charles c. smith, United States / Canada
charles c. smith is a poet, playwright and essayist who has written and edited twelve books and two chapbooks. He studied poetry and drama with William Packard at New York University and Herbert Berghof Studios, drama at the Frank Silvera’s Writers’ Workshop in Harlem. He won second prize for his play Last Days for the Desperate from Black Theatre Canada, edited three collections of poetry (including the works of Dionne Brand, Marlene Nourbese Phillips, Claire Harris, Cyril Dabydeen, Lillian Allen, George Elliot Clarke), published four books of poetry and his poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including Poetry Canada Review, the Quille and Quire, Descant, Dandelion, Fiddlehead and others. charles was the founder of the Black Perspectives Cultural Program in Regent Park and has received writing grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.
|
charles has published articles with Stanford Law and Policy, University of Toronto Press, Alberta Law Review, Captus Press and his writings on racial profiling and Black lives in Canada have been published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His research has been commissioned by several institutions including the African Canadian Community Coalition on Racial Profiling, the Court Challenges Program of Canada, the Chief Justice of Ontario (former) Task Force on Professional Responsibility, the Ontario Ministries of the Attorney General and Community Safety ‘Community Task Force on Hate Crimes’, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
His book, Pluralism in the Arts in Canada: A Change is Gonna Come, was released in June 2012. This book contains essays and articles by: award-winning poet George Elliot Clarke, dancers and choreographers Charmaine Headley (Collective of Black Artists), Kevin A. Ormsby (Kashedance), Amanda Paixao (doctoral candidate in dance at York University and Natasha Bakht who also teaches human rights law at the University of Ottawa; theatre and movement artists Amanda Paixao and Shahin Sayadi. This book also features toolkits on community engaged arts prepared by the Neighbourhood Arts Network, the Independent Media Arts Alliance and National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition, and, the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario.
charles is the Executive Director of Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) and Artistic Director of the wind in the leaves collective, an interdisciplinary performance group combining his poetry with music, dance and visual arts which he founded in 2009.
His book, Pluralism in the Arts in Canada: A Change is Gonna Come, was released in June 2012. This book contains essays and articles by: award-winning poet George Elliot Clarke, dancers and choreographers Charmaine Headley (Collective of Black Artists), Kevin A. Ormsby (Kashedance), Amanda Paixao (doctoral candidate in dance at York University and Natasha Bakht who also teaches human rights law at the University of Ottawa; theatre and movement artists Amanda Paixao and Shahin Sayadi. This book also features toolkits on community engaged arts prepared by the Neighbourhood Arts Network, the Independent Media Arts Alliance and National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition, and, the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario.
charles is the Executive Director of Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) and Artistic Director of the wind in the leaves collective, an interdisciplinary performance group combining his poetry with music, dance and visual arts which he founded in 2009.