Halifax artist aims to make markets more accessible, inclusive

A Halifax artist who is queer and disabled is working to make markets and pop-up stores more inclusive and accessible for people like her.

Kayti Baur is the founder of Different Folks, a new organization that aims to put on artisan markets that are accessible to vendors and customers who are disabled, and are also welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

"I think a lot of underrepresented groups have this culture to them, like deaf culture and queer culture, that really could be more exposed and brought to the forefront," Baur told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Nova Scotia.

"By just bringing those vendors together and letting them showcase their art and letting people come into a welcoming environment."

Baur is an artist herself, having studied textile arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design after high school.

She later turned to science, studying epidemiology in school, until a medical emergency forced her to leave that position.

"I kind of found my way back to art, and I started out as a vendor at artisan markets," she said. 

"Then slowly I sort of navigated through a few hoops and noticed that there were a lot of similar vendors [to me] at similar events and there wasn't a lot of space dedicated to particular communities."

She wanted to change that.

Now, she works with markets to find accessible locations that are sensory friendly, have ramps for people who use wheelchairs and extra space. Her organization also hosts its own markets and pop-up shops.

Baur said there have been some accessibility challenges, since Halifax is an older city, but her organization works through that.

"We're as accessible as possible and if you need something, we will go out of our way to find it for you," she said.

"It's not that other vendors and other marketplaces aren't willing to do that if you bring it up, but we just want it to be very at the forefront so that people are feeling comfortable right off the bat and feel welcomed and feel like they belong in this space."

Baur said she also wants to make markets more inclusive for the LBGTQ community, outside of just Pride Month.

It's important to see queer representation in all spaces, especially as the United States passes a slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation, as New Brunswick reviews its gender-identity policy in schools and as Pride flags are vandalized across Canada — including in Nova Scotia, she said.

"We're hoping that we can just provide a safe space for queer people, but also a safe way to interact with the community if you're not familiar, to just come in and see what goes on in our daily lives," she said. "It doesn't all have to be dances and parades."

Baur said the organization held its first Pride market that hosted only LGBTQ vendors at the Halifax Brewery in April.

She said it was also accessible, and the organization received "really encouraging feedback."

"We get both vendors and the public's opinion on what would be best," she said.

" … And of course, I have a disability, but I don't have every disability, so you need a lot of input so that you can get everything to be as accessible as possible for the most people."