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Here’s what Toronto can expect from KUUMBA 2024, a month-long celebration of Black arts & culture 

Here’s what Toronto can expect from KUUMBA 2024 (Courtesy: Harbourfront Centre)

KUUMBA is returning to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre this February for a month-long celebration of Black arts and culture.

Presented by TD Bank Group, KUUMBA is the city’s longest-running Black Futures Month festival and has graced Toronto annually since 1995. Over the past 29 years, organizers have worked to create a platform for celebrating both Black history and Black futures through music, theatre, spoken word, dance, visual arts and more. 

KUUMBA works to transcend the historical narratives of trauma and repression surrounding Black History Month, uniting communities and celebrating Black creators who are shaping the future.

“We integrate multidisciplinary programming that highlights and celebrates Black culture, Black art and ultimately Black voices,” Arinola Olowoporoku, lead producer of KUUMBA 2024 told Now Toronto. 

Arinola Olowoporoku, lead producer of KUUMBA 2024 (Courtesy: Harbourfront Centre)

“The theme for KUUMBA this year is voice. Celebrating Black voice and also examining how we speak, to whom we speak, who is listening when we speak and how we’re being heard,” Olowoporoku continued.

This year’s festival includes an exciting lineup of events, featuring artists from Toronto and around the world. This includes a headline performance by Canadian Queen of R&B Jully Black on February 17. 

Olowoporoku shared that the main flagship event, happening on the opening night, is a keynote speech by best-selling author Angie Thomas, the woman behind #1 New York Times bestseller The Hate U Give.

The festival also includes the Rock Harder Breaking Competition, which will see break dancers from all over the world, some of whom are headed to the Paris Olympics later this year, go head-to-head in a fierce competition.

Attendees can also look forward to  Why Black Women Whisper, a live, spoken word performance “that explores the pain of what Black women go through when they speak up and what happens when they can’t.”

“One of the things I want people to take away from KUUMBA is the discovery of new artists. At Harbourfront Centre we do something special in terms of how we research and discover artists doing new work,” Olowoporoku said.

“We have visual arts, we have workshops, we have dance, we have music, and a few other creative endeavours.”

This year’s festival will include the inaugural KUUMBA 365 presentation, a new initiative celebrating Black culture all year long. The 365 program is a collaboration between The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and the Harbourfront Centre which welcomes three new artists every February to explore and create works through a Black cultural lens. 

This year’s KUUMBA 365 cohort,  including Dwayne Morgan, Randell Adjei and Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony, will present their creative processes and final artworks during the 2024 festival. The next group commissioned for KUUMBA 365, whose works will be displayed during KUUMBA 2025, will be announced on February 1, 2024.


KUUMBA will take over a variety of venues at Harbourfront Centre from February 1-29. Olowoporoku shared that most KUUMBA 2024 events are free, with a few exceptions. Registration and tickets are available here.

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