June marks Black Music Appreciation Month, a time to celebrate Black artistry as a driving force in America’s culture. Through music, Boston-based Black artists take center stage as we recognize their challenges and triumphs.

Castle of our Skins, a non-profit Black arts institute, continues to dedicate itself to uplifting underrepresented talent in the Commonwealth.

In light of America’s 250th birthday, we welcome them back onto our Joy Beat to celebrate their role in promoting equality through the arts.

Ciyadh Wells, the Executive Director of COOS, joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to discuss Boston’s lively Black music scene — and all that comes with it. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.

Arun Rath: Very happy to have you here because when I think about America’s 250, and I think about Castle of our Skins, I am so grateful. You know, I thought that I knew Black composers, and then Castle of our Skins comes along, and everything you do, you’re introducing me to either new composers that I never knew about, or sides of composers that I thought that I knew. Tell us a bit about how that’s, well, your mission.

Ciyadh Wells: Yeah. so our mission is really to celebrate Black artistry through music, but it is also to foster cultural curiosity. And like you, many people come to Castle of our Skins’ events and they get to learn about new composers. They get to meet other members of our community and first and foremost, it’s really about bringing joy, highlighting artistry, and celebrating all that we have to offer and share.

Rath: And really just extending this because I think about some of the composers you’ve introduced me to, ones who should be household names and ones that this — I feel like I never heard about during Black History Month over the years before this. Tell about how you approach Black Music Month?

Wells: Yeah, so we approach it, I think, from a very expansive perspective, right? There’s over 500 years worth of Black artistry, Black composers, Black music to be celebrated and to be honored. And so when we really think about what our mission and what we believe our job is to do, it’s to celebrate all 500 of those years. We really want to share the depth and the breadth of that artistry with everyone.

Rath: Tell us a bit about, especially like in the range of composed music, because people tend to know about Black artists’ excellence in varieties of fields of the arts, but maybe not about the obstacles faced in this kind of music.

Wells: Yeah, I think there are a lot of obstacles that musicians and composers faced in the more classical music scene, as it were. And a lot of that comes, I think, from the historical sort of nature and perspective that classical music has cast out over classical music audiences and composers and musicians for a long time. And so, from our beginning and other organizations that have inspired our work, it’s really been about ensuring that we are creating spaces in which Black artists can create music that is interesting, that speaks to whatever it is that they’re trying to say. And again, that can be celebrated. So that’s really our focus, and we want to make sure that we are creating spaces where everyone feels like they belong and feel included as well. And so that is part of a new canon that we’re working to create and part of all of the spaces and the concerts and the community engagement events that we do.

Rath: What are some of the most remarkable things that you’ve seen in terms of artist development with what you’ve been doing over the last 10 years?

Wells: I would say that one of the most remarkable things is that Boston, as we all know, is very much a city where there are a lot of young people who come here for college or for one reason or another, and they might not often feel as though they have the space and opportunity to stay here after those four years or two years or however long that they had planned to be here. But with Castle of our Skins, we’ve really made an effort to create a community and a space where people feel like there is work for them here and there’s a community here, there’s support here, there are opportunities to be commissioned or to perform or to create, you know, all of these other things as well. So that’s what I’ve really seen happen since my time with the organization. And I think I’ve been able to witness a lot of other musicians say similar things about how when they came to Boston, they weren’t sure it was a place for them. But upon finding Castle of our Skins, they felt that they had a place in Boston.

Rath: Wow. And on July 5th, you have another one of your great concerts coming up, and this is called “And Freedom’s Reign,” which incorporates the words of Frederick Douglass. Tell us about this.

Wells: Yes! This is a concert that we are doing in partnership with the Museum of African American History, which we also did last year. And this concert will feature works by living composers such as Daniel Bernard Romaine, I mean, historical composers like Florence Price, who many of us now know and love. And the goal is really to also weave in Frederick Douglass’ speech in “What to a Slave Is the Fourth of July?” as a way to sort of have a dialogue with his speech in between the composers and the musicians who are playing the work. So that’s really what this entire concert is about.

Rath: It’s super cool. But just one thing I’m thinking of, because, you know, we have this read on NPR pretty regularly, and I’ve heard those words so often, and there’s always patriotic music and music underneath, but I don’t think it’s ever been by African American composers. That’s just wonderful.

Wells: Right. And so we are hoping to make this an annual part of our programming. We’ve done it last year, we’re doing it this year, and we’re planning to do it again next year. So that really becomes a part of the fabric of what we are doing in Castle of our Skins. But again, part of Boston’s history and part of American history.

Rath: You do this work ongoing. Castle of our Skins goes 12 months a year. How are you going to keep this going past July?

Wells: We have many, many exciting concerts and events coming up throughout the summer. Again, we will be returning to the Museum of African American History in late July, August, and September, I believe, as well. And then we will be doing a special concert in Martha’s Vineyard in August. And then we will also be returning for our partnership with Vivo Performing Arts in October. So that’s just a little bit about what’s coming up over the next couple of months.

If you would like to make a nomination for the Joy Beat, leave us a voicemail at 617-300-BEAT [2328].