A Mixtape for Mourning

Song Circle & Creative Exploration for people of African descent w. Nkeiruka Oruche

Ékè  SUN Aug 16, 2-5:30PM

OVRHL, 465 9th St, Oakland

Onwu Di Njo
Grief Circle & Creative Writing Workshop for people of African descent (who have lost a parent, child, or sibling). with Nkeiruka Oruche & Michael French

Co-facilitated by Nkeiruka and collaborator Micheal French this interactive workshop will explore our personal connections with death and using creativity as a tool to support our grief and commemoration. The session will feature an introduction/context about this project, participants sharing their personal experiences, and guided creative writing activity inspired by the project.

This workshop is part Nkeiruka Oruche’s ‘Obi gbawara’m//My Heart Shattered or What happens after I  die?’ (OGB), researching and documenting traditions of death and grief in Igbo culture, and the African diaspora.

About Nkeiruka Oruche

Nkeiruka Oruche is an Igbo multimedia creative, and cultural producer. She created and directed ‘Mixtape of the Dead & Gone #1’ dance-theater comedy about death and igbo cosmology. She is founder and director of Afro Urban Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to boosting art, media, and the tough-but-necessary conversations of the African diaspora. She co-founded and stewarded BoomShake Music, a social justice and music liberation organization. In 2023, she was on SF Playhouse ‘Nollywood Dreams’ creative team. Oruche was a Dance/USA Artist Fellow, Kikwetu Honors Awardee, a NYFA Immigrant Artist Fellow, and YBCA 100 Honoree, and has received awards from Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and California Arts Council. Her work has been featured in BBC Africa, Goethe-Institut, Fjord Review, Coal City University-Enugu, and Oakland Museum of California. She is focused on deepening and sustaining grassroots change-making, and community wealth through her work, play, and family life.