Celebrating Black Futures 2025

This February, in honour of Black Futures Month, the Vancouver Art Gallery presents a series of special programming celebrating Black Futures in Vancouver, Canada and beyond. This year’s month-long programming series will focus on the intersection of art, music, literature and film.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Hi-Fi Listening Session
February 6, 6 PM
Room 4East, Vancouver Art Gallery

Join us for an immersive hi-fi listening session, led by cultural producer Hafiz Akinlusi and presented in partnership with Space Lab, that invites participants to explore history, migration and Afrofuturism through music and sound.

Doors open at 5:45 PM to give attendees the opportunity to experience the exhibition before the performance begins.

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Film Screenings: Mami Wata + Drexciya
February 10, 6:30 PM & February 23, 3:30 PM
VIFF Centre

Presented in partnership with the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), join us for a screening of Mami Wata (2023), a black-and-white fantasy thriller film, written and directed by CJ Obasi, based on West African folklore. The evening will also include the short doc Drexciya (2010), a portrait of an abandoned public swimming facility located in Accra, Ghana, directed and produced by Akosua Adoma Owusu.

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Film Screening: The Inheritance
February 16, 3:30 PM & February 24, 6:30 PM
VIFF Centre

Presented in partnership with Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), join us for a screening of The Inheritance (2020), the inventive first feature from Ephraim Asili that weaves together the history of the MOVE liberation group, the Black Arts Movement and the filmmaker’s own formative experiences in a Black Marxist collective.

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Sound Bath: In Drexciya
February 18, 5 PM
2nd Floor, Vancouver Art Gallery

Immerse yourself in a meditative journey, inspired by the vivid and transformative works of Firelei Báez. Led by artist and designer Courtenay Mayes, this guided meditation session, held within the heart of the exhibition, invites participants to connect deeply with the themes of identity, resilience and transformation present in Báez’s art.

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Library Talk: Erica Cardwell and Nya Lewis
February 21, 5:30 PM
Library & Archives, Vancouver Art Gallery 

Join writer, critic and educator Erica Cardwell in conversation with Curator in Residence Nya Lewis. They will discuss Cardwell’s book Wrong Is Not My Name: Notes on (Black) Art (2024).

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Nooroongji Social: Black Futures Edition
February 28, 7 PM
Nooroongji Books 

To close our 2025 Celebrating Black Futures program series, the Gallery has partnered with Nooroongji Books for an evening of music, mingling, raffles and more at the bookstore after-hours. 

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Celebrating Black Futures is organized by Kika Memeh, Public Programs Assistant at the Vancouver Art Gallery, in collaboration with Stephanie Bokenfohr, Public Programs Coordinator.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Celebrating Black Futures Reading List

To complement our 2025 Celebrating Black Futures programming, the Gallery has created a reading list, designed by Nonstikelelo Mutiti and N Mutiti Studio, that highlights Black and African literature, poetry and art writing and explores themes of liberation, decolonization, Afrofuturism and more.

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