Seminars and Conferences

Curators in Conversation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nina Gale Olson
O: 212-866-6634 C: 917-710-6404

CURATORS IN CONVERSATION

With Nic Brierre Aziz and  Joëlle Ferly

Moderated by Grace Aneiza Ali, CCCADI Curator-at-Large

Thursday, February 18, 2021 | 6pm EST

Curators in Conversation is dedicated to critical debate, dialogue, and engagement with curators of color committed to the artistic and cultural production of the Afro-Caribbean and its Diaspora  

New York, New York — The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is pleased to present the next session in their popular virtual Curators in Conversation series on Thursday, February 18,  2021 at 6:00 pm featuring Nic Brierre Aziz, artist and Community Engagement Curator for the New Orleans Museum of Art and manager of the Haitian Cultural Legacy Collection with Joëlle Ferly, artist and Founder of L’Artocarpe, an international artist-driven space in Guadeloupe. Serving as moderator is Grace Aneiza Ali, CCCADI’s Curator-at-Large.

Aziz and Ferly will discuss shared concerns and intersecting ideas in their community-centered and artist-driven practices. Additionally, in their roles as leaders of art initiatives invested in the French Caribbean and its Diaspora, particularly Haiti and Guadeloupe, Aziz and Ferly will also expand on their work to move beyond the traditional white cube to create thriving alternative spaces and ways of curating.

HOW TO WATCH: Visit cccadi.org to view our LIVE virtual programs and engage with comments and questions through our social media platforms like Facebook Live & Youtube Live CCCADI’s new digital programs will be featured on our different social media platforms. Visit www.cccadi.org and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on FB and IG for regular updates! 

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Nic Brierre Aziz is an American-Haitian interdisciplinary artist and curator born and raised in New Orleans, LA. His current practice is deeply community focused and rooted around the utilization of personal and collective histories to reimagine the future. Aziz currently serves as the Community Engagement Curator for the New Orleans Museum of Art and Director of Programs for New Orleans based multi-arts organization Antenna.  In addition, he manages the Haitian Cultural Legacy Collection — a collection of over 400 pieces of artwork that was started by his maternal grandfather in 1944. Most recently, Aziz was selected as a 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellow. 

Joëlle Ferly is a Guadeloupean-born artist and Founder of L’Artocarpe, an international artist-driven space in Guadeloupe. Ferly’s art practice spans photography, art video, performance, writing and storytelling. Previous art projects have included a 24 hour-performance (Haiti) and a year-long sound trip across Guadeloupe. In 2009, Ferly set up L’Artocarpe as the first independent collective platform run by and for artists. Today L’Artocarpe has counted over 75 members from Guadeloupe, Martinique, and the Diaspora. With over 80 residencies and conferences, L’Artocarpe has become a leading space to reflect upon and rethink art practices, both creatively and theoretically. Recently, Ferly established A. CURE (Alternative curating), which seeks to acknowledge immaterial, non-merchant, collective, performative as well as in-situ art practices as part of the heritage of Afro-descendant art producers.

Guyanese-American Grace Aneiza Ali serves as Curator-at-Large for the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in New York. She is an Assistant Professor and Provost Fellow in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Ali’s curatorial research and teaching practice centers on curatorial activism, socially engaged art practices, global contemporary art, and art of the Caribbean Diaspora with a focus on her homeland Guyana. Ali is the editor of the recent publication, Liminal Spaces: Migration and Women of the Guyanese Diaspora (Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK).

Visual Arts @ CCCADI – Exhibitions & Curators: Since its founding in 1976, the intersection of arts, culture and social justice has been the foundation of CCCADI exhibitions program. For over 43 years, CCCADI has promoted the aesthetics and creative expressions of artists, scholars and researchers focused on connecting African Diaspora themes in their work.  Through these efforts the Center has championed the work of  illustrious curators such as Lowery Sims, C. Daniel Dawson, Marta Moreno Vega, Mora J. Byrd, Shantrelle P. Lewis, Grace Aneiza Ali, Paulo Bispo, Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez,  Desiree Gordon, Marinieves Alba, Robert Farris Thompson and Henry Frank. The Center has consistently provided space for artists, exhibitions, and dialogues across generational connections to provide cultural context, expansion and deepening of cultural threads that are shared  by artists of the African Diaspora.

ABOUT CCCADI: Located in East Harlem, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is a nonprofit arts, culture, education and media organization that advances  cultural equity, racial and social justice for African Diaspora communities. Each of CCCADI’s programs asserts the centrality and relevance of African, African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Latino culture. Weaving together four broad categories: Learning, Expressions, Spirituality and Exchange, CCCADI carries out its mission through advocacy, public art exhibitions, public performances, educational programs, internships, fellowships, workshops, conferences, international exchange and collaborative partnerships. This past  Juneteenth, 2020, CCCADI launched the #ArtsGoBlack campaign to challenge the arts and culture field to actively address racial inequality. For more information, please visit: https://artsgo.black/  

For additional information and to access virtual exhibitions and programs please visit: https://www.cccadi.org/

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CCCADI is most grateful for the support it has received from the following: FOUNDATIONS: Altman Foundation, American Express Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Booth Ferris Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hispanic Federation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jacques Louis Vidal Charitable Fund, the Mosaic Network and Fund in the New York Community Trust, New York Community Trust, The Pinkerton Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Starry Night Fund Corporations: BronxCare Health System, Consolidated Edison, The Durst Organization, United Health Care, WarnerMedia LLC;  Public: Harlem Community Development Corporation, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, National Endowment for the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council Member Diana Ayala, New York City Council Member Laurie Cumbo, New York City Council Member Vanessa L. Gibson, New York City Council Member Bill Perkins, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, New York City Economic Development Corporation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York State