Letter from the founders – Chance the rapper & vic mensa

The Black Star Line Festival of Pan-African Art is a cultural experience rooted in intercontinental collaboration. Founded by Ghanaian-American artist Vic Mensa and Black-American artist Chance The Rapper, the festival is a week long series of events including panel discussions , fine art exhibitions and nightlife events culminating in a large scale concert at Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana on January 6, 2023. The festival will feature artists, intellectuals and influential individuals from around the world for an international celebration of global blackness. In the spirit of Kwame Nkrumah’s seminal Independence Speech, the Black Star Line Festival is intended to be a beacon for the total liberation of all African peoples, from the continent, to the America’s, to the islands, back to Europe and beyond. We envision a radical diasporic intersection of music, thought and creativity at a moment when the international African is evolving rapidly and Ghana is serving as a gateway to the continent. Our mission is the alliance of people of African descent worldwide and the reunification of the bonds broken by the transatlantic slave trade. As Black-American artists, we often exhibit our work in Europe ten times over before ever touching the continent; the Black Star Line Festival aims to foster conversation between Black artists of the globe and the African continent, serving as a vessel for solidarity. 100 years after Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line shipping company sought to traverse the divide between us by water, The Black Star Line Festival aims to accomplish that same goal by art and expression.