Making a career as an artist can be difficult, but finding success can be extra difficult for new Canadians and racialized people, says Ben Chapman-Smith, a project leader with the Association for New Canadians (ANC).
Chapman-Smith leads Pathways to Leadership, a program aimed at tackling that very issue.
Participants of the program gathered at The Rooms in St. John’s on Saturday to showcase their work. They spoke of the barriers faced by racialized and newcomer artists in their field.
“This event is kind of the summation of the project,” Chapman-Smith told CBC News.
The program pairs youth artists with mentors familiar with the industry. They also meet with an advisory council to discuss the challenges they’re facing.
“Balancing time and finance and all these things … they’re made to be significantly harder to overcome when you’re also dealing with things like immigration into a new area,” Chapman-Smith said.
Association for New Canadians project leader Ben Chapman-Smith says the Pathways to Leadership program is aimed at tackling barriers experienced by newcomer and refugee artists. (Abby Cole/CBC)
Artist Sage Shammakh went through the program, and had his work featured at the event over the weekend.
As a refugee, Shammakh said making it to Newfoundland and Labrador opened up a world of opportunity, but finding the time to make art and learn where opportunities lie, wasn’t so easy.
“You have also your settlement that you need to deal with. You are adjusting to a completely new environment,” he said.
Shammakh is originally from the Maldives in South Asia. He later lived in Sri Lanka, but said it was dangerous for him to stay there.
“I got outed, and my country and my community is still not very accepting of you know, gay people or queer people. And so I realized that it was actually a point where if I had returned, it would endanger my life,” he said.
Shammakh was a refugee with the United Nations for five years before he finally gained settlement in Canada.
During those five years, he said, his life felt like it was on hold.
“It’s been so wonderful now, like I feel a lot more safer,” he said.
Artist Sage Shammakh says his piece represents the freedom he wished he had during his time as a refugee. (Abby Cole/CBC)
His experience is reflected in his piece titled The Crane That Carried The Sky.
“I felt so caged and I felt like I could not do anything that I really wanted to,” he said. “I look at that and … that’s the kind of freedom I want, right? I want to be able to take flight.”
But gaining his footing as an artist in St. John’s wasn’t easy. Shammakh said finding consistent work and opportunities was difficult to do while navigating his settlement process.
“You are adjusting to a completely new environment,” he said. “I honestly did not even have time to focus on art at all because I was like, ‘I have like rent to pay’ or you know, ‘I have bills and … I need to make sure I’m stable first.’”
Shammakh said the ANC was able to help him get over those hurdles. He started volunteering, got a job and joined the Pathways to Leadership program.
The program partnered him with a mentor who helped him explore his own art and the industry.
Shammakh hopes to eventually host his first solo exhibit, but also wants to help the community by creating more resources for other artists.
“St. John’s, Newfoundland has the most friendly, lovely, welcoming people,” he said. “I want to give back to this community because they have really welcomed and uplifted me.”
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