A Community Reading Of Black Eco-Poetry Feat. Keenyn Omari

​We’re hosting the first Black Forest School program – community reading of 40+ Black eco-poems from our collection of over 1k poems in 20+ languages from over 300 poets across the African continent and diaspora. The readings will be led by our director, artist Ekene Ijeoma and backed by a live soundtrack from flautist  Keenyn Omari inside of an installation with Black Forest School milk crates and food trays.

​Read more below:

​Department of Transformation and Project EATS are delighted to invite you to Black Forest School, the next in our free monthly Third Wednesdays series of artist-led gatherings.

​How can an urban farm become a living classroom for poetry and music? Interdisciplinary conceptual artist Ekene Ijeoma presents Black Forest School, a gathering centering African and Black American relationships with nature. Featuring a large-scale participatory poetry relay, a temporary installation of Ijeoma’s Black Forest milk crates, and live jazz performance, Black Forest School will be complemented by a collectively-prepared community meal powered by Zacarias González and Chong Gu’s modular sculpture and mobile kitchen, Carry.

​Third Wednesdays welcomes community members to experience Project EATS, the living citywide installation of urban farms created by artist and activist Linda Goode Bryant, as a site of discovery, inspiration, and connection. Curated by Sam Rauch for artist-organized group Department of Transformation (supported by the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center) a variety of guest artists, activists, and farmers will contribute participatory offerings celebrating the Project EATS mission of Art, Food, and Life through collective imagination and creativity.