Black Shoulders Legacy Award Announces 2024 Recipients

The Black Shoulders Legacy Award steering committee is honoured to announce the 2024 winners: Koumbie (Nova Scotia), Lennette Randall (Calgary), Misé Johns (Montreal), Nehassaiu deGannes (Toronto), and Riel Reddick-Stevens (Toronto).

Each recipient has been awarded a $5,000 honorarium towards training and other opportunities to enhance and grow their artistic craft.

The Black Shoulders Legacy Award was founded in June 2020, at the end of Philip Akin's tenure as the Artistic Director of Obsidian Theatre. This groundbreaking award was created to safeguard the legacy of support for emerging Black Canadian theatre artists that Philip Akin catalyzed. This is the first award of its kind, solely dedicated to the success of Black Canadian theatre artists, ensuring creators are equipped with the skills to be at the top of their professional game.

This national award is given to both performing and non-performing artists who show promise and are working towards a future in theatre, further amplifying Black voices in the Canadian theatre landscape.

ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS

Koumbie (Nova Scotia)

Koumbie (she/they) is an actor, director, writer and producer based in Kjipuktuk, Nova Scotia. On stage they have worked with companies including Zuppa Theatre Co, LunaSea Theatre, Eastern Front Theatre, Neptune Theatre and Shakespeare by the Sea. Since going behind the camera, Koumbie has directed a number of award winning short films and their debut feature film Bystanders premiered at AIFF, where it took home the Best Atlantic Script Award.

Lennette Randall (Calgary)

Lennette Randall is a creative practitioner focused on acting, directing, producing, writing, artistic education, and leadership.  A cosmopolitan with roots in three continents, Lennette is passionate about creating cross-cultural and inter-generational stories, especially those that showcase the rich and diverse narratives of people of African Descent/Lineage. “I aim to learn and investigate certain foundational aspects of directing including forming creative teams and working with other creative experts in sound, lights, music, costumes, movement, puppetry, videos, etc."

Misé Johns (Montreal)

Misé Johns is an award winning Kenyan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist and performer dedicated to innovating across digital and traditional disciplines to create work that challenges expectations and explores the limits of experiential entertainment. Under production moniker Ĕthos Cultura his work has been featured at the National Arts Center, on CBC and impendingly; as part of a residency with the Montreal Arts Interculturels 24' program in addition to the 2024 National Black Canadians Summit. 

Nehassaiu deGannes (Toronto)

A Canadian (and now American too) daughter of the Caribbean diaspora, Nehassaiu's career highlights include: Sweat on both sides of the border (Cleveland Play House and Theatre Aquarius); the Obie-Award Winning world-premiere of Is God Is (Soho Rep); the indie feature film Equal Standard; the first-ever inter-racial Proof (Trinity Rep); as well as the Canadian premieres of The House That Will Not Stand (Shaw Festival) and Fat Ham (CanStage). Riel Reddick-Stevens (Toronto)

Riel Reddick-Stevens

Riel Reddick-Stevens (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and performer currently based in Toronto, with strong ties to Montreal and Nova Scotia. Alongside acting, Riel works as a composer, playwright and arts educator. She and collaborator Aaron Jan were the inaugural recipients of Highland art theatre's Rita Joe Playwriting award for their musical LAYUP. Riel is also the founder of Roots of Creation; a collective dedicated to providing Black Nova Scotian youth with accessible artistic training and experiences. 

Click here for more information and the recipients' full bios

Donations to the Black Shoulders Legacy Award Fund are gratefully accepted at bsla.ca

To post a comment, you must register and login.