Pass the Mic: Emerging Voices in Spoken Word Poetry and Music
Organised by Jayda Marley and Naeisha Marques
Hosted by Sydanie
October 30, 2025, 6 – 9 pm
In-person at the Gallery
The Goldfarb Gallery is excited to present Pass the Mic: Emerging Voices in Spoken Word Poetry and Music. This showcase is not-to-be-missed, hosted by South Side Jane rapper Sydanie and featuring some of the city’s most promising up and coming and established artists including: Jayda Marley, Naeisha Marques, Jadyn Hardy-Bardie, Hamada, Angelique Dancel, Brainer Nwabeke, Fiona Nwabeke, Benedicta Orukpe, Nalani Martin, Ademide Adeyeye, Mishaila Onwuegbuzie, Precious Oladekoye, Genelle Marfo, Marcia Panton, Rhema Evbagharu, Kaylee Darcy, and DJ Budz. This line up is a rare gathering of Toronto’s most talented performers, writers, and musicians.
This showcase also includes workshop participants from the Pass the Mic: Shaping Radical Futures. Facilitated by Jayda Marley and Naeisha Marques, Pass the Mic was a bi-weekly spoken word poetry program that took place in September and October and was co-presented with The Spot, the youth branch of the Jane/Finch Centre. This event will give workshop participants the opportunity to demonstrate the writing and performance skills that they have been developing thanks to the coaching and mentorship of Jayda and Naeisha. The program reflects the gallery’s ongoing commitment to supporting and uplifting the next generation of artists from the Jane Finch community.
A free bus for Jane Finch community members will depart from Yorkgate Mall parking lot (near the No Frills) at 5:30 pm. The bus will return to Yorkgate Mall from the Goldfarb Gallery at 9:15 pm.
Jayda Marley is a nationally acclaimed Afro-Indigenous poet and activist of Ojibwe and Jamaican descent. She is co-founder of Not Another Black Life and Program Director of Between the Lines, a creative writing program designed to empower BIPOC youth writers.
Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony is an award-winning artist, curator, arts educator, and creative consultant based in Windsor, Ontario. As an artist, her high level accomplishments include being featured in When Sisters Speak, co-curating Scarborough: The Backbone as part of Toronto’s Year of Public Art, co-producing the Spoken Soul Festival, and representing Toronto as a 2x national team finalist in the Canadian Festival Of Spoken Word. In 2019 she was a TEDx speaker and in 2020 an excerpt of her play How Jab Jab Saved the Pretty Mas was featured as part of Piece of Mine’s Black Women in Theatre Festival.
Naeisha Marques is a human rights advocate who is studying psychology at George Brown College. She is one of the leads for a sex trafficking prevention group supporting young women in the Jane Finch community.
Toronto-born Jamaican-Trinidadian artist and mother Sydanie is levelling all expectations and setting the bar high for women in Toronto’s hip hop scene. While creating an array of texturized, synth-driven sounds, Sydanie unapologetically carries her south side Jane neighbourhood in tow.
Pass the Mic: Emerging Voices in Spoken Word Poetry and Music is a City of Toronto Cultural Hotspot Signature Project and is also the latest iteration of The Goldfarb Gallery’s Lead Time program. This program is presented in partnership with The Spot and was programmed by Allyson Adley, education and community engagement coordinator, in collaboration with Jayda Marley and Naeisha Marques.
The Goldfarb Gallery extends its gratitude to Provincial Youth Outreach Worker Abdul Nur, the staff at The Spot, and the Jane/Finch Centre for supporting this program. A special thank you to Paulina O’Kieffe Anthony for providing invaluable mentorship to Jayda Marley, guiding and supporting her through the curriculum design and workshop delivery process.
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