Community Arts Celebration
March 15 – 16, 2008
Winspear Centre
Sir Winston Churchill Square, in the heart of Edmonton’s Arts District
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE
The Community Arts Celebration is a two day event, March 15-16, 10am-5pm, that profiles and celebrates unique culture in a festival of art, exhibitions presentations and performances, with a concluding Celebration Showcase at 6pm on Sunday, March 16. There will also be a Mini Symposium in the form of presentations and panel discussion on Saturday and Sunday morning, 10am – Noon.
The themes for the Mini Symposium are:
- Art for All: Creating Opportunities for Artmaking (Saturday, 10am-Noon)
- New Alliances: Perspectives on Community Art (Sunday, 10am-Noon)
(more details below)
Details of the Events
Background
The Community Arts Celebration grew out of the projects funded through Edmonton Cultural Capital’s Community Arts grant program, Cultural Collaborations: Voices Less Heard.
Throughout the two days, 10am – 5pm, the work of artists from new communities will be profiled in various locations within the Winspear Centre. This is a walk about event and has the feel of an indoor festival. The artwork and installations, presentations, displays and performances reflect many cultures and the collaboration of many different community groups and artists. Many of the artists, but not all, are immigrants. Some are new to Edmonton while others have been here for some time.
Walk about Festival of Art, Exhibitions, Presentations and Performances: Some Highlights
Saturday, March 15
10am-noon, in the all ages events area
Nimama: AlterNatives present Aboriginal stories and crafts,
followed by public participation in making a quilt.
11am-11:30am, in the screening area
Veiled Voices, screening of a film by Shabnam Sukhdev about
the traditions of East Indian Women living in Edmonton.
11:30am-12:15pm, in the performance space (third floor)
Brown Bag Choir, present a selection of songs set to music
by Diane Ellery from poems by Alyssa Hudson. The words portray
immigrant stories of courage, adventure, challenge and joy.
12:15pm-1:15pm in the screening area
Machos: Journey to Self Discovery with Immigrant Men, a
DVD screening and display.
1pm-2pm, in the Studio Theatre
Struggle to Survive, drumming and DVD screening of a story
drama about immigrant refugee youth, conflict, cultural diversity,
death and grief.
1:30pm-2:15pm, in the screening area
Celanese Workers Commemorative Project, presentation of a
DVD that shows members of the Celanese workforce reflecting on the
impact of their plant in East Edmonton.
2pm-3pm, in the all ages events area
World of Story: The Stranger Who Snored, multilingual story
and performance.
2:15pm-3:15pm, in the performance area (third floor)
GeriActors and Friends, an intergenerational theatre group
perform original work.
3:30pm-4:30pm, in the Studio Theatre
Songs from the Avenue: A Musical Showcase
Paul Bellows, Barry Westerlund and Joe Bird play and sing original songs
inspired by the history and happenings on Edmonton’s Alberta Avenue.
3:15pm-3:45pm, in the screening area
Tales from the Inside Out, Display of text and movement, inspired
by people living with mental health.
3:30pm-4:15pm, in the performance area (third floor)
Shift in Progress, presentation and talkbackfrom The Not
So Comic Book project─youth illustrators create a new comic
book based on their experiences in the workplace.
4pm-4:45pm, in the screening area
Words of Exposure, a selection of readings and talkback from
the artists of Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival.
Ongoing over Saturday and Sunday:
Exhibits and Visual Art Displays (self tour)
Struggle to Survive, display of materials illustrating the process of this movie project, a story drama about immigrant refugee youth.
Tales from the Inside Out, display oftext and movement project, inspired by people living with mental health.
Bissell Centre Mural Project, “Family Mural” produced by Ian Mulder for the renovated Bissell Centre East, part of a larger cycle of murals involving the Bissell Centre Community.
Art for the Chinese Library, an installation of work from the Chinese Community.
SACRED:Voices from Darkness into Light, samples from a multimedia project in progress that brings awareness to eating disorders.
Celanese Workers Commemorative Project, a display illustrating the history of the communities built by the workers of the Celanese plant.
