behind the music

Behind The Song

This panel will focus on demystifying the approach to songwriting, beat-making, production and music publishing, featuring several of Toronto’s top music industry professionals. Moderated by Music Publishers Canada’s Manager of Communications, Laura Holtebrinck, the panel will mentor aspiring songwriters and producers, shedding light on the creative and business aspects of music publishing.  Presented by TD […]

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into the void

…into the void

Join a roundtable with award-winning multidisciplinary artists Aaron Jones and Tiffany J. Sutton amongst their work in the exclusive KUUMBA exhibition, (Screaming)…into the void. This dynamic panel discussion and Q&A offers an opportunity for audiences to hear directly from the artists on their inspirations and motivations behind their unique visual art works, where Jones and […]

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find your voice

Find. Your. Voice.

“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re going to be silent in the moments you shouldn’t be?”  Speaker, activist and cherished award-winning YA author of the highly acclaimed #1 New York Times bestseller The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, is Keynote Speaker at this year’s KUUMBA.   Through an evening of inspired words and laughter, Thomas […]

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Mighty Millets

Mighty Millets

Join an educational discussion on the mighty millets – the grain of 2023, and why it’s high time more Canadians knew about them and enjoyed their nutty-nuanced goodness.  We aim to use this platform to introduce audiences to the world of millets through a demonstration followed by a panel discussion. Why millets? Apart from the […]

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Angry indian goddess

Angry Indian Goddesses

Join us in our studio theatre for a screening of Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses (2015) – one of the first films to put modern-day Indian women and their friendships at the story’s heart. You will be taken on a journey through the experiences of Indian women as they navigate everything from love and family […]

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Living in colour

Living In Colour

Living in Colour is a 40-minute documentary that discusses and analyzes the Black community’s past, present and potential future across Canada. It features conversations regarding Caribbean and African cultures in the GTA, the growth and source of Black pop culture and the presence of Black identity in North America. Olivia Hutchinson, Marcus Walkes, Atiya Williams […]

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When morning comes

When Morning Comes

When Morning Comes is a 95-minute dramatic narrative film focused on 10-year-old Jamal Sutherland, who lives in rural Jamaica, and the domino effects of his actions after he overhears that he is being sent to live with his grandmother in Toronto. We follow Jamal as he grapples with growth and the idea of leaving behind […]

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Sankofa Stories

Sankofa Stories

Through an African-centered retelling of human history from ancient times to the present, participants will take part in collective music-making, learn about some African deities and lore, and explore an African Indigenous approach to connecting more deeply with nature. 

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Tipi

Tipi Showcase: Storytelling

Bajiishkaa-ogan enkaamigaag  Miimaampii waanje kinoomowendwaa eshkeniigjig naandaan Bajiishka-ogenaan giinaakaasaan wiidaang, Miidaash gaywiinwaa daashitoowad bezhig Menikwenjigans daanaakaasnaa-aa, Lakota giibezekaamigad we nooswen Tipi – Bajiishka-ogaan, wiidaang minwaa endaayaang etming, Bgoji Bezheki Meshwegin giinakaasaam yeshkaad, minwaa Wiigwasaatigook, entaam shiigwaa gii jiishkiigegewog gii pkwenesgewog jebwa naakaaswa naandaan Meshwegenoong minwaa wiigwasaadigwan wewenenaa jewiinaagdwendaagosiiyad waadaa-aad gwaandak ChiMnskodeng gaadnaagkiijig Anishnaabeg. Jedaagwa giinsaaksen […]

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black ice

Black Ice

Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s prestigious 2022 People’s Choice Documentary Award, Black Ice is an incisive, urgent documentary that examines the history of anti-Black racism in hockey, from the segregated leagues of the 19th century to professional leagues today, where Black athletes continue to struggle against bigotry, despite their contributions to the history […]

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letters to my future self

Letters to My Future Self

Presented by Kuumba and JAYU, Letters to My Future Self is a prompt dedicated to highlighting Black futures and all their possibilities. So often during Black History Month, we center the trauma Black folks have experienced, losing sight of the stories we have yet to write. In each letter, ten artists will explore their questions, […]

