February is Black History Month, a time for celebrating the history, culture, impact and excellence of Black Americans and the broader African diaspora.

This year’s theme selected by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the founders of Black History Month, is “African Americans and the Arts.”

“In the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression, the African American influence has been paramount,” the ASAALH wrote in its announcement of the theme. “African American artists have used art to preserve history and community memory as well as for empowerment. Artistic and cultural movements such as the New Negro, Black Arts, Black Renaissance, hip-hop and Afrofuturism, have been led by people of African descent and set the standard for popular trends around the world. In 2024, we examine the varied history and life of African American arts and artisans.”

Art created by Black artists, musicians, choreographers, photographers and writers enrich the North Country arts landscape. Today is the last day of Black History Month, but the celebration of Black history can — and should — extend past February.

Here are just a few of many Black North Country-based artists to know and support:

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Dexter Criss

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Dexter Criss is a Morrisonville resident who currently serves as a professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at SUNY Plattsburgh.

He’s also artistic director of the SUNY Plattsburgh College Gospel Choir, which was created by SUNY Plattsburgh students, including Zadine Richardson, in 1991. The group’s first performance was at a memorial ceremony for students whose lives were lost while protesting in the Kent State and Jackson State university shootings in the 1970s.

Criss joined the gospel choir in 1999 as a pianist and in 2001, became the choir’s artistic director. He’s not alone in his musical endeavors: Criss’ wife, Barbara, is a soloist and sings soprano, Criss said. His daughter, Danielle, is a praise leader who sings tenor. She’s also the current gospel choir student advisor.

“My beloved son Dalton played drums and was on the step team during his lifetime,” Criss added.

Dalton Criss was a beloved Peru High School student and musician who passed away in a car accident while driving to a summer camp in Saranac Lake in 2019.

“After the death of my son Dalton, I wanted to disappear from music,” Criss said. “The very thing in my life which gave me overwhelming joy, now pained my spirit to its core. But I found solace in the old hymns of the church which helped to pull me through. The very last song that Dalton played drums on with me was ‘I’m Still Holding On’ by Luther Barnes. Barbara led that song angelically that night. No one listening to the choir knew that in two days, Dalton would die in a car accident and that Barbara would be severely injured as well.”

The world is better for Criss’ dedication to music and his craft. He has brought music to so many parts of the country throughout his life — with performances in Memphis, Boston, Chicago and New York, to name a few — but he sees one of his greatest achievements in a performance at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2019, which he called “ground zero” for Brown v. Board of Education.

This school was where — after the historic 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision, which called for the desegregation of schools and declared the segregation of schools to be unconstitutional — nine Black students were enrolled and became the first Black students to attend the school in 1957. The state’s governor attempted to use the Arkansas National Guard to aid segregationists as they sought to block the students from attending; then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower was then forced to federalize the national guard and order them to protect the students — called the “Little Rock Nine” — seeking to go to school.

He was introduced to gospel singing and the broader Baptist church culture by his parents, Johnny and Bobbie Criss, who he considers his greatest inspiration.

“My father during his lifetime managed a local quartet group, The Stuttgart Harmonizers,” he said. “He was responsible for the booking and financial part of the group. I was always amazed how eloquently he spoke to people both on and off stage. I also recall the long rehearsals at our home and how each one of those singers dedicated themselves greatly to the group. It did not matter if they performed to 12 people or 1,200, they gave all they had to inspire the audiences. Looking back on it now, my mom was my first voice coach. She truly knew how to instill harmony singing to my brothers and I.”

His parents sung to him and his brothers while they were growing up in Stuttgart, Arkansas. As he grew, he sang in church choirs, musicals, concerts and school plays.

“I am very convinced that having both that oral tradition mixed in with a formal pedagogy prepared me greatly for leading a college gospel choir,” he said.

For many years, there have been discussions in the world of art about representation and what it means to developing artists. Criss said that in his childhood, he did not know that his diverse public school was not the norm everywhere, and he feels that perhaps he took it for granted.

