In this week’s episode,  I am delighted to bring you my lively and engaging interview with the poet and novelist, John Keene. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss his early artistic pursuits, encouraged by his parents, towards drawing, visual art, and writing, the writers who mentored him, and his long-standing fascination with African diasporic history. […]

In this episode, I interviewed Pascale Boucicaut, a culinary artist, and Adachi Pimentel a photographer, who together form the artistic team behind Dishes of the Diaspora.  Dishes of the Diaspora, a project that was funded by the  Leeway Foundation, documents ten cooks in of African descent in Philadelphia. For this project, Pascale and Adachi join […]

In this week’s episode, I caught up with filmmaker, festival organizer, and curator Maori Holmes. Most recently, she is the founder of the Blackstar Film Festival in Philadelphia. Prior to Black Star, she was worked with the Jazzyfatnastees to put on the Black Lily Film and Music Festival in 2007 and 2008. She has directed […]

In this episode, I had the honor of  interviewing Washington-D.C. based visual artist Akili Ron Anderson. Akili Ron Anderson is a stunningly versatile visual artist. His work includes breathtaking stained glass, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, set design, and photography. His art celebrates African people and culture and emphasizes the importance of maintaining cultural and ancestral […]

In this week’s episode, I had the opportunity to interview sound artists Mendi and Keith Obadike. Mendi and Keith Obadike began experimenting with conventional music, but naturally expanded their endeavors. As conceptual and sound artists, their projects seek to go beyond any and all expectations of sound, music and genre in order to sonically create […]

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing dancer and choreographer Lela Aisha Jones, whose work infuses her movement with the intellectual and movement traditions of the African diaspora. Find out what led her to her unique and multifaceted form of expression, her favorite recipes, what it means to be the archivist of the […]

POET YOLANDA WISHER Welcome to the Contemporary Black Canvas podcast! In our first episode, we interview Yolanda Wisher, the 2016-2017 Poet Laureate of the City of Philadelphia. Find out what drew her to poetry, whether she prefers to write in rhyme or free verse, and the secret behind the infamous typewriter–all this and much more! […]

Welcome to our introductory episode. We are about to release some amazing interviews. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app!