By Neil Armstrong
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| Ribbon cutting outside A Different Booklist Cultural Centre in Toronto on Friday, April 7, 2017. |
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| Ribbon cutting outside 777-779 Bathurst Street in Toronto -- A Different Booklist Culural Centre. |
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| Michael Lashley, former consul general of Trinidad & Tobago in Toronto and a member of the board of the cultural centre, cuts the ribbon. |
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| Itah Sadu, owner of A Different Booklist Cultural Centre |
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| Akua Benjamin and Rita Cox in conversation at the Open House, Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Launch of a Fundraising Campaign at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre on April 7, 2017. |
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| Judy Brooks, chair of the board of A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, and Zanana Akande, a patron of the centre. |
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| Itah rallies the team to go outside to cut the ribbon to officially open 777-779 Bathurst St. Each person was encouraged to bring their own ribbon to cut at the event. |
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| Nene Kwasi Kafele calling on the ancestors to be present in the space. |
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| Toronto city councillor Joe Cressy, Rita Davies, chair of the Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto councillor, Mike Layton, speaking at the event. |
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| Akua Benjamin and Tiki Mercury-Clarke |
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| Conversations at the gathering |
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| Itah Sadu and Cherita Girvan-Campbell |
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| Marva Wisdom and Zanana Akande in conversation |
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| Angela cuts the cake for the celebration |
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| Miguel San Vicente hard at work at the cash register |
It didn’t take long last night (April 7), for the new space
of A Different Booklist Cultural Centre: The People’s Residence at 777-779
Bathurst St. in Toronto to fill up with well wishers, supporters and potential
members.
It was a grand celebration for the cultural hub, which held
its open house, ribbon cutting stretching from one entrance to the other, and
launch of its fundraising campaign, with a major announcement.
A Different Booklist is aiming to raise $2million in two
years to enable it to fulfill its mission when it moves into its permanent home
in the new development of the former Mirvish Village site five years from now.
The new location will be at the corner of Markham & Bloor St.
Toronto city councilors, Joe Cressy (Ward 20
Trinity-Spadina) and Mike Layton (Ward 19 Tinity-Spadina), confirmed this at
the event.
“On Tuesday, we passed the new zoning bylaw for the property
that is now known as Mirvish Village and it included a future space, in
perpetuity we hope, but a future space for this organization on the future site
across the street,” said Layton, noting that it is a “bigger space because we
know this organization is only going to grow.”
“We are a changing community, our city has always been
changing and as that change happens, we need to make sure that we look at the
past and we look at who brought us here. And one of the things that Councillor
Cressy and I heard through all of the community consultations around Bathurst
St. that have been happening for the last couple of years was just how
important this section of Bathurst was to the Black community of this city.”
Layton said various organizations expressed wanting space in
the new development but “no one was more relentless in that pursuit” than Itah
Sadu and Miguel San Vicente, owners of A Different Booklist.
“Now one thing we’re going to need from everyone here is the
city is not going to be able to come up with capital for this. We’re not going
to be able to give all the money. We’ve secured some of the space. This is a
bookstore so spend some money but also sign up to be a member. It’s going to
take the community to keep it going.”
Membership is $100 for individuals for the year and includes:
access to events, corporate discounts, on-site Wi-Fi & workspace,
networking & mentorship, preferred rates for advertising, preferred rates
for space rentals, access to resources & professional services, and
professional learning, training, and field placements. There are also rates for
students & seniors, and for organizations.
Cressy, who grew up around the corner and lives in the area,
said, “if Bathurst & Bloor does not reflect and continue the history of
black culture then Bathurst & Bloor no longer exists.”
“That is the history of Bathurst & Bloor in downtown
Toronto, here has always been a place for all. And there is a risk and it’s a
risk we’re really concerned about, as the development comes here, what happens
to our space for black folk – not just to reflect on the past, not just to
record the past, but to ensure a vibrant place to continue a living legacy for
the future.”
He said A Different Booklist Cultural Centre will live on in
perpetuity in a site across the street, “not just because it reflects the
history, not just because it will teach the next generation of the history, not
just because it will continue and teach the history of struggle but it’s
important because the future is uncertain.”
Cressy continued: “We
have serious challenges in our city right now; we have real anti-Black racism
happening in our city right now. And if you don’t have a space, not just for
art and culture, but activism then we won’t get the change. This space will
make our city a better place.”
Sadu said the celebration was “a collective mighty moment of
all of the people,” noting that the day was for all.
She shared the story of one supporter, Ms. Hyacinth, who
uses a walker and operates a store on St. Clair Ave. West, coming in as early
as 7:30 a.m. to offer her assistance because she wasn’t able to attend the
evening event.
