A new exhibit celebrating women of color in music opens Friday at the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

“Rebel Music! Women of Color Who Changed the Beat” showcases women who challenged norms and then changed culture and music history through their artistry, according to a news release announcing the exhibit.

Opening night is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the museum, 204 N. Ottawa St. in Joliet. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for museum members.

Features include a ribbon cutting, access to a cash bar and a companion short-form documentary.

Vici Howard, director Black & Brown Femme Films and exhibit creator, said she wants to educate the community on how “women of color pioneered so much of the music they enjoy.”

“I know I learned something,” said Howard, a Romeoville resident. “And now I have a deeper appreciation and understanding.”

“Rebel Music! Women of Color Who Changed the Beat” is just one part of a larger exhibit of seven installations called “The Vibe: Celebrating of Women of Color,” which launched in 2025 as a pop-up museum in Romeoville.

Howard, who studied filmmaking at Columbia College Chicago in the 1990s, said she built the exhibit with support from the Field Foundation’s Healing Illinois grant.

The exhibit helps Howard fund her own film festival to showcase stories by and about black and brown femmes anywhere in the world, she said.

“Music brings everyone together,” Howard said. “We’re using the grant opportunity to bring racial healing to the Chicagoland area.”

H’Aeneise Coopwood, membership and outreach coordinator at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, said she saw the larger exhibit and invited Howard to bring the music installation to the museum.

“When you think about grunge, when you think about punk, when you think about rock and roll, you don’t think of the women who pioneered them,” Coopwood said.

Howard likened the exhibit to visiting an underground club in terms of mood and colors.

“We have life-sized mannequins with outfits inspired by what they wore at their concerts,” Howard said. “And people can read about their stories and their history.”

The special screening of the documentary “Rebel Music, 1000 Songs on Route 66,” by Black & Brown Femme Films during the exhibit’s opening night was inspired by Howard’s 12 years of annual family road trips to Joliet and the music the family played along the way.

“We listened to all kinds of music,” Howard said. “And that music had an impact on my appreciation of music in different genres.”

The Joliet Area Historical Museum is offering a second event in connection with the “Rebel Music” exhibit.

“Lyrics and Lattes” will take place at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 28 and will include free coffee and pastries, singalongs and music trivia games.

Tickets for “Lyrics and Lattes” are $10 for the general public and $5 for museum members.

For tickets to both events, visit jolietmuseum.org. For more information, visit bbffilms.org.