February’s Black History celebrations may be over, but honoring artists of color can’t be confined to the shortest month of the year. That’s why I was excited to hear that Winter Park Playhouse is continuing the cultural conversation with a new quarterly cabaret in collaboration with Barbara Chandler, a longtime local community advocate.
Chandler recently spoke with me about the new Sounds of the World series — which launches Thursday, March 6, with internationally acclaimed chanteuse Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye and her musical trio performing Extraordinary Women and Their Music — as well as her decades-long effort to give underrepresented voices a platform to be heard.
“My mother moved here, just like any other people who come to the States from the islands, trying to find a better way of life,” recalls Chandler, who was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, before arriving in Central Florida as a young girl in 1978.
Although she pursued a career in sales and marketing, she says, “Music has always been around in our family. My father was one of the first steel drum players in the Virgin Islands. So I grew up with music … it’s always been in me.”
Many years ago, that love of music led her to help out with a local art and music festival, which in turn launched her on a path of community advocacy that included 10 years as manager and cultural arts educator for the Hannibal Square Heritage Center in Winter Park. “The very first festival that I did, [I] saw there’s always going to be a need for our local artisans to have a space to perform, to show their artwork.”
Chandler exited the Hannibal Square Heritage Center (which is overseen by Crealdé School of Art) late last year after being “wrongfully Terminated,” according to an unsigned open letter distributed via her email address. The Center is currently staffed by octogenarian chief historian Fairolyn Livingston and community historian Mary Daniels, whom Chandler calls “my mentors” and remains in touch with.
“The Hannibal Square community, as they say, will always be in my heart,” says Chandler, who continues to conduct her Explore Hannibal Square walking tours. She calls the Center “an authentic place that anybody in the community could pop in and they would be embraced,” and says her dismissal “was a bad look on the organization.”
However, Chandler credits letters of encouragement from community members with keeping her going, saying “I did not know what to expect, but if anything that I can say about that situation, that support — it uplifted me.”
Sounds of the World sprouted from Sounds of Soul, a gospel music and storytelling show Chandler produced in 2023 for a seniors group.
“The response was so overwhelming to the performance on my way home, it kind of popped in my spirit to go and see Lisa [Melillo] and Heather [Alexander] and see if this is something you can do at the Playhouse,” says Chandler. That sold-out performance was followed by another with a Caribbean theme, prompting an invitation to present quarterly.
“This is really good for artists who would appreciate this type of exposure in a professional setting,” Chandler says. “Central Florida is full of a lot of local talent [but] they don’t belong to those actors guilds or those professional settings. This at least allows them to go into a professional platform, and then they get to perform, they get to be seen, and then it’s something that they can add to their résumé, [so] I appreciate the fact that in my relationships, I’m able to create opportunities.”
“Platforms like the Winter Park Playhouse, which is accessible, which is affordable, it allows us to showcase the talent and support it,” continues Chandler. “It’s not just having the access and the diversity, but it’s also using this as a platform to learn and grow [so] I really appreciate [Playhouse staff] for giving me this opportunity where I, too, get to learn. I feel that it is a symbiotic relationship, as I bring them talent that wouldn’t necessarily come to the Playhouse, perform at the Playhouse. I too, get to learn some things as well. So it’s a good fit.”
Chandler tapped Aimbaye for Sounds of the World’s debut after seeing a sample of her one-woman show about Fannie Lou Hamer, a pioneering African American voting rights activist.
“I was blown away,” says Chandler. “It was incredible. Her voice, her performance, the reenactment, really spoke to the importance of voting, bringing Fannie Hamer to life.” By paying tribute to Hamer and others worthy of remembrance during Women’s History Month, Extraordinary Women and Their Music aims to satisfy Chandler’s mission to make “edutainment” about cultural diversity. “You may not remember every single thing I say, but because I’m evoking an emotion, you will remember how it has made you feel.”
The Thursday show is already sold out, but you can find Chandler at the downtown public library on Saturday, March 29, for the unveiling of an exhibit of artifacts from four Central Florida African American communities. And keep an eye out for an announcement of her next quarterly cabaret at Winter Park Playhouse, which she hints may have a “Cowboy Carter” vibe.
“I definitely want to do something around country music, because it has always been a part of the community,” she says. “I know that there’s an uptick, but there are people who’ve always appreciated it. So I’m looking at something maybe [with] country music, and the African Americans who have always enjoyed country music as a part of their culture.”
Despite current challenges to cultural diversity, Chandler remains positive by “staying as creative as possible, bringing these types of conversations to the forefront as an act of resistance,” she says. “In the Black community, we say right now, we are leaning on our ancestors. We are leaning on those who have been through this, [and] these are the acts of resistance that it is within my capability to continue to move forward.”
Finally, Chandler has faith in the next generation to move things forward, if only given the opportunity. “The younger people, they are ready for the baton to come to them, but they feel as though a lot of the elders are clenching their fists,” says Chandler. “These grass-roots organizations, they have their finger on the pulse; what they are seeking [is] space to do their community programming. … The younger people, they want in, and we’ve gotta get them in.”
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This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2025.