Saturday, August 22, 2026
ARRAY Creative Campus
Pull up + play! Join ARRAY + Love, Peace & Spades™ for an afternoon of conversation, culture and card games open to all experience levels.
ARRAY invites Love, Peace & Spades™ to our Creative Campus to host their signature Talk + Play program. We’ll begin with “The Importance of Preserving Play” panel, a moderated discussion and community talkback exploring why play matters, what we lose when it disappears and what it means to preserve the games passed down for generations. Then we pull up chairs and play. Spades. Bid Whist. Tunk. Dominoes. These are not just games; they are family heirlooms. Whether you’re picking up a deck for the first time or returning to a game you grew up with, Talk + Play creates a welcoming space to learn, relearn and share in the enduring traditions that have kept communities connected for decades. Free lessons provided!
Bring your curiosity, your game face and your community spirit. There’s always room at the table.
ARRAY @ PLAY is a summer storytelling series to spark your sense of play through games and films as tools for strategy, connection and community-building. Hosted on ARRAY’s Creative Campus in Los Angeles.
Panelists:
DR. NATHANIEL BRYAN (participating virtually)
Dr. Nathaniel Bryan is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin and the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Faculty Fellow. He is the founder of Black PlayCrit and author of Toward a BlackBoyCrit Pedagogy, a landmark text exploring Black boyhood, literacy, and early childhood education. His research centers equity, diversity, and social justice in early childhood spaces—and his work in the American Journal of Play sits at the exact intersection of scholarship and the cultural traditions Love, Peace & Spades exists to honor.
DR. XHERCIS MÉNDEZ
Dr. Xhercis Méndez is an Associate Professor of Women, Gender & Queer Studies at California State University Fullerton, a popular educator, decolonial feminist philosopher, and conflict resolution specialist. She is the Director of Education at Love, Peace & Spades™ and the co-architect of Spades Academy™’s curriculum through her consultancy, Listen Bridge Change Consulting. Her work bridges rigorous scholarship and community practice—building educational frameworks rooted in cultural truth and collective healing.
KIMELIA WEATHERS-SMITH
Kimelia Weathers-Smith is a former TV challenge producer turned entrepreneur, originally from Washington, D.C. After producing for competition series including Hell’s Kitchen, Project Runway, and Making The Cut, she channeled her creative instincts into game design and launched Kim For The Win. Her flagship title Brilliant or BS? is stocked nationwide at Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Target. She and her husband co-founded The Blackout Game Night—the nation’s first free community game night built exclusively around games designed by Black creators—using play to build connection, spark conversation, and celebrate creative genius.
CJ “KINGSOUL” PETERS (participating virtually)
Clemille “Cj” Peters, Jr. is a gaming entrepreneur, producer, and UX designer best known as the founder of Konsole Kingz and the creator of the culturally authentic mobile card game Black Spades. Founded in 2004, Konsole Kingz helped establish a blueprint for an urban gaming lifestyle brand—spanning content, virtual goods, platform distribution, and influencer-led campaigns that connect Hip Hop culture and gaming. Recognized as an industry pioneer, his career reflects a rare ability to bridge culture and technology—delivering commercially viable gaming products while authentically representing an underserved audience at scale.