The In This Moment chapbook project pairs 10 teams of Black writers and photographers with 10 Black leaders from across the city of Rochester, resulting in the publication of a series of 10 chapbooks.

This event will launch the second edition of this series with the first two chapbooks, featuring (1) Reenah Golden, Founder, Executive & Artistic Director the Avenue Blackbox Theatre, essay by Luticha Doucette, photographs by Granville Carroll and (2) Reverend Doctor Timothy James Johnson, Volunteer Minister Asbury First United Methodist Church & Professor Emeritus Roberts Wesleyan College, essay by Miriam Zinter, photographs by VSW alumnus Rashaad Parker. VSW Assistant Curator Hernease Davis will moderate a discussion with artists involved in the project.

The chapbooks of Reenah Golden and Timothy James Johnson will be distributed for free at the event as well.

Throughout the next 16 months photographers and essayists will meet, interview and photograph selected community leaders. VSW will host public events to launch each completed chapbook. By December 2023, VSW will have distributed 10,000 copies of the chapbooks to schools and libraries for free. In RCSD alone, 25,000 students and their educators will have access to sets of chapbooks in their libraries and Culturally Responsive Resource kits.