Ming Wu
Elsa Mizraei of Babely Shades performs with her band Everett during the Megaphono music festival. Mizraei was also a panellist during Megaphono’s discussion about creating safer spaces.Local groups such as Babely Shades and Queer Mafia are working to create a more inclusive environment in the Ottawa music scene by flagging venues that perpetuate harmful systems such as racism, homophobia and transphobia.
A safe space can be defined as a welcoming, inclusive environment that doesn’t discriminate based on things such as race, class, age, sexual orientation and physical capabilities.
The Canadian Independent Recording Artists’ Association lists more than 70 live music venues in Ottawa—a quantity that reflects an active music community.
Centretown is home to a number of such venues such as the National Arts Centre, Babylon, Pressed, Bronson Centre, Barrymore’s and Atomic Rooster.
Dillon Black is a co-founder of Queer Mafia, a group in Ottawa that creates spaces for the LGBTQ+ community.
Queer Mafia is no stranger to hosting events in Centretown including frequent parties at Babylon nightclub.
The group chooses to set alternative payment methods at the entrance of their events so that lower-income people still have the opportunity to come.
“There is a lot of shame and stigma around economic barriers,” Black says.
To help with this, the group offers options such as a sliding scale, cheaper tickets earlier in the night or a pay-what-you-can feature which is becoming more popular even at mainstream events.
Jon Bartlett is the director of Megaphono, an annual showcase music festival in Ottawa. He says you want to offer the pay as you can option as “much as you can afford to.”
“Its nice to have venues that are a little less expensive,” he says.
This year Megaphono hosted a panel, presented in part by Queer Mafia, about the importance of creating safe spaces for music events in Ottawa.
It also explored what can be done to build a more inclusive music community.
Deborah Owusu-Akyeeah, a local advocate for diversity, says she feels that the problem is a lack of representation in the music industry.
“More marginalized people need to promote and plan events,” she says.
Owusu-Akyeeah has lived in Ottawa for five years. She feels like venues aren’t all open to her.
She would rather attend a Queer Mafia event because she is guaranteed a safe environment where she is welcome.
Queer Mafia’s Black, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, says stories have circulated about bars and clubs in the city only allowing a certain amount of people of color into their spaces.
“It is not an explicit rule but it’s definitely something we’ve experienced and people that we know of have experienced,” they say.
“Ottawa is very white and hetero-normative which makes it harder to find more inclusive, accessible events for people of all identities,” they say.
There are more obvious physical barriers that do not make a venue a safe space.
Recent complaints and concerns about accessibility at music venues have emerged because most spaces are not wheelchair accessible and have gender-specific washrooms.
Sometimes a venue can claim to be accessible because they don’t have stairs at the entrance but then the washrooms are narrow or located in a basement.
Black says Queer Mafia always has gender-neutral washrooms because LGBTQ+ folk often experience harassment in public washrooms.
“A lot of people think Ottawa is a relatively safe city but it’s not always a safe space for marginalized people,” they say.
As the music industry expands in Ottawa, Black says there is a need to think about creating a safe space for everyone at live music events because it is mutually beneficial.
“I think people don’t realize it’s a good investment to promote equity and accessibility.”