Maroon Arts Group · DOING CULTURE
We Are
Maroon.
A sanctuary for Black art and culture, where artists and neighbors create, gather, and own the culture, economy, and future we make together.
AFRO · SAT, OCT 3 Our 10th anniversary gathering. 2nd line parade at 11AM, house party at the Lab that night. Get the details
We Are
ART. CULTURE. SANCTUARY. DREAMS.
What's on
Come Through.
Sat, Oct 3, 2026 · Featured
AFRO
Art for the Rest of Ours
ROOTS DON'T APOLOGIZE.
11AM: 2nd line parade ft. Hot 8 Brass Band, stepping off from the Long Street Bridge.
6PM: Doors at the Maroon Culture Lab for Hot 8 Concert.
8PM: Poetry, hip-hop and jazz rooms, then the ballroom party ft. DJ Bern, Sonic Blush & Pete Rock.
On view at The Lab
Icons & Images
Works from the personal collection of Ann B. Walker and Julialynne Walker
On view · MPACC BoxPark
Tour of my heart / RAJA GREEN
The BoxPark Gallery Residency, Class of 2026. New work from Columbus artists on display at MPACC BoxPark.
MAG Celebrates 10 x 10
A DECADE OF CREATIVE PRACTICE. A 100-Year-Old House for the Next Hundred Years.
The Pythian Theatre has held Black Columbus since 1926. In 2023 it came home to Maroon Arts Group and the community that holds it. Today its 30,000 sq ft of ballroom, stage and gathering rooms are where Black artists make the work, neighbors gather, and Bronzeville keeps writing its own story.
100
years of the Pythian
10
years of Maroon Arts Group
Answering the call
Maroon to Freedom
Every artist, idea and gathering inside the Sanctuary moves along one path, with radical imagination running underneath it all.
01
Sanctuary
We gather in community first — relationships, listening, co-creation, research before anything gets made. ROOTS nights, Community Imagination Workshops, Learning Communities, oral history collection. Direction comes from here.
02
Collaboratory
Ideas become work. Residencies, co-productions and shared space at the Lab and BoxPark, where artists and neighbors build side by side.
03
Practice
Work becomes power. Black art moves into the city’s view, and ownership stays with the artists and community who made it.
The campus
Spaces That Hold Us.
Every room is kept by one covenant, Hold This Space: how we care for the place and for each other.
The Maroon Culture Lab
The historic Pythian Theatre, home to the Ballroom, the Blue Room and [other rooms]. For performances, gatherings, rehearsals and celebrations.
MPACC BoxPark
Our open-air gallery and gathering ground. Home to the BoxPark Gallery Residency, pop-ups, markets and summer nights.
Collaboratory
Gallery, community and organizational residencies for the artists and groups building Black futures in Columbus.
Since 2015
The Rest of the Story Is Still Being Written.
We began as a collective of Black creatives who used art to name and answer our shared struggle. Our first production, a choreopoem from Baltimore, played to a sold-out room. Ten years on, we steward a century-old theatre, an open-air shipping container park and a living network of artists.
500+
Individual artists + Creatives Paid
1.2M+
Invested directly into the arts, culture, business, and civic ecosystem of Columbus
200+
Gatherings, Exhibitions, Learning Communities, Activations hosted
78+
Grant Awards
The Kinship Circle · 10x10
Join the Circle.
Collect one of our Artisan label Bottles
Our people have always been the foundation. For MAG’s 10th year and the Pythian’s 100th, we’re gathering a circle of 100 Kin, each giving $1,000 or more, to raise $100,000+ for the house that holds Black dreams.
Our Path toward $100K
Kin
$1,000
Dream Keeper
$2,500
Circle Builder
$5,000
Freedom Builder
$10,000+
Give together. Host a Dream Circle: gather your people and pool gifts to reach $1,000+ as one.
Stay in the Loop.
Shows, calls for artists and ways to show up.
Held by our Kin. Strengthened by partners who invest in Black art in Columbus.