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Under the northern lights

Under the Northern Lights

Catrine Pedersen and Stina Fagertun have toured various countries, attending cultural festivals with their programs and dynamic workshops for children and adults through kindergartens, colleges, guilds and the Norwegian Embassy. Chair and board members of the Arctic Storyteller Guild, Pedersen and Fagertun are founders of “The Cultural Bridge, East of the Sun, West of the […]

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The Future is Now

The Future is Now

In 2015, at the start of a three-day Summit on Sustainable Development, an ambitious new global agenda to end poverty and pursue a sustainable future by 2030 was unanimously adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations. At the heart of this agenda are the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the 5Ps […]

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Nordic Talks - The future of art activisim

The Future of Activism in the Arts

Art has the power to reach many people and bring communities together. Can we increase the potential of art to be a catalyst for changing human behaviour?  How can artists play a larger role in inspiring action for social and environmental justice? Join Canadian and Nordic thought leaders in a lively panel discussion on the […]

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Post Capitalistic Auction

Post Capitalistic Auction

Access the Post Capitalistic Auction Catalogue below: The auction is the performance and the performance is the auction. You are invited to bid for artworks in new ways, and actual transactions occur. The twist: bidders are invited to make offers not only with money; understanding, opportunity, and/or exchange are equally accepted currencies. The artists are […]

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Jack Theis

Craftship/Kinship

Craft practice plays an integral role in translating and disseminating Indigenous knowledge between the past, present and future. Stories, teachings and worldviews are embodied within material objects, adornment styles and innovative techniques that give us an understanding of our world(s) and the individual and collective responsibilities we have to various kinship relations (both human and […]

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Gabrielle Desmarais

Contemporary Art Jewellery and the Craft Ideal

The studio craft movement solidified the concept of individual creative genius applied to craft. Individual genius is still crucial in current discourses around contemporary craft, notably contemporary art jewellery, which struggles to strip itself from the romanticism of studio craft to adopt various distinctive values of third-wave craft, where making stands in response to certain […]

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Denise Bolduc

ShapeShifters

As with the evolution and diversity of the land, waters and animal beings, Indigenous practice continues to evolve, shift, shape and reshape within the landscape. Relationality is at the core and more often, the commonality is shaped by our direct interaction with land and the stories it holds. This presentation is a reflection on connectivity. It will be […]

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Sycorax scene

Black Ecologies

Artists Charmaine Lurch and Jérôme Havre join writer and researcher Nehal El-Hadi for a provocative discussion on nature, mythology and Blackness. Drawing from the artists’ sculptural engagements with environments and their manipulations, this conversation will explore what it means to contend with our current moment through human-environment interactions, desires, and fantasies. 

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Zavisha Chromicz

Material and the Immaterial

Omar Badrin and Zavisha Chromicz combine textile techniques and materials with familiar found objects and multi-media processes. They have developed new physical, conceptual and digital languages that honour histories and experiences of the self through expressions of vulnerability and well-being. Their work finds form in the material and the immaterial, including sculpture, performance, video and […]

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Craftship/Kinship

Craft & Creative Placemaking

Creative placemaking leverages the power of arts and culture as a catalyst for community and urban development.  Join panelists Tiffany Shaw and Dawn Saunders Dahl, with moderator Jenna Stanton, as they discuss how their individual craft practices and backgrounds impact and influence their work in Creative Placemaking through their work in arts organizations, public art, […]

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The future of fashion

The Future of Fashion

Where do our clothes come from and where do they go when we toss them? What is the life cycle of the clothing we buy? In our consumerist society, earth is paying the price for our purchasing decisions, and it’s time we started evaluating its cost.   In this Nordic Talk, explore the global fashion industry’s […]

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Making Taiwan Relevant in Canada

Making Taiwan Relevant in Canada

Is Taiwanese culture the same as Chinese culture? In Canada, where multiculturalism is one of our fundamental values, does everyone have the space needed to self-determine their identity? 

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Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Inside Renzo Piano Building Workshop

”Creativity is a miracle that only exists when you know how to share it. Our studio is a special place where this miracle happens every day.”  RPBW For several months, Francesca Molteni and her documentary team had access to one of the most important architectural firms in the world. While inside the Renzo Piano Building […]

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