Whose Show Is It Anyway? Community-Engaged Performance and Exhibition Arts in the Small City
PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS (PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH TRU’S CANADIAN STUDIES AND WESTERN CANADA THEATRE) INCLUDE:
Monday, March 23, 3:30: “George Ryga: Playwright”—Ken Smedley and James Hoffman (talk). 5:30: Gallery Exhibition Opening of “Rita Joe: Words and Images (Visual Arts Gallery, TRU), with performances by Erin Hoyt and Melanie Bilodeau, and reading from Rita Joe featuring Emily Flynn, Deanna Necan, Tabitha Schooner, Robin O'Reilly (TRU Theatre Students)
Tuesday, March 24, 1:30: Screening of Ryga’s Indian, followed by Panel Response from John Jules (Cultural Resource Management, Kamloops Indian Band), Lori Marchand (Western Canada Theatre), Nathan Matthew (Thompson Rivers University), and Laura Michel (Secwepemc Cultural Education Society). 7:30: “Rita Joe: Then and Now”—Panel on Aboriginal Theatre, Then, Now, and Tomorrow (The screening and the panel will take place in TRU’s International Building)
Wednesday, March 25: “Creating Rita Joe”—Greg Doran on Script Development of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, (International Building)
CONFERENCE EVENTS
Thursday, March 26: Whose Show is It, Anyway? Conference Begins with Panel Sessions Starting at 2:00 p.m. Reception at 6:00 p.m., followed by Keynote Panel on “Directing, Producing, Creating Arts in the Small City”
Friday, March 27: Whose Show is It, Anyway? Conference continues, with Keynote Address at 9:00 a.m., followed by Panels, Roundtables, Participatory Exhibition, and Performances. Dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by Performance and Presentation by Cathy Stubington (from Enderby’s Runaway Moon Theatre Arts Society)
Saturday, March 28: Keynote Panel and Discussion on Community-University Alliances led by Martin Segger at 9:00 a.m., followed by Workshops, Artwalk, and lunch at Arnica Artist-Run Centre
CONFERENCE SESSIONS: PANELS, ROUNDTABLES, EXHIBITIONS, AND PERFORMANCES
CONFERENCE DAY 1
Registration: Noon – 6:00 p.m., Panorama Room, 3rd Floor, International Building, Thompson Rivers University
Session 1
Thursday, March 26, 2:00 – 3:15 (Panorama Room, 3rd Floor, International Building)
“Personal Experiences, Life Writing, and Community Engagement.” Shirley McDonald, University of British Columbia – Okanagan.
“Crossing Cultures and New Frontiers: Recent Works by Sandra Semchuk.” Eileen Leier, Thompson Rivers University
“Whose Show is it Anyway? Belle Sauvage and Buffalo Boy’s Wild West Show.” Susan Buis, Thompson Rivers University
“Untold Stories: The Role of Art and Artist in a Woman-Centred Qualitative Research Project.” Ila Crawford, Thompson Rivers University
Session 2
3:30 – 5:00 (Panorama Room, 3rd Floor, International Building)
“Using Primary Research as Part of the Investigation of Cinema-Going Behaviour in British Columbia.” Ron Smith and Lara-Rose Duong, Thompson Rivers University
“Telling Their Own Stories to Themselves: Nova Scotia Acadians Commemorative Celebrations in the 19th and 20th Centuries.” Dr. Caroline-Isabelle Caron, Queen's University
“Reclaiming the Re-enactment: The Twelfth Jewish Children’s Commune or Cups For All!” Ruth Howard, Jumblies Theatre
“Assume Nothing: The examination of New Social Practices through the current exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.”
Lisa Baldissera, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
5:00 – 6:00 BREAK & Student Research Poster Exhibition
6:00 – 7:30. Reception. Wine & cheese; a generous assortment of hot appetizers. No host bar. (Panorama Room, 3rd Floor, International Building)
Session 3
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Panorama Room, 3rd Floor, International Building)
Keynote Panel on “Directing, Producing, Creating Arts in the Small City: Engaging the Community.” Annette Hurtig, Kamloops Art Gallery; Kathy Humphreys, Kamloops Symphony; Alan Corbishley, Living Arts; Ted Little, Concordia University; Samantha MacDonald, Western Canada Theatre; Derek Rein, Project X; Mike Youds, Kamloops Daily News. Moderator: James Hoffman
CONFERENCE DAY 2
Friday, March 27, 9:00 a.m. Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Keynote Address (Performing Arts):
"For Better or for Worse: Community Engagement and the Iconoclastic Imperative"
Edward (Ted) Little, Professor, holds a BFA (acting and directing) from the University of Victoria, an MA (Canadian Drama) from the University of Guelph, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His areas of specialization include Intercultural, Community-engaged, and Popular Theatre forms. Dr. Little has directed and served as consultant on numerous large and small-scale projects across Canada, and his list of publications includes articles, reviews, and chapters in Canadian Theatre Review, alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage, Modern Drama, Theatre Research in Canada, Contemporary Issues in Canadian Drama, and The Theatre of Form and the Production of Meaning. Dr. Little is also Associate Artistic Director of Teesri Duniya Theatre, an innovative Montreal-based company with an intercultural mandate that combines mainstage productions, new script development, community-engaged theatre projects, and publication of alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage - Canada’s only theatre magazine providing a forum for news and views about intersections between politics, cultural plurality, social activism, and the stage.
Interactive Art Project, All Day, Entrance to Grand Hall
Friday, March 27, 10:15 – 11: 15, Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Session 1
“Cultural Development in Rural and Remote Areas.” A Roundtable featuring Nancy Duxbury, Simon Fraser University; Terry Kading, Thompson Rivers University; Heather Campbell, Creative City Network; Robin Reid, Thompson Rivers University; Ken Blackburn, Campbell River Arts Council; John O'Fee, City of Kamloops.
