This year’s virtual Community Kwanzaa Umoja Celebration will include daily Candle Lighting Ceremonies of the Kinara by special guests. In addition, this year’s celebration will feature performance by Colored GRRLS, poem readings by Visual Artist / Poetress Ifetayo Cobbins, the Black Entrepreneur Market, a financial workshop on Estate Planning with Attorney Mortimer Lawrence, performance by Zorkie Nelson and the West African Drummers and Dancers, a film about the 2018 Kwanzaa presented live at Hudson Hall, and more.
Head to Operation Unite’s Website to learn more, and check back to this page regularly as more material will be added on each day of this Kwanzaa Celebration. These Kwanzaa presentations are sponsored by Operation Unite Education and Cultural Arts Center and Hudson Hall.
12/26/21 | JOYOUS KWANZAA! A cultural celebration of African and African American history and heritage.
DAY 1: UMOJA – UNITY. Join us for today’s Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara and poem reading with Ifetayo Cobbins, and a performance by Colored GRRLS, presented by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
COLORED GRRLS Inspired by legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, COLORED GRRLs tells the stories of African-American women through circus, dance and original text. With unflinching honesty and emotion, each woman expresses her story using physical theater, Zoom, and circus. We look forward to developing this show into a live tour-ready production. Program made possible, in part, by support from Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc., the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Black Arts Forward Artist Project Relief Fund, and the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.
12/27/21 | JOYOUS KWANZAA!
DAY 2: KUJICHAQULIA – SELF DETERMINATION. Join us for today’s Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara with Gregory Mosley, and a Spotlight on Juneteenth, created by Tanya Jackson and presented here by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
12/28/21 | JOYOUS KWANZAA!
DAY 3: UJIMA – WORKING TOGETHER. Join us for our Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara with Teresa Sanders, and a poem reading by Spotlight Visual Artist/Poetress Ifetayo Cobbins. Ms. Cobbins poetry is followed by a photo montage of Kwanzaa’s past, presented by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
12/29/20| JOYOUS KWANZAA!
DAY 4: UJAMAA – COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS. Join us for our Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara with Tiffany Garriga, an introduction to the Black Entrepreneur Market, and a financial workshop on Estate Planning with Attorney Mortimer Lawrence, presented by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
12/30/21 | JOYOUS KWANZAA!
DAY 5: NIA – PURPOSE. Join us for our Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara with Bernice Burgess, and presentation on Black Businesses with a Purpose, presented by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
12/31/21 | JOYOUS KWANZAA!
DAY 6: KUUMBA – CREATIVITY. Join us for our Kwanzaa celebration, including the Candle Lighting Ceremony with Tanya Jackson, and a performance by Zorkie Nelson and the West African Drummers and Dancers.
1/1/22 | JOYOUS KWANZAA! And a Happy New Year!
DAY 7: IMANI – FAITH. Join us for our Kwanzaa celebration, including the lighting of the Kinara with Paulette Clark, a reading of ‘One Day’ by Ifetayo Cobbins, and presentation of the 2018 Kwanzaa live performance and rehearsal process, created by filmmaker and photographer JD Urban, and presented here by Operation Unite NY and Hudson Hall.
CHECK IN DAILY FOR UPDATED VIDEOS