We’ve Been Here Project Series
Networking Heritage: A Panel Discussion
June 20, 2026 at the Stratford Perth Museum
We want to hear your stories about Black History, present and past.
Please email us at:
yourstory@stratfordperthmuseum.ca
We’d love to hear you tell it too, consider emailing a voice memo or
schedule an in-person interview with us!
Reserve your ticket for the FREE event here
Donations gratefully accepted at the door.
Event Description
Continuing our We’ve Been Here: Black History series at the Stratford Perth Museum, on June 20 we will be exploring the interwoven culture and heritage links that exist within our region. CBC Broadcast Journalist, Garvia Bailey, will be leading a panel discussion that will bring new records and familial ties to the forefront with surprising genealogical links to local and national celebrities.
We welcome special guests TD Curator of Collections, Zahra McDoom from Museum London and national celebrity, Joey Hollingsworth.
A panel discussion directed by our returning moderator and community curator, Garvia Bailey, will provide a ‘behind-the-scenes’ overview of research projects in museums, archives, and academia. Our aim is to describe the process of gathering marginalized oral and material history and how these stories transform to find a home in museums and archives. Panelists will offer insight into culture and heritage research and honouring under-told stories. They will explore how we work together to answer central and periphery questions raised about our community and its often-overlooked members.
Networking Heritage: A Panel Discussion
Date: Saturday, June 20 | Time: 2 PM | Location: Stratford Perth Museum
Cost: By donation – please pre-register (Donations by cash or e-transfer- details at the event!) We’re happy to welcome guests at the door as well. Doors to the Cooperators Performance Theatre open at 1:30 pm.
Itinerary
Introductions
Panel Discussion
Q&A
Light Refreshments
*This is a licensed event
Panel
Panel Moderator
Garvia Bailey
CBC Broadcast journalist, Garvia Bailey, is a co-founder of the award-winning podcast and media company Media Girlfriends Inc., and a widely respected voice in Canadian media. Her career spans nearly two decades at CBC and JazzFM, where she worked as a producer, host, and arts columnist. She has guest-hosted CBC’s flagship arts show Q and continues to shape national conversations through her sharp storytelling and deep sense of justice.
Raised in Stratford, Garvia recently returned to her hometown and approached the Museum with a desire to contribute to its Black history initiatives. Her research has supported upcoming exhibits and may form the basis for a new audio documentary. She has collaborated closely with the Museum’s Managing Director Kelly McIntosh and Education & Exhibits Lead Megan Patterson.
Panelists
Joey Hollingsworth and Zahra McDoom at event for Black Lives Lived Here exhibit 2025. Image courtesy of Museum London. Photographer Angela Antonopoulos_ (002)
Zahra McDoom
Zahra McDoom is the TD Curator of Collections at Museum London. Since joining in 2024 she curated Black Lives Lived Here London Family Photos, 1910s-1960s and Biscuits and Empire: Reframing Colonial Photography. She co-curated Fashion: Grit, Glamour and Guts, and Lido Pimenta: Love and Resistance. As a public historian, she works to preserve and honour the life and legacy of Canadian tap dancer Joey Hollingsworth. McDoom’s projects engage historical erasure and telling of marginalized histories.
Joey Hollingsworth
Joey Hollingsworth (b. 1936) is an award-winning Canadian tap dancer. He was an early Black performer on CBC television and the first on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as the dancing salesman. He appeared on numerous television shows from the Ed Sullivan Show to Salome Bey’s Indigo. Hollingsworth recorded live on At the Purple Onion with friend jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. Writer / director, David H. Bell, cast Hollingsworth as the Mikado in an American production of the Hot Mikado. In 2024, he was inducted into the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame and in 2018, he received the lifetime achievement award from the Ontario Black History Society. Joey remembers fondly childhood visits to his Aunt Gurdy in Stratford.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to MUSEUM LONDON for sharing their research to further develop the genealogical records of our residents.
We would like to thank our community curators and consultants who have been committed to this truth-telling vision of inclusivity in celebration of untold stories from Stratford and Perth County.
Garvia Bailey (Community Curator)
HAUI™ (Community Curator)
Michelle Robbins and Team of the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum (Consultants)
Jade Ferguson (Historian Consultant)
Stratford Perth Archives (Consultants)
Thank You to Our Donors
Supported by a grant from The Community Fund, held at the Stratford and Perth County Community Foundation
Black History Project Series
We consider this initiative to be a forever project at the museum. Our resolution of learning local Black History is ongoing and we cannot do this without our partners and donors, who are helping us address this deficit within our records. As these stories continually unfold, we ask our community members to impart their Black Heritage that contains local familial and tangible memories to aid us in our celebratory mission of bringing history to life. A principle tenant of preservation is to remind everyone, “Your Story Matters” and it would be our profound privilege to share yours.
Please submit any related information about your local Black Heritage to yourstory@stratfordperthmuseum.ca to help us with this initiative.
For media inquiries, information, or to support this initiative, please contact:
Kelly McIntosh
General Manager, Stratford Perth Museum
kelly@stratfordperthmuseum.ca | 416-835-1191
www.stratfordperthmuseum.ca
@stratfordperthmuseum on Instagram and Facebook