As Black History Month unfolds, Ottawa’s cultural calendar makes space for discovery, collaboration, and creative exchange. On February 7, 2026, the Ottawa Black Creatives Hub Showcase returns for its second edition, transforming the Shenkman Arts Centre into a meeting ground for emerging Black artists and arts leaders. Backed by the Ontario Arts Council and the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition, the evening reflects a growing commitment to platforming Black creativity across disciplines.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Arts & Culture
A Christmas Carol as a “heart forward” ritual anchors a wide-ranging conversation with Allison Edwards-Crewe on artistic craft, the discipline of a triple-threat practice, and the responsibilities that come with carrying classic work today. Together, the discussion explores representation as a structural commitment rather than a gesture, reflecting on Canadian theatre’s evolving audiences, institutions, and the next era being shaped on stage and behind the scenes.
Shaw Festival’s A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and 2025 marks its final season at the Royal George Theatre, ahead of the venue’s next chapter. In this interview, Allison Edwards-Crewe, in her second season at Shaw, breaks down how her “triple threat” training continues to shape her choices, why this production lands differently in a post-pandemic reality, and how representation must extend beyond casting into design, operations, and leadership.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Arts & Culture
Toronto’s arts sector is navigating rising costs and tighter sponsorship, while public belief still shapes what the city can become. Toronto Arts leadership lays out a plan that treats culture as a civic necessity and an economic engine.
Toronto’s arts scene rarely needs help proving its creative credibility. The work is everywhere, on stages and gallery walls, in parks, basements, community centres, major venues, and storefront studios that hold entire neighbourhoods together. What the city still debates, especially in high-cost moments, is whether the arts get treated as essential infrastructure or as a nice-to-have.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Articles
- Category: Arts and Entertainment
Divine Brown reflects on reimagining pop icons at UnCovered: Madonna & Cher, tracing the soulful journey that shaped her voice, storytelling, and her place in Toronto’s creative community.
In this episode of Afropolitan Dialogues, Toronto’s own Divine Brown joins us for a deep, soulful conversation that travels from Koerner Hall to the underground studios of Toronto’s neo-soul era. Fresh off headlining UnCovered: Madonna & Cher with The Musical Stage Company, Divine shares how she approached reimagining anthems like “Like a Prayer” and “Believe” through a theatrical, soul-infused lens.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Theatre
This fall, playwright Kanika Ambrose brings two worlds to Toronto’s stages: the salt-air mythos of Moonlight Schooner and the snowy heart of The Christmas Market. Through both, she invites audiences to feel the humour, pain, and poetry of Caribbean resilience.
On a humid night in 1958, the sea around St. Kitts refuses to sleep. A group of Black sailors, stranded after a storm, step ashore to dance, argue, and dream their way through a long, restless night. In their laughter and longing lives the pulse of an entire generation — the Windrush generation — searching for freedom on the edges of empire.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Dance
Fall for Dance North’s artist-in-residence, Esie Mensah, leads a transformative season that celebrates the emotional depth and cultural power of Afrofusion. Her latest works embody the movement of healing, unity, and self-discovery.
This fall, Toronto’s Fall for Dance North (FFDN) festival has become the stage for an extraordinary artistic journey led by choreographer and storyteller Esie Mensah, the festival’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence. While her AFROFUSION: Signature Programme 1 has already left audiences inspired, the festival continues until October 26, culminating in her upcoming installation-style performance Up Next on October 25 and 26 at OCAD University.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Music
Nigerian-born, Canadian-based artist Nonso Amadi continues to redefine Afro-R&B with bold new projects, cultural storytelling, and community-driven work. His new EP To Cry A Flood, CBC debut on Locals Welcome, and his Hills Foundation charity reveal a multifaceted artist shaping music and culture across continents.
When you sit down with Nonso Amadi, you immediately feel the weight of someone who is both grounded in tradition and constantly pushing musical boundaries. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and now based in Canada, the JUNO-nominated artist has been praised by Billboard, Complex, and MTV as a vanguard of Afro-R&B. With more than 100 million streams to his name, Amadi is embarking on an exciting new chapter in his career—one that seamlessly weaves together music, culture, and community impact.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Dance
Mirrors, music, and daring props reshape how audiences watch dance. A Toronto-based choreographer pairs stagecraft with joy, entrepreneurship, and Ghanaian roots.
The last week of August saw Toronto audiences encounter something unusual on stage: dancers moving with mirrors, ski boots strapped to boards, and reflections bouncing back into the house. At dance: made in canada/fait au canada (d:mic/fac), choreographer Vania Dodoo-Beals and collaborator Carleen Zouboules premiered Fragments of Perception, a piece that pushed audiences to question what they were really seeing. While the show has already closed, its ideas continue to resonate—about perception, play, and presence.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Category: Dance
Choreographer Reequal Smith on Caribbean Flamingo, blending Afro-Caribbean dance with advocacy, resilience, and building Oshun Dance Studios in PEI.
In this episode of Afropolitan Dialogues, we sit down with Reequal Smith, a Bahamian-born, PEI-based choreographer and founder of Oshun Dance Studios. Her latest work, Caribbean Flamingo, recently featured at dance: made in canada / fait au canada Festival 2025, fuses Afro-Contemporary, jazz, and Caribbean folk traditions. Inspired by The Bahamas’ national bird, nearly driven to extinction, the piece embodies resilience, cultural reclamation, and rebirth. Beyond her choreography, Smith is a cultural leader, community advocate, and recipient of the 2025 Kerri Wynne MacLeod Women of Impact Award and the Diane Moore Creation Award. This conversation explores her artistic journey, her role in uplifting Black artists in Atlantic Canada, and her vision for Caribbean dance on global stages.
- Details
- Written by: Meres J. Weche
- Parent Category: Articles
- Category: Arts and Entertainment
A Detroit-born artist who helped seed Black theatre in Toronto returns with a fearless storytelling film on menopause. Satori Shakoor turns truth into community.
Satori Shakoor moves through art forms the way great musicians move through keys. One minute she is on a Pittsburgh stage as a Bride of Funkenstein, the next she is laying the groundwork for Obsidian Theatre in Toronto, then she is on PBS hosting and elevating new voices. Throughout each chapter, a single thread remains: storytelling as a witness, medicine, and a public square.
