Queering Black History 2011 Recipient: Faith Nolan
Read more about the Queering Black History Campaign and past recipients
Faith Nolan

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Faith Nolan is an award-winning singer-songwriter, film producer, and ardent advocate for social justice. Her music and politics are one in the same, both firmly entrenched in her experiences as a queer woman of African, Miq Maq, and Irish heritage raised in the working-class neighbourhood of Regent Park, Toronto. These experiences have instilled in her an immutable commitment to social justice education and to the eradication of oppression in all its forms.
Currently, Nolan is Founder and Director of numerous women’s choirs, including the Central East Correctional Centre Singers (Lindsay, ON), Central North Correction Centre Women’s Singers (Penetang, ON), Sistering Singers (Toronto, ON) for homeless women, and the Singing Elementary Teachers of Toronto. Alongside these and other musical projects, Nolan has produced a film about women in prison entitled Within These Cages. This film is emblematic of her tireless efforts to increase understanding of the links between poverty and incarceration, drawing explicit attention to the disproportionately high number of poor women—especially poor women of colour—in Canadian prisons.
Nolan’s artistic work is a testament to the capacity of music to serve as a powerful tool for cultural and political expression. In January 2010, her accomplishments earned her the African Nova Scotian Music Heritage award. Over the course of her career as a musician, she has recorded fourteen albums, the most recent of which, Hang on CUPE, was released in 2009.
Website: www.faithnolan.org
Email: faith@nexicom.net
Gigs and thangs Feb.2011: February 2011
FEBRUARY 14th ALL OUT to the RALLIES across Turtle Island END the murders and disappearance of over 563 + women
Feb 10th Fraser Valley Jail ( Native Sistahood ) Dissapeared Murdered Women NO MORE SILENCE
FEB 11th Friday, February 11 -- Night of Music at W2 (151 W.Cordova) w/Bitterly Divine, Murray Porter, Faith Nolan, Little Hawk & more. Doors at 7 p.m. Given limited space, event is for the DTES community only. We invite DTES agencies wishing to reserve free tickets for their members to email us at
endingviolence@bwss.org.
Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 8:00pm
Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway, Vancouver, 8 pm, Doors 6 pm Rhizome Cafe Vancouver ( Benifit for JOINT Effort - women in jail support group)
Feb 14th Rally / March "NO MORE SILENCE "HIGHWAY OF TEARS " Vancouver
Monday February 14 -- 20th Annual Womens Memorial March. Noon in Carnegie Theatre for families, friends, and DTES residents, 1 p.m. March starts at Main and Hastings -- all welcome.
FEB. 17th - OISE with Elementary Teachers of Toronto Student Conference