Nia Centre's June 2015 Newsletter

be. belong. become.

View this email in your browser

June Newsletter It's here! Nia Centre for the Arts is gearing up for its first ever B Side Fest, a weekend celebrating the rich and diverse culture from artists in the Diaspora. We are also launching our be.belong.become campaign logo and merchadise, recapping the success from the South-North Griot Summit and visiting Florence Italy for the Black Portraitures{s} Imaging the Black Body and Re-staging Histories Conference. More details on all our summer movements right here in our newsletter!

B SIDE FESTIVAL A Celebration of the art and artists of the African Diaspora in Toronto

Join us for Nia Centre for the Arts as we celebrate Black Music Month with our first ever B Side Festival. From June 17 to 20, this event will celebrate the art and artists of the African diaspora in Toronto. At Nia Centre, we take immense pride in supporting the growth of our of the arts; Music, Photography, Literature and Dance.

This festival will create space to promote and to showcase the inter-connectivity of Black Arts and celebrate the intersection between song, dance, image and story. Our lineup is:

WRITING WHILE BLACK: SONGWRITERS EDITION facilitated by Whitney French & Chris Ak

THURSDAY JUNE 18th Harlem Restaurant (67 Richmond Street E) 6pm to 9pm, $10 An interactive workshop for song-writers seeking to collaborate with other black artists to perfect their craft.

Check out the Facebook Event or follow #WritingWhileBlack for more details.

RSVP at the EventBrite Page while space is available.

AFROSONIC VOL. 1: PORTRAITS OF A MUSICIAN photography by Michael Chambers FRIDAY JUNE 19th 918 Bathurst 7pm to 10pm, FREE (party afterwards) Award winning photographer Michael Chambers will be debuting his latest exhibit capturing the striking expressions and intimate moments of some of the most prolific black musicians.

The exhibit will feature images from the likes of: Maestro Carla Marshall Molly Johnson Salome Bey Hayden Neal of JackSoul Black Sam Esco Levi Michie Mee and many more!

Come celebrate with us for this FREE event! Follow the hashtag #AfroSonicExhibit RSVP on the EventBrite Page today!

CONTEMPORARY DANCE CLASSES instructed by Ronald K Brown

FRIDAY JUNE 19TH COBA Studio (585 Dundas Street E) 7:30pm to 9pm, $15 A Dance Immersion adult workshop hosted by Robert K Brown, using the influences from western modern dance as well as traditional and social dances from West Africa, the Caribbean and US.

Check out the Facebook Page or follow @DanceImmersion for more details

ROCK THE MIC: MASTERS AT WORK featuring Michee Mee SATURDAY JUNE 20th 918 Bathurst 9:30am to 5pm, $25 A full day masterclass, facilitated by hip-hop legend Michee Mee, offering hand-on tips and feedback to emerging artists who have an interest in performing music and poetry.

Register today! There are only 15 spots for Michie Mee's session.

RSVP on our EventBrite Page while space is available.

Follow the hashtag #NiaMasterClass

Join us for are feature events during our multidisciplinary arts festival this June. Follow the hashtag #bSideFest for everything you need to know about this music-inspired weekend!

Follow us!

Visit our website for more information!

be. belong. become.

New Logo

The month of June, Nia Centre is launching our new be.belong.become logo beautifully designed by the one and only Mark Stoddart. We are so proud of the new design and we're looking forward to releasing our summer merchandise soon.

If you would like to support our capital campaign, please purchase a t-shirt, a button or a notebook. All proceeds go to supporting the development of artistic spaces in our capital campaign.

For more information about the groundbreaking art that Mark Stoddart creates, visit his website here.

Highlight of the Month

Elijah Brown

Elijah is one of the most recognizable AFRO member; his tall stature, glowing energy and bright smile gives him away almost immediately. He maintains this positive aura because of his openness to opportunity and spontaneity. Elijah has taken advantage of practically all of the programs and learning opportunities at Nia Centre and shows his gratitude by shining bright at Trent University. Artistically, Elijah is focusing on completing a book of poetry and ambitiously works as Nia Centre’s Social Media Intern. His eagerness to participate and go beyond what has been asked of him has opened doors and we encourage him to push the limits! We are proud to present Elijah as our AFRO Highlight of the Month for June.

Recognized by Andrew ‘Jaydahmann’ Cox Nia Centre for the Arts, Program Coordinator

Support AlumNia

Candice Boogs Nia AlumNia

Nia Centre is so proud of our AlumNia Candice "Boogs" Nyaomi for being involved in the groundbreaking NS Project, an online photographic exchange project between Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto, Canada) and PH15 Foundation (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and OCAD University (Toronto, Canada).

But she needs our help. Nia Centre strongly believes in community building and so we're asking you community to help build up this young artist as she pursues her art and her purpose courageously by pledging for her campaign. Plus if you are a fan of photography there are some incredible perks for contributing Your support helps to supplement her travel expenses, print expenses, food and transportation and other funds. There's only 8 days left so visit her Indiegogo Page here.

