Nova Scotians living in or visiting the Gottingen Street area of Halifax will be able to watch movies outdoors when the weather warms in 2016, with the launch on Sunday of the Viola Desmond Outdoor Theatre Legacy Project. The theatre is a lasting memorial to Viola Desmond, Nova Scotia’s first Heritage Day honouree.
"I remember Viola Desmond and her beauty salon. She was an inspiration to the little girls and women in our community well before she stood up for herself in the New Glasgow movie theatre," said Gertrude Jefferies of Empowered Women Blossom. "We want people to know the whole story of how Viola not only changed history, but continually gave back to her community."
A lasting memorial to Ms. Desmond was an important goal of the Heritage Day initiative. No memorial to her existed before this.
In New Glasgow, Viola Desmond said No to racism in a strong, but peaceful way. In Halifax, she continued to inspire young women and people of African descent.
The Viola Desmond Theatre opened on Nov. 8, at Murray Warrington Park to commemorate the date in 1946 when Ms. Desmond sat in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre.
Her early response to racism was also the reason Viola Desmond was chosen at the first honoree of Nova Scotia’s new Heritage Day holiday. She was an entrepreneur, with a beauty shop and school and a line of beauty products especially for Black women. Through these ventures she inspired young women and gave them an option for developing employment skills.
A collaborative effort between Hope Blooms, Empowered Women Bloom and community partners North End Business Commission, the Atlantic Film Festival, Bullfrog Power, and Fowler, Bauld and Mitchell Architects brought the project to fruition. Funding support came from the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage.
The project will be more than just a place to watch a movie. It will be inclusive, inspiring, and community-minded, all traits Desmond herself demonstrated through her beauty business, her determination not to accept unfairness, and her support of young women in her community. Before each movie or documentary shown at the theatre, an inspirational piece on Viola Desmond will be read aloud as part of her living legacy. As well, the theatre will be shared with community groups that want to show a film or documentary.