Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Stephen Weir first reporter to talk to this popular streaming service   Black TV/Film comes to Canada via Amazon Prime Video Channel By Stephen Weir:  UMC, the first streaming service ever created for Black TV and film from AMC Networks, is coming to this country. The company announced yesterday afternoon that it is extending its reach into Canada with its debut on Amazon Prime Video Channels this week. Prime Video Channels launched for Canada in June of last year and currently offers 18 channels, including AMC Networks Acorn TV, Shudder, and Sundance Now. UMC’s addition is the first that specifically caters to Black and Afro-Canadian audiences. The rapidly growing Black-focused streaming service features an array of programming that includes exclusive UMC original series; independent films; stage plays; popular network TV, nostalgic Black cinema, and much more. “We will offer diverse content that captures the essence of the Black experience, no matter which continent you live...

Industry panel asks are museums in crisis? By Stephen Weir : The winds of change are about to begin blowing through the boardrooms of public art galleries and museums in Ontario. On Thursday a panel of art experts will be meeting online at the  Ontario Museum Association’s  (OMA) annual meeting to talk the talk about the lack of diversity at the top! The  industry wide discussion is self-titled “ Are Museums in Crisis ” inspired by a number of recent articles in both the  Canadian Art Magazine  and the Toronto  Globe and Mail.   These well-respected publications have published articles that report that the vast majority of people running public art galleries and museums are white while employees and cultural consumers alike want change! A panel discussion about having more exhibition and shows by  non-white artists? No, right now the issue is diversity in terms of who is running our public cultural organizations - curators, executives and bo...

Trinidad novelist Ingrid Persaud in the running for a big UK book prize By Stephen Weir:  UK’s Costa Book Awards finalists were just announced including Trinidad’s  Ingrid Persaud . Her novel  Love After Love is in the running for the annual 5,000 £  pr ize for Top First Novel. The Costa Book Awards are a set of annual literary awards in five categories recognising English-language books penned by writers based in Britain and Ireland.  A nominated author need not be a citizen to win the Prize. Persaud a writer in her 50s left Trinidad at the age of 18 to study and work in the UK.  A late bloomer, She  won both the 2017 Commonwealth short story prize and the 2018   BBC National short story award with  The Sweep Sop.  Love After Love, her first full-length novel,  is about an unconventional household in Trinidad. It tells  the story of Trinidadian Betty Ramdin, who has suffered for years at the hands of her ...

Table Talk. Hip Vodka and much much more. Yvette Martin is back in Toronto changing the entertainment world.   By Stephen Weir   Sitting around Yvette Martin’s kitchen table in her home northwest of Toronto shooting the breeze with a local reggae star the talk is  dope .  Even more so than one might expect because thousands of Jamaicans are  watching and hanging on to every word Martin says in her new weekly radio and TV show. Producer. Actress. Playwright. Friend to the music world. Yvette Martin hosts this new radio and television weekly morning show on the Caribbean World Channel (CWCTV) in Jamaica that all takes place around her Canadian kitchen table. Visiting reggae stars. Actresses. New songs dropping every week. Often it is just interesting stories from one of the hardest working music producers this side of the US border.  Her busy busy life, even during the lockdown is all fodder for her new issues based Caribbean World Channel show  Table Ta...