What's happening this month?
Quentin VerCetty: Artistic Study Celebrating Black Legacies
February 7, 4:30 to 6 p.m., John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, Digital Creativity Lab, VAC 137E
Biography: The Governor's General Bronze Medal award recipient, Quentin VerCetty is a multi-award-winning interdisciplinary storyteller, educator, artivist, and an ever-growing interstellar tree. Quentin VerCetty is the first artist ever to be commissioned by Carnegie Hall creating art for the 2021-2022 season based on the theme of Afrofuturism. Quentin VerCetty in partnership with Javid JAH is creating Mississauga's first Black and Brown artist collaboration public art piece, a dynamic archway entitled RAYYAN Cosmic Bloom (2023), and created Toronto's first monument of a person of African descent, Stepping Forward Into History- the Joshua Glover memorial. Quentin VerCetty's work draws on the use of connecting historical past and symbolism with futuristic elements while exploring cosmic connections which he coined the term for it as "Sankofanology." As a scholar, he has been published in numerous journals for articles on Afrofuturism and is the co-editor of Canada's first art book on Afrofuturism entitled: Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Discourse and Innerstandings (2020) and coined the term "Rastafuturism." Currently, he is the steward of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) Canada and is the artist director of AstroSankofa Arts Initiatives, a collective and non-for-profit organization focused on public art production, art exhibitions, and NFTs development and support for Afro-descendant creatives. Quentin VerCetty hopes to use his artistic ability to inspire minds and move hearts to make the world a better place.
Fridays at 12:30 Concert Series - The Egbo Trio
February 10, 12:30pm, von Kuster Hall, Music Building
Please join us in person or online via livestream as we continue our proud tradition of sharing music with the community.
The Don Wright Faculty of Music’s Fridays @ 12:30 Concert Series presents The Egbo Trio, led by Thompson Egbo-Egbo, piano, with Randall Hall, bass, and Jeff Halischuk, drums. Blending somethings old and somethings new, this is sure to be a treat for the Series crowd.
Funding for this concert has been generously provided by the Jeffrey Distinguished Visitors Fund.
Admission is free and open to all. No ticket purchase or advance registration required.
Western University Wind Ensemble: Vignettes
February 15, 3-5pm (via Zoom)
How do you convey to the next generation that Black people’s mental health matters when we are surrounded by poor beliefs, such as stigma, which do not serve us as a community?
This event will be held online via Zoom. Facilitated by Rose Tanaye, Mental Health Counselor and Raghad Ebied, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Education Coordinator at Western, Idunnuayo Ayodunni Alabi & Cordlyne Nwanko Black Student Association (BSA) Representatives.
Race, Colonialism and the Refugee Crisis: A conversation
February 15, 1 to 2 p.m., The Write Place, King’s University College
Gabriel Ndayishimiye is a writer based in London, Ontario. His writing focuses on refugee stories and representations of exile experiences. His works critiques the neo-colonial and racialized knowledge structures on which the international refugee system is based.
His first book, Run Elvin!, contains multitudes: it is at once an expertly-crafted history lessons on the causes and consequences of the genocide, an expansive, three-dimensional accounts of one man's refugee experience in all its traumas and triumphs and a love letter from father to son on the power of will, hope and self-examination over the darkest echoes of history.
This talk is open to all. No registration required.
Global Café
February 16, 3 to 5 p.m., IGAB Atrium
Let’s learn about black history month and celebrate African culture together. We will paint some African paintings, color some masks and play a trivia game through Kahoot. Bring your friends and have a lot of fun!