The Not So Comic Book, Youth illustrators create a new comic book based on their experiences in the workplace.
One Heart/One Voice, Immigrant artists in all media create works with support from the Nina Haggerty Centre and the Multicultural Health Brokers.
Sunday, March 16 (Highlights)
10am-noon, in the all ages events area
Nimama: AlterNatives present Aboriginal stories and crafts followed
by public participation in making a quilt.
12noon-1pm, in the screening area
Veiled Voices, screening of a film by Shabnam Sukhdev about
the traditions of East Indian Women living in Edmonton.
1pm-2pm, in the performance area (third floor)
The Story that Brought Me Here, readings
by immigrant writers and poets. Alice Major will introduce this event
with a few words from her new book The Office TowerTales.
1:15pm-2pm, in the screening area
One Heart/One Voice, a presentation by immigrant artists.
2pm-3pm, in the Studio Theatre
A Must-Be: Maskihkiy Maskwa Iskwew─“MASKWA” (Medicine
Bear Woman), emerging Edmonton-based Aboriginal theatre company, Old
Earth Productions, perform from their play in progress and discuss
process. The play addresses issues about Aboriginal mothers
and daughters affected by the penal system, institutionalism and intergenerational
abuse.
2pm-2:30pm, in the screening area
Making and Performing Our Stories: Rising Sun Theatre/SKILLS.
A video documentary about the making of a play created by people with
developmental disabilities, facilitated by theatre professionals.
2pm-2:30pm, in the all ages events area
World of Story: The Stranger Who Snored, multilingual story
and performance.
3pm-4pm, in the performance area
Songs and Stories of our Filipina Grandmothers: The Seamstress
A contemporary performance of short stories, told through song and music,
in the Saruelle tradition.
3:30pm-4:30pm, in the Studio Theatre
The GWG Project: Piece by Piece, a presentation of a new work
in progress with video and songs, depicting the experiences of workers
at the once flourishing, now closed GWG plant in Edmonton. Original
composition by folk artist Maria Dunn with research by Catherine C.
Cole.
Sunday: Main Lobby
The Workus Project, artist Memi Von Gaza and
the Alberta Worker’s Health Centre are creating a ‘circus
tent,’ shown in progress, that serves as a mobile visual and audio
installation of workers’ experiences. Activities at this
site throughout Sunday.
Community Arts Mini Symposium
In addition to the walk around festival aspect there will be morning presentations and panel discussions led by special guests and experts in the field of community arts.
Community arts are not always easy to define and in many ways, perhaps, the strength of this fast growing area lies within the potential of the term. Community art can, for example, encompass art activity emerging from particular cultures, locales or heritage groups, and can includes wide variety of genres in traditional, contemporary and public art─as well as social and community conventional professional arts practice. Those agencies and professional artists working in this field are closely involved with the community members creating work, and with the ‘stories’ coming from a particular local group/culture. This material is then represented through the arts. Michael Etherton, a guest presenter from England, stresses that “there is a depth of analysis in the work, which brings out a recognizable quality in terms of content and immediacy of the issues.”
Saturday, March 15, 10am-noon
Theme: Art for All: Creating Opportunities for Artmaking.
Each presenter will speak for about 15 minutes on their topic, giving
examples of their work and how they work. This will be followed
by panel discussion and questions.
Featured Speakers: Paula Jardine (British Columbia), Mervin Jarman (England/Jamaica) and Sophia Yaqub (Edmonton)
Paula
Jardine will speak to the topic, The Persistent Invitation.
The focus of Paula Jardine’s work has been to revive and redefine
community arts and the artist’s role in the community. She
is an innovator in public art development and her presentation is based
on her extensive experience in creative leadership and community building. Drawing
on examples from very large scale participatory art spectacles and her
involvement with the renowned Public Dreams Society, she will
speak about the ways in which artists must connect with authentic, immediate
impulses in the community, and thus stimulate genuine and real response.
