Looking back at VIBE Arts’ ‘The Chronicles’: Black History Month Programming 2019

This February, VIBE Arts earned an outstanding opportunity, in collaboration with community arts organizations RISE and Freedom Fridayz, to host a three-part series of Black History Month programming. Funded by Canadian Heritage, The Chronicles series set out to honour the legacies of Black Canadians, past and present, through artful activities, activations, and conversations.

Part one of The Chronicles took place at Oshawa’s Eastview Boys & Girls Club on Monday, February 11th. This iteration featured a group of VIBE Artists who performed African drumming, dance, and beatboxing before leading participants in hands-on activations in head-wrapping, visual arts, Caribbean folk and West African dance.

The second installment of The Chronicles took flight at Scarborough Town Centre on Saturday, February 23rd, and had VIBE artists performing on the Scotiabank Live Stage. Monique London kicked off the festivities with a musical performance while VIBE Artist, Shashann Miguel-Tash, led an arts activation on Adinkra symbols. Other performances included African dancing and drumming performance by VIBE’s CoCo Murray (of CoCo Collective) and VIBE Arts Drum Maker and Master, Saikou Saho.

The final event took place at Black Creek Community Health Centre at Yorkgate Mall, on Monday, February 25th, where a panel discussion dove deep into topics of resiliency within Black History and the surrounding community.

Thank you to those who supported, participated in and engaged with VIBE Arts’ Black History Month programming. The Chronicles was proudly funded by Canadian Heritage.