In The City: KUUMBA 2024 at Harbourfront Centre

Harbourfront Centre’s KUUMBA 2024, Toronto’s largest and longest-running Black Futures Month festival, returns with a stacked line up in February 2024.

Below I list a few highlights of the various events at the festival which I hope you check out all month long.

VISUAL ARTS
(Screaming)…into the void
Aaron Jones (Canada), Tiffany J. Sutton (USA)
February 1-29 at various times, Marilyn Brewer Community Space
(Screaming)…into the void is a compelling visual arts exhibition that explores themes of Black identity, the complexities of existence and the depth of shared human experience through lens-based media. Using interwoven and multilayered images, photography, collage and portraiture, each artist will present intimate works that offer a narrative of collective identity, with each piece contributing to an ongoing dialogue on the complexities of existence in a dismissive world, inviting viewers to engage with art that transcends traditional boundaries.

KUUMBA 365
Randell Adjei, Dwayne Morgan, Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony (Ontario)
February 1–29, South Hallway and online
Three artists respond to The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery’s Fall 2023 exhibitions in a video for the inaugural edition of KUUMBA 365. Artists Randell Adjei, Dwayne Morgan and Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony chose one or more works and responded through the Black cultural lens using spoken word. Their creative process was documented through diary entries and personal interviews.

Exhibition: Stephen Tayo (Nigeria)
Until April 28, South Hallway
Acclaimed photographer Stephen Tayo presents two photography series in Toronto for the first time in Headstart made in Accra and Which Lagos You Dey? Tayo will invite viewers into his beloved home city of Lagos through the imagery of avatars and anonymous figures draped in found objects, representing certain rituals that have become synonymous with the city.

Image from Stephen Tayo’s *Which Lagos You Dey?* Exhibition

Film Screening: Chevalier (USA)
February 10, Studio Theatre
Watch the extraordinary story of the gifted Black French maestro Joseph Bologne, who pioneered the melody of the classical era. This important film puts Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, in the middle of the cultural conversation, refuting the idea that classical music was long the sole domain of white European males.

Concert: Jully Black
February 17, Harbourfront Centre Theatre
JUNO Award winner Jully Black and opener Aqyila bring their grooving soul and R&B sounds, setting up for a night of power and electricity.

Playwright Learning: Learn About Amani
February 24, The Lookout
Led by Amani, this multi-genre event will explore our use of language and the importance of finding words through poetry, music and storytelling.

These are but a few events happening all month long at KUUMBA. To learn more about the festival programming and other highlights, I share my interview with KUUMBA 2024 associate producer and festival lead Arinola Olowoporoku.