As the founding artistic director of the Public Dreams Society, Ms. Jardine’s most visible achievement is the introduction of Lantern Processions as a community art form in Canada. She is best known for her initiation of the Illuminares Evening Lantern Procession, and the Parade of the Lost Souls, both popular annual events held in East Vancouver, involving hundreds of volunteers and artists, and attended by thousands.
Recently she was artistic director of Dance! Victoria’s Community Dance Project, which culminated in Dance Encounters on summer solstice on the cliffs and shoreline of Dallas Road, Victoria. She is currently Artist in Residence at the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. Paula Jardine was born in Edmonton, where she lived, studied and worked. She is an experienced traveller and currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia. www.vancouver.ca/allsouls
PHOTO CREDIT: Deddeda Stemler
Mervin
Jarman will speak to the topic, Getting Real, Getting it Done
Marvin Jarman, currently working between Jamaica and England, is active
with community groups worldwide. He will explore how bold action
is needed to create authentic art making opportunities for under-served
communities. Using examples from his famous Container Project, he will
talk about ways in which artists can stimulate community-owned projects
that serve both material needs and creative impulses. Mervin is
a community arts activist, interactive multimedia designer, human computer
interface expert and core member of the Mongrel Collective, based in
England. Mongrel is an internationally recognized artists group
specializing in digital media. “We are well known for our
pioneering art projects including the first on-line commission from the
Tate Gallery, London. Combined with this we usually work with marginalized
peoples who are on low incomes, socially excluded and cultural minorities.”
Marvin Jarman describes himself as a particular kind of mongrel – a
new breed of street art-hactivist emerging in new media and technology. Mervin’s
theory on art is that “art is life” hence his life is his
only claim to being an artist, and his art is a total expression of his
life. His engagement with technology as a tool for empowerment
and intervention stems from his experiences both in Jamaica and London.www.container-project.net www.mongrelstreet.org
Sophia Yaqub will present: A Case Study of Women’s
Creative Networks
Sophia Yaqub is a community leader in Edmonton and will speak about the
process of helping to secure a place for women to create craft, explore
language and culture, and build community. She will illustrate
her presentation using a brief case study of the Multicultural Handicrafts
Training and Friendship Centre.
Sofia has a long history of community involvement in Alberta, and has
served on many Boards, including the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers,
Pakistan Canada Association of Edmonton (where she served as president),
Indo Canadian Women’s Association, and was a founding member of
the Islamic Family and Social Services. She is currently president
of COIN, a non-profit charitable organization whose mandate is to undertake
primary health and education projects in developing countries, focusing
on women and children.
Sophia is a volunteer teacher with the Alberta Vocational School, an
ESL instructor and a substitute teacher and is the chairperson of the
Multicultural Handicrafts Training & Friendship Society where she
is responsible for the operation of programs for women, seniors & youth. Over
many years Sophia has been involved with refugees and actively engaged
in outreach work on their behalf. She has been involved in federal
politics and was campaign chair for former Member of Parliament, David
Kilgour. Sophia has received several awards of recognition including
the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and Centennial Award for community service. She
was Alberta’s Centennial Ambassador in 2005. Sophia has resided
in Alberta for over 33 years with her husband, 3 children and, more recently,
her mother.
Panel Moderator: Devora Neumark is an interdisciplinary artist currently living and working in Montreal, who integrates societal concerns into her work.
Sunday, March 16, 10am – Noon
Theme: New Alliances: Perspectives on Community Arts
The presentations will show how outreach and art projects with non-mainstream
members of a ‘cultural community’ can create profound change.
Featured speakers: Michael Etherton (England), Xstine Cook & Stephanie Hawking (Calgary), and Wallis Kendall (Edmonton)
Michael
Etherton will speak to the topic, Theatre Development and Child
Rights
Drawing on extensive work and practice with youth around the world, Michael
Etherton will show how theatre (incorporating video and art), can become
a powerful tool for establishing children’s rights, and explores
their role in creating positive change for their communities.
