Video of Black & Rural Retreat I by Kwasi Obeng
Black & Rural Embodied Knowledge Retreat II
The Black & Rural Embodied Knowledge Retreat is a one-day, immersive opportunity for urban based Black Artists to honour and reclaim their unique ancestral connection to the land.
Retreat participants can look forward to a day filled with:
- Active and guided connection with the asé (life-force energy) of the natural world through an Afro-centric lens;
- guided individual and group inquiry into the potency of Black Bodies and Black heritage on the land;
- Afro-Caribbean homemade food;
- rhythm making, melody making & movement;
- fireside storytelling, sharing, and listening;
- solitude & quiet;
- community, conversation, & joy.
The Black & Rural Embodied Knowledge Retreat is facilitated by shayna adjowa jones, a deeply rural-dwelling, Afro-centric Folkways Artist, Embodied Performance Storyteller, and founder of the Black & Rural Arts and Culture Society; it is hosted and catered by brilliant and Black owned Adinkra Farm in New Lowell, ON; and is organized and produced by the celebrated dance presenter, dance Immersion.
EVENT DETAILS
Date/Time/Location:
Saturday, September 27, 2025 from 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM, including travel to and from Adinkra Farm in New Lowell, Ontario
Adinkra Farm is an Africentric Farm located in New Lowell Ontario.
For those participating in the event from the Greater Toronto Area, a bus will be organized to transport us from a meet-up location to and from Adinkra Farm.
Access:
There are 25 spots available for artists identifying as Black or of the African Diaspora. Registration in advance required. This is a pay-what-you-wish event, beginning at $10.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Note: No refunds can be provided
ABOUT THE LEAD FACILITATOR
shayna adjowa jones (she/her) is an award-winning professional stage actor, a playwright, an applied folklorist, and an unabashedly Afro-centric multi-disciplinary spoken word artist specializing in performance poetry and embodied, traditional oral storytelling. For over 15 years shayna has traveled throughout Canada with richly embodied performances of Afro-centric traditional and contemporary lore. She has performed solo for thousands of listeners at festivals, theatres, post-secondary institutions, libraries, and everything in between. shayna is also the founder of a federally funded “artistic inquiry” into the hearts and minds of Black Canadians who chose to live rurally across the country. These conversations have resulted in the community and artistic platform simply coined Black & Rural, an actively touring theatrical storytelling piece, a continually growing digital gallery, and a grass-roots arts and culture society dedicated to rural Black reflections and experience. To learn more visit www.blackandrural.com or www.wearestoryfolk.com.
GRANDMOTHER KIM WHEATLEY will provide an offering of connection and acknowledgement of the land and peoples we are connecting with at Adinkra Farm.
