D.C. activist and go-go music advocate Ronald Moten finally broke ground Wednesday on the long-awaited Go-Go Museum and Café coming to Anacostia in a ceremony attended by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a number of councilmembers, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and filmmaker Spike Lee.

The museum, which has been in the works since at least 2019 and is scheduled to open this spring, will present exhibits on the Afro-Carribean roots of go-go music and explore its relevance in today’s musical landscape. The venue will also have a community garden, performance spaces for current go-go bands, a cafe, and a test kitchen for culinary programs, according to an interview with Moten.

Admission to the museum will be free, Moten says, and it will be funded through private donations and D.C. grants. Moten says he will host a major fundraiser for the museum in February.

Moten is housing the museum at 1920 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave SE, the current headquarters of Check It Enterprises — a former street gang Moten transformed into a group of LGBTQ entrepreneurs. It will be roughly 6,000 square feet, including the outdoor garden and performance space, Moten says.

Along with scholar Natalie Hopkinson, Moten founded the DontMuteDC movement, a series of protests against the erasure of go-go culture. They made headway in 2020 when it became the official music of the District in 2020.

“Go-go represents the creative spirit, the never-give-up spirit of Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said. “We have to do all we can to preserve that culture.”

https://twitter.com/MayorBowser/status/1724848148282044913

“Equity looks like this,” Moten said at the groundbreaking. “Equity looks like when you own your property, right?”

The event also included a ribbon cutting for the Go-Go Mobile Museum, a museum on wheels. The 29-foot bus features mini exhibits on luminary go-go artists and features a hydraulic stage on its roof that can be used for pop-up performances at schools and local events.

This museum is the culmination of decades of activism and fighting for the preservation of Black D.C. culture, Moten added.

“Some people think it’s a crime to help Black people,” Moten continued at the event.  “They always try to criminalize when an elected official wants to help a Black person or entity. It’s not a crime. And you all showed that our entire city, council, and mayor can come together and do the right thing.”

Fittingly, Spike Lee — whose 1989 film Do The Right Thing explored racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood — toured the mobile museum with Bowser to conclude the event. Lee has helped share go-go culture with the world through his advocacy and films, Bowser said.