Art Bites
Art Bites: Cultural News That Arrived On My Virtual Desk This Week By Stephen Weir
Cian Knights Joins the AGO
In announcing her appointment the Gallery said that following “the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by George Floyd's death the AGO took heed to the urgent call to accelerate our efforts and take a more critical eye towards (diversity). How do we, as a leading Canadian museum, pledge to accurately reflect the diversity of our community through our internal culture, exhibitions, collections and programming?”
“I am looking forward to taking on this new role to lead and partner in efforts of equitable transformation at the AGO,” Knights said. “This is going to be a journey of introspection and accountability in which we all play a role to create change for more actions of inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, anti-oppression and anti-racism.”
Check your Letters! New Black History Month stamp is coming!
The community, 170 kilometres north of Edmonton, was settled by hundreds of African-Americans escaping racial violence and segregation in the United States in the 1900s
The yellow-toned stamp features a scene of a caravan rolling through the Prairies with photographs of the earliest members who helped settle the community. The image is set against a backdrop of Amber Valley on the Alberta map.
The settlers include Henry Sneed, Jordan W. Murphy, with great-granddaughter Bernice Bowen and granddaughter Vivian (Murphy) Harris and Amy Broady, a midwife.
Jim Phillips, director of stamp services at Canada Post, said in a press release that Canada Post “has been celebrating Black History Month for the past 13 years, especially by telling the stories of the early communities, heroes and cultures.”
The stamps will be available Friday in post offices across Canada. But Canada Post encourages people to buy them online due to the pandemic. "I would suggest if anybody really wants them, that they don't wait that long because I think they'll be gone in a couple of months," said Phillips.
The 31-year old Toronto based author Zalika Reid-Benta is best known for her first book Frying Plantain. The short story collection set in Little Jamaica has won many of Canada’s top fiction prizes. She is the youngest author to head up the Giller Jury.
Also named to the jury are Canadian authors Megan Gail Coles, and Joshua Whitehead, Malaysian writer and Whitbread and Commonwealth award winner, Tash Aw and American author and winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, Joshua Ferris.
The winner of the 2021 Giller will be announced in November.
Virtually Certain that Trinidad and Tobago Wants the World to Jump Next Month
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival World will showcase online the Carnival’s rich and diverse history, employing elements such as an interactive online museum, live and pre-recorded streams, and access to partner services and products.
In making the announcement this morning, the National Carnival Commission said that Trinidad and Tobago Carnival World will be free.
The festival site, they reported, will “feature engaging and interactive content including Steel Pan Exhibitions, Kings and Queens, and Calypso Monarchs through the years. It will also feature scintillating subjects including women in carnival and the evolution of key historical carnival characters and events.”
Fennella Bruce Joins The Board
Well known former broadcaster, writer and Caribbean Tales Film Festival publicist Fennella Bruce was recently nominated and then appointed to the Foundation Board of Women in Film & Television (WIFT).
Founded in 1984, WIFT Toronto is a member-based, not-for-profit organization of passionate individuals dedicated to the development, advancement, and celebration of women in the screen media industry.
“I am so excited to be a part of this phenomenal group of women and blown away by all the programs, workshops and networking available to members,” said Bruce, a post she made today on Linked In.
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