By Damali Nabagereka
For the past seven months, the British High Commission, through a program called UK Accents, has brought various artists and performers into Ottawa in a bid to showcase the face of the United Kingdom today.
They are hip-hop rappers, dancers, visual artists, actors and chefs, and their mission is simple: to erase the conventional image of the British as conservative, boring, beef-eaters from your mind.
Their work says that image is passé because contemporary Britain is hipper, spicier and more diverse than it’s ever been.
Organizers of the program say the message has been well-received by Ottawa residents.
“There’s been a lot of excitement around the individuals that we’ve brought in,” says Kim Hunt, program co-ordinator at the British High Commission. “There’s definitely an openness to having performers and artists from Britain here.”
UK Accents is a year-long program of events with a youth focus showcasing modern British art and culture in Ottawa.
It is part of a countrywide program called New Accents which includes trade shows and educational exchanges with the aim of bringing a fresh look at the relationship between Britain and Canada.
The program was created as a result of a joint declaration between the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in June 1997.
The partnership is also being carried out in the United Kingdom by the Canadian High Commission.
Since its launch last June, UK Accents has brought in cutting-edge artist from various fields including dance theatre, holographic art, film, poetry and theatre.
The UK Accents program director, Katherine Watson, says the program has received positive responses because many people have a very staid impression of Britain and didn’t really think the work coming would be different.
“Although our verbiage in the beginning was to present cutting-edge and contemporary work, things that had never been seen before, we did get a bit of, ‘Well, we’ll hang on ’til . . . we’ll believe it when we see it,’ ” she says.
Judging from the response, this doubt quickly turned to belief for Ottawa residents.
The UK Accents events have introduced residents to the increasingly multicultural make-up of the United Kingdom today through groups such as the Kutyer Dance Theatre Company from Scotland.
The hip modern-dance ensemble performed at the Arts Court theatre on Daly Street last October, dealing mainly with issues of mixed race, interracial relationships and prejudice.
The events also display the artistic creativity and experimentation that defines Britain’s youth today.
These include works such as British holographic artist and laser sculptor, Chris Levine’s i-cube, the outdoor laser set on the roof of the British High Commission on Elgin Street.
The laser, which was mounted Feb. 12, projected its beams every night through Feb. 21 in the direction of Confederation Park, the Château Laurier and the Ottawa River.
The program has also formed partnerships with local artists such as Le Groupe Dance Lab and venues such as the National Arts Centre and the Mercury Lounge in the Byward Market to enable them to showcase the artists.
Tim Adams, co-owner and operator of the Mercury Lounge, calls the partnerships a good thing for the downtown Ottawa establishments because it adds to the cultural flair of the city.
“It’s very underground, avant-garde, cutting-edge programming,” Adams says.
Watson says she’s glad the events present a fresh picture of Britain to Ottawa.
But she says she hopes this is not to the exclusion of the more traditional sides of the United Kingdom, but helps to underline and focus in on where it is in 1999.