Storefront Manitoba's Playlist is a monthly curated list of films, podcasts, and other resources that aim to entertain, inspire, enrich, and advance critical discussion.
February is Black History Month. This month and every month, we celebrate and honour Black communities, including people, experiences, histories, and achievements. There’s a wealth of great content out there, so it was challenging to limit this month’s playlist to nine entries. We’ve compiled a varied sample, including a look at the origin story of Black History Month, recent conversations and panel discussions with Canadian Black designers and urbanists, as well as moving documentaries on the lives of legendary black creatives like Paul Williams and Maya Angelou. This playlist aims to celebrate, to inform, to inspire, and to reiterate that these conversations must become part of our everyday exploration and understanding.
HOLLYWOOD'S ARCHITECT:
THE PAUL WILLIAMS STORY
Produced and Directed by Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy MCampbell Vance
2020 | 56 Minutes
Nicknamed “Architect to the Stars,” African American architect Paul R. Williams was one of the most successful architects of his time. But at the height of his career he wasn’t always welcome in the buildings he designed because of his race. Hollywood’s Architect will tell the story of how he used talent, determination and even charm to defy the odds and create a celebrated body of work.
MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE
Directed by Bob Hercules & Rita Coburn Whack
2016| 114 Minutes
The story of iconic writer, poet, actress and activist Dr. Maya Angelou, whose life intersected with some of the most defining moments in America's recent history.
FRESH DRESSED:
THE EVOLUTION OF RAP FASHION
Directed by Sacha Jenkins
2015 | 90 Minutes
A fascinating chronicle of hip-hop, urban fashion, and the hustle that brought oversized pants and graffiti-drenched jackets from Orchard Street to high fashion's catwalks and Middle America shopping malls. Director Sacha Jenkins' music-drenched history draws from a rich mix of archival materials and in-depth interviews with rappers, designers, and other industry insiders.
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Featuring Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Nas, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, Damon Dash, Andre Leon Talley, A$AP Rocky, Marc Ecko, Big Daddy Kane, Kid 'N Play & many others.
HOW DO WE RESPOND TO ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN URBANIST PRACTICES AND CONVERSATIONS
Canadian Urban Institute
2020 | 62 Minutes
Joining moderator Jay Pitter for this candid conversation – How do we respond to anti-Black racism in urbanist practices and conversations? – were Orlando Bailey, Director of Engagement, BridgeDetroit & Detroit Host, Urban Consulate; Tamika Butler, Director of Planning for California & Director of Equity and Inclusion, Toole Design; Anthonia Ogundele, Founder, Ethós Lab; and oand Will Prosper, Co-founder, Montréal-Nord Républik & Hoodstock.
IN CONVERSATION WITH BAIDA
UofT Daniels
2021 | 93 Minutes
BAIDA, the Black Architects & Interior Designers Association, is a non profit organization of planners, interior designers, architects and students that aims to support diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession of architecture and interior design. One of the only organizations within Toronto connecting Architects and Interior Designers, BAIDA seeks to create opportunities for other minorities through advocacy, mentorship, networking and outreach.
NARI WARD AND DAVID ADJAYE IN CONVERSATION
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Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
2012 | 66 Minutes
Join MCA Denver for a virtual conversation between exhibiting artist Nari Ward and Sir David Adjaye OBE, the architect who designed MCA Denver. Ward’s work often engages directly with the site in which it is installed, generating an intimate response to the architecture and opening up conversations between the art and its setting. Adjaye, an acclaimed architect who has designed several museums since completing MCA Denver in 2007, creates spaces uniquely suited for the scale and impact of contemporary art. We look forward to a lively conversation between these two world-renowned creators and innovators.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH ORIGIN STORY
United States of Anxiety
2021 | 50 Minutes
We’ve got complicated relationships with this annual celebration -- from joy to frustration. The episode features a lively conversation from producer Veralyn Williams about annual Black History Month parties with some friends of the show, then Dr. Pero Dagbovie, Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean at Michigan State University, introduces us to Dr. Carter G. Woodson - often called the “Father of Black History” - before explaining how a week-long celebration of Black Achievement at the turn of the 20th century evolved into the month-long observance that we know today.
POC ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is Political
2020 | 37 Minutes
Janelle Brookes and Ethan Perrotte are a couple of black architecture students from Canada. They created POC Architecture to support architecture projects done by people of colour. During the course of their education, Janelle and Ethan noticed a lack of architecture projects from people of colour being taught. As a result, POC Architecture Instagram page was created to promote diversity in the field of architecture.
COUNTERMAP.LAND
Countermap.land is a crowd-sourced project which locates tangible spaces and objects within the territory known as “Canada”, represented by figures and events – be they political, social, economic, or otherwise – that have contributed to the dispossession of life, memory, territory, and resources of BIPOC communities, both past and present.
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They recognize that maps and the associated technologies of cartography are inseparable from the colonial project; they describe and segment space, defining boundaries to movement, the exploitable resources of landscapes, and the reaches of imperial power. They hope through this work to appropriate these tools to define new collective histories.