Black Portraiture{s} II Nia Centre in Italy

Executive Director Mark Campbell and Project Manager Idil Jeliani, alongside AlumNia and Scratch & Mix artist Ebti Nabag are representing Nia Centre for the Arts all the way in Florence Italy for the International Black Portraiture{s} II: Imagining the Black Body and Re-Staging Histories Conference.

In exquisite fashion, Ella Cooper (Scratch & Mix Mentor) organized a panel on the Black Female Body in Canadian Art, joined by (AlumNia Exposed 2014 artist) Jessica Karuhanga, the Canadian contingent at Black Portraitures represented well. The panel included Dr. Andrea Fatona from OCAD and Afrofuturist Camille Turner adding a great deal of non-American content to the elaborate the opulent Black Portraiture{s} II.

South North Griot Summit Nia Centre in the Community

round of applause for all the fantastic performances by:

Host Jaydahmann

Performers Krystle Chance (Vocalist) Lola Bunz (Hip​Hop/Spoken Word) Whitney French (Spoken Word) Randell Adjei (Spoken Word) Quentin Vercetty (Spoken Word) David Delisca (Spoken Word)

Griots Road (Hip​Hop/Spoken Word)

Check out our website for the bios of the great performers. Stay tuned as we reveal a FULL recap and photos of this fantastic summit soon.

Live In the Stacks Event in the Community

Our friend, author and award winning journalist Dalton Higgins is hosting Live In the Stacks part of the Toronto Public Library's Make Some Noise Series in celebration of Black Music Month Friday, June 5th, 9pm at Maria A. Shchuka Branch (1745 Eglinton Avenue West). This community concert features Junia T and Ania Soul, two heavy hitters in the realm of music. Come check out Toronto's top talent at this free all ages event.

Volunteerism is a Virtue Feature Volunteer Opportunity

Events JUNE 5 RAISING LAZURUS

Motion Live Presents from London UK "Raising Lazarus" a play by award-winning poet and playwright Kat Francois at DanceMakers Theatre (15 Case Good Lan Studio 301) $10 RSVP info@motionlive.com, 8PM, $10

JUNE 6 BLACK CANADIAN AWARDS

A red carpet national event that celebrates the achievements of Black Canadian trail-blazers and leaders within our communities, Queen Elizabeth Theater Exhibition Place, 190 Princes' Blvd, 5pm, $30

JUNE 12 HARRIET TUBMAN STUDENT SUMMER PROGRAMME

The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas at York University invites youth ages 14-18 (or grade 9 to grade 12) to participate in its Student Summer Programme.

Youth will participate in daily activities (art, dance, creative writing, sport, storytelling, music, workshops, trips and classes) that will give them an overview of the contributions of African peoples and cultures to the historical development of the world Contact Abubacar Fofana Leon for application form

and details afrolatinlibrary@gmail.com, 416-736-2100 ex. 33058

JUNE 13 RIGHT BESIDE YOU: RENDITION EDITION

A night of live performances featuring David Delisca live with Andrew Forde and The Ghost Tapes, Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street W) 7pm to 10pm, $5 if you submit a tape, $10 advance, $15 at the door

JUNE 13 & 14 LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP W D'BI YOUNG ANITAFRIKA Join Toronto's YWCA Woman of

Distinction in the Arts d'bi.young anitafrika for a 2nd weekend intensive workshop in LEADERSHIP using her wholistic human development framework, the SORPLUSI METHOD, Watah (9 Trinity Street #317), 10am to 5pm, $275

JUNE 16 NNEKA @ TATOO

NION EVENTS PROUDLY PRESENTS NNEKA with special guests, Tattoo (567 Queen Street W), 19+, 8pm, $16.50 - $20

JUNE 19 ARTREACH GRANTS

ArtReach has $270,000 in grants to give out to youth arts projects in Toronto! Request an application by June 15th from grants@artreach.org

JUNE 22 - 28

WORD! SOUND! POWAH! Watah Theatre Institute in association with Kinteet

Kompini presents WORD! SOUND! POWAH! Festival of Monodrama a culminating artistic showcase of Artists-In-Residence at Watah Theatre Institute in mentorship with d'bi.young anitafrika. Among many talented artists are the works from AlumNia member Anthony Gebrehiwot, Scratch & Mix artist Anique Jordan, Watah (9 Trinity Street #317)

JUNE 25 STORIES OF OURS

Join us for an evening of stories told by a multigenerational, multi-cultural line up of six amazing storytellers who will share true, personal stories that touch on the theme of immigration or identity, Daniel Spectrum (585 Dundas East, 3rd floor), 7pm to 10pm, FREE

Feel free to contact us to add your event to our newsletter listings: info@niacentre.org

Copyright Š 2015 Nia Centre for the Arts, All rights reserved.