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.
The issue was highlighted by Jonathan Kay, editor of the online magazine Quillette, who shared a screenshot of the first two paragraphs of the original announcement via his Twitter account on Jan. 23.
“On February 17, the evening’s performance of Is God Is will welcome an all-Black identifying audience to experience and enjoy a performance in the Babs Asper Theatre. Tickets for this performance are available now,” said the NAC on its official site at the time….