All too often we close our eyes and move away from the abandoned and fatherless families and children that fill our afterschool and youth programs. Our communities continue to be further disrupted and our senior citizens are scared to walk our streets. Now with the global pandemic and COVID fear, uncertainty has multiplied and isolated us even more. This is why we can no longer wait to give the well deserved kudos and recognition to the keeper of the cultural arts and cultural life Keith J. Neal, who has throughout his life impacted our Black communities with such commitment, compassion, courage, and sacrifice. I, Duarte Brown along with innumerable other young people and adults, think of Mr. Neal as our life coach, mentor and friend. My perspective is that of a fatherless boy and visual artist looking to build narratives to connect and find community. I met Coach Neal for the first time at the J Ashburn Youth Center. I knew about the center because of Queen Brooks, well known local African American artist.. When I was commissioned to make a mural for the Ashburn Center as a community project sponsored by Hands on Ohio in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, Coach Keith clearly lived the cultural tradition of African/ African American history and the insights and resilience he instilled in the community unfolded right before my eyes. Sharing his art works, African artifacts, and photos with ushe gave the origins of the pillars of truth manifesting in the visual images. The families and leaders that are now responsible for mentoring the next generation even in the midst of this pandemic have all benefited from Coach Neal’s wisdom, cultural knowledge, and acuity much of which was expressed through his sharing through the arts. From the westside of Columbus to all parts of our city Coach Neil’s mandate to do our best and to do good to all mankind fearlessly still resounds.
Two of his mentees I worked with at Central Community House, Chad Younger, father and youth worker, and Veta Azem, youth worker, published artist, and author re among the many individuals that testify to the phenomenal nature of the work undertaken, life lived, and personal art gallery Mr. Neal shared. Marshall Shorts, Founder of Creative Control and many other key community leaders meet regularly with Coach Neal to strategize and navigate life through his many strategic chess game lessons.
After retiring as director of the Ashburn Center, which he used his personal funds to keep open for years, Keith Neal continued his innovative arts and cultural initiatives that addressed the unprecedented, challenging circumstances brought about by centuries of systemic racism, cultural imperialism, social injustice, and inequity. Keith Neal has remained devoted to lifting up and providing relief to others, particularly in the Black community, so that they might have the opportunity for exposure to and education about African and African American art/artists.
Having created a magnificent African art museum in his home, which he opens and shares widely, his artifacts rival any one would find in an official national setting. In addition for three years he shared his art collection with the public at the African American and African Studies Community Extension Center( AAASCEC), The Ohio State University, 905 Mt. Vernon Avenue. The displays he created were phenomenal and visitors always commented on how much they gained by being in a setting so steeped in such beauty and cultural richness! His eye for the spectacular in African artifacts and African American art is amazing, as has been his willingness to give freely to the community-at-large through the art displays he has generated over the past decades and presented in such atypical, yet much needed places.
Committed to the cultural education and upliftment of a people who have historically been denied access and exposure to such critical cultural arts and resources, I know of no other steward of the arts and culture, locally or nationally, that has done a more outstanding job independently breaking through the barriers of cultural equity and social justice in the arts. Mr. Neal is to be commended and recognized for his unprecedented contributions, not only at the AAASCEC, but also for the years he served as director of the Ashburn Youth Center where he used his personal funds to keep the Center immersed in the cultural arts and open for the youth so desperately needing access to these aspects of their cultural heritage. We would be hard pressed to find an awardee more deserving of the Dale E. Heydlauff Community Arts Innovation Award than Mr. Keith Neal.
We are paying homage to Mr. Keith J. Neal for his unprecedented contributions to cultural education and the upliftment of a people who have historically been denied access and exposure to critical African/African American cultural arts and resources. We know of no other steward of the arts and culture, locally or nationally, that has done a more outstanding job independently breaking through the barriers of cultural equity and social justice in the arts.
cultural arts and open for the youth so desperately needing access to these aspects of their cultural heritage. We would be hard pressed to find an awardee more deserving of the Dale E. Heydlauff Community Arts Innovation Award than Mr. Keith Neal.
- Richard Duarte Brown
