Artists and Archivists in Dialogue (Sept 21 & 22)

Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives (MOBA) presents our inaugural two-day speaker series and creative showcase, Artists and Archivists in Dialogue, featuring artists, scholars, and performers.

Day One (September 21, 2023) will be held at Toronto Metropolitan University, International Living/Learning Centre (ILC).

Day Two (September 22, 2023) will be held at the Tranzac Club.

Over the course of two jam-packed days, attendees will experience academic, dance, film, spoken word, and art entanglements with the archive. Attendees will also get the opportunity to delve into thought-provoking panel discussions led by academics and storytellers from various disciplines. Topics include: Black Activism through Dance and Song, African Stories of Migration and Survival, Reimagining Place and Space in the Archive, African Diasporic Perspectives and much more.

At the end of Day Two on September 22 join us for the launch of MOBA (6:30 to 9:00pm), an interactive website that will give those in attendance a sneak peak of what we have built - a digital platform for open access to Black archival collections in Ontario. This launch will be the perfect opportunity to engage with dynamic voices and meet the panelists and performers.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided on both days, with light refreshments served after 6pm.

Schedule: Full schedule will be released in early September.

Topics to be Discussed:

Archiving the Personal Through Storytelling
Recuperating Black Lives in Ontario and Quebec Archives
Archiving Black Studies from the Undercommons
Archiving Ontario’s Black Historical Families
Confronting Archival Absences and Memory
Archival Protests
Diasporic Archives
The Black Studies Podcast: Creative and Collaborative Knowledge-Making
Storytelling and Movement
Black Aesthetics and Poetry as Archival Method
Navigating Documentation / Archiving the Arts from an African Diasporic Perspective: Challenges, Opportunities and Future Imaginations
Reimagining Place and Space in the Archive
Dance and the Black Archive
Living Archive Stories of Migration
Black Activism through Dance and Song