2026 JUNETEENTH
• Cultural Celebration Program •
1:00p to 3:00p
Friday, June 19th, 2026
Saratoga Springs, NY
GUEST SPEAKER
NELL STOKES is a native of Montgomery Alabama. She came to the Capital District in 1963. Her experiences with Jim Crow laws in the south have been the topic of many talks she has given to schools and community organizations. Her passion for voting rights led to active involvement in the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and service as an Albany County Election Inspector. Nell is both an activist and a volunteer. She created the Famous Black American Essay Contest for students, tutored with the Wizards Wardrobe and volunteered with the Giffen Elementary School’s 15 Love Book Club. The Albany Institute of History and Art highlighted “Nell Stokes: Stories Education Advocate” December 17, 1923 – December 23, 2024. An oral interview with Nell is on the Institutes website www.albanyinstitute.org. She is also featured in the documentary “Journey to Freedom - Honoring Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.” Most recently she performed a one-woman show, “Songs, Poetry & Stories” at the Woman’s Club of Albany and the Alice Moore Black Cultural Center. Nell is known to give unselfishly of her time, talent and treasure. She says her faith sustains her as God uses her gifts to His glory.
DONNA BOYKIN, Interpretive Dancer
During high school, Donna Boykin trained and danced with the Burundi African Dance Troupe at SUNY Albany. She attended college in New York City, where she was first introduced to formal Ballet & Modern dance training, before venturing into other forms of dance technique & styles, including Modern (Horton & Martha Graham), Tap, Ballet, and Jazz.
Donna studied professionally at NYC’s renowned studios: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hines & Hatchett, Broadway Dance Center, Clark Center, Steps on 74 Street, and Phil Black Studios, among others. She also has trained under many well-known choreographers, performers and instructors, including Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Mercedes Ellington, Frank Hatchett, Ben Harney, Ms. Eleanor Harris, Sandman Sims, Ms. Mabel Lee, and other greats. Performing in several Off-Broadway shows, she also performed in thematic productions at Radio City Music Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Lincoln Center, and a variety of community events.
Donna commenced her Praise & Worship Dance experience after becoming committed to Christ, at the now-named Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, where she ministered Dance and later became a lead choreographer. Upon moving to Upstate NY, Donna became the Dance Director at the Metropolitan Church in Albany.
Donna continues to reside in Upstate NY, where she shares the Joy of Movement with many.
DEACON DEBORA Y. BROWN, has extensive experience in the field of vocational rehabilitation and community advocacy. Debora is the current President of the Albany NAACP. January 2025 marked the start of her 6th term in that role after having served as its President between 2007- 2013. She has also served as 1 st Vice President and Chair of Education Committee. She is currently a NAACP Gold Life Member. Debora serves on the of the “Baby Institute” a literacy program supporting preschoolers and their parents and on the City of Albany PEG Access Oversight Board.
She has volunteered on citywide community food distribution efforts, presented on behalf of the NAACP at community events addressing discrimination and social justice issues, disparities in education, and health, and in support of youth leadership development. She is the 2023 recipient of the Solidarity Award from the Capital District Area Labor Federation
Debora retired in 2018 as Assistant Commissioner with the NYS Education Department’s Office of Career and Continuing Education Services (ACCES) after over 37 years of service in the field of Vocational Rehabilitation. Her professional career includes work with persons with physical, mental and emotional disabilities, as well as those with visual impairments. In 1989-90, she served as a Regents Minority Management Fellow with the New York State Education Department. She holds a MA degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from New York University, a BA degree in Sociology from SUNY Buffalo and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. She is a member of the National Rehabilitation Counselors Association and served on the Ethics Committee with the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.
She is a member of the Macedonia Baptist Church, where she serves on the Diaconate Board. All her endeavors are led by God.
A quote from Marian Wright Edelman best describes Debora’s purpose:
“Service is the rent we pay for being,
it is the very purpose of life,
and not something you do in your spare time”.
DONALD HYMAN, singer-actor-writer-teacher-elder, is a Brooklynite who now calls Albany, NY home. The first-place winner for Drama for his Vietnam Memorial vignette “The Dedication,” Hyman performed at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Denver, Colorado, May 2024. Currently Chairman for public access station CHANNEL ALBANY, he has produced "ALBANY TEMPO SPECTRUM" for 12 seasons, as well as producing "Capitol Region Portraits" for Proctors Open Stage Media. A familiar talent throughout the Capital Region, Hyman can be seen in the thirteen-part History Channel series, “The Revolution.”
NICHOLAS PAYTON , soloist
Seasoned songwriter, Entertainment Industry Consultant, and Urban Music Educator, Nick Payton—also known musically as The BLK Ambition (pronounced "Black Ambition") is happy to share his upbeat and soulful arrangement of "Lift Every Voice and Sing." This special arrangement and his original song "Above My Head" - made possible by grant funding from the Arts Center of the Capital Region - both speak to the resilience of Black People in America and the suffering we have overcome.
2026 marks the first year of his non-profit, The EQuinox: Music and Tech Foundation, Inc., where he uses his music and free suite of music apps to empower youth and give them access to quality software to help pursue their "ambition" in the arts.
You can support The BLK Ambition via:
@TheBLKAmbition on Instagram
JOE BRUCHAC earned his B.A. from Cornell University, his Master's from Syracuse, and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute. A proud citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation (Band #1101), Joe's Abenaki (literally, dawn land) ancestry has inspired him to study deeply and write about important aspects of Indigenous traditions, peoples, and experiences in the Americas.
Some of his notable works include Keepers of the Earth and Code Talker selected by TIME as among The 100 Best YA Books of All Time.
Joe is the founder of the Greenfield Review which has published over 150 multicultural books and anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, giving voice to the otherwise voiceless and marginalized. Appointed as the 2023-2024 Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs, NY, he just finished he second term for 2025 in this esteemed position. In 1996, he was awarded the Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature, and is the winner of numerous other awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts writing fellowship and a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship. He later received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.
Joe worked for three years of volunteer teaching in West Africa from 1966-1969 which led to his becoming friends with some of the best known African writers of the 20th century.
POETYC VISIONZ is a 2-time Empire State Slam Champion, 2014 QEW Slam Champion, and a 2nd-place finisher at the prestigious Toronto International Poetry Slam.
He has represented Albany, NY on four national poetry teams, helping bring national recognition to New York’s Capital Region.
Beyond the stage, he is a graphic artist, entrepreneur, and founder of Originel Print—a brand dedicated to celebrating the beauty, creativity, and ingenuity of the Black experience.
“I don’t just perform poetry …
I architect perspective.”
Poetyc Visionz
WE COULDN’T DO IT ALONE …
THANK YOU!!
