Offerings

Janie Sykes-Kennedy and Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy at virtual Juneteenth program for the Child Center of NY, June 20, 2022

Live & Virtual Events

performance + moderated conversation
Take a walk through the Black Experience with Janie performing poetic pieces and providing context through a moderated conversation.  Poets include Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Dr. Sterling Brown, James Weldon Johnson, Dr. James Scott Kennedy, and more.  Offer an immersive program for Black History Month, Juneteenth, or Diversity, Equity & Inclusion events.  The program will be moderated by her award-winning daughter, Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy, and provide the opportunity for Q&A with Janie.

Cultural Commentary

personal insights + historical context
Janie can provide personal insights and historical context on people and events related to the Black Experience.  In 2010, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal invited Janie to participate in the Third World Festival of Black Arts & Culture in Dakar given her participation in the first festival in 1966.  She spoke to over 5,000 Senegalese before an Akon concert and was covered extensively by their media.  In 2019, she presented the Career Achievement Award in Entertainment & Civics to filmmaker and retired NYPD detective Frazier Prince at the Pocono Mountain Film Festival. Her insights and reflections are also included in the book, Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson (2023) by Sally H. Jacobs. 

Janie and family in Dakar, Senegal for the Third World Festival of Black Arts & Culture (2010)

Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy and Janie Sykes-Kennedy

Online Courses

online courses + community
Digital technology allows us to share Janie’s expertise in poetic interpretation globally via one platform.  Janie and Teresa are in development on multiple online courses related to the Black Experience, including: 
  • Behind the Mask, Beyond the Veil: Inside the Black Experience through Poetic Interpretation
  • The Ballad For Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • The Poetic Life of Langston Hughes
  • Master Class in Poetic Interpretation

Interview Series

preserving wisdom + culture
Janie and Teresa are in development of The Kennedy Archives™, an interview series where Janie shares personal insights and historical commentary on notable African American friends such as Langston Hughes, Val J. Washington, Sam Jones, D. Parke Gibson, and Muhammad Ali, as well as outstanding family members such as Dr. James Atkins (member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet”).  Over 70 notables have been outlined. Learn more at TheKennedyArchives.com.

Janie in New York family home sharing insights 

Are you ready to go inside the Black Experience or support our initiatives?

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