Juneteenth '24 in Social VR with Harlem Film House
ArmaniXR joins Harlem Film House for a Juneteenth Preview and Social VR Reminiscing
For this article I, , joined BoogieXR, Founder/CEO of Harlem Film House and Harlem XR, with Facetious, and Nina Creese who together form 3VM, a subsidiary of Harlem Film House.
I would be remiss if I didn’t first acknowledge how much BoogieXR, Facetious, and Nina Creese have all truly enriched my time in social VR with not just vibrant events, but their role-modeling of leadership in support of Black creatives and strategy.
The following is a transcript from our interview (edited for brevity and clarity) about their newest initiative, HarlemXR, that is debuting with new world updates in VRChat for Juneteenth this week, as well as reminiscing about Black history in social VR.
BoogieXR: “Every builder that was Black...I have to say it, I bought their first build. I brought them their first celebrity clients, and put that shit on the street. Whether they want to, they can't deny it. Why? I got the receipts. And that's also why recording media, documenting what we do as a people is so important. That's why film and media in this space is even more important than it is outside of the world because they can't say, ‘Oh, we didn't hire any Black people’ to do this because we don't know anybody that could do it. We can do it. We can do it, yes.”
“We have people that are building avatars that are 18, 19 years old. A Black 19-year-old girl made this avatar for me. She programmed this whole thing for me, this avatar. She's building and in the real world and in the film industry, it translates to a costume and casting. Second Life Rich, he's another one. Kipp_VR, all of these people. And then you got the talent side of things. Folks like Moshef (lead actor in Becoming the Moe-ettes) who, when you're ready to film and record, you call them up because you know they can deliver.”
“You can put them in any avatar and they can act better than people that you see on any network right now. It creates this parallel universe of an industry that we could totally own and operate, but we have to do it the right way. It still has to follow those rules and that's why Meta Film Works is so important. That's why it's crucial that we put this out and continue to put it out. Because no one's been able to do it. Even though the AltspaceVR platform that it was filmed on is gone, the avatars are still relevant. It can be watched like a cartoon on Cartoon Network or whatever. Relevant and more valuable. We own it. Important. We own it.”
We continued our world hop to the updated Harlem Film House with a new gallery and floor arrangement.
BoogieXR: “Artsy built the original Harlem Film House. When AltspaceVR shut down, she gave me the file. I literally had to learn the Unity program so that I could put it in VRChat and then kind of redo a lot of it. And this is the Juneteenth setup. Welcome to the Harlem Film House. The featured artist in the Tayo Gallery is Lina Iris Viktor, who really delves into the concept of Black is Beautiful.”
“She puts themes of the slave trade and gold within the intricacies of her painting. It's absolutely amazing. I am in love with her. So that's what's featured for Black History Month in the Tayo Gallery. This exhibit is an accumulation of a lot of her work that speaks into the phantasm of being Black. So this Juneteenth, our Afrofuture event is called the Black Fantastic. Everything fantastic about what we've done in the Metaverse. This build, this art gallery, the Moe-ettes, the Fat Black Pussycat, and Nina's creative works, which are Pass the Meta Aux, and the Music and Gaming Castle. So many Black people are a part of this community that's based at the intersection of technology and culture. The subway hub that we're working on right now is going to have doors to all of those worlds and combine that experience together.”
“We have to make sure that we show them us. Who we are, what we're capable of, and where that flavor that they want comes from, and that everything that's old is new again. Black is beautiful, baby.” —BoogieXR
Our next stop was to a very familiar place to us all, full of memories both old and new.
BoogieXR: “Now the Fat Black Pussycat is was a world that we used to have in AltspaceVR where all of us would hang out all the time. We no longer have the original Unity build of Fat Black Pussycat, but I wanted to bring that vibe back and that feeling back because we all loved it so much and it was a gift from Artsy as one of her very first builds that she ever brought in AltspaceVR. I kept the basic furniture and structure, but I changed a lot of other stuff around.”
“We had to break some things apart and put them back together. Unity and Blender, right? We put a lot of interactables in and even when you come in, it keeps to the speakeasy vibe. You got some old-school Harlem burlesque shows playing on the big screen behind you while you eat. The great thing about this world is that since I opened it in the first couple of in the first week it had close to a thousand visits. We're now at almost three thousand visits! That's how we know that people love to visit and play with things. And if you give them something to do and then theme it out and make sure it really speaks and responds that they have a visual they could watch. They will stay here forever and they do!”
