Black History Month laureate working to promote arts and culture in Côte-des-Neiges

Montreal artist Vanessa Kanga believes that Black History Month is an opportunity to begin doing the work to learn and promote voices in the community.

Vanessa Kanga is a cultural entrepreneur who believes in working to help those in her community.

The founder of the Festival Afropolitain Nomade was named a Black History Month laureate in 2025 and signed the Golden Book, along with 11 other laureates, at Montreal’s City Hall last week.

“You have to act,” she said. “You have to work. You have to push the others. For me, it is important to keep doing things for all of us and for yourself.”

She founded the festival in 2012 as a socially conscious artistic event which has boosted the careers of hundreds of international artists by transporting them to the African continent. In 2024, the festival was held in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.

This year, the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (CDN-NDG) artist will bring Montreal and other Canadian artists to Burkino Faso for two weeks for a celebration of music, visual arts and dance.

Though her work is always on full display, Kanga is rarely the one in the spotlight and being recognized a City Hall in the presence of Mayor Valérie Plante and other dignitaries was a new experience for her.

“I’m used to doing all the work for others, so I never show off myself,” she said. “For the first time, I’m like, alright, they’re recognizing what is behind the scenes, and I think this is amazing and a tremendous honour.”

While others take the stage, Kanga is one of those who conceive of the show months or years in advance, figure out how to execute the plan and then operate the show.

“[And] finding money, money is the everything, and being able to put together something that makes people feel good about music, about visual art and everything,” she said. “For me it’s just making sure that we put everything together.”

Black History Month, for Kanga, is particularly important in 2025. It is a time to begin building knowledge and discussions.

“We live in very difficult times, and Black History Month should always be the start of something, not the end,” she said. “It is the shortest month of the year, the coldest, so we don’t have to stop being Black or being aware of the reality of Black people just after 28 days.”

She also is a believer in taking an active part in the community.

Kanga is the division manager for culture and libraries for the CDN-NDG borough; the same borough where she began her career in 2008 at the Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi de Côte-des-Neiges.

She said honouring Black people in February is important and that Montreal’s acknowledgement of people from a wide array of fields and specialties is special.

“It’s a really difficult time to be different right now,” said Kanga. “And different from the majority that has privilege, that has a lot of facilities and opportunities.”

Just in the CDN-NDG borough alone, Kanga explained, there are over 180,000 people and 35 different languages, and, though it is the most diverse community in Montreal, many do not have the opportunity to share their stories and talents.

“Montreal is like a county in a country,” she said. “In Côte-des-Neiges, it’s like a country in a country in a country. You have really amazing people there and a really vibrant community.”

In the current landscape, Kanga said it is often work just being seen.

“We have to do the work of being recognized as human beings. It starts there. Just recognize that the person in front of you is not just an immigrant or a Black person but just as human as you are. Whatever you can do to your brother or yourself, you should recognize that there’s something that can feel and be hurt as you can be.”