Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

North is Freedom – Black History Month events in Brampton all month By Stephen Weir   Tonight's Caribbean Camera newspaper The Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton and the Ontario Black History Society soft launches this weekend North is Freedom , an evocative new photo exhibition celebrating the descendants of former American slaves who fled to Canada in the years before the American Civil War. In portraits of 24 descendants of freedom seekers– the great-great-grandchildren of once-enslaved African Americans – Toronto photographer Yuri Dojc explores Canada’s end of the “Underground Railroad,” a clandestine network of "conductors" and “stations” that helped some 30,000 men, women, and children follow the “North Star” to freedom. Yuri Dojc The Black freedom seekers settled across Canada but most of them came to places in Ontario, such as Windsor, Chatham, Buxton, the Niagara Peninsula, Owen Sound, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto.

Revaluation   - Alvin Alley 1960 signature piece What Goes Around, Comes Around On Toronto's Downtown Sony Theatre Stage By Stephen Weir No rain, wind or Polar Vortex could stop the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre group from travelling to Toronto to perform before sold audiences last weekend at the downtown Sony Centre.    Thanks to crippling cold temperatures in New York City last Thursday over 8,000 flights were cancelled including those booked for the 30+ members of the Alvin Ailey troupe. “ We had major difficulties in leaving New York,” dancer Christopher R. Wilson told the Caribbean Camera on Friday night after their wildly successful first of three performances at the Sony.   “We tried to leave New York twice on Thursday but our flights kept being cancelled because of the cold. We made it out this afternoon (Friday)” said Wilson. “It was a real rush to make it from the airport to our hotel, change and step onto the stage for 8pm. It wasn’t that long af

--> Dictator Wall - Power Plant. Omar Ba paintings Putting Omar Ba up against a white wall. By Stephen Weir Up against the white wall by Stephen Weir According to African painter Omar Ba, it doesn’t matter where young people are – Africa, Switzerland or even Toronto – they share the same dream, a deep-seated burning desire to freely travel the world.   Ba, a rising star in Senegal and Switzerland, opened his first Canadian solo exhibition entitled Same Dream at Harbourfront’s Power Plant art gallery on Friday night in front of a packed house.   “Same Dream is the title of my exhibition and it is the name of one of the key paintings in my show,” Omar Ba said. “This idea came to me after an exhibition I did in Paris. I want to look at young people who long to go out and discover the world. When I am in my studio in Dakar, I hear young people say they want to see it all, and, I realize that that was I. In my painting (which hangs in the show) I am one of t

Model Beverlyn Asante wears golden headdress by Dawn Grant Black History Month: No Time To Sleep.  Events almost every hour of the day for 28 days straight By Stephen Weir It’s not a big secret – Toronto is about to become the epicentre for the country’s most important Black History events this February. At a press conference on Tuesday, Black History Month organizers and key officials from the Toronto Dominion Bank unveiled a record number of 90+ different February events that will occur for the most part in the GTA. The presser was held at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre on Bathurst Street. It was a full-house with radio, television and print journalist on hand to learn about all-things-Black beginning next week. Damcers' Duet Inside The A Different Booklist's Community Centre Music. Fashion. History. Food. Performance.  There is a mammoth formal gala, crazy good concerts and small unique happenings for 28 days in a row.  It all begins next