist. And yes… the original Baller Alert was me literally alerting the girls when the ballers showed up 😂
Then I hit a tape of the night …I booked Kanye on his first promo tour. Two clubs. $5K each. I STILL have the contract. In the clip he’s trying to renegotiate with thousands already inside and listen… your girl almost had a heart attack 💀 I just knew if he didn’t walk in that club my boss @abdulproduction would kick my azz..But it all worked out. He came in and rocked the place.
The glory days. And trust me… this story gets even better.
To be continued… The Prequel to Baller Alert starts now.
The 3rd Annual Baller Alert Foundation Golf Tournament was a huge success — and I’m beyond grateful to everyone who came out to support our mission to empower communities.
Thank you to everyone who donated and a special shoutout to my partners at The Resource Room, your collaboration means so much.
Major love to our incredible sponsors: Siebert, The Kenny Burns Show, Grown, Gatorade, Essentia, Broadus Collection, and so many others…you helped make the day unforgettable. Your generosity and belief in the vision truly mean everything to me.
And to those who’ve been with us since day one… thank you for continuing to show up. We’re just getting started.
Next year… even bigger. Stay tuned.
