Ottawa Theatre Backtracks Performance for ‘All-Black Identifying Audience’

Ottawa Theatre Backtracks Performance for ‘All-Black Identifying Audience’
A man is silhouetted as he crosses the street near the National Arts centre in downtown Ottawa on March 26, 2021. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Isaac Teo
Updated:
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A taxpayer-funded theater organization appears to have backed off its idea of holding an “all-black identifying audience” event next month.

On Jan. 16, the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa announced that it planned to hold a “Black Out night” event featuring a rendition of Aleshea Harris’s “Is God Is” on Feb. 17, but which appeared to forbid non-black audiences from attending.