On Saturday, April 22st, The Shadow League’s Ricardo A. Hazell will moderate a panel at the Bronx Museum for the Arts on the future of The Black Speculative Arts Movement is constantly evolving, flowing and celebration of Afrofuturism, black comics and arts that has crisscrossed the United States for a year, making stops in St. Louis, Detroit, Canada, and New York is next on the itinerary.
Founded by Maia Crown Williams and Dr Reynaldo Anderson, it is one of the hidden gems of the Black comic book lexicon. Ever emerging, the New York City event maybe the greatest of them all. The lineup is a veritable who’s who of Black and Latinx thought and creative energy.
What is Afrofuturism? It’s inspired by musicians, both acoustically and aesthetically. Think Sun Ra, Octavia Butler, Basquiat, Fela Kuti, George Clinton, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Samuel Delaney, Jimi Hendrix, Paschal B. Randolph, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka,Tananarive Due, and the ZULU NATION are excellent examples.
The event will include vending from a vast amount of comics, art, and artisan creators and vendors, live performances, a full international film festival via MECCAcon, afrofuturism, social activism, and comic centered seminars, classes, hand on workshops, film panels, Latinx in Comics, Astro Carribbean Women plays, and much more.
Students are also welcome to submit proposals. Black Media of the Future panel will feature William E. Ketchum III, Jordan Calhoun, Janicia Francis, Nay Marie and Valorie Complex.
In addition to his four-year stint at The Shadow League, Hazell has been working in digital media for decades and was at the vanguard of black digital journalism back in 1998.
For a full listing of the the itinerary log onto to http://artsinitiative.columbia.edu/events/black-speculative-arts-movement-convention. Stay tuned for more coverage.
