DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 20

Oh hey October!

Fall is here, sweater weather is around the corner and we are into the second month of our mentorship program! We also rounded off September with an appearance on New Theory Radio on Sauga 960am. We joined host Nav Nanwa to theorize about diversity in newsrooms, Mattel's gender-neutral dolls, and the Superbowl halftime show. Take a listen to the full show here. 
 
Meet the Didi: 
Raji Aujla has been immersed in art and culture for most of her career; from journalism to cultural curation and launching Willendorf Cultural Planning. Here she tells us about what inspires her, what Willendorf means to her, and her advice for her fellow Didis. 

What inspired you to pursue a career where you could incorporate your creative side?
It was an accident. Political science and social justice inspired my initial career decisions. Arts and culture kept forcing itself into my career but I didn't think that there could be a career in what I was doing leisurely. It took years for me to surrender to the opportunities and make a career exclusively in the arts. Having said that, what makes me successful today is not my strategic and creative imagination, it's exercising my business acumen and strong work ethic. 

You've worked as a journalist, a curator, a designer and more. What are some of your favourite projects? 
This is a hard question. In recent times, programming Mustafa the Poet and Gurpreet Chana at this elite arts gala was intrinsically rewarding. In year one, I asked Mustafa the Poet to exemplify the power of partnership between the Daniel Corp. and Regent Park. He was given a three-minute time slot in our runsheet and in year two Gurpreet opened the gala with an eight-minute performance. He was the first POC to open the gala in its 40-year history. It was honestly an amazing spiritual experience. 
Launching Willendorf during TIFF at Mongrel Media's 25th anniversary will always bring a smile to my face. The fact that Mongrel entrusted me with being their artistic director the past few years and allowed me to throw a hip-hop party felt super authentic to who I am. I had Noyz and Zaki Ibrahim perform at Toronto's Georgian heritage building Campbell House Museum — this resulted in a beautiful energy that I think was felt all around. 

What are some obstacles you faced in pursuing a creative career as a WOC? 
The obstacles that I continue to face range from being bullied by female peers to flirtatious advances from authoritative male leaders to being asked to speak on behalf of women of all colours and millennials because I am a millennial brown-skinned woman. The worst is when people underestimate you because you are a WOC, therefore you're either being silenced or exoticized and not paid a fair wage for what your value to the organization is. This doesn't stop so all I can do is build a larger table for my trusted sangat. 

Tell us more about Willendorf: 
My inspiration came from its namesake; a statuette dating back to 28,000 BCE where I fantasize about the potentiality of a matriarchal society. This statue represents the strength of women as it's carved from limestone as well as fertility since she is tinted with red ochre. Willendorf has inspired my thoughts around a matriarchy and the power women have in building and inspiring communities. With all this in mind, my firm collaborates with people and organizations to advance cultural spaces, community programs, ideas that are inclusive, relevant and deliver excellence in the service of society. We apply a gender lens to the work that we do, working closely with a matrix of women, people of colour and millennials. This is important to me because our inclusive processes differentiate us from other cultural resource firms that are largely led by people that don't look like me. 

What is your advice to younger Didis looking to turn their creative passions into a career? 
There are things that I am currently reconciling with as a grown woman and it's the things that I never resolved as a young girl. Primarily that I was raised in an immigrant home, one that held on to Punjabi Sikh traditions that were conservative, followed convention, and misunderstood our culture with religion thereby turning patriarchal beliefs into my childhood upbringing. My advice for the young Didis out there is both complex and simple, defy that shit. I wish I did that inner work earlier to resolve the things from my childhood that remain with me despite how old I got. There has never been a time in our history where there's safe spaces for WOC to follow their creative passion and have a market need for it. Our culture has prevailed in the arts and a big part of that space has been given to men. Women need to rise up and claim it back. Our voice is important and our expression of it, even more so. Our responsibility is to use this time and platforms to serve our genuine self, not the other way around. Using art to create a false reality of who we are and the pressure to maintain that is not worth it. I feel this will inevitably do a disservice to you and your wellbeing.   

What we're watching: 

Canada's first Muslim theatre company makes its Toronto debut with the premiere of SPUN on Oct. 12 at the Meridian Arts Centre. Rabiah Hussain's SPUN is a play about friendship, belonging and South Asian identity in the wake of the 2005 London terror attacks. 

What we're reading: 

Poet Jasmin Kaur released her new book, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going. Her debut novel is a collection of poetry, illustrations and prose. 

— Nikkjit Gill 

Issue 20 
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