Michael Etherton has worked for international NGOs in both Asia and Africa in Development since 1988. Before that he worked in universities and colleges in Africa and the United Kingdom. He is the author of The Development of the African Drama, Hutchinson, 1982; Contemporary Irish Drama, Macmillan, 1988. He is now a trainer of child rights in development and drama; and lectures in universities on macro-economics, development and rights. His work on Child Rights Theatre for Development is written up in “South Asia’s Child Rights Theatre for Development”, in Theatre and Empowerment: Community Drama on the World Stage, [Boon & Plastow, editors] Cambridge University Press, 2004. Michael is the Guest Editor for African Theatre Number 6: Youth and Performance, James Currey, 2006. He is also the joint Guest Editor for Research in Drama Education Special Issue on Impact Assessment Volume 11 No.2 Carfax Publishing, June 2006.
In addition to his work in theatre, he is also a consultant for agencies working with children and the elderly in management of rights-base programs in development and emergencies, and has most recently been involved in tsunami relief and reconstruction among the destitute elderly in South India and Sri Lanka.
Xstine Cook and Stephanie Hawking will speak to the topic,
Developing
Arts Projects and Creating Alliances in Marginalized Communities
Xstine Cook and Stephanie Hawking will talk about the remarkable journey
of a large-scale public art project, Spirit of the White Buffalo that
involved cross-cultural collaboration and active outreach, to an incarcerated
population.
Xstine
Cook is the Artistic Director of Calgary Animated Objects
Society (CAOS), and Curator of the International Festival of Animated
Objects, a biennial ten-day festival of mask and puppetry in Calgary. A
co-founder and former Co-Artistic director of Calgary’s Green
Fools Theatre, Xstine was a major creator and performer in that troupe’s
original mask, puppet, and stilt productions from 1991 to 2004. She
managed the troupe for many years in tours around the province, country
and globe, and many of Xstine’s large puppets and stilt figures
still appear at provincial and national festivals.
A mask and puppet maker for over 20 years, Xstine studied mask and puppetry
in Bali, Italy, France, California, and the West Coast of Canada. She
works with papier mache, fabric, and mixed media to create puppets from
very small scale to giant figures. Xstine trained at the Dell’Arte
School of Physical Theatre in California, and worker as a performer and
designer on several Dell’Arte International productions. Xstine
was Project Leader on Spirit of the White Buffalo, CAOS’s
community kinetic sculpture created with artists, Aboriginal youth and
people in jail. Spirit of the White Buffalo won Best Western
Theme at the Calgary Stampede Parade, Most Original Float at Peigan Indian
Days, and was awarded for Innovative Business Practices by the Rozsa
Foundation.
www.animatedobjects.ca
Photo credit: Sean Dennie
Stephanie Hawking’s passion is dance, a deep love of our people, and an appreciation for all Indigenous cultures. With over 15 years of experience dancing women’s fancy, jingle, and traditional, she is also a noted clown dancer on the Powwow trail, and was an invited performer for the 2005 Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Hamilton, New Zealand. Her formal education includes an Associates Degree in Native Studies and Policy from Langara College and University of Lethbridge, and RCMP training for victim-offender mediation. Stephanie has worked on program development on and off First Nations in BC and Alberta, has spearheaded event planning and coordination, notably on the Ghost River Rediscovery 2005 Public Engagement Project. Stephanie has worked as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer in the Drumheller Institution. Stephanie is a Cree Metis from Drift Pile and Fort Chipewyan.
Wallis
Kendal will speak to the topic, The Importance of Basic Access
to the Arts
Wallis Kendal is the co-founder and guiding artist of ihuman,
an innovative arts centre for street youth, in the downtown core of Edmonton.
Edmonton.
Wallis Kendal states that his life has been a creative odyssey. He is a writer, artist, street worker, teacher, and traveler. Armed with a 1969 BEd from the University of Alberta he embarked on a series of adventures that ranged from writing a children’s book published by Viking in New York, to creating the Gun Sculpture project with fellow artist Sandra Bromley. In 1998 they founded the ihuman Youth Society─an innercity sanctuary where youth can tell their stories through their music, painting, breakdancing, fashion, and poetry.
