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...

  No Black Owners To Groove On Toronto’s FM Airwaves By Stephen Weir: There used to be two, but now there are none.  Despite written pleas from the Prime Minister, the mayor, community groups and a listeners’ petition, the financially stressed radio station G-98.7 is no longer in Black hands. On Monday morning a court spent just an hour reviewing the purchase offer of the last Black owned station in the country (Flow, Canada’s first Black FM station was sold off years ago).  Pending a licence review by the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, Mississauga broadcaster Neeti P. Ray is now the proud owner of a station that bills itself as one “that Grooves.” Ray already owns and operates multi-cultural stations CINA-FM in Windsor and CINA 1650 AM in Mississauga. The two stations air programming in a variety of language including: Assyrian, Cantonese, Hindi, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian. According to Wikipedia 80% of their daily programming is in Arabic. “While I prepa...

(L to R): A lica Hall, Mayor Tory,  Nation Cheong, MPP Andrew and MP Vaughan in front of the Nia Centre For The Arts A Little Jamaica Project With a  Purpose By Stephen Weir  As autumn days go last Friday’s press conference for the  NIA Centre for the Arts  was perfect.  Warm temperatures, no wind and sunshine beamed down on a Little Jamaica building that is about to make Black history in Canada. The afternoon media event had speakers and representation from the province, the city and arts group both in person and online.  Prime Minister  Justin Trudeau  helped kick off the half hour event with an online speech in both French and English (I attended virtually as well).     The   PM spoke from Ottawa Speaking from Ottawa the PM said “This new space will continue to bring people together and allow everyone to experience the art that is rooted in Black Canadian traditions, and that is incredibly important because we all need to co...

Marci Ien is getting social with voters in Cabbagetown, Rosedale, The Gay Village and Regent Park By stephen weir Marci Ien has left the world of TV and if the voters in Toronto Central agree, is on her way to starring in the Big Show.   Caribbean Canadian journalist, TV personality and soon-to-be author is the Liberal candidate for a Federal By-election that is being held on October 26 in downtown Toronto. Ien has been a fixture on morning television in Canada for almost 30-years. The Ryerson graduate has been an anchor on CTV’s Canada AM and for the past five years as a panelist on the midmorning talk show The Social . She has taken a leave from the show to run for the seat recently vacated by embattered Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Although Toronto South is considered one of the safest Liberal seats in the country, rookie candidate Ien is up against nine other candidates from both established and fringe parties.   Of note is that newly minted Green Party leader, ...

Fool's Gold For Smart Toronto Fans of Tap By Stephen Weir  Lisa La Touche,  one of this country’s best jazz tap dancers ever has returned to Canada and is currently avoiding the virus in Calgary. Once the lockdown is over she hopes to perform her newest tap dance work  –  Fool’s Gold  - live in Toronto and maybe even one day in Trinidad, the land of her father’s birth. For now Torontonians will have to catch her online this Saturday October 3rd.  She is taking part in  the Fall For Dance North’s   “ The Flip Side ” Project  and has created an eight minute tap dance for the Toronto online and live event.    The Festival began earlier this week and runs until October 18. LA Touché along with five other Canadian dance choreographers and troupes, are performing world premier dances live on stage and on tape this weekend. This 2 pm ticketed live-stream event www.ffdnorth.com    from the Harbourfront Fleck Theatre...