Black Artists Residency 2025/26

About the Residency

The Black Artist Residency (BAR) is a 7-month artist residency that invites selected emerging to mid-career Black Artists to take part in a residency at LSA’s newly-created artist studios. The artists will have full access to the studios for the duration of the residency, and will have a session with a mentor.

BAR Open Studio

Join us at the studios of our current BAR artists to learn more about their art practices and take in their works in progress!

Details: Friday, February 20, 6:30-8:30PM – artist introductions at 7PM

Location: Lakeshore Arts Studios – 2422 Lake Shore Blvd. W. (Upstairs)

Accessibility: Please note, Lakeshore Arts’ artist studios are located on the second floor of a building with 3 stairs at the entrance, a narrow staircase to the second floor, and non-automatic doors. A bathroom is available on the same level as the artist studios.

Residency Details

Dates: November 2025 – June 2026

Who is this residency for:

Artists for the 2025/25 Black Artist Residency have been selected from a pool of known artists, and previous applicants to Lakeshore Arts’ inaugural Emerging Black Artist Residency.

For more information on the Black Artist Residency, please contact Nadijah Robinson, Operations Manager, at Operations@LakeshoreArts.ca

Meet the Artists in Residence

Amara King (she/her) is a recent OCAD University graduate with a BFA in Photography and minor in Printmaking, and 2025 recipient of the Gallery 44 Emerging Artist Award. At the intersection of experimentation and conceptual practices, Amara engages with a range of mediums to investigate the nuances of being (a)part of the Caribbean diaspora, navigating through themes of belonging, identity, history, culture, and storytelling. Her work aims to implement space for the viewer to engage all five senses, to feel, remember, and immerse oneself within the landscapes we call home — spaces both familiar and ephemeral.

Follow Amara on Instagram: @_amaraking

Kiké Otuije (they/them) is a Nigerian, Toronto-based emerging multi-disciplinary visual artist whose practice is unfolding through mixed-media portraiture that aims to witness, confront and honor the beauty, relevance and layered complexity of themself and their community. Working primarily in charcoal—both a material and metaphor for resilience and metamorphosis —they use mixed-media portraiture to explore, play and attempt to unravel their inner landscape. As a non-binary artist, Kiké’s work also explores and highlights the fluidity of gender and how that echoes the richness, boundlessness and ever-evolving complexity of the human experience.

Follow Kiké on Instagram: @officialkike and @artofkike

Twenty-five years ago, Charlotte founded Wuthering Bites, a café on the Lakeshore in Mimico that focused on the arts and community. With a diverse background in teaching, research and advocacy, and a passion for writing and visual art, Charlotte is thrilled to now be working with Lakeshore Arts as they launch exciting new initiatives for our South Etobicoke neighbourhood. She is especially thrilled to have a unique opportunity to focus on engagement and programming for seniors.

Annie Katsura Rollins (she/they) is a community arts worker, researcher, and puppetry artist. Finding a sense of much needed belonging in community theatre as a young person, she pursued understanding this feeling of connectedness through the arts with degrees in performance (BFA), theatre performance, direction, and puppetry (MFA) and finally a study in traditional lineages of folk puppetry in China (PhD). She concurrently tested this understanding through over 20 years of professional work in art education, facilitation, and community building.

Since moving to Toronto in 2017, Annie has worked in the community arts sector and co-founded and co-curates with Concrete Cabaret, Toronto’s only experimental puppet slam. Annie is a professor in the University of Connecticut graduate certificate program in puppetry arts. She believes that having the arts in our everyday lives is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

Sin Tung (Steffi) Ng (she/her) explores the complexities of Asian immigration experiences through curation, writing and photography. Interweaving these three artistic practices, Ng seeks to build site-specific exhibitions, public programs and installations that amplify marginalized voices and make space for joyful encounters across diverse cultures. Her works have been featured at the DesignTO 2025, Xpace Cultural Centre, Unit 270 and the Graduate Gallery.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Sin Tung/Steffi is currently based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her recent interests include AI image-making of demolished architectures, long-distance friendships and Japanese city boy fashion.

Revital Weiss is a queer Jewish arts worker who believes in the transformational power of the arts. Revital works with artists to develop socially-minded arts programming for marginalized communities. She also advocates for opportunities for emerging artists, particularly BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, and incarcerated/formerly incarcerated people. Revital has co-curated and supported arts projects at Neilson Park Creative Centre, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, FENTSTER Gallery, and King Heritage and Cultural Centre. Revital holds a Master of Museum Studies. In a past life, Revital was an urban planner.

Black Artists Residency 2025/26

Crimson & Craft: Seniors Art Connect

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Steffi Ng

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MY REASON FOR SERVING ON THE BOARD…