PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — If you’re looking for ways to celebrate Black History Month in Philadelphia, Deborah Charmelus has you covered.
“It’s called the Cado Experience,” Charmelus said. “It’s a day-long Black creative market that brings together more than 50 Black vendors in one space for a chance to exchange goods, ideas and culture.”
This year, that space is at the historic Divine Lorraine Hotel — the first integrated hotel in Philadelphia — on Feb. 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Charmelus said they are excited to speak to that history and use it to propel the future forward.
The market will be in multiple spaces in the basement of the Divine Lorraine.
There will be vendors and three panels throughout the day, each focusing on a different topic. The first panel will discuss the state of Black culture in Philadelphia, where people will really get to speak about their experience participating in the Black culture community in Philadelphia, Charmelus explained.
The second panel, “Black Creativity to Find,” is a panel with Philly artists. And the third will have a hyper-focus on Black businesses within that area.
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Some of the items displayed and available for purchase at the showcase are purses, candles and clothes, courtesy of the clothing brand, Artists Need Lunch Money.
“And the whole focus on the clothing brand is supporting artists, making sure that we have no starving artists,” Charmelus said. “And that's really another goal of Cado.”
For Charmelus, the Cado Experience is a passion and purpose project that helps uplift vendors, giving them a chance to showcase their own creativity and garner support for their businesses.
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Charmelus said being a Haitian American raised in Philly with an entrepreneurial background, she saw a need for a Black market for creatives in the city and sought to fill that void by building a stronger sense of community through the market, as only less than 3% of Philly businesses are Black-owned.
“One of the things that makes us shine the most is that we have an incredible community and we have incredible support,” she said. “So this is just essentially providing a platform for these really awesome things that happened in the background to be showcased in a major way.”
For tickets and more information, visit their website.