A guide to celebrating Black History Month 2024 through the arts
Events throughout February range from concerts to art exhibitions
Left to right, comedian Rodney Ramsey of Underground Comedy Railroad; singer Dominique Fils-Aimé, presented by Coastal Jazz & Blues Society; and Vancouver Art Gallery Poet in Residence Jillian Christmas.
FEBRUARY IS Black History Month, and local artists are celebrating in myriad ways—through poetry, visual art, cinema, and much more.
Here’s a glimpse at just some of the events taking place this year across Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.
Black in BC: Celebrating Black Excellence 2024
February 1 from 3 to 7 pm at Surrey Arts Centre
DIVERSEcity presents this multifaceted celebration, which features African music and dance, a panel discussion, a Jamaican-cuisine buffet, door prizes, and the new Black Brilliance Awards.
2024 Black History Month Exhibition
February 1 to 28 at Richmond Cultural Centre
The City of Richmond has been presenting this exhibition every February since 2016 at the Richmond Cultural Centre’s Upper Rotunda Gallery. The show recognizes and honours the legacy, culture, and contributions of Black Canadians and their communities.
Kika Memeh.
Black History Month at VIFF
February 2 to 29 at VIFF Centre
There are several events happening at VIFF. A New Chapter runs February 2 to 7, the film series curated by Jamila Pomeroy, whose film Union Street is featured alongside two other titles: Sorry To Bother You and Talking About Trees. “Centering community, resilience and positive action, these films invite us to break generational cycles, laugh, and co-create an afrofuturism that honors a multiplicity of African experiences for years to come,” Pomeroy says.
The Celebrating Black Futures film series, shown in partnership with Vancouver Art Gallery, brings together Black and African films that reflect the present and future of cinema. (It’s curated by Kika Memeh, public programs assistant at the VAG, and Tom Charity, VIFF Centre year-round programmer, in collaboration with Stephanie Bokenfohr, adult public programs coordinator at the gallery.) Alongside several shorts are Babatunde Apalowo’s All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, a tale of forbidden love in an unsupportive society; Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro’s Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, a documentary about the titular American jazz legend; and Kelly Fyffe-Marshall’s When Morning Comes, a look at Jamaican-Canadian immigration. The series runs on Thursdays from February 8.
And on February 4, VIFF pays homage to the late Charles Officer with a free screening of his documentary Mighty Jerome, about Canadian track and field star Harry Jerome.
Vancouver Art Gallery’s first-ever Poet in Residence Jillian Christmas hosts a Day of Delight on February 16.
Vancouver Art Gallery’s Celebrating Black Futures
February 16 and 19 at Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Art Gallery is hosting a month-long program focusing on the intersection of art, film, and poetry, throwing the spotlight on a new wave of Black artists. One component is a film series, shown in partnership with VIFF Centre (see above). Elsewhere, the gallery’s inaugural Poet in Residence Jillian Christmas hosts a Day of Delight on February 16, the building coming to life with conversations, workshops, flower crown-making, and a poetic tour of the exhibition Denyse Thomasos: just beyond. On February 19, families can celebrate Black History Month at Family Day at the Gallery, complete with painting workshops, exhibition tours, poetry readings with I Dream Library, paper flower-making, and Jillian Christmas’s reading of her children’s book The Magic Shell.
Black History Month at Pacific Arts Market
February 3 to 24 at Pacific Arts Market
All month long, Pacific Arts Market is showcasing works by local Black artists. In addition to a visual-arts exhibition, there will be poetry readings, live music performances, workshops, and speakers.
Sara Gómez.
Sara Gómez × 4
February 8 and 9 at the Cinematheque
The Cinematheque is partnering with the Vulnerable Media Lab and the Department of Latin American Studies at UBC to present an evening of newly restored films by Sara Gómez in honour of Black History Month. Gómez was a trailblazer, being among the first Black women to make documentaries about Black perspectives. She created 19 documentaries and one feature-length work of fiction (which was finished posthumously because of her sudden death at the age of 31). Gómez’s films, which were made between 1962 and 1974, depict Afro-Cuban points of view, particularly those of women, youth, and other marginalized voices in the early years of the Cuban Revolution. The evening of February 8 will begin with an introduction by Arturo Victoriano and Crystal Webster, both faculty at UBC.
Brandon Thornill.
Ebony Roots Concert Part 2
February 9 at 8 pm at Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre presents the follow-up to Part 1 of the concert, which took place last December. It’s designed as a journey through Black music and a narration of the evolving emancipation of the Black community. The show features enslaved work-songs, spirituals, songs from the stage, soul, R&B, blues, and Motown. The artists include vocalist Brandon Thornhill (Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre’s producer), percussionist-flutist Carlos Joe Costa, vocalist-guitarist Leo D.E. Johnson, guitarist-vocalist-arranger Olaf de Shield (the event’s music director), bassist-vocalist Russell Jackson, and keyboardist-vocalist Wayne Stewart.
Black History Matters
February 17 from 2 to 3 pm at North Vancouver City Library
Theatre artist Giselle Clarke-Trenaman hosts this free program, “which works with people to create a truthful awareness of Black Canadians”, according to a release. “Evoking the Sankofa bird and its meaning we look to the past to inform our future.” The one-hour session features fun facts and celebrates unsung heroes from the past and present with an emphasis on communities from B.C. Clarke-Trenaman is the production coordinator at Presentation House Theatre who was nominated for a 2019 Jessie Award for her work in stage management.
School Daze in conjunction with un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing
February 21 at Surrey Art Gallery from 5:30 to 8:30 pm
Surrey Art Gallery, in partnership with Black Arts Centre, is hosting a screening of Spike Lee’s film. It’s running in conjunction with un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing, an exhibition by BIPOC artists from across Canada about hair. A conversation between Centre curator Olumoroti (Moroti) Soji-George and Surrey Art Gallery associate curator Suvi Bains will follow on the topics of hair presented in the film.
Dominique Fils-Aimé
February 22 at Fortune Sound Club
Coastal Jazz & Blues Society presents the fast-rising Montreal-based artist who won a JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. As heard on her buzzed-about full-length Our Roots Run Deep, Fils-Aimé weaves the history of African-American musical culture into the heart of her work. The evening also includes an opening performance by Vancouver’s ebonEmpress, who performed at the 2023 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
The 12th Annual Underground Comedy Railroad
February 24 at MOTN
The annual standup tour that has travelled across Canada for Black History Month since 2012 brings comedians Rodney Ramsey, Tamara Shevon, and Daniel Woodrow, plus other special guests to the comedy club at 1826 Triumph Street in East Van. The goal? To celebrate Black comedic talent, to introduce their distinct voices to new audiences, and to laugh out loud.
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