Crochet Storm: Coziness Squared imagines the intersection of art and community practice in a designed urban setting. This exhibition features both the works of crocheters from Bridging Communities, and a community crochet circle led by some of the project participants. The audience is encouraged to both view the works, and join in with crocheting during the exhibition. Works for the exhibition were collected as part of the Bridging Communities project. Bridging Communities is bringing people together across the Bay of Quinte and Eastern Ontario in yarn storming Belleville’s Upper Front Street Bridge. To find out more about Bridging Communities, where you can join free community crochet circles to participate in this project, or about the work going into this exhibition, please visit https://artwithpassion.ca/bridging-communities/

Emebet Belete is an artist and educator who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  A graduate of the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School, and Queen’s University, Kingston, her artistic practice reflects her cross-cultural observations living in Ethiopia, Canada and Asia.  Her work ranges from oil and acrylic, to collage and mixed media, and can be found at the National Museum of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian National Institute of Culture, the TEDA Archives (Tianjin, China) and in private collections around the world.  Emebet is a recipient of Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts creation grants, as well as education and project grants from the OAC and the City of Belleville, which she uses to teach and encourage the arts in schools and the community.  She is currently working on Bridging Communities, an art installation with the goal of bringing together communities across our region to yarn storm Belleville’s Upper Front Street Bridge in crochet.  You can see her work at www.emebet.ca, and www.artwithpassion.ca

Nana Yaa Yeboaa is an author, nurse, performance poet, author motivational speaker, an oral historian, storyteller, philanthropist, and host of the Nana Yaa Yeboaa podcast. 

She holds a Master’s degree in Education and a Bachelors in Nursing Science. She has received various awards, 2023 Ghanaian Community Award, and 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to mention a few.

Artistic training: She began her storytelling journey as a child in Ghana, learning from the elders traditional Ananse stories. This influenced her passion for literature and education. During her master’s program in education, she saw the gap in black Canadian children’s literature and oral arts/storytelling as a dying art. This fueled her passion to take it seriously Prior to this education, she had been involved in various children’s literary activities in Ghana, from plays based on Ananse characters, cultural dance, and story. She also engaged the children in traditional oral narratives giving the children to experience the beautiful nature of oral storytelling that engages the imagination. She is also well versed in poetry and spoken word performance. 

Stage presentation skills are a continual development with the support of mentors who have years of experience working directly with children of various ages. These mentors assess and give training on voice, the intonation and viridity in storytelling. 

Performances

Performances of Ananse stories are varied. The highlights are Agha Khan Museum, Peel district school board, Early On (Peel Region), African Arts Institute in Quinte County, Akade Literary Festival, Adesa festival of oral arts and storytelling (Ghana) and many more. 

www.philjoemultimedia.com

https://www.youtube.com/@Philjoe

https://www.instagram.com/nanayaayeboaashow/

Come experience Ghanaian Traditional song and dance. Our drummers will give you a musical interlude which will bring you to the West Coast of the continent. Followed by an energetic dance segment by the ZahraMoves Performance Team. We will invite the audience to sing, clap, and dance with us. We truly want everyone to experience the communal aspect of West African dance and drum!

About ZahraMoves

zahramoves.com @Zahra_Moves (Facebook/Instagram)

ZahraMoves is an educational and performance-based company founded in 2019 by dance educator/artist Zahra Badua. The education aspect focuses on providing the historical and cultural context and the complexities and richness and the beauty of African diasporic dances. This is achieved through movement and percussion classes, discussions and/or cultural seminars. They teach all ages and abilities. Their movement classes also seek to promote happiness, self-expression, self-confidence and help people feel a sense of Community. The performance component of the brand produces a collection of video projects and curated showcases to provide opportunities for emerging female identifying artists of color.

About the ZM Founder and Artistic Director:

Zahra Badua Zahra Harriet Badua is a product of her culture. Everything she does is a testament to her love for dance, education and her African heritage. Born in Tobruk, Libya to Ghanaian parents, Zahra’s passion for dance started at a very young age as a means to dive deeper in understanding of her West African heritage. Zahra is a dance educator, movement coach, choreographer and dance administrator.

Her styles are based in African and Caribbean dance forms. She is skilled in Traditional West African (primarily from Ghana and Guinea), various West African street styles, Dancehall and Soca. Zahra is dedicated to disseminating knowledge about the vast beauty and history of Afro-Diasporic dance. Whether through seminars, podcast discussions, or movement workshops, her aim is to create a holistic view of the different facets of African dance. 

Zahra also works as a movement coach for adults with different developmental abilities and children living with autism. In her dance administration work she is the Engagement and Administrative Coordinator for dance Immersion, which is a black-led non-profit organization that promotes, produces and supports Black dances and dancers from the African Diaspora.

Master percussionist Kofi Ackah, son of Jewel Ackah, was born into a musical family in the town of Ema, Ghana. His father is known as the King of Highlife in Ghana, one of the best Highlife musicians in the world. His father was his mentor. The first band he played with was his father’s, known as The Butterfly Six band. After that Kofi moved to Canada in 1992 and joined The Highlife Stars with Pat Thomas and Theo Yao Boakye. He also joined the Afronubians band of Tarig Abubakar in 1993. He contributed in recordings, and toured across Canada 1993 and 1994.

In 1995 He joined the Tikisa Band of Adam Solomon, and toured across Canada and parts of the U.S. He also contributed in their recordings, which resulted as the double TAMA Awards Winners. (Toronto Africa Music Awards, best release Safari CD 1997, best band Tikisa). Kofi also was involved in school programs, teaching traditional Ghanian hand drumming, and singing. Kofi Ackah plays with his band Afrafranto playing Highlife music, in clubs, and festivals.