"Maintaining Wonder: Deangelo’s World" Closing Celebration

Program Type:

Arts & Culture, Authors & Books, Community Partner, Equity & Anti-Racism, Multicultural

Age Group:

Middle School, High School, Adults, Older Adults
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration will close on February 26, 2026 @ 6:00pm.

Event Details

🌼 CLOSING CELEBRATION

With Roy Kinsey (Live Performance & Reading) and Mister Wallace

The Rapbrary experience concludes with a live performance by Roy Kinsey, featuring selections primarily from Kinsey's music album Dandelions: Gods Don't Cry, reflecting themes of growth, healing, and self-worth. The evening also includes a live reading of Kinsey's book Deangelo and the Dandelion, bringing the story at the heart of the installation into shared, collective space, as well as the unveiling of an original artwork by Griffin Goodman.

DJ Mister Wallace closes the night, transforming the library into a space of reflection, movement, and celebration—honoring everything imagined, shared, and reclaimed throughout the series.

About the painting What If? by Griffin Goodman
This original artwork imagines James Baldwin uncensored during the March on Washington—a speculative intervention that asks what might have shifted had Black truth been allowed to speak freely. The piece anchors conversations around censorship, historical erasure, and artistic freedom, aligning with Rapbrary’s commitment to banned and challenged voices.

About Rapbrary at the Main Library
Rapbrary is a living archive founded by Chicago-based rapper, librarian, and cultural worker Roy Kinsey, rooted in the belief that hip-hop is literature and libraries are cultural sanctuaries. At Oak Park Public Library, Rapbrary unfolded as a multi-week immersive experience blending live performance, film, installation, visual art, music, and storytelling—centering Black imagination, freedom of expression, and the power of story as resistance. 

The Idea Box installation Maintaining Wonder: Deangelo's World invited visitors into the interior life of a sensitive, creative Black child inspired by Kinsey's book Deangelo and the Dandelion. Through environmental design, books, and visual storytelling, the installation centers tenderness, imagination, and resilience, creating a space where softness and strength coexist. 

This program is brought to the Oak Park community through a partnership between the Oak Park Public Library, the Village of Oak Park, Oak Park Township and the Oak Park & River Forest Community Foundation.

Register for this event