Black Future Festival

Join us for a week of reflection and future-forward fun inspired by the national celebration of the African Diaspora and Black History Month. With our guest curator, Kendra J. Bostock and STooPS, we’ll be presenting workshops, dance performances, storytelling, and more.

SCHEDULE

NYICFF In Your Neighborhood

New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) presents an exclusive collection of family-friendly, award-winning short films.

10:30 am – 11:20 am & 3:00 pm – 3:50 pm

Moving Stories: Dance

A movement experience that includes various dance forms from the African Diaspora (traditional African forms, modern, jazz, Afrobeat). Led by Carmen Carriker.

11:00 am – 11:45 am

Lyrical Liberation: Music/Poetry

Ella Baker said: “We who believe in freedom cannot rest!” Take a music and poetry journey as we sing and create music together. Led by PitsiRa Ragophala.

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm

Remembering and Transforming: Storytelling

Journey with us as we tell stories of the past, present, and future. We will listen to stories of Bed-Stuy and remember ancestors who created a path with their legacy. Together we will bring our stories to life and create movement for the journey ahead. Move to the music and create a collective poem. Led by Wema Ragophala.

2:30 pm – 3:15 pm

Adinkra Portals: Visual Art

Adinkra symbols were created by the Akan people of Ghana. The symbols represent qualities of character and life principles. This workshop is inspired by Lorraine O’Grady’s 1983 “Art Is…” performance, in which paraders framed bystanders in gold frames, transforming them into a piece of art to behold. Participants can make a frame from repurposed materials, decorate them with adinkra symbols, and then take a picture with it, framing themselves as a work of art adorned by a collection of powerful symbols. Led by Pia Monique Murray.

4:00 pm – 4:45 pm

Afrofuturistic Comic Covers

Join us in ColorLab to design your own Afrofuturistic comic book cover, inspired by the work of author and illustrator, John Jennings.

10:30 am – 12:30 pm & 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Vendor: Filly Luv