“The importance of the Fat Black Pussycat is to make sure that people understand the beauty of Black womanhood, how it can be sexy without being ratchet, and the history of Black beauty in the Black pin-up girl. You don't see that much anymore. Usually when you see strip clubs, well….it's craziness. Now we have a visual representation, a historical record of us. Everything we do in here is media. We have to make sure that we show them us. Who we are, what we're capable of, and where that flavor that they want comes from, and that everything that's old is new again. Black is beautiful, baby.”
Next we traveled to the Music and Gaming Castle, metaverse home of awarded and accomplished musician Nina Creese.
BoogieXR: “We've been working with Nina for the longest. I'm so proud of everything she's done. And I'm so happy that she's allowed us to partner with her on a lot of the things that she's doing. Of course, when it came time to build the castle in VRChat, I had to bring it to Kipp_VR. It was nobody else that could build this. Kipp_VR is officially in the Harlem Film House ecosystem. That's how we want to make sure our economy continues to flow and grow.”
BoogieXR: “Every time that she plays one of those DJ gigs, she kicked back 10% as a donation to Harlem Film House. So that's how that dollar is circulating. We at 3VM can continue to seek out more and more opportunities at higher rates because once you find people that get it and understand and give back like that, you want to do more. You want to continue to increase it so that we can all win and we can all eat. We can have fun, but let's eat. Let's not be starving while we’re having a good time. And Nina's the real deal. She is the co-owner of a GRAMMY Award winning record label with MusicWorks!”
Nina (reviewing the gold records): “I don't know if you guys are familiar with The X-Files, but I recorded the audiobooks for David Duchovny. I recorded all of his voice. This one is for the Danny Brown single. I recorded this one with Q-Tip. We did the whole project at Q-Tip's Studio. That was a fun one. Oooh, and this one is for Euphoria. Euphoria has gotten placed in two video games. TribeXR and Groove Gunner. Shout out to Euphoria!”
Nina: “I actually just put up a video of our last songwriter shuffle that we did at Coexist GameHouse located near Times Square. This is the biggest game house in the city and we are doing all of our cross-metaverse events, meaning that I am there on location IRL and simultaneously in the metaverse with artists and creators from all over the world. Australia, Detroit, Washington, we all gather around.”
Nina: "The website to view this video is www.musicxgamingcastle.com. That's where you can find all of the programming for everything that we do. If you go to the Castle TV, that's where you can find tabs of everything, like the Pass the Meta Aux event, the Saturday Mownin Gaming streams, and more. It's structured so that people can click on it and watch our prior streams."
BoogieXR: "Yes, and the organization website is www.harlemfilmhouse.org. 3VM is the metaverse company that harnesses the power of it, but it's all under Harlem Film House. In the metaverse, Facetious and I look for individuals who are talented and integral and who have the passion to really make this technology work for them and their families while ushering us into the future. It's fun work, but it's unrelenting and sometimes it's thankless. But we're here for the long haul. There are so many people that's really doing the damn thing. Kipp_VR, QueenHazel, Pardon, just everybody because I want to mention everybody and if we forgot you here we’re gonna make sure to mention you."
BoogieXR: “There wouldn't be the programs that you see now in Horizon with, you know, people wanting to be managers and now even The Sampler. That's your archetype. That's what you've created Nina. I think that the importance of Juneteenth and documenting, like I said before, especially what you're doing, Armani, is making sure it's not forgotten so it doesn't get overwritten. So it's not taken from us, especially when the charge is being led by Black women.”
Facetious: “We do it purely from our heart. That's why it's felt so much by people. That's why I think we take such a....I don't want to say ownership of it.....but we care about it because it comes from our heart. Everything that's being produced out here, all the work and after hours. Yeah, we have fun with it, but it's because we have each other. We have that vision that takes a lot of work to come to fruition. Boogie too, like the hours you guys are doing after hours, it doesn't go unnoticed. It should be documented because even though it looks easy, it's not. I have to help myself to my two girls here who kill it constantly, always showing up and showing out, I appreciate it.”
BoogieXR: “Getting the President’s Service Award was validation and vindication for all of us. It went to Harlem Film House and Harlem Film House is all of us, not just me, all of us. That's why I don't tout it so much, because it means so much to me that I protect it like I protect my friendships. I hold it close because I don't want it to be sullied. I think it was so well deserved that it's just something that needs to be protected.”
Facetious: “There are certain moments where you just drop the mic and that's one of those moments. Thank God, because what we're doing is pure. What we're doing is genuine. And if you see us, we're trying to really make a movement in the culture. It's real business.”