2025 Black History, Future Folk Symposium Info & Schedule
Symposium Speakers and Artists
Global Carnival Redux
Aaliyah Christina
Aaliyah Christina was born in Ruston, Louisiana and raised across Louisiana, Maryland, and Texas, and makes dances and writes about dynamics in power/love, mental health, and Blackness. She is based in South side Chicago, IL and works as the Artist Programs Manager at Links Hall, co-organizes with Performance Response Journal (PRJ), and collaborates with community organizations and fellow artists across the city of Chicago. In 2021, Aaliyah received the 3Arts Make-A-Wave grant and as of 2023 she received the Illinois Arts Council Agency 2023 Artist Fellowship Finalist Award. She created PRAISE MOTHER, a dance theater project highlighting relationships between Black matriarchs and their kin through their mental health journeys. Aaliyah Christina is currently interested in African American movement vernaculars, especially as they pertain to jubilation and spiritual veneration within communal spaces. Her movement practice includes Liturgical/praise dance, Black majorette styles, and improvisation that negotiates moments of irreverent play and personal questioning. She explores interpersonal relationships between Black femmes, their mothers, and their sociopolitical position in the African diaspora.
Azania Drum
Azania Drum represents leadership, dedication, teamwork, and a willingness to learn through West African music. Started in 2000 by the late Baba Meshach Silas and Mama Ann Ward, and housed at Betty Shabazz International Charter School, Azania added an entirely new element of culture, creativity, and history to Chicago catering to children wanting to learn to play djembe orchestra music. Azania continued after Baba Meshach’s passing by Mama Ann and Baba Atiba, and soon after Baba John Chapman and Baba Desmond Owusu took the helm under the guidance of Baba Atiba, and it has grown into a performance ensemble that continues to develop.
Desmond Owusu
Desmond Owusu is a creative director and cultural worker. His language of art includes a blend of design and research that translates his experience as a Chicago native from the South Side. Growing up first-generation Ghanaian, Desmond utilizes his skills and background to "bridge the gap" cross-culturally exploring themes of community, family, and culture. His art through design is a signifier of the African diaspora that stays true to its roots while continuing to teach, develop, and express new perspectives in creativity, history, and pop culture. Desmond is also one of the Co-Directors of Azania Drum.
Jonathan Woods
Jonathan Woods is a Chicago-based artist specializing in film/animation direction, improvised visual projection and music production. His early fascination with both surrealist and African means of expression has fueled a wide variety of unique partnerships and projects for over 30 years including Max Roach, Dizzy Gilespie, Wesley Snipes & Public Enemy. His frenetic, rainbow eucalyptus sonic explorations have been known to move booties in numerous films, plays and dinner theaters. On occasion he’s been spotted performing with other tuneful rabble-rousers such as Hieroglyphic Being, Angel Bat Dawid, Ben Lamar Gay, Edward Wilkerson Jr. and the late composer Saalik Ziyad. He is a member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) co-creator & co-curator of Elastic Arts Foundation’s Dark Matter Residency Program & Afrofuturist Weekend, an annual 5 day festival supporting Alt music, arts & culture by artists of color.
Makeda Thomas - Keynote Speaker
Makeda Thomas is a dancer, choreographer, artistic director, scholar, and curator whose interdisciplinary work spans dance theatre, film, performance, and installation. Thomas is the founding director of the Trinidad-based Dance and Performance Institute, which is currently celebrating its 15th Anniversary. Thomas’ research into the performance knowledges, technologies, and conceptual frameworks of Carnival has evolved through performance, writing, and publication—both in theatres and in the streets. Her works of mas for Trinidad Carnival include “FreshWater” (2007), part of a larger project that toured throughout the United States, Mexico, and Zimbabwe; “Whitewash”(2017) and “Blue Blue” (2018), a collaboration with Tracey Sankar-Charleau, for Brooklyn’s West Indian American Day Carnival, “Carnival Baby” (2019), created in collaboration with Berlin-based visual artist Shannon T. Lewis; and “Spirit Dolls” (2020), a collaboration with Trinidad-based visual artist Brianna McCarthy.
Her scholarly writing is widely published, with “When Dolls Dance: Belmont Baby Dolls” appearing in “My Voice, My Practice: Black Dance” (2020), and “Dance Like Douen” forthcoming in “The Oxford Handbook of Black Dance Studies. Her work also appears in “CURATING LIVE ARTS: Critical Perspectives, Essays, and Conversations on Theory and Practice” and “Small Axe”, a platform for critical thought on the regional and diasporic Caribbean. She has presented her scholarship at the Collegium for African Diasporic Dance, Let’s Dance International Frontiers (UK), the Congress for Research on Dance, the Society of Dance History Scholars, New Perspectives in African Performing & Visual Arts, The Center for Ideas & Society, the American Dance Festival, and the University of the West Indies. As a dancer, Thomas performed internationally with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Urban Bush Women, and Rennie Harris/Puremovement. Her choreographic work has been presented around the world with multiple awards including from 651 ARTS, NYS Council on the Arts, Creative Capital. She holds a Dual B.A. in Dance and English from Hofstra University, an MFA in Dance from Hollins University, and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in Performance Studies. Thomas lives and works between New York City, Port of Spain, and Chicago.
