“It’s ours, just come in!” Nia Centre for the Arts is spotlighting emerging black artists

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“Did you rent this space for the event?” A visitor to Nia Centre for the Arts asked Executive Director Alica Hall. “No, this whole entire building is ours actually!” I burst out laughing after Alica told me that this is a question that she receives repeatedly by passers-bye and visitors to the Centre.  “I get it though,” she remarked. “Our community does not think that we could have an actual building to host a project like the Nia Centre.” As funny as it was to me, it was also empowering to know that there are a group of individuals in our community who have yet again made history.

Located at 524 Oakwood, in a historically Caribbean neighbourhood, Nia Centre for the Arts is a charitable organization that showcases and promotes arts from the African-Diaspora. Founded in 2009, the centre offers programs in: music, photography, literature, visual arts, theatre and interdisciplinary arts. Nia Centre for the arts is being recognized as the first program of its kind in Canada to provide access to communal space, and development opportunities that support artistic growth. The space was created to address the lack of safe and inclusive spaces for African-Canadian communities, so building Ontario’s first and only multi-disciplinary facility dedicated to showcasing art from the African Diaspora has given Nia Centre for the Arts a level of autonomy that not many organizations can say that they have.

On Saturday, October 19th, 2019, Nia Centre opened up its doors to the community and offered them a unique buying black art experience. Artists from across the African Diaspora (preference given to those who currently reside in the Greater Toronto Area) were able to display their original works from art that included: paintings, illustrations, printmaking, photography, sculpture/ceramics, and fashion. Art pieces were priced $30.00 – $5,000.00, and potential buyers were offered a Buying Black Art seminar, which helped to provide context, knowledge, and guidance in making confident and informed purchases.

I had an opportunity to catch up with Alica Hall, the Executive Director of the Nia Centre for the arts. Alica has a professional background in strategic communications, but her passion lies in creating safer spaces for artists to create and connect with the global audience. Her strong belief in the transformative potential of the arts is what makes her so committed to this project. “The Nia project was actually born out of the Youth Challenge Fund, an initiative aimed at creating youth spaces and providing opportunities for education, employment and leadership. I am actually a recipient of the Youth Challenge Grant, and I have seen how it has helped tap into the potential amongst the youth in Toronto. I started off as a volunteer, and ironically enough, I was at the meeting, that served as the genesis of the Nia Centre for the Arts.

“Who else was at this meeting Alica?” I inquired.

“There were some memorable people at that meeting: D’bi Young (Storyteller, Canadian Poet of Honour, YWCA Woman of Distinction in the Arts, and three-time Dora Award-winning playwright-performer), Ian Kamau (writer, producer, musician and visual artist), Amanda Parris (Canadian broadcaster, writer, arts reporter and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and Weyni Mengesha (Toronto director who helped shape Canadian plays ‘da Kink In My Hair’ and ‘Kim’s Convenience’), are some of the names that come to mind at the moment. Like most projects, there have been a lot of people involved in shaping it to what it has become; even if they are not still directly involved, what they have done, named or unnamed, cannot be denied.”

“Is there an artist who has benefited from the program; someone who really sticks out to you?”

“Absolutely,” Alica replied enthusiastically,  “The first person that comes to mind is Anique Jordan. She has lectured at Harvard University, University of the West Indies, MIT, University of Toronto and UCLA. The work that she has done has received numerous awards including Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist of the year 2017, and her work can be found at: The Art Gallery of Guelph, University of Toronto, The Wedge Curatorial Project, Art Gallery of Windsor, Art Gallery of Ontario and Gallery 44. She is truly an amazing talent.”

I commend the board at the Nia Centre for the Arts for ensuring that other Canadian institutions have someone to work with in the community, and it is a welcoming feeling knowing that now there is an organization that will hold people accountable for the promises that they make to the community. There is a new spot on the block, and it is all ours; to learn more visit them at https://www.niacentre.org/