- Up next on Curate - The museum had a great first 40 years, but about 30 years in we realized that maybe we needed a little bit better of a home.

- I was think about the government bad presidents and that wasn't something that was widely accepted.

- Having grown up with not a lot of role models on screen, it became important to me to represent people like myself.

- Thanks for tuning in.

We've got another amazing episode of Curate for You.

I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- And I'm Jason Kypros.

After four decades of growth, William and Mary's Muscarelle Museum of Art has reimagined its home.

- A major expansion has transformed the museum into a community destination, deepening its educational mission, welcoming new audiences and spotlighting diverse voices through ambitious exhibitions in student collaboration.

- The museum had a great first 40 years, but about 30 years in we realized that we were doing such a great job that maybe we needed a little bit better of a home.

The end result was an expansion of our old museum building.

So we've almost quadrupled our size and expanded quite a bit.

What we can do inside the building.

The New Museum is a destination.

We're seeing so many members of the community come in and investigate what's going on, find out what's new, come and experience the space across the board.

People love it.

When we established the museum in 19 83, 1 of its reasons for coming into being was the fact that the university over the course of three centuries had received in gifts about 800 works of art that were museum caliber.

This gives us a lot of room to grow the collection.

We are focused on expanding the representation in our collection and so we're looking to add women artists into the collection.

We're looking to add artists of color and we've really made that a focal point during my time here as director.

Over the last six years, about 75% of the works that we bought into the collection have been by women artists or artists of color.

- When we saw that there was an exhibition of women artists in the abstract expressionist Real, we thought this is a perfect pairing for us.

The American Federation of Arts had a relationship with the collector Christian Levitt, who has an amazing collection of women artists.

It's an amazing opportunity to have these works here.

We're the only East Coast venue.

It is traveling to several other museums in the United States.

It's just been amazing to have this much space.

These are the types of paintings that really need to breathe.

It's a bit like, you know, going into a church where you need to have the contemplative experience.

- The museum, especially with its newly renovated and expanded space, is even more committed to the educational mission of the university.

I work closely with a group of students and the museum staff in putting together the Liquid Commonwealth Exhibition.

It seemed like an appropriate topic to look at water since it's such a, an important part of life in Virginia.

So we devised an idea for an exhibition around that theme and we also decided to do something new, which was to have an invitational exhibition of contemporary art by Virginia artists.

And we thought that would be an interesting way to kind of bring the community into the Muscarella and to the campus of William Mary.

They put out a call for artists to submit works of art.

Almost 800 entries were received.

The students in my class had the interesting challenge of selecting about 60 works from that enormous pool of 800.

But it's a great way for students to really see how a museum works.

So they developed these kind of smaller ideas within the bigger theme.

The students selected appropriate works and then started generating interpretive material in the form of the labels that you see on the gallery walls as well as the catalog.

They worked with the museum staff to determine the layout of the exhibition in the galleries and we thought that this would be a really important addition to the curriculum in art history.

And the museum folks were very enthusiastic about that.

- Liquid Commonwealth brought in a new group of people.

We saw many new faces come to the openings and we continue to see new faces in the museum.

It's been a great way to build community - Abstract impressionists.

The women remains on display through April 26th.

So hurry over to the Muscarelle Museum on the campus of William and Mary to check it out.

- Swamp Dogg is a cultural icon with deep roots in Portsmouth - From his first recording over 70 years ago to his legendary collaborations with John Prine and all the way up to his more recent work with Bon Iver and Jenny Lewis.

It's safe to say that Swamp Dogg has left no musical stone unturned.

- After the release of his latest album, blackgrass from West Virginia to 125th Street, he returned home to Hampton Roads for a triumphant celebration of all things swamp.

DO double G.

- I've been waiting to sing for you for a long time.

I'm home.

I didn't perform that much after becoming Swamp Dogg because I was singing about fellowship, love the government bad presidents and that wasn't something that was wisely accepted.

Hey you.

But I kept on doing it because I believed it by you and just nobody else believes.

It doesn't bother me where - Wildlife runs free.

You could say that.

I - Tell you what I see, being back is strange because Tide Water as I knew it, I mean what I grew up with naturally is what I'm looking for and none of it's there.

But I love the progress that's been made in nor of Portsmouth, new Newport News Hampton.

This is something that I'm very happy about.

Houses - Don't hear.

- So, alright, this would've been my house right here and all this was our backyard.

Up to about halfway we had all them.

Flute tree, grape vine.

Boy, could I have some fun?

Okay, that's the corner right there.

That's where I worked.

This is where I had the broadcast school, Maurice Warden.

I started it.

There was not a lot going on, but there was enough going on when I performed.

I'm doing the same thing that I did 60 years ago.

Nothing really changed, it's just that more people appreciated than I thought.

And that's it.

We got a full house, a sellout show, and I'm thrilled.

We love you.

There's a emotional picture out at the theaters called Swamp Dogg gets his pool painted.

Now if you get a chance, go see it.

You're not gonna be disappointed.

You ain't gonna get your money back either if you don't.

1, 2, 3, 4 Swamp Dogg gets his pool painted, tells the story of my life.

It's centered around Swamp dogg guitar, short and mood.

Star our lives together along with our association with other musicians and artists.

Thank you.

I had to go to the bathroom.

Took eight years to make it.

