Nia Centre is Canada's first Black Arts Centre and community hub in the rapidly gentrifying Little Jamaica neighbourhood near Eglinton Ave and Oakwood Street. The $12 million transformation project is a 15,000-square-foot complex founded in 2008. Nia Centre for the Arts was born from discussions between the United Way Youth Challenge Fund and local artist Ian Kamau. The Youth Challenge Fund was an innovative public and private sector initiative aimed at making investments in community projects that offer positive opportunities for young people growing up in Toronto’s most under-served neighborhoods, often called the 13 Priority Neighborhoods.

Nia is the Swahili word for purpose and the organization’s purpose is rooted in dismantling barriers to access, barriers such as finding affordable studio space in the city, finding spaces or opportunities to exhibit work and gain a wider audience or struggling to get funding and financial support. 

Nia Centre for the Arts shines as a beacon of transformative power and a place of hope, inspiration, and empowerment for Black youth and the broader community. Historically, arts councils and sponsors haven’t invested in Black artists. As a result, I would say we’ve lost a generation of artists. They just didn’t have the support to continue creating. The energy, creativity, and resilience put into NIA is incredibly important to me, the Oakwood Eglinton community and to the community youth and elders.

We tour the NIA Centre to better understand and inform the community about the services they currently provide and what is planned for the future. The center is multi-level and not only has spaces for Black artists but entrepreneurs and after school drop-in programs as well.