Rita Davies, chair of the Ontario Arts Council, said she was
thrilled with the space and the name, noting that, “A Different Booklist has
created that kind of cultural hub, a cultural space, a physical space, but also
a psychic space where they have invited a diversity of voices, and books, and
events and projects and supported them.”
She reiterated what Sadu said in her opening remarks, that
it is “the mighty collective” because no one does anything by themselves.
Davies noted that no one does anything without strong
leadership either, so she wanted to recognize the work of Itah and Miguel who
were themselves recognized last October by Premier Kathleen Wynne.
“They’ve received for A Different Booklist for the work that
they’ve done in fostering all of this incredible creative energy, they received
the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.”
The cultural centre is now operating across from where it
was before, thanks to Westbank Corp., developer of the site of what was once
Honest Ed’s and Mirvish Village.
On Feb. 4, many community members helped move the bookstore
and cultural centre from its 20-plus year old location, 746 Bathurst St., to
just across from it.
A Different Booklist Cultural Centre: The People’s Residence
is a hub where patrons re-design and shape the arts and provide intellectual
legacy.
It serves to enable, house and support the creation,
preservation and exhibition of the African and Caribbean Canadian artistic and
historical expression.
During the ribbon cutting ceremony, community leader Nene
Kwasi Kafele led the invocation of the names of ancestors who had “struggled,
defended, advocated, pushed, stood up for our rights, fought for our
liberation, for social justice, for change, for equality – we have a long rich
tradition of struggle and resistance and achievement and overcoming,” he said.
“Tradition demands and requires that when we gather we
ground our gathering in the acknowledgement and in gratitude of those who came
before us, who cleared the way, who made a path and whose shoulders we stand
sturdily and strongly,” said Kafele before asking for a moment of silence “for
our warriors, our freedom fighters, those who struggled for our liberation and
sacrificed through love and hard work, and sweat and blood and tears, and many
times their own lives.
Kafele noted that, “when we stop calling the names of our
ancestors, they cease to exist” so he asked the gathering to call out some
names of “those who led lives that were exemplary lives of sacrifice and love
and leadership and who have passed on to the next realm but whose spirits,
whose memories, whose contributions live on in us, around us and with us. Call
their names so that they’ll be present in this space and they’ll remain alive
in our consciousness and our memory.”
People did so with names such as: Charles Roach, Sherona
Hall, Dudley Law, Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley, Rosemary Brown, and many
others.
Stanley Julien, treasurer of the board, said earlier in the
week he had lunch with a friend, who is Jewish, and they spoke about what makes
a community successful.
They agreed on three things: culture, education and legacy.
He said all of these things are covered within A Different
Booklist Cultural Centre and the last one, legacy, is the reason he wants
people to contribute to the cultural centre.
Julien said he is an example of legacy of culture. As a
child growing up in Montreal, from ages 10 to 17, he attended almost every
Saturday what was called the Negro Community Centre.
“Now here’s a kid from Trinidad, 7 years old, who came to
Montreal and then every Saturday would attend the Black Community Centre,” he
said, noting that years later he became a managing director at the Bank of
Montreal.
“A big reason for that is culture; I read books on my
culture, so we survived based on that and we survived based on that legacy.”
Julien said a few weeks ago they gathered at the home of
Zanana Akande, “a great legacy that we have in the community,” and while there
with some other patrons, including Denham Jolly, they provided the seed funds
of almost $400, 000 for the fundraising campaign.
“That’s through the patrons and the legacy of our community.
Now it’s up to us to carry that on and we can reach out,” he said.
He encouraged everyone from the community in attendance to
contribute by becoming a member of the cultural centre.
Julien said the bottom line is for them to trust in Miguel
and Itah, the board, the cultural centre, and the program that it will continue
in years to come.
Sadu thanked Westbank for including A Different Booklist in
almost “every step of the way.”
Judy Brooks, chair of the board, noted that the space is a
welcoming hub, “that’s what we want to instill in everyone, this is a welcoming
home.” She also encouraged everyone to sign up for membership.
Another board member, Michael Lashley, welcomed everyone in
Spanish and French after which Sadu emphasized that ‘The People’s Residence’
will also represent the people of the French, Spanish and Dutch speaking
countries of the Caribbean and will be a space of diversity and progressive
literature in politics.
Some of those in attendance included Carl James, Jean
Augustine Chair in Education at York University; veteran storyteller and librarian,
Rita Cox; motivational speaker, Sandra Whiting; Nigel Barriffe, president of
the Urban Alliance on Race Relations; Zanana Akande, Dr. Edith Lorimer, Althea
Prince, Tiki Mercury-Clarke, and many more.
Sadu, Akande and Dr. Lorimer led a collective reading of two
poems of the late Charles ‘Mende’ Roach from his book of poetry, “Rhapso Prosodies.”
The poems, “Here We Stand” and “We Can Change
The World,” urge everyone to work together to achieve common goals.
