Let Black Kids Grow Old
On August 6, 2026, a Black teenager was murdered by Toronto Police in Peel Region.
This is not an isolated incident. It sits within a larger, ongoing reality across Canada — one where police-involved deaths and the disproportionate policing of Black and Indigenous communities remain urgent, unresolved issues. Our grief doesn’t stop with one name. We are also standing in solidarity with the families and communities across Ontario still searching for missing Black boys and girls. Every child deserves to come home.
On August 19, we gather in Guelph to mourn, to remember, to hold space for one another — and to say clearly: Let Black kids grow old
Let Black Kids Grow Old VIGIL
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
6–8 PM
Guelph — location shared via DM for community safety
We gather for the life that was taken. For the families carrying unimaginable grief. For the children still here. For the children we’re still searching for. Because Black lives are worthy of protection, dignity, justice, and futures.
Email us to attend, or to find out how you can support.
Organized by DiverseWorks Co., The Kween Company, and Aliyah Pooran Creative.
#LetBlackKidsBeKids #SayTheirNames #BlackLivesStillMatter #BlackYouthMatter #LetBlackKidsGrowOld
DiverseWorks Co.
Arts Based Research & Resistance
DiverseWorks Co. is an Afrocentric arts organisation rooted on the Haldimand Tract. We create the conditions for Black artistic futures — through original creation, community-rooted research, and the kind of practice that institutions were never built to hold.
Afro-diasporic creation · Decolonial inquiry · Creative futures
Help us reach our international debut in Paris, France this June.
Your support helps to address an urgent shortfall in our available financing, due to unforeseen circumstances pertaining to systemic oppression and harm. We are raising $5000 to address our shortfall today. Our team has been developing this work for over a year. Your support ensures that we get to share it on a global platform – without compromise.
About
DiverseWorks Co. was founded in 2021 by artivist and researcher Raechele Lovell — built to hold long-form, inquiry-driven work that centres Black life, Afro-diasporic hxtory, and the creative futures we are making together. In five years, we have grown from a local pilot into a nationally recognised organisation
delivering original productions, youth programming, research, and consultation. Our practice
moves through the body, across disciplines, and into public life.
What We're Making Now
A dance-theatre work tracing ancestral lineage to Drax Hall Plantation in Barbados, rooted in a family legacy of resistance.
Credits: Co-Creators — Raechele Lovell & Lisa Karen Cox
Performance: Black-Out Night, July 24, 2026 — Savvas Chamberlain Recital Hall Mezzanine, Wilfrid Laurier University
We collaborate with artists, researchers, institutions, and funders who understand that culture is not decoration — it is how communities survive, resist, and imagine what comes next.
Artists & collaborators · Academic & research institutions · Funders & granting bodies · Public & private sector partners
Raechele Lovell is available for consulting, facilitation, and advisory engagements across arts, cultural, academic, and private sector contexts.
We Are Supported By
Support for (NAME OF PILOT PROGRAM) is funded in part by Balancing Act Canada as part of their Level UP! initiative.
Balancing Act supports artist parents and caregivers in Canada, by advocating for greater equality, accessibility, and inclusion within the arts workforce.