On a cold night, local artists gathered in South Etobicoke as they shared warmth and memories in a small space through different performances.
Lakeshore Arts held its third open mic event on Jan. 29, creating a space for emerging creatives to show their performances.
As a local arts service organization, LSA is one of many in the city that offer free arts programming.
LSA’s marketing and communication manager Andi Canales said it’s important to have accessible art programming.
“I think accessibility can mean a lot of different things like physical access or having free programming,” they said. “I think the Mimico (South Etobicoke) community really needs it because there isn’t anything out there that’s like this.”
LSA feature performer Juliet Jones-Rodney said it’s essential to create events like this for local artists.
“There are less and less spaces for artists to gather and share and in community with one another,” she said. “And spots like LSA and other open mics around the city really help us to meet each other and kind of take the stress off of being perfect all the time.”
Jones-Rodney is an actor, playwright, singer and songwriter. She graduated from Humber’s theatre performances program in 2019 and has been professionally writing and releasing music for four years.
She said performing in LSA’s open mic night takes down the pressure to be professional and allows her to be herself.
“A lot of times where I go to places, I feel like I kind of have to put on like that professional hat or, I don’t know, be the artist Juliet instead of just the person,” Jones-Rodney said.
Canales said it’s necessary to create space to support emerging creatives to perform without being professional.
“We wanted to create a community and a space where musicians, emerging musicians, they do not have to be professional, would come in and basically give them a stage for them to perform,” they said.
Anjalee Nadarajan had the chance to perform her monologue at LSA before she performed it in front of an audience for York University.
“This is a monologue that I wrote for a York University student-run theatre production,” she said. “This is my first time performing it in public. So I honestly feel kind of nervous because I’m like, ‘oh my god, how is it going to be received?’”
This wasn’t Nadarajan’s first performance at LSA. She did comedy storytelling and musical performance last year. However, she still feels a little nervous.
“Even though I performed before, I still feel a little nervous,” she said. “I’m hoping that the audience will have some fun listening to my wordplay and the sounds and rhythms of my prose.”
Tony Nash and Camille Blott performed two songs together at the open mic night. Nash and Blott have performed together before, but this was their first time doing so at Lakeshore Arts.
“I’m so proud of myself for getting up there and doing it,” Blott said.
Nash said events like the open mic night help artists express and share their passions.
“I think that if you’re an artist, and you have that sort of, either a gift or a calling or something inside you that makes you want to create art, you have to express it,” Nash said.
Having to watch others’ performances, Nash said “it’s just really cool to see so many different kinds of performances.”
“To make you really feel something. To see different kinds of talent. Just a celebration of what makes us human,” Nash added.
Lakeshore Arts will host more engaging events in the future, including the Black Artists Residency Open Studio on Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at 2422 Lake Shore Blvd. West, Etobicoke.