Wallis Kendal has received numerous honours and awards including the City of Edmonton Salute to Excellence Arts Award(2000), Time Magazine - Canadian Edition (2005), Canada's Heroes Recognition, and the University of Alberta Alumni Honour Award (2006). He states: “Everyday brings new encounters, mystery and the unexpected. I embrace the philosophy of unconditional acceptance, and the idea that everyone is a unique individual and therefore must always be treated as an individual. In this moment and time, I believe there is a creative renaissance about to explode. Driven by the atomic pace of the 21st generation, it will illuminate and interpret the changes that are redefining both nature and society.”
Moderator: Oliver Kamau, Youth Coordinator with the Northern Alberta Alliance on Race Relations (NAARR).
In Jamaica he was frustrated by the lack of opportunities that existed for a young man in the street. His struggles to broaden his experiential being prompted him to migrate to London, where he got his first taste of computers and new media.
Mervin’s most recent project is The Container Project, a 40-foot shipping container that has been customized with donated and salvaged computers and converted into a mobile media arts lab. The container is currently in the small rural village of Palmers Cross, Clarendon, Jamaica, and is scheduled to visit various communities throughout the island. The Container Project is the first physical manifestation of the mongrelStreet – this is a representation of the idea of giving others the means to turn their situation around by working productively with media arts tools. It’s about fostering the creative abilities and redistribution of values as it affects our situation. The Container Project seeks to provide accessible spaces to new technologies for marginalized urban and rural communities linking them to their heritage and cultural backbone. It has a simple basis: It’s an open access learning environment for new and old users of media arts technology.
Child Rights Theatre for Development in South Asia and Africa
The methodology and the approach of Theatre for Development with children
and young people, which is sometimes referred to as Child Rights TfD,
runs counter to much of the theatre work that development agencies
sponsor which uses scripted theatre to give audiences messages that
advocate changes in behaviour. This kind of formal or street
theatre for development projects has been shown to have little lasting
impact on the target audiences, let alone on the wider community from
which these audiences have been drawn. Although well-scripted
and well-acted plays can immediately affect the audiences watching
them, changes in attitudes and behaviour do not follow. Audiences
sympathize with the victims; but social change is not the result of
emotional response. The social problems that the theatre is meant
to resolve are complex and not susceptible to simple solutions that
are usually advocated by message-driven plays. Impoverished
young people intuitively understand – better than we adults do.
Child Rights TfD tries to understand, alongside groups of young people, the complexity of their peers’ problems. It does this by handing the creative process over to the young participants. Examples from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal – in South Asia – and in Angola, Burkino Faso and Lesotho – in Africa – show how they are trained through improvisation and drama devising techniques to make their own very good dramas. These dramas are always provisional, not complete, and constantly revised and extended through dialogue with the audience.
Training in Child Rights TfD divides the time equally between learning new skills in making good dramas, and developing skills of analysis. Examples from workshops describing how the participants determine, through the training process, what are the key issues for them that need to be analyzed and re-created in a performance. The young participants also determine who their eventual target audience will be; and how they can use the impact of the performance and discussions with the audiences to negotiate with the key decision-makers in community, to plan strategies for change.
It is important for the young people themselves to become key evaluators
of the process and learn the appropriate skills in assessment. What
kind of impact are they trying to measure? When can they expect
to see social change? Are they measuring their children’s
and young people’s participation in the community decision making,
as well as significant changes in the community? When do they know
they have made a change for the better?
MJE January 2008
Sunday, March 16 at 6pm
Celebration Showcase
The Celebration Showcase is just over an hour in length and consists of a variety of spotlight performances derived from larger works, and projects in progress. All are supported through the Edmonton Cultural Capital Program’s Community Arts Grant Program: Cultural Collaborations – Voices Less Heard.
Doors open at 5.30pm, Enmax main performance hall, Winspear Centre, general seating, no ticket required.