Moderator: Barbara Berger, City of Kamloops
Friday, March 27, 11:30 – 12:45, Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Concurrent Session 2 (Grand Hall, Meeting Room 1)
“A ‘Community’ is not a Singular Thing: How Operational Strategies Helped to Accommodate a Plurality of Contrary Voices in the Development and Production of a Small Town Play.” Will Weigler, University of Victoria
“Unusually Relevant Theatre: The (Undisciplined) Case of Edmonton’s Walterdale Playhouse.” Robin C. Whittaker, University of Toronto
"We’re All In This Together: Negotiating Collaborative Creation in a Play About Addiction.” Savannah Walling, Vancouver Moving Theatre
“Småstadskänsla: Fostering Engagement Through Culture in a Small Swedish City.” Ross Nelson, Thompson Rivers University
Concurrent Session 2a (Grand Hall, Meeting Room 2)
“Community-Based Theatre in the Small City: Towards a Model of Engagement Indicators.” James Hoffman, Thompson Rivers University
“Part of the Big Show: A Small City’s Media Representation of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.” Yaying Zhang, Thompson Rivers University
“Fusing: Live Art and Socially Engaged Practices as Resistance Institutionalization.” Anthony Schrag, Independent Artist, Glasgow
12:45 – 1:45 LUNCH served in the Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Friday, March 27, 1:45 – 2:45, Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Session 3
“Fields of Walking”: A Dialogue with Artists, Planners, Geographers, and Philosophers.” A Roundtable led by Ernie Kroeger (Visual Arts), Laura Hargrave (Visual Arts), Tom Waldichuk (Geography), Bruce Baugh (Philosophy), Thompson Rivers University; Lea Bucknell (Visual Arts and Geography), Thompson Rivers University; Erin Felker, Transportation Planner, City of Kamloops
Friday, March 27, 3:00 – 4:30, Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Session 4
“Theatre-University Intersections: What Can be Learned?” Ginny Ratsoy and Erin Hoyt, Thompson Rivers University,
Lori Marchand, Western Canada Theatre
“Thinking Big in the Small City: Arts, Academia, and the Question of Peripheral.” Gary Pearson and Sarah Burwash, University of British Columbia, Okanagan
“Staging Community: Engaging Off-Site and Alternative Spaces.” Kym Pruesse, Ontario College of Art and Design
“Arnica Artist Run Centre: Public Engagement in a Small City.” Ray Perreault and Elaine Sedgman, Arnica Artist-Run Centre
Friday, March 27, 4:45 – 5:30, Grand Hall, Campus Activity Centre
Session 5
Keynote Address (Visual Arts). Bruce Barber will speak on the “Newcomer Artist Project.” Barber is an internationally known artist, writer and curator and Professor in Media Art, Historical and Critical Studies. He received MFA degrees from the University of Auckland and Nova Scotia School of Art and Design University and a PhD in Media and Communications from the European Graduate School. Barber’s interdisciplinary studio work has been represented in major international biennales, with solo and group exhibitions in cities on four continents. His interdisciplinary and media work is documented in Reading Rooms (Halifax, 1990) as well as several major books and catalogues. Barber is the author of Trans/actions: Art, Film and Death (2005) and Performance [Performance] & Performers (2007); editor of Essays on [Performance] and Cultural Politicization (1983) and Conceptual Art: the NSCAD Connection 1967-1973 (1992); co-editor, with Serge Guilbaut and John O’Brian, of Voices of Fire: Art Rage, Power, and the State (1996). His critical essays and reviews since 1972 have appeared in numerous book anthologies, journals and magazines. Barber’s artwork is included in various private and public collections in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Poland and the United States.
Abstract: Anecdotal reports suggest that immigrant artists to Atlantic Canada, especially those who have not enrolled in University or College art programs, often encounter difficulty in obtaining acceptance and legitimation for their creative endeavours. The Newcomer Artist Project is a research project with a practical component designed to test this assumption through providing a professional group exhibition opportunity for recent immigrant artists who are settling into Atlantic Canada. The Project is designed to ascertain whether immigrant artists are confronting difficulties in acceptance for their work in the conventional venues—galleries and artist run centres and through grant agencies—and if such an exhibition may provide opportunities for networking, social integration and cultural legitimation.
6:30pm – 8:30pm Dinner
Hosted Dinner and Special Presentation, Old Kamloops Courtbouse
Friday, March 27, 6:30 - 8:30pm: We will move down to the historic Old Kamloops Courthouse for a delicious meal catered by the Brownstone Restaurant.
Music by Tina Hebner, guitarist.
Friday, March 27, 8:30 – 9:15: Special Presentation by Cathy Stubington (from Enderby’s Runaway Moon Theatre Arts Society) with assistance from Varrick Grimes.
“Every Which Way: A retrospective of ten years of Community Based Arts in Enderby and District, in the Shuswap Territory.”
Since the Enderby and District Community Play which took place in May 1999, Runaway Moon Theatre Arts Society has been exploring the possibilities for creating a common culture of this place. While the exploration has been consistent, every project has been different, each taking a unique approach to engagement and the role of the artist. Cathy Stubington will be leading us through this Interactive/performative session, along with Ontario/Newfoundland based associate Varrick Grimes who has been guest director for the more recent projects.
CONFERENCE DAY 3
Saturday, 9:30 – 10:30, March 28, International Building, Rm. 1010
Keynote Panel and Discussion on Community-University Alliances
Featuring Martin Segger, University of Victoria—with Will Garrett-Petts, Thompson Rivers University; and Rob Schoen, Kamloops Regional Historica Committee and the Canadians and Their Pasts CURA
