Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival focuses on belonging
The free virtual fest reminds that all Black voices are not the same
Mariam Barry and Adrian Neblett are the curators and producers of Ensemble Theatre Company’s Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival.
Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival runs from January 28 to the end of February for free online at ensembletheatrecompany.ca/.
IN PROGRAMMING US: A Black Peoples Month Festival, curators and producers Mariam Barry and Adrian Neblett set out to speak to the breadth of the Black experience. The theme of the free online festival, which encompasses films, podcasts, and staged readings from the diaspora, is belonging. It’s a reminder that all Black voices belong, including queer voices, African voices, immigrant voices, refugee voices, female voices, biracial voices, Afro-Caribbean voices, and more—all Black bodies, all who identify or are identified as Black. Inclusivity was crucial to the two local artists, knowing what it’s like to be excluded.
Neblett, a screen and stage actor who grew up in Montreal and moved to Vancouver after studying computer engineering in Winnipeg, explains that the phrase “Blackness is not monolithic" refers to the idea that there isn't a single way to be Black. “Yet because of white supremacy and systemic racism, I feel like we are still distilling the ways in which Blackness is not monolithic in our society,” he says.
“For myself, as a second-generation Canadian, I have dealt with the mental trauma of feeling like I didn’t belong or ‘wasn’t Black enough’,” Neblett says. “My parents emigrated from the West Indies, and I was born here. To some of my West Indian family, I was ‘too Canadian’ to be West Indian; to the other kids at school, I was Black, therefore different, and was reminded of that daily, whether by citing the difference of my hair, the fact that I was a fast runner and attributing it to my Blackness, or just some ignorant remark or joke. When I got to high school, where there was a larger number of black students, society started to measure the degree of my Blackness. Wasn't good at basketball: Not Black enough. Played violin: Not a Black behaviour. Didn’t have the latest in style haircut: Not Black enough. Wore the school ‘uniform’ instead of the latest ‘rap wear’: Not Black.
“Even though we are in what some may view as a renaissance of consciousness when it comes to inclusion of Black bodies, there are still far many opportunities for Black People, and in a wider sense People of Colour, to be excluded,” he says. (As an example, Neblett points to how difficult it has been to normalize a Pride flag that has a black and brown stripe.)
Early on in building Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival, which is produced by Ensemble Theatre Company, Neblett and Barry agreed that they felt a responsibility to represent as much of the diaspora as possible.
“I often say Blackness is a galaxy because being Black looks so different around the world,” says Barry, an actor, writer, independent filmmaker, and producer of dual heritage from Norway and the Gambia. “But one thing is for sure: we are so much more than what the white gaze tells us. I hope this festival reminds Black folks everywhere that we belong—that their Blackness is enough and their Blackness is beautiful. In this circle, we’re all welcome.
“Our festival reminds us that all Black Lives Matter,” she adds.
Running now until the end of February, the festival in celebration of Black Peoples Month (aka Black History Month), features a new release every Thursday.
On January 28, Three Part Disharmony, a filmed play by L. Trey Wilson, is released. It features three disparate views on what is potentially the worst day in a black male’s life: a police encounter. Neblett first saw the piece in a small studio in L.A in 2016.
“I was very moved by it,” Neblett says. “I was also struck by the fact that more than a few of the cross-section of mostly artists in that room had had serious encounters with the police. Some had even been shot at. Though the piece was written long before 2020, it is still so aggravatingly relevant. I like to remind people who say, well this is happening in the US, that violent encounters between police and Black people do happen here. It is most definitely a Canadian problem as well.”
On February 4, BLKS by Aziza Barnes gets released, the podcast exploring Black female friendships. The comedic coming-of-age play covers everything from queer love to the pressures of adulthood.
The Poet & The Patrician: Baldwin vs Buckley comes out on February 11. The audio recreation of the epic Cambridge debate on race and civil rights between James Baldwin (played by Neblett) and William F. Buckley Jr. (Tariq Leslie) is as relevant today as it was when it took place in1965.
Barry’s independent short film “Legacy” will be released on February 18. Inspired by real events, Legacy explores the migrant crisis and experience through the lens of modern African youth. Set between Norway and the Gambia, it was filmed in collaboration with Iris Studios, a video-production team founded by youth artists in The Gambia.
“It’s an ambitious project as a film shot between two continents in a pandemic, with me directing the Gambian team remotely,” says Barry, a co-creator of Breaking Borders, a performance crew for immigrant, newcomer and refugee artists. “But I have complete faith in the vision and the artistic excellence of our artists. This project feels special because it’s an honouring of myself. For the first time I’ve created a piece of art that honours all sides of me as a multicultural and biracial artist. To me I’m creating something I’ve never seen. I’ve never seen an Afro-Scandinavian family centered in this way, and that feels so powerful to create.”
On February 25, it’s the Us Film Festival, a drive-in-movie-style event featuring local and international Black work.
Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival is the first festival that Ensemble has done to mark Black History Month. Tariq Leslie, Ensemble’s artistic director, says it will become an annual tradition, as well as a model for the organization to celebrate and showcase the works of BIPOC artists.
“Prior to the pandemic, Ensemble had been moving our own ‘needle’ closer to more diverse representation on our stages,” Leslie says. “But the events of the last year – or rather, the greater focus and exposure that the racially motivated violence and murder were given by the last year, made it clear to me that ETC had to use the platform and resources that we have at our disposal to do more than we were doing and accelerate and expand our efforts to present talent and plays that better represent the mosaic of the world that we inhabit, and challenge the systems that make racism so pervasive and sadly acceptable to far too many people.”
The festival comes at a time when recent events suggest an emboldening of overt white supremacy and a strengthening of the Black Lives Matter movement. It comes at a time of great concern, tension, and hope.
“For many of us who have been living life in a Black body, the white supremacy is not now rising; it has always been there,” Neblett says. “Events have unfolded in the world, specifically in the United States, that have allowed people with those views to come from the shadows and step into the light of day. The only thing that has changed from my perspective is that they have become so egregious that many white people can no longer ignore it and are lending their voices to the struggle.
“So long as I have breath,” Neblett says. “I will be driven out of a motivational imperative to create meaningful work that represents my human experience and, with a little luck, touches others or prompts a conversation that might not otherwise have been had.”
Barry looks to young people in the community for hope. “There is a resurgence of Black culture happening in our city, and as long as we keep that fire going nothing can stop us,” she says. “I believe the future is what we’ll make of it, and the future is Black.”
She makes a point of giving a shout-out to the festival’s graphic designer, artist Annabelle Irakiza, for her contributions to the inaugural event. “We’re so proud to showcase her talent in our festival,” Barry says. “It was really important for us to have a Black graphic designer for this project, and Annabelle’s artwork blew us away.”
With the arts being a powerful force for change, the team behind Us: Black Peoples Month Festival hopes its impact will last well beyond a single calendar month.
“I think that in all times, but especially in times of great upheaval, art is an avenue to reflect humanity back at itself, to highlight, to educate, to open the doors to conversations that might otherwise have been difficult to start,” Neblett says. “Our festival lends itself to the important work of that process.”
Adds Barry: “I’d like to remind folks to celebrate Black people every day of the year, and not just in February.”
Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival runs until February 25, with new shows released every week. It is free, with the option to donate. See ETC for information.
Black artist Annabelle Irakiza created the Us festival’s graphic designs.
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