There was laughter and tears at a Montreal press conference Thursday, following news that a new cultural centre for Black communities across Canada is to be opened in the city.
“It is such a great and historical announcement,” observes Montreal city councillor, Ericka Alneus. “There will be a space where, through arts and culture, we will be able to tell the stories of Afro-Canadians.”
Officials say this will be the biggest centre dedicated to Afro-Canadian history and culture in the country. Some like Patricia Fourcand, president of the board governing the project, see it as Canada’s version of the National Museum of African American History & Culture in the United States.
“I’ve seen families travel days to be able to visit and feel empowered by this space,” Fourcand explains, referring to the U.S. museum. “I really hope well be able to do the same thing here in Canada.”
It is to be called Montreal’s Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre (MACC) and will be housed in the former School of Fine Arts building on Saint-Urbain Street near Sherbrooke Street. The complex will include spaces for performing and visual arts as well as a museum and a library.
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Renovation and expansion work are needed, but when completed it will occupy 45,000 square feet and cost $32 million, nearly $16 million of which was granted by the Canadian government.
“The federal government is here to support this initiative that was launched by members of the board and members of the community, who decided to get together three years ago for this initiative,” says Canada’s environment and climate change minister Steven Guilbeault, in whose riding the centre will be located.
Allen Alexandre, MACC founding executive director who spearheaded the project, says he had a dream about having a centre like this in the country, and figured Montreal would be the ideal place for such a venture.
“In a city that has the highest concentration of Black Canadians in the country, since 2021, it was an aberration to not actually have the space that was telling the story of that community,” he told Global News.
He believes it’s time for Black Canadians to tell their own story, and that now there is an opportunity for an initiative of this kind given the current mindset in the broader community.
“I think, in a certain way, this is also in the memory of George Floyd, that collective awakening about our communities and the need to make sure that our communities’ stories are being represented and told in a just way,” he observes.
Alexandre adds that the plan is to liaise with other Black community organizations across the country for programming. The centre is scheduled to be opened in 2026.
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