Photo: Celeste Sanchez, first Afro-Mexican Senator in Mexico. The Afro Mexican community was part of San Diego Public Library's Black History Month events. By David Rojas Soberano, wikimedia commons
Special Author Talks, Crafts, Storytimes And Book Discussions Offered During February
SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Public Library (SDPL) has a full schedule of all-ages programming planned for Black History Month. During February, SDPL is hosting several free programs, including an author discussion, story times and craft projects featuring freedom quilts and traditional African masks.
“The San Diego Public Library’s Black History Month programming explores the richness and diversity of the Black experience and identity,” said Library Director Misty Jones. “Working with our community partners, SDPL staff has created unique opportunities for people to connect through stories and shared experiences.”
Black History Month events at SDPL include:
•Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia with Dr. Sabrina Strings.
-Feb. 25, 2024. 1 – 3 p.m. at Central Library. Presented by University of San Diego and San Diego Public Library.
-Author talk and book signing by author and professor Dr. Sabrina Strings. She will discuss the idea that the contemporary ideal of thinness is, at its core, radicalized and racist.
Afro-Mexicanos: Mexico Finally Recognizes Its Black Citizens.
•Feb. 26, 2024. 6:30 p.m. at Central Library.
-WorldBeat Cultural Center’s Jorge Gonzalez will lead a discussion on the presence and history of people of African descent in Mexico and the omission of Afro-Mexican from Mexican history, governmental rights and society.
Black History Pride Storytime.
•Feb. 20, 2024. 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. at Skyline Hills Library.
-Celebrate Black History Month with a special Pride story time. The library will celebrate diversity and individuality through age-appropriate stories and songs.
Crafternoon and Create It! Programs for Youth.
•Throughout the month of February at several SDPL locations.
-Kids will have the opportunity to create several different types of projects including kente cloth paper crafts, freedom quilt fabric designs and African masks.
SDPL will also host several lectures, discussions and story times at its library locations throughout the month. For a full list of programs, registration information and Black History Month book lists, visit the library’s Black History Month webpage.
City of San Diego Awards $1Million to Artists and Organizations Focused on Communities of Concern
ImpactFunds Support Arts-Based Projects With Change-Making Potential
SANDIEGO – Today the City of San Diego announced the 10 artists and organizations that will receive funding through the Impact pilot, a funding opportunity for arts-based heritage, sustainability and justice projects within San Diego Communities of Concern and the San Diego Promise Zone.
Following an application submission process, the recipients were selected based on their potential to make a lasting impact on challenges within the local arts and cultural ecosystems. The recipients are:
•All for Logan in collaboration with Barrio Logan Association.
•Asian Story Theater in collaboration with William Virchis.
•Kim Phillips-Pea in collaboration with San Diego Sister Cities.
•Little Saigon San Diego in collaboration with the Indochinese Association of San Diego.
•South Bay Alliance Association, Inc. in collaboration with John Roy Sound.
•The Aja Project in collaboration with Fatuma Fadhil.
•The Urban Collaborative Project with Maxx Moses.
•TuYo Theatre in collaboration with Veronica Marquez.
•WorldBeat Cultural Center in collaboration with Centro Cultural de la Raza.
The 2024-25 awardees are making strides in critical areas such as preserving and innovating a neighborhood’s unique cultural identity amid rapid gentrification, creating new models to address the lack of arts and culture spaces within neighborhoods, and reversing cultural erosion by fostering living traditional and folk-art practices and stories.