It's more than a documentary.

It's a darn good film.

He said Dark.

Anyway, it's a good time for me to shout out Molly Menard, Ryan Olson, Isaac Gayle, Johnny Knoxville, Vernon Reed from Living Color.

Mike Judgey.

Tom Kinney.

Magnolia Film picked up the movie.

I Want People to come away feeling good about themselves because of the amount of my life that they see on the screen.

And there are people who say dumb stuff and bad stuff about me, but hell, they talked about Jesus too.

He said bad things about him.

So who am I?

Thank you.

If there's any, any women out there with an ugly man, raise your hand.

A ugly man would do anything for you.

Now you get somebody who thinks he's cuter than you.

You in trouble.

You in big trouble.

The Blackgrass album came about because I wanted to hear country music and black soul music fused together become ugly band.

I found out that a lot of the instruments that were being played in country music were invented by blacks in Africa.

And I said, damn, they invented it.

Ears couldn't play it.

You know, most nobody can tell me what's right or wrong, black grass because I invented - Going to tell you twice if you want to live - The high life, become a ugly man.

After I stopped worrying about what people of me, I found that my unhappiness came from me trying to please other people.

It was just that simple.

But it took so many years to find out and I now know who Jerry Williams is and who Swamp Dogg is.

I don't have to hide behind Swamp Dogg anymore.

To be out here touring at almost 83 just knocked out.

I'm overwhelmed.

It feels great, man.

I feel wanted.

I feel needed.

I feel loved.

This is one of the greater parts of my existence.

I've always wanted to do it to this extent and it's happened and I thank God and anybody else that didn't for this opportunity to be somebody before I leave.

- To see Swamp Doggs curate segment from season six, download the WHRO plus app.

- Welcome back to Curate Presents.

I am Kayda Plus and I am here with Priya Vashist.

How you doing Priya?

- Hi Ka.

I'm doing very well.

How are you doing?

- I'm doing great.

I wanna talk to you about how you got into filmmaking.

- I was pursuing my degree in architecture and I happened to take some film classes.

I just really enjoyed the experience and storytelling in that way.

- That's awesome.

So what brought you here to Hampton Rose?

- I graduated from my MFA program in 2019 and that same year I got a job here to teach at ODU as an assistant professor.

Teaching is something that I see as a medium for constant learning.

I'm fortunate enough to teach a very diverse population of students and my work also deals with representing marginalized communities and populations in film.

So both my teaching and creative work in films sort of goes hand in hand.

- Let's talk about - Outbreaking.

We teach a film film class called Advanced Filmmaking.

I come in with a screenplay and we work on pre-production throughout the semester and then to at the end of the semester we go into full production mode and make a film.

So Outbreaking was the first film that I made as a part of that class.

So Outbreaking tells a story of a queer international student.

So international students in America are not allowed to work outside of campuses.

But this student during COVID time, since all the campuses and campus jobs were shut down, is forced to work off campus and that's when she gets infected with COVID.

But despite getting infected, since she has to pay her bills and avoid deportation, she ends up working at a restaurant while being infected.

- That'd be a tough decision to make.

Right.

Well how about in true color?

Let's talk about that.

- So in True Color is also a queer story, a young black woman who has a deeply religious mother.

And this teenager, she tries to hide her queerness from her mother because she assumes that her mother would not accept her queerness.

And towards the end of the film, her mother finds out, but she ends up accepting her child as she is.

Throughout the film, you, you think that the film is gonna have a very uncertain end, but it ends up being a story about queer joy and a story of acceptance.

- And why is it important to tell stories focused on the L-G-B-T-Q community?

- As a queer person myself and having grown up with not a lot of role models and examples to look up to on screen, especially growing up in India, it became important to me to represent people like myself.

So all of the films that I make deal with queer immigrants of color, especially queer South Asians.

- Now tell us about Shroom Soup.

- Shroom Soup is a story which features an Asian American non-binary teenager.

This character deals with the loss of their father.

They are pretty much left with their mother who is emotionally distant.

The stories about how they navigate their relationship while they're both grieving and towards the end of the film, there is a moment of shared catharsis, which is facilitated by an unexpected psychedelic mushroom experience.

- Okay.

Somehow I'm even more interested in the film now, hearing all that's going on.

But Priya, thank you so much for coming by.

- Thank you for having me.

- Of course.

And keep doing the great work at ODU and making amazing films.

- Absolutely.

This has been a pleasure.

Yeah, thank you.

- If your childhood included Cabbage Patch Kids and walking around with a boombox welcome home Time Machine Radio, - I almost got hit by a car.

I was deep in fights.

My full brains fall.

I haven't in inside I math and close my eyes, wake up with the same old stress and the same twin bed.

The truth, it just sense to think, - Wow, this might have been my favorite episode so far this season.

- Oh yeah.

Why is that?

- Because I love catching up with these incredible artists and institutions we've met over the years.

You - Know what's crazy to me is that just when you think an artist's work couldn't get any better, you see or hear something new from them and it's even more mind blowing than before.

- And that is why we're here to document all those moments.

- Very true.

And I'm proud.

We are.

- Well, we'll be back next week with more Curate.

- Sitting on a T Roller estate to hesitate or even better I Love is what it's all about.

Definitely.

He found out how to my don't matter if they will or they won't go.

I.