Pop Music/Culture Programs

See images from current Lockhart Gallery Exhibit!
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Tom Ingrassia Productions is pleased to offer the following Pop Culture lectures and gallery exhibitions:

“Motown and the Civil Rights Movement”

In this multimedia presentation, Tom traces the development of, and interconnections between, the burgeoning popularity of The Motown Sound—“The Sound of Young America”—and the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Were these two cultural and social movements working together to bring African-American culture into the white mainstream? Did Motown’s Berry Gordy use the more open climate of racial equality fostered by the Civil Rights Movement to achieve his goal of mass popularity for his artists? Or did the Civil Rights Movement use the popularity of the Motown Sound to further its causes? Why was Motown music so popular during the ‘60s—and how did it become “The Sound of Young America”? And why has Motown music remained popular to this day? From his perspective as a pop music historian—with over 25 articles published in popular music journals (including Billboard and Goldmine)—and using archival video and music clips—Tom explores these questions and more in this entertaining and enlightening lecture. 

“From Middletown to Motown: Growing Up with The Supremes”

Every decade has its musical phenomenon. The 1960s had Motown…and Motown had The Supremes. Tom grew up with The Supremes. Don’t misunderstand—he wasn’t raised in Detroit’s Brewster Housing Projects, nor did The Supremes live in tiny Middletown, New York. No—their physical and cultural surroundings were hundreds of miles and a world apart. But in 1964, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard—the legendary Supremes—burst into the American musical consciousness just as Tom was becoming aware of the music playing on the radio. What started as the obsessions of a “white bread boy” eventually led Tom to work with some of the biggest names in music history.  Take a trip back in time, to an era when the music of Motown reigned supreme, in this light-hearted, humorous and entertaining stroll through pop music history.

Tom’s recent appearances have included:

State University of New York at Geneseo

Albany (NY) Institute of Art and History

Regis College (Weston, MA)

The Red Hat Society (Charlton, MA)

“…A number of my students commented on how much they learned from their exposure to Tom’s vast historical knowledge of a musical milieu that they were only dimly familiar with. What made his lecture particularly compelling was Tom’s personal connection to the topic….”

Dr. Jordan Kleiman, Assistant Professor of History

SUNY Geneseo

"You were passionate, humorous, serious and enlightening, all wrapped into one. Plus you were so upbeat and entertaining. I was totally caught up in it--I felt charged the minute I got there. Thank you so much for coming to SUNY Geneseo. It was a grand success!"

Mary Patricia Fennell, SUNY Geneseo Alumni Association

Museum/Gallery Exhibitions of Popular Music Memorabilia 

An avid collector of pop music memorabilia since the early 1960s, Tom has extensive archives of Motown music-related materials suitable for exhibition in museums and galleries, with a particular focus on The Supremes as cultural icons.

Memorabilia from the Thomas Ingrassia Collection has been exhibited at:

Whitney Gallery, Los Angeles

Barbican Centre, London (part of the “Rock Style” exhibition, 2000)

Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Sharon, PA

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland

LBJ Presidential Library, Austin (part of the “Signs of the Times: Life in the Swingin’ 60s” exhibition, 2004/05)

Albany (NY) Institute of Art and History

Coming in 2007:

Lockhart Gallery, State University of New York at Geneseo—“Girl Power: The Supremes as Cultural Icons,” an exhibition built entirely around the Thomas Ingrassia Collection.

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