Overview
Three artists respond to The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery’s Fall 2023 Exhibitions in a series of videos for the inaugural edition of KUUMBA 365. Artists Randell Adjei, Dwayne Morgan and Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony chose one or more works to respond to through the Black cultural lens using spoken word. Their creative process was documented through diary entries and personal interviews.
Presented by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.
About KUUMBA 365
Harbourfront Centre’s KUUMBA 365 is a new initiative celebrating Black cultures all year long. In partnership with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the annual program invites three new artists each February to explore and create works through the Black cultural lens, with commissions centred on the disciplines of literary, spoken word, dance and theatre arts. Committed to investing in Black futures, KUUMBA 365 proudly supports the transformative work and achievements of Afro-Canadian artists today, tomorrow and always.
About Randell Adjei
Randell Adjei is an entrepreneur, speaker, author and spoken word practitioner who, in April 2021, was named as the first Poet Laureate of Ontario. He uses his talents to empower and transform thought all over the world. Adjei performed the opener for former President Barack Obama at the Economic Club of Canada in 2020.
An arts educator, Randell founded Toronto’s largest youth-led initiatives, Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E Edutainment), which seeks to create safe and inclusive spaces for youth to express themselves in positive ways. In 2018, R.I.S.E received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Mayor’s Youth Award.
A Scarborough Walk of Fame inductee (2022), Adjei also holds CBC Metro Morning’s Torontonian of the Year award (2015) and NOW Magazine’s Local Hero award (2017).
About Dwayne Morgan
Dwayne Morgan is a two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam Champion. He began his career as a spoken word artist in 1993. In 1994, he founded Up From The Roots to promote the positive artistic contributions of African Canadian and urban-influenced artists.
Morgan is the 2022 winner of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Celebration of Cultural Life award, the 2018 winner of the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for Career Achievement in the Spoken Word and the 2016 finalist for the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2013, Morgan was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame. He has received the African Canadian Achievement Award and the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Morgan has performed for the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, the former Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean and the late leader of the NDP, Jack Layton. He has shared the stage with many of Canada’s top artists, including Russell Peters, while opening for international artist Alicia Keys and recording with Canadian artists, including Drake.
Morgan has published fourteen collections. In 2009, his work was translated into French, culminating in the book Le Making of d’un Homme. He also has nine albums of his work to his credit.
About Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony
Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony is an award-winning artist, curator, arts educator and creative consultant. Her accomplishments include being featured in When Sisters Speak, co-curating Scarborough: The Backbone as part of Toronto’s Year of Public Art, co-producing the Spoken Soul Festival and representing Toronto as a two-time national team finalist in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. In 2019 she was a TEDx speaker and in 2020 an excerpt of her play How Jab Jab Saved the Pretty Mas was featured as part of Piece of Mine’s Black Women in Theatre Festival.
Her work and leadership in the community sector was recognized as she was the recipient of the Toronto Community Foundation Vital People Award and again when she was recognized as one of 150 Black Women Making Herstory (as featured on CBC) for her contribution to building the arts scene in Toronto.
Dates
Feb 1–29, 2024
More Info
This video will also be on display in our South Hallway at 235 Queens Quay W.