“Thanks to so many wonderful open minded people in my hometown, myself and others were able to sing in any group, play in any band and land great acting parts in plays and musicals,” he said. “The Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir is perhaps one of the most inclusive and diverse groups in this area. We truly have members from all walks of life whether it be age, race, gender you name it … we pride ourselves on representation of all cultures and backgrounds. But if you catch any plays, musicals or concert choir performances you will see that everyone, regardless of their station in life, are excelling here at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Music and Arts programs.”

To young Black artists and musicians looking to share their work with the world, Criss suggests being honest with yourself and striving for excellence daily.

“Practice your craft often … daily, if you can,” he said. “Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who value your hard work. As artists, we are the passion that fuels the world so we are important.”

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Tiffany Rea-Fisher

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Tiffany Rea-Fisher currently leads the Adirondack Diversity Initiative as its executive director. Some residents may not know that before joining the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Rea-Fisher was the first woman of color to head the Lake Placid School of Dance. She’s a powerhouse choreographer.

In addition to a citation from New York City for her cultural contributions, Rea-Fisher was nominated for an Audelco award — which honors excellence in African American theatre — seven times in a row, according to the Adirondack Diversity Initiative. She also won a National Dance Project award.

Rea-Fisher is also the artistic director of EMERGE125, a dance company that operates both in the Adirondacks and in Harlem. More information about the company can be seen at emerge125.org.

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Yunga Webb

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Yunga Webb is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at North Country School, a Lake Placid-based private school. She’s also been a member of the Bonner Family choral group, of Salt Lake City, for decades, singing gospel songs alongside her mother Debra, father Harry, three sisters — Nolong, Clotile and Oyoyo — and four brothers, Mauli, Yahosh, Conlon and O/B/A, according to a 2023 profile in the Lake Placid News.

“Performing is who I am,” Webb told the Lake Placid News. “It was through being a performing arts instructor and a theater director that I was able to facilitate diversity, equity and inclusion. Although I will always be a part of the performing arts, I feel like DEI work is done best through something like the arts where you develop empathy and understanding, read about other stories and perform other stories.”

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Dian Bah

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Dian Bah is a Conakry, Guinea, West Africa native and the head of maintenance at North Country School in Lake Placid.

He is the director of Badenyah Drum and Dance, teaches a drumming class and has been performing and teaching for more than 25 years.

Badenyah Drum and Dance can be found on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/22d68hb7.

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Dr. Nell Painter

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Nell Painter is a celebrated North Country-based historian and Princeton professor emerita who earned a Harvard doctorate and Guggenheim fellowship. She’s also an incredible author and artist who combines her knowledge of history, her culture and her unique perspective to create works that truly only she could bring into the world.

Painter’s memoir about her late-in-life career change from historian to artist, “Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over,” is available through the Clinton-Essex-Franklin library system, can be ordered through local bookstores and can be purchased online. Her website, where readers can learn more about her work, can be seen at www.nellpainter.com.

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Winosha Steele

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Winosha Steele is a Bronx native and SUNY Plattsburgh graduate who joined Saranac Lake ArtWorks last year as a developing artist. She participated in the group’s mentorship program.

Steele was raised in Antigua. Her work “draw(s) inspiration from her Antiguan heritage,” and is “boundary-pushing, yet deeply personal,” according to her website, winosha.com.

Steele created a series called “Educate Yourself,” which explores the history of racism and the resiliency of the Black community. This can be viewed at winnieawesum.wixsite.com/winoshaart/educate-yourself.

Black History Month gives us an occasion to celebrate and highlight Black history and voices — not an excuse to ignore them the rest of the year. Let the end of this Black History Month be a launching off point to learn more about, and support, the Black artists who make the North Country art scene what it is.

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this editorial incorrectly said Winosha Steele was raised in Antigua Guatemala; she was raised in Antigua. The Enterprise regrets the error.