In 1988, when I was in my second year of the Child and Youth Care program at MacEwan, I started getting more involved in the Black community. My parents had always been members of the Jamaican Association and the Barbadian Association, but that was their thing. I needed my own. So I joined the Black Students’ Association affiliated with the U of A and met a group of young Black activists. We were on fire for the cause and started EBONY, the Edmonton Black Organization of Nubian Youth.

We met every Sunday to discuss current events, politics and what it was like to be the only Black kid in your class or place of employment. The most important thing we did was start a mentorship program. We went into schools to let kids know that the usual expectations of success assigned to us like playing ball, rapping and making music are all options, but there were other things they could do too. We invited Black professionals – doctors, lawyers, business people, counsellors – so they could see different kinds of excellence from their own community. 

That was a very important time in my life. Eventually, we all graduated, and life happened. We got jobs – mine is in children’s mental health – got married and had kids. I still had my hands in supporting Black community organizations, but not the same way. 

Years later, I found myself griping and complaining that we never saw ourselves represented in the arts here in Edmonton – even during Black History Month. There might have been work out there, but I wasn’t privy to it. That’s how 5 Artists, 1 Love was born. It was about getting people into spaces, like galleries and theatres, where they might not feel like they’re supposed to be. That belief that we belong and can hold space in these places has been at the forefront of every event we’ve done in the past 16 years. 

In the beginning, we ran the show out of a tiny gallery on 124 Street, called The TU Gallery. The space was packed for every February opening and so culturally diverse that it looked like a party at the United Nations. We stayed in that little gallery for the first five years. During our fifth year, the Art Gallery of Alberta invited us to do the show in their space. It was a great opportunity, but until then, we were grassroots. I paid for things out of pocket or relied on the community’s goodwill. Now it had to be different. Now expenses would be incurred.

So we experimented. I asked a friend if we could piggyback on his show at the Yardbird and use the revenue to pay the art show bills. He agreed. I then wrote a show that chronicled the journey of Black music as it left the shores of Africa, landed on the shores of North America and evolved. It sold out. 

A year later, we held the concert in the AGA’s Ledcor Theatre and filled every one of the 175 seats. We had to go Caribbean style to fit everyone in – we pulled in chairs from everywhere, and there were still people sitting on the floor. That was the moment that I knew we really had something. 

We went on to do the concert at the Citadel and MacEwan’s Triffo Theatre – our last show at the Triffo was right before COVID hit. After that show, the CEO of the Winspear came backstage and invited us to perform there the following year. COVID has meant we’re a bit late, but we’re excited to be at the Winspear this May 15 and invite even more people to the party. 

5 Artists, 1 Love is my passion, but it’s an avocation so I’m limited in what I can do. I’d love for it to be more one day because I have big dreams, plans, schemes and machinations – there are so many more people to connect with, opportunities to open up and educating to do. 

I want people to understand that the Black community is not a monolith; there is so much diversity of ideas, lived experiences and shared experiences. It’s a very complex tapestry. 5 Artists, 1 Love is about showing and celebrating those differences. 

– Darren Jordan (Child and Youth Care ’89), Curator/Producer of 5 Artists, 1 Love