2020: Eyes Opened

Black History Celebration 2021

For the last five years, Centennial College’s Story Arts Centre has hosted a live commemoration and celebratory event for Black History Month. It has been a powerful platform for our students’ unique voices in supporting transformative change and historical truth.

This year, due to the global pandemic, we took our annual event online.

The 2021 Black History event acknowledges the ongoing challenges of being Black, highlighting the incidents during the summer of 2020. Through story, song and spoken word, we recognize the expression of various emotions in hopes that it will be a fuel for understanding and thus change.

This year’s theme, as coined by event producer and Music Industry Arts and Performance graduate Natalie Morris is:

2020 Eyes Opened

How were your eyes opened over the past year? The events from around the world affected everyone differently. Some were inspired, even during a pandemic, to get out and protest. Some took to social media to speak their minds, share stories and bear witness, and some tuned it out and went silent.

The recognition of Black History in the wake of 2020 events has impacted everyone differently. Story Arts Centre students used their creativity to bring awareness to the fact that history is repeating itself, and it is up to everyone to be aware and actively work towards change.