Black Pledge is excited to bring together some of the country’s incredibly skilled and talented artists and teachers for day long workshops. Participants can choose one workshop per day. These workshops are exclusively for Black creatives with a relationship to performance. Compassion care funds for child care, transportation or other needs are available courtesy of Balancing Act. Participants can indicate if they need the compassion fund in the registration form. Lunch will be provided. Email ggrant@theblackpledge.ca for the promo code for no cost registration
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Workshop Descriptions
Nikola Steer
THE ARC OF PERFORMANCE
Step into a space of radical care, creative play, and embodied power. This 4-hour workshop invites Black performers into an arc that moves from gentle intimacy to bold, expansive self-expression. Through movement, storytelling, music, and guided exercises, participants will explore their presence, connect to personal truths, and reclaim the stage as a space for joy, fierceness, and visibility. Facilitated by award-winning multidisciplinary artist and cultural catalyst Nikola Steer, this session is designed to nourish your artistry, honour your complexity, and light up what’s waiting to be seen.
Nikola Steer is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, performer, and cultural leader whose 20+ year career spans dance, visual arts, immersive storytelling, and arts curation. Best known worldwide as burlesque icon Coco Framboise, Nikola has performed on international stages and built a reputation as a trusted mentor and coach for artists across disciplines. Her work celebrates the full spectrum of performance — from vulnerability to fierce, radiant presence — and centres emotional resonance, grounded embodiment, creative reclamation, and radical imagination.
Peter N. Bailey
The [Re]discovered Voice:
Working with the principles of Patsy Rodenburg's Three Circles of Energy™, participants will learn about the importance of presence in delivering text, as well as expand their voice and speech skills, by exploring form and language through poetry and dramatic texts. While valuing the importance of the ensemble, this workshop will empower actors to speak with greater clarity, truth and embodiment.
Peter’s voice and dialect coaching credits include: The Stratford Festival, Canadian Stage Company, Nightwood Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, Crow's Theatre,The National Theatre School of Canada, Canadian Film Centre, and Sheridan College. Peter is also a graduate of the Patsy Rodenburg Associate Programme
D. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor
Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Session on R. Nathaniel Dett & Afrocentric Choral Music
Workshop TBA
D. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Canada's first professional chamber choir dedicated to the creation, preservation, and performance of Afrocentric choral music. Brainerd works frequently as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer, and is an active and dedicated church musician.
Raechele Lovell & Lisa Karen Cox
Workshop TBA
Raechele Lovell, a passionate Artivist, is rooted on a block of The Haldimand Tract, colonially known as Kitchener, ON Canada. Her journey in the arts began as a child on tour with the polyrhythmic dance and music of her Caribbean heritage, igniting a lifelong quest for creative expression. As a bi-racial artist, with Afro-Caribbean and German Mennonite heritage, Raechele navigates the intricate intersections of identity, culture, and artistry. This rich tapestry of lineage informs her work, intertwining ancestral heritage with contemporary narratives and grounding her in a unique perspective as an Afro-diasporic artist on Turtle Island.