Mario Abney
Mario Abney is a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader whose musical career began at an early age. Abney’s love and fascination for music developed in the church, where he learned piano and drums alongside his family. As his interests blossomed, he started to explore wind instruments, which led him to jazz, and with the support of his mother, he began to spend time at Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge–an iconic Chicago jazz landmark known for its captivating jam sessions that served as a launch pad for many aspiring musicians. Later, Mario attended Central State University, where he majored in music education with a minor in jazz studies. During his college years he became involved in Dayton’s jazz scene by playing trumpet for various bands such as the Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble, Babalu. He also played for The Afro-Rican Ensemble and SYM. These experiences solidified his passion for music and education. After a few years as a sideman in other bands, Abney formed his own quintet in 2001. During this time he was introduced to the sound of the Hot 8 Brass Band, and felt drawn towards the vibrant music culture of New Orleans. In 2008, he relocated to the Crescent City where he had the opportunity to share the stage with renowned artists such as Charmaine Neville, Ellis Marsalis, Delfpheo Marsalis, Irving Mayfield, and Bill Summers while also collaborating with luminaries like George Porter Jr. By 2024, Abney had returned to his beloved hometown Chicago, where he continues to be an incomparable force on the music scene. Currently, Mario has a residency at Andy’s Jazz Club, where his bands the Abney Effect and the Windy City Ramblers perform regularly.
Stacy “Jukeboxx” Letrice
Stacy “Jukeboxx” Letrice is a dancer, choreographer, instructor, mas band leader, and dance/movement therapist with over 20 years of local and global experience . She considers herself a medicine woman of movement who uses African and Caribbean dance forms as healing tools to maintain her happiness and follow her dreams. Like a jukebox, Stacy Letrice’s repertoire and expertise are diverse, wide-ranging, and seemingly without limit. Dance runs deep for Stacy Letrice and is where she feels most at peace and most at home. The Chicago native began her dance journey at the age of eight after seeing an annual energetic celebration of African and African American dance called, Dance Africa. She first studied African Dance at Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago’s children classes, which were led by Vaune Blalock. She later continued her journey under the direction of Danny Diallo Hinds at Sundance Productions. Sundance developed her dance background by providing her with training in African drumming, ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, Dunham, Caribbean, and West African dance.
Tafari Melisizwe
Tafari Melisizwe is a Pan-African, Black Life photographer and cultural worker based in Chicago, IL. Through photojournalistic-style portrait photography, Melisizwe participates in historical and contemporary relationships between people of African ancestry in an effort to forge meaningful understandings and connections along the continuing lines of language, geography, culture, and history. This work has taken him across the United States, as well as throughout Ghana, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Cuba and 6 underwhelming hours at the Burkinabe border. While certainly honest, his work is neither neutral nor objective, as he grounds his photography within the social, political, and aspirational tenets of Pan-Africanist praxis. His greatest aspiration through photography is to chronicle Black life as it is, as it unfolds, and to use that as a catalyst for joy, dialogue, inspiration, organizing, and movement work.
Team Jukeboxx Mas Band
Team Jukeboxx Mas Band first made their debut in 2018 at Windy City Carnival in Chicago. Windy City West Indian Carnival is a not-for-profit festival and colorful parade that takes place in Chicago during the month of August. It is a family-oriented cultural event with live entertainment, children’s activities, and authentic Caribbean cuisine. The festival also hosts a popular Street Parade of Mas Bands that showcases colorful handmade costumes, authentic steel pan music and traditional dance performances. After participating in Windy City Carnival for three years as a masquerader, Stacy was inspired to start her own mas band called “Team Jukeboxx”. In May of 2018, Stacy introduced her band to the public through a band launch titled “Keys to the Garden”. This band launch revealed the theme, “Tropical Garden” and the beautiful costumes that brought this garden to life. Chicago hadn’t seen a band launch of this magnitude in a long time. This successful event showed everyone just how serious Stacy was about changing the face of Chicago’s Carnival. On August 18 , 2018, “Team Jukeboxx” entered Windy City Carnival’s joy filled festival for the first time. Due to her status as a first year bandleader, many people doubted Stacy’s ability to pull off a successful band or to secure a win. However, Team Jukeboxx surprised the carnival scene when they arrived on Carnival Day with 150 masqueraders from Chicago, Toronto, Kansas City, Miami, and the Bahamas. Team Jukeboxx was the largest band on the road with members ranging from 2 years old to 60 and various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Team Jukeboxx also proved to be the best band on the road as they won the title of Band of the Year and Best Dance. This band has now expanded into a performance company which performs locally and in surrounding states throughout the midwest.
Windy City Ramblers
Windy City Ramblers is a Chicago-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to the development of brass band and second line culture through education and performance. The Windy City Ramblers build on the musical legacy and festive spirit of the New Orleans brass band and second line culture while embracing the rich musical history of Chicago. The Ramblers are led by trumpeter and composer Mario Abney.