The Celebration Showcase Program will include:
Songs From the Avenue
Terry Morrison, James Murdoch, Jason Kodie, Paul Bellows (set one), joined
by Scott Peters and Chris Wynters (set two), present songs written by
the performers that bring to life the history of Alberta Avenue (premier
performance).
White Cats
Bill Damur and friends perform music of a jazz style, inspired by stories
from Alberta Avenue.
Struggle to Survive
Diversity of culture is represented in potent and dynamic images with
soundover and voice. Extracted from a movie in progress about immigrant
refugee youth, conflict, death and grief. The three minute vignette
is prefaced by a short energetic movement piece with drumming and song.
Zephyr: World Beat/Heart Beat
French Canadian legend portrayed through dance, theatre and music. Twelve
dancers take to the stage under the direction of Isabelle Laurin.
Brown Bag Choir
Many corners of the globe, ages and cultures are represented in this
community choir. They will sing The Shape of Trees,
set to music by the choir’s artistic director, Diane Ellery.
The text is from a poem written by Alyssa Hudson, based on the experiences
of male chorister, Toshiaki─from Japan, now working as an artist
in Edmonton.
Veiled Voices
A brief excerpt from a film in progress by Shabnam Sukhdev that unveils
the traditions of East Indian Women living in Edmonton.
World of Story: The Stranger who Snored
Twenty different languages are represented in the multilingual retelling
of this famous folk tale. The dynamic and colourful choral chain recitation,
brings alive many cultures and experiences.
Songs and Stories of our Filipina Grandmothers: The Seamstress
A contemporary performance of a short story, told through song and music,
in the Saruelle tradition.
A Must-Be: Maskihkiy Maskwa Iskwew─“MASKWA” (Medicine
Bear Woman).
Emerging Edmonton-based Aboriginal theatre company, Old Earth Productions,
perform a five minute scene from their play in progress which addresses
issues about Aboriginal mothers and daughters affected by the penal system,
institutionalism and intergenerational abuse.
GeriActors
GeriActors and Friends, an intergenerational theatre group present
snapshots of their work together.
Exposure
Kristy Harcourt will perform a short spoken word piece from 2007’s
Loud and Queer, part of the inaugural Exposure Festival. Kristy
will share with the audience the often poignant and hilarious moments
that make up life in the not for profit sector.
Piece by Piece: Maria Dunn
Edmonton folk artist Maria Dunn performs an original song portraying
experiences of the workers at the GWG plant in Edmonton.
An invitation to all Edmontonians
The Celebration Showcase is a free event and takes place March
16 at 6pm at the Winspear Centre. The performance is 75 minutes
in length and is followed by a post show reception and ‘meet and
mingle’ with the showcase artists. This is the concluding
main event of the Edmonton Cultural Capital Program. An invitation is
extended to everyone to attend this free event, and be part of the Community
Arts celebration March
15-16, 2008 at the Winspear Centre, in the heart of Edmonton’s
Arts District.
If you require more information on events of the Community Arts Celebration, including the Celebration Showcase and the Mini Symposium, contact the Edmonton Cultural Capital Program office at 497-2336. Please note that we request you pre register for the Mini Symposium. Call Chrystal at 497-2336 or email: chrystal@edmontonculturalcapital.com
Knowledge Circles for Community Arts Workers
There will
be five opportunities for professional development and peer to peer learning
over the weekend. These sessions will be guided
by a moderator. If you are working in community arts or involved
in this area and would like to attend one of the following sessions,
please contact:
Pamela Anthony at 439-8624
Email: pamela@edmontonculturalcapital.com
Saturday, March15, in the Founders Room at Winspear Centre
1pm: Intergenerational
Arts with moderator, Sharon Cherweniuk
3pm: New to Here: The Immigrant Artist with moderator,
Jim Gurnett
Sunday, March 16
1pm: Building Connections: Community Arts Process with moderator,
Jan Selman
3pm: Finding Common Ground: New Collaborations, moderator tbc
1pm-2pm: Labour Arts: Workin’ It. This Knowledge
Circle will be held in the All Ages Area (Area A).
