A light rain had just started to fall when I met Vanessa Spence under the archway to Riverside Park in Cambridge. Undaunted and armed with an umbrella and a stroller cover for Spence’s one-year-old, we began our walk.
“I actually haven’t been to this park,” Spence said with a laugh when I asked why she picked this destination.
“I feel like I took Cambridge for granted when I lived here. When I first moved to this region…it was the pandemic, so we were kind of just all inside,” she said.
Even though Spence now lives in Kitchener, she makes it a point to come back to Cambridge often to appreciate all that the city has to offer, especially the amazing views of the Grand River.
“[Cambridge] is a place that’s untapped, in a sense. It’s a place that’s…like an open canvas for artists to be able to actually explore,” she said. “You can establish yourself, but also establish the community and the city as well.”
Community is at the heart of Spence’s artistic work. Shortly after moving to Cambridge, she founded Virtu Arts Theatre, a community-focused arts organization.
“[It’s] a very independent theatre company that’s dedicated to amplifying the voices of Black African artists and the diaspora in this region, but also specific to regions just outside of Toronto,” Spence says.
“I wanted to build opportunities here for artists. And I also wanted to have an excuse to meet other artists and artists of colour…to build that community and see how I fit in, as an artist, but also as a mom and a human being,” Spence said.
Virtu Arts focuses primarily on theatre as a form of storytelling but is also interested in interdisciplinary work, and Spence recently partnered with a local visual artist to create an installation piece at the AGO.
Our shoes crunched along the park’s gravel path, surrounded by trees that did their best to offer protection from the rain that fell. Spence began pursuing theatre in high school, afterwards and continued her studies in post-secondary.
“I [could] express anger through sports, but to be able to express a whole array of emotions, I found that I was able to do that on stage,” she said.
Spence first tried her hand at writing while studying a program that focused on devised theatre.
“You realize that, yes, you can write something, but you still have to put it on. And then the question comes…who’s going to put up your work?,” Spence said.
We walked over a small bridge that led to a playground and more green space as the conversation shifted to the challenges of producing. Challenges that Spence wasall too familiar with. And producing is something she does well, as both Virtu Arts and Spence herself have been nominated for Waterloo Region Arts Awards this year.
The path led us to a grouping of picnic tables under a shelter. While we took in the view of green fields spotted with trees, I asked Spence how she felt her art connected with the land we inhabit.
“It helps me to be grounded in who I am as an artist…what I want to say and what I want to do,” Spence said. “What I feel is necessary in the arts, but also the culture to move forward. So yeah, I see myself grounded in the trees and in the roots.”
“There’s this empty space everywhere.” Spence gestures to the view in front of us. “It’s our job as the artist to fill it and make it something beautiful. Or make it something ugly, or make it something great, or not great,” she said. “Whatever we want to make it, it’s our job to fill [the space].”
Next up for Spence is a showcase of her new play as part of Green Light Art’s Propeller Plays happening Nov. 1 at the Conrad Centre. Spence is working on a story about Trinidadian sisters living in Canada, navigating their existence as they age.
The rain never let up, and Spence’s baby signified that it was time to leave. We walked back along the path, over the grass and past the river, before returning to the park’s archway that welcomed us an hour earlier.
Even though our walk was done, Spence plans to return to Riverside Park, along with the rest of her family.
“It’s a beautiful city,” Spence said.
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