Side Event/Panel Discussion:
The Role of Arts and Culture in Acknowledging the Legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Supporting Afro-Descendant Communities(17 April 2025, 1:15 p.m., Conference Room 6)IntroductionThe United Nations Department of Global Communications (DGC) Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery (TST) will hold a panel discussion to feature concrete, on-the-ground examples of arts and cultural programmes that are spotlighting the connections between the lived experience of Afro-descendant communities and the legacies of the trade in enslaved Africans.
The panel discussion will be convened as a side event at the Fourth Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, to be held from 14-17 April 2025 at UNHQ New York.
Under the Outreach Programme’s 2025 theme – “
Acknowledge the past. Repair the present. Build a future of dignity and justice.” – the panel will feature good practice by institutions and individuals in supporting work that shines a light on the contributions of people of African descent, and addresses the wounds caused by the 400-year-long transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.
The panel will focus on how work in the arts – such as through national museums, educational programming, and innovative grantmaking – can support reparatory justice initiatives that are challenging stereotypes, reframing history, and uplifting Afro-descendant communities. This intimate conversation between arts practitioners will focus on concrete examples and allow participants to share their experiences, ask questions, and learn from each other.
Proposed Speakers and Case Studies: - Rodney Leon (United States/Haiti) – The Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade at the United Nations
- Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye (United Kingdom/United States) – “The Stories of Us” arts non-profit organization
- Speaker TBC (Brazil) – Valongo Wharf slave disembarkation site/planned museum, Rio de Janeiro
- Additional panelists (TBC)
Objectives- To spotlight to unique value that arts and culture can contribute to reframing narratives about the legacies of enslavement and the contributions of people of African descent.
- To highlight the 2025 theme of the Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
- To acknowledge the culture of people of African descent.
- To engage United Nations Member States, members of civil society, artists, scholars and others attending the Permanent Forum in discussions about the many forms reparatory justice can take, and to highlight good practice.
To inspire people to create a movement of shared humanity while empowering them to fight for the rights of and justice for the global African diaspora.
