Black Girl Magic Ball, founded by Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center’s inaugural Poet-in-Residence, is an annual celebration honoring Black women and their allies who uplift the community through creativity, activism, and innovation. Its mission is to create an intergenerational nexus of joy and recognition and to inspire young people to see the possibility and collective care reflected in those who dare to dream boldly. Matriarchs is dedicated to the ancestral and artistic wisdom of Black women who have shaped brilliant language, artistic movement, and trailblazing vision across generations. This ninth anniversary Black Girl Magic Ball presentation explores the “birthing areas” of identity—where wounds, communities, institutions, thresholds, uprisings, bodies, and archives converge to form a living legacy. Through poetry, musical performance, movement, spoken word and video art, Matriarchs holds up memory mirrors of resilience and imagination, inviting audiences to witness history, grief, and wonder give rise to urgent art.