Kuumba Artist Feature: Britta B.
Harbourfront Centre’s Kuumba festival is spotlighting a different Black artist each day of February. Today we’re sharing the story of Britta B..
Britta B. began to write when she was young, because writing was a coping mechanism for the grief, pain and mental health challenges that she experienced in her youth. Through her poetry she was able to express herself most clearly, confidently and creatively. This was true for her even when her poems delved into her life’s vulnerabilities, in those times when she would ask herself questions about who she was.
As she matured as a writer, the scope of her work expanded. Though her first inspirations were deeply personal, her later writing would be part of a wider commitment to social justice. Though she likes to play with sound and language, she also enjoys interrogating assumptions. She is a mixed-race Black woman, which brings certain obstacles, like tokenization, of which she is keenly aware. When she shows up in a room, armed with her poetry, she thinks about these things. However, more than anything else, she uses her voice to remind the world of her existence, and of the many ways she still has to grow.
Though Britta is still an emerging artist, her career is hurtling upwards. Her work has been featured by the CBC, Art Gallery of Ontario, The Walrus Talks, and several poetry festivals. She facilitates poetry workshops and social justice programs in partnership with organizations like JAYU, League of Canadian Poets and Toronto District School Board. She does this all while attending grad school. Most recently, she was invited by the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) to co-curate and emcee their poetry program, Soundtracks & Stanzas: Changing Canada’s Black Future. The program, held online, will take place from midday to midnight on February 12, 2021, and will feature some of Britta’s favourite Canadian performance poets.
She credits her growth partially to her hero, Andrea Blackwell, who was her basketball coach in high school. Andrea is a two-time Olympian whose skills stretch across several sports, and who was inducted into the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame. After coaching her in high school, Andrea continued to mentor Britta, and Britta credits Andrea’s influence for the meaningful connections she maintains with her community. It is a beautiful thing that the world of sports and poetry, often so far apart from each other, intersected here. It is a testament to the power of mentorship and lifelong friendships.
Having seen the value of mentorship, Britta is now excited to be a mentor herself. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, she trained two emerging BIPOC poets, who are now poised to become mentors themselves, through JAYU’s iAM Poetry Program. This is Britta’s proudest recent milestone as an artist. She adds, “When I was growing up in Kingston, I didn’t have any local examples of Black women or women of colour to look up to that were professional artists, let alone spoken word poets, so this is an especially fulfilling achievement for me in terms of representation and visibility.”
Britta B. is an emerging Toronto-based spoken word performer, teaching artist, emcee and voice actor. You can find her work on her Instagram (@missbrittab) or website (www.brittab.com).
