The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario in celebrating Black History Month with a discussion on Black leadership in arts and culture.

This artist talk, moderated by co-curator Karen Carter, will focus on the painters and textile artists in the exhibition ‘When Night Stirred at Sea: Contemporary Caribbean Art’ on view at PAMA October 2020 - February 2021.

I dread being comfortable. It’s the worst thing for me. With discomfort, there’s growth. I find it interesting, sometimes even frightening and fascinating, that so many cultural people are really comfortable and aren’t pushing the envelope, yet claim to want to make disruptive spaces for others. I’m very aware of the need for me to be uncomfortable. That’s part of the penance you pay to be in this sector. You have to demand more of yourself.”

So, you want to be an ally against systemic anti-Black racism? This is a complex problem, which has to be tackled on many fronts. I want to ask you, and everyone who wants to be an ally in the fight against systemic anti-Black racism, to take your time. Do your research.

Let’s meet: Karen Carter, Founding Executive Director at Myseum of Toronto. She has over 20 years of experience working and volunteering in a variety of cultural and educational settings in Toronto. Karen is also the co-founder and Director of Black Artists’ Networks Dialogue (BAND), an organization dedicated to the promotion of Black arts and culture in Canada and abroad.

This presentation followed Myseum’s inception from an idea to a full-fledged “museum without walls”. But for Karen Carter, bringing Myseum to life was not without its challenges. “This can’t be the typical thing,” says Carter in the presentation, “because I’ve been through the typical thing where you’re focussed on the building and the collection.”

“[We want] to draw attention to the fact that there is a wide breadth of artists and cultural workers,” said Karen Carter, co-founder of the organization. “And that our voices as black Canadians are an important part of the overall narrative of our cultural tapestry.”