ARRAY @ PLAY x LOVE, PEACE & SPADES

ARRAY @ PLAY x Love, Peace & Spades—a panel conversation on “The Importance of Preserving Play,” the third Talk + Play from Love, Peace & Spades™ in 2026. This marks the residency’s move from The Narrative LA to ARRAY (Ava DuVernay’s multi-platform arts and social impact collective) as part of ARRAY @ Play, their summer storytelling series using gameplay as a tool for strategy, connection, and community-building, hosted on ARRAY’s Creative Campus. Panelists: Dr. Xhercis Méndez (Director of Education, Love, Peace & Spades™; Professor of Criminal Justice at CSU Fullerton with 20 years in higher education and K-12 settings; founder of Listen Bridge Change, a consultancy grounded in transformative practices for addressing harm and conflict resolution—she brings that training to LP&S, using culturally relevant games to teach communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution to K-12 youth), Kimelia Weathers-Smith (co-founder of Brilliant or BS?, a Black woman-owned bluffing trivia game featured in Essence, Oprah, and Good Housekeeping; curator of Blackout Game Night), and Dr. Nathaniel Bryan (Founder of Black PlayCrit, a framework centering the play experiences of Black children; joining virtually). The panel is part of Talk + Play—LP&S’s series using games to hold hard-to-have conversations—this installment turning that lens on play itself: why it matters, and what’s lost when it disappears. Open to all experience levels, from first-timers to lifelong players. Doors: 11:30 AM | Showtime: 12 PM RSVP required—limited to one seat per person. Arrive early. Street parking near ARRAY Creative Campus is limited but available—rideshare or carpooling is recommended.