Ottawa artists celebrate a ‘deep’ and ‘nuanced’ culture during Black History Month

Many artists say they welcome the opportunity to celebrate Black contributions to the arts that Black History Month offers every year and to reflect on the work of those who came before.

“This is a time to appreciate and honour the achievements and sacrifices of those who came before us,” said Shery Alexander Heinis, co-founder of In Our Tongues, a reading and arts series that gives marginalized voices in Ottawa a space to be heard.

“This is a specific time in our current history that’s a good time to reflect about that.”

Alexander Heinis created In Our Tongues with Mailyne K. Briggs in 2019 to provide a safe space for underrepresented and marginalized voices in Ottawa.

As a poet, Heinis found that she didn’t see herself reflected in Ottawa’s poetry scene.

“I sometimes noticed I was the only Black person. There were not many people who looked like me.”

A Black History Month celebration, hosted by In Our Tongues on Feb. 11, was held at the SAW Centre and featured poetry, music and comedy performances by Grey Brisson, Dawn Xanklin, Nonso Morah and Darby Minott Bradford.  

During the pandemic In Our Tongues began a community-based approach, relying on donations and grants. They also collaborated with the LGBTQ2S+ arts collective Qu’Arts to give microgrants to new artists struggling during the pandemic.

“This, to us, was to demonstrate to the community how much we were committed to supporting artists, especially under-represented and under-resourced artists.”

Alexander Heinis and Briggs began by reaching out to people in the community to get volunteers. To this day, events are free or pay-what-you can.

Alexander Heinis said music is a powerful way for people to connect.

“Music is a universal language. It brings our communities together, it strengthens our communities,” Alexander Heinis said.

“It’s embedded in the culture, it’s a form of inspiration, it’s a form of activism. … I think we as people of African descent, when it comes to our cultural impact, a lot of that has been through music.”

This is why each In Our Tongues event starts and ends with a musical performance.

“We use music as bookends for our events. We start off with music, we end with music because it sets the mood. We want people to leave with positive feelings, feeling inspired, uplifted, maybe reflective, maybe in a dancing mood,” Alexander Heinis said.

Blue Petties is a classical trombonist in Ottawa. She said the queer performing arts community in the city is diverse and rich with opportunity.

“The thing that I appreciate about the Black music scene in Ottawa is that there’s opportunities for everyone. There’s opportunities for young queer Black women artists, there’s opportunities for DJs to spin in new places, there’s opportunities for burlesque performers, drag performers.”

Petties has found their own performance opportunities through community connections. She recently performed at Small Fish, a comedy and variety show for marginalized people in Ottawa. Petties met co-host Maggie May Harder by showing up at events in the queer performing arts community in Ottawa.

Pettie’s advice to up-and-coming Black performers in Ottawa is twofold: connect with mentors in the community and learn the history of the Black creatives that came before them.

“There’s so much rich history in terms of Black history, in terms of queer history, even here in Ottawa. You don’t have to go to Toronto. You don’t have to cross the border.”

Petties suggests a community-based approach to learning this history.

“In a lot of Black communities, knowledge is shared verbally,” she said. “How our culture gets passed down is different than other cultures. Connect with people, talk with people, engage with digital spaces where these conversations are already happening.”

Malaïka Urbani, a young poet, singer and a student at the University of Ottawa, has performed at Hors Pairs Social, The Ottawa Black Creatives Hub Performing Arts Showcase, Small Fish, Page Rwanda, Pieces of Us and The Shed and Bagelshop Musicfest.

She said she has found her place in Ottawa’s musical landscape by performing with and watching other Black artists.

“The Black creative community in Ottawa has been a huge inspiration for me. Seeing other Black classical musicians really killing it out there … and seeing myself reflected in them and seeing what Black excellence in classical music looks like … brings me a lot of inspiration for the future,” Urbani said.

Petties reflected on what this month means to her as a creative.

“When I think about music and Black history, I think about the heartbeat in the body. I think about percussive rhythms that have been used to convey an emotional message,” she said.

“I think that’s a really powerful connection that runs through all music and all Black history.”

Petties said Black history is not finite, and there is always something more to learn.

“Our history, our lineage and our culture is infinitely expansive, its culturally vast, it’s very deep, it’s very nuanced, and it deserves the same level of respect as other cultures.”

Urbani said music represents the Black community’s historical resilience.

“It’s a beautiful space where we can show up as activists. It’s been an expression and an output of expression that’s been needed just as a consequence of the intensity and extremeness of what life brought us through history, and through recent events as well.”

Urbani wants to remind people that Black history isn’t just about the past — it’s contemporary too.

“A lot of Black activists are celebrated and loved and recognized when they’re dead, and not when they’re alive. I think it’s really important to engage with Black activists that are doing important work that are alive and supporting them and engaging with their stories and the knowledge they share,” Urbani said.

“It’s important to show our support for Black communities around the world that are still fighting for their rights, especially right now.”

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