The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire (BHTNH) has a lineup of thought provoking and inspirational panel discussions for the 2023 Black New England Conference. The virtual and in-person conference, held at Northeastern University on October 20th and 21st, is themed “I, Too, Sing: Art, Music, and Writing in Our BIPOC Communities”. The 6 panels over the two-day conference bring together artists, musicians, scholars, and experts to explore these aspects of BIPOC culture and examine their contribution to New England.
This year’s conference begins Friday, October 20th at 11am with GENERATIONS RISING: RECOVERING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, presented by Silvermoon LaRose, Assistant Director, Tomaquag Museum, Exeter, RI. The focus is on the challenges of keeping alive indigenous languages. This presentation explores the continuance, recovery, and celebration of ancestral languages, and the creative ways Indigenous artists are keeping these cultural traditions alive.
Friday afternoon three panelists Akeia De Barros Gomes, Senior Curator at Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT, Mintzi Martinez-Rivera, Assistant Professor of English (Folklore) and Latinx Studies, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH and Cliff Notez, Assistant Professor and Multi-media Artist, Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA will share stories that will demonstrate how the BIPOC community uses folktales and folksongs to create meaning and understand the world in which we live. The panel entitled THE PEOPLE COULD FLY: MYTHS, LEGENDS, FOLKTALES, AND SONG, will be moderated by Joel Christian-Gill, Associate Professor of Art, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Later Friday afternoon, panelists Melina Hill Walker, Program Director at New Hampshire Endowment for Health, Concord, NH, Denise Khor, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Visual Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, and Omarthan Clarke, Visual artist, Educator, and Advocate, will present IN LIVING COLOR: RECONSTRUCTING THE CANON. This panel focused on the systematic use of the white canon and its impact on the thinking and behavior of BIPOC people. Panelists will explore how BIPOC artists are dismantling the white gaze to create a space for them to decolonize the dominant cultural expression, shapeshifting into a vision that is more inclusive and compelling.
Saturday, October 21st begins with A CONVERSATION WITH PLAYWRIGHT KIRSTEN GREENIDGE. Kirsten Greenidge, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Boston University, Boston, MA, is an American playwright whose work is known for employing realistic language to focus on social issues such as the intersectionality of race, gender, and class. This program will be moderated by ovanna Jones, Assistant Professor of English and African Diaspora Studies, Boston College, Boston, MA.
The 5th panel, RE-FRAMING THE MUSIC: HIP HOP AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE BIPOC COMMUNITY will be moderated by Anthony Poore, President and CEO of New Hampshire Center for Equity and Justice, Manchester, NH. The three panelists, Frank Waln, Sicangu Lakota Hip Hop artist, Rosebud Sioux Reservation, SD, Lai Frances, Multimedia Journalist and Producer, Jersey City, NJ, and Mr. Goodbarz, Hip-Hop Musician and Producer, Boston, MA will explore who profits from Black culture in terms of music. They will also address cultural appropriation, appreciation, and the challenging topic of what happens when the imitation and appropriation is coming from other BIPOC cultures.
Finally, on the afternoon of October 21st, Bithiah Carter from New England Blacks in Philanthropy will moderate the final panel, I AM THE FUTURE: INNOVATION IN THE ARTS AMONG BIPOC GROUPS. Dzidor Azaglo, African folklore performance poet, Boston, MA, Rose Smith, visual artist, Boston, MA and Kimberly Barzola, Punto Urbano Museum, Boston, MA explore innovative ways that the BIPOC arts community, which has been traditionally underrepresented, puts forth material for deeper engagement for learning, self-expression, activism, and social justice. Panelists will come together to exchange ideas about the process that creates radical forms of artmaking to educate and empower the next generation.
JerriAnne Boggis, Executive Director of the BHTNH commented, “For the last 16 years, the Black New England Conference has addressed themes integral to the Black community and New England as a whole. We are thrilled this year to broaden our focus to the cultural aspect of the BIPOC community and examine the challenges as well as important contributions to our culture. We invite the public to learn and participate either in person or virtually during this intriguing and immersive conference.”
The Black New England Conference will be held in person at Northeastern University in Boston, MA but all panels are available to be accessed virtually. For more information, please visit: https://blackheritagetrailnh.
