This Week in Black Art and Culture (April 5 – 11, 2026) – Sugarcane Magazine ™

The week in Black art and culture opens in gestures of return—toward memory, toward sound, toward the quiet but insistent work of shaping cultural futures. Across continents and disciplines, artists and cultural workers are not only revisiting archives but reanimating them: in images that hold grief and inheritance, in vinyl records that refuse to disappear, in poems that stretch across histories and geographies, and in grassroots literary movements that insist on visibility where there was once none.

In New York, Keisha Scarville transforms personal memory into public form; Corinne Bailey Rae turns to the tactile intimacy of sound as both archive and companion. Meanwhile, a powerful cohort of poets finds recognition on a global stage, and Selina Brown continues to reshape literary access from the ground up. Elsewhere, questions of platform, accountability, and cultural consequence surface sharply in the cancellation of a major U.K. music festival.

Keisha Scarville Wins Brooklyn Museum’s $25,000 UOVO Prize, Secures Public Commission

The Brooklyn Museum has named Keisha Scarville the recipient of the sixth UOVO Prize, awarding her an unrestricted $25,000 grant, a public exhibition, and a major commission. Known for a practice that navigates migration, memory, and loss through photography, collage, and archival material, Scarville will present new work at the museum’s Iris Cantor Plaza and produce a large-scale façade installation for UOVO in Bushwick.

As a Brooklyn native, I am deeply honored to be this year’s recipient of the UOVO Prize,” said Scarville in a statement. “My images, inspired by my Caribbean heritage, occupy a space between two lands. I look forward to realizing this installation at the Brooklyn Museum, a cultural cornerstone of New York City. This prize represents a dream fulfilled and brings me great joy to celebrate the Caribbean diaspora in Brooklyn.”

Born in Brooklyn to Guyanese parents, Scarville’s work reflects diasporic identity and lived experience. The upcoming exhibition, Where Salt Meets Black Water, curated by Pauline Vermare, draws from her Mama’s Clothes series, featuring photographic works that engage personal history and maternal memory. Opening May 8, the presentation extends her ongoing exploration of absence and inheritance.

Established in 2019, the UOVO Prize recognizes emerging artists based in Brooklyn. Past recipients include John Edmonds, Melissa Joseph, and Baseera Khan.

Corinne Bailey Rae Revisits Vinyl Culture with Children’s Book and Anniversary Tour

Corinne Bailey Rae is extending her enduring relationship with music into new territory, with her new children’s book, Put Your Records On. Inspired by her breakout song Put Your Records On and by a 20th-anniversary international tour, the book introduces young readers to the tactile and emotional experience of vinyl, drawing on Rae’s own childhood encounters with her father’s record collection.

In the story, a young girl is initiated into music through a treasured archive of records, echoing Rae’s early exposure to artists like Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. The narrative foregrounds music as both refuge and companion—an idea central to Rae’s formative years.

The release coincides with her “Like a Star: Celebrating 20 Years” tour, opening May 3, 2026,  at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Spanning 23 cities, the tour revisits material from her debut era while reactivating interest in vinyl listening.

Framing records as objects of memory and storytelling, Rae positions analogue sound as a communal and sensory experience, in contrast to the disembodied nature of digital listening.

Black Poets Feature Prominently on 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize Longlist

Four Black poets, Gbenga Adesina, Nick Makoha, Marissa Davis, and Kevin Young, have been named on the 2026 longlist of the Griffin Poetry Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious honours for a single poetry collection.

Adesina’s Death Does Not End at the Sea, and Makoha’s The New Carthaginians are among the ten titles selected from 461 submissions spanning 42 countries. Also included are Davis’ End of Empire and Young’s Night Watch, each contributing to a list that underscores the global resonance of Black, African, and diasporic poetics.

Adesina’s debut traces routes of migration and memory across continents, where the living and the dead coexist in an expansive, transhistorical landscape. Makoha’s collection, by contrast, interrogates empire and displacement, reimagining geographies from ancient Carthage to the modern diaspora. Davis’ work examines the afterlives of imperial power, while Young’s Night Watch, written over more than a decade, weaves personal grief with African American histories of survival and resilience.

Founded by Scott Griffin in 2000, the prize awards $130,000 (CAD) to a single winner, with shortlisted authors each receiving $10,000. The 2026 shortlist will be announced on April 22, ahead of the June 3 ceremony at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

Across the longlisted works, themes of migration, empire, grief, and historical memory converge, offering formally diverse and politically attuned meditations on displacement, inheritance, and the afterlives of history.

Selina Brown Named UK’s First National Reading Hero at Inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal

Selina Brown, founder of the Black British Book Festival, has been awarded the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal by Queen Camilla, becoming the first recipient of the honour and the United Kingdom’s first National Reading Hero. The ceremony, held at Clarence House, brought together leading literary and cultural figures, including Ben Okri, Jojo Moyes, and Richard Osman.

Brown was recognized for building a grassroots literary movement that has reached over 100,000 people across the UK, alongside her Reading for Smiles initiative, which expands access to inclusive books in underserved schools. Since its founding in 2021, the festival has grown into a vital platform for Black British writers, challenging longstanding gaps in representation within the publishing industry.

Developed without institutional backing, the Black British Book Festival has become a critical space for amplifying Black British voices, hosting writers such as David Olusoga and Lenny Henry. The Queen’s Reading Room Medal, established to recognize those advancing literacy amid declining reading rates, positions Brown’s work within a wider national effort to reimagine access, representation, and the cultural value of reading.

U.K. Bars Ye Over Antisemitism, Forcing Cancellation of Wireless Festival

The U.K. government has barred Ye from entering the country, citing concerns over his history of antisemitic remarks. This decision has led to the cancellation of the Wireless Festival, where he was scheduled to headline.

In a statement, the Home Office said the rapper’s presence would not be “conducive to the public good,” effectively denying his visa application. The move followed days of mounting public and political pressure after Ye was announced as the sole headliner for the three-day London event.

Festival organizers, Festival Republic, confirmed that the festival would no longer go ahead and issued refunds to ticket holders. The decision marks a significant disruption for one of the U.K.’s leading platforms for Black music, which in previous years has featured major artists including Drake.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly supported the ban, stating that Ye should not have been invited and reaffirming the government’s stance against antisemitism. Despite a last-minute appeal from the artist, who expressed a desire to engage with the Jewish community and demonstrate change, key organizations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, rejected the proposal.

The decision underscores growing scrutiny over artists’ public conduct and raises broader questions about accountability, platforming, and the limits of cultural visibility within the global music industry.

Exhibitions to See

Otobong Nkanga | “I Dreamt of You in Colours” | Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland | On view until August 23, 2026

William Kentridge | “The Battle Between YES and NO” | Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czechia | On view until September 7, 2026

Moffat Takadiwa | “Rémanence” | Galerie Farah Fakhri, Abidjan, Ivory Coast | On view until May 15, 2026

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye