Growing up in Cambridge, and attending Glenview Park Secondary School, Antonio Michael Downing felt like there weren’t many opportunities for a young, black artist in his hometown, so he ventured out to other places where he gained success as a writer and musician.
Less than a decade later, the author of the acclaimed memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming moved back to Waterloo region, where he works in the business world and the arts.
Now he looks to inspire the new generation of youth as the Waterloo Region District School Board’s first Black artist in residence.
Starting this April, Downing will begin hosting workshops with students who walk down the same school hallways he once walked as a young Black student.
“It feels like I’m coming full circle," Downing says of his time in Cambridge. "It was a formative time for me. It’s a tricky time being a teenager and this would allow me to give back to people who are going through that experience that was so formative for me and I think I learn a lot coming back to my roots.”
Downing got his first taste of his new role last year when he had the opportunity to lead a talk for the Cambridge Black student association.
"That was really special for me because I was part of this sort of very small minority of Black kids attending most of the Cambridge high schools. I had lived that experience so it was a big deal to go back and be talking to the same people that I thought were living what I lived,” he said.
It’s the first time WRDSB has ever had an artist in residence before, and they're excited to have Downing come on board, said school board communications officer Estefanía Brandenstein.
“We think his collaboration will be really meaningful for all the students,” she added.
Starting Friday, Downing will take on his new role, hoping to plant the seeds that grow future artists.
“It’ll be across the school board, it will be open to folks who are in the disciplines of writing, music or visual arts," explained Downing.
"We're going to talk about storytelling for identity. We're going to have a workshop where the students create something in their particular discipline. Even if you're not going to be a singer, or a painter, or a writer, we want to celebrate that side of things and encourage people who have those talents to nurture them.”
The new program is only for secondary students going to schools at WRDSB.
Downing will highlight how art and storytelling are aspects of many jobs, through a series of workshops.
Then he will mentor interested African, Caribbean, and Black identifying students (ACBi), offering one-on-one support to help them complete an artistic project using a medium of their choice.
“There’s room for them to express themselves and I’m excited to discover the stories they want to tell and what are they excited about or interested in. I’m super excited to get started,” he said.
“Regardless if you're going to be a famous painter, you have that impulse to paint, we want to encourage that and want to encourage people to think about that and use that because it’s not only fulfilling for your personal life, in the business world it’s hugely necessary.”
The WRDSB announced Downing in the new role during Black History Month.
“If we can unleash some creative energy for people who aren’t going to be artists, that's awesome. If we can also nurture and plant some seeds in people who want to be artists that’s double awesome. Either way I’ll be super fulfilled,” Downing said.
Secondary students who identify as ACBi can participate in the Black Artist-in-Residence program by connecting with their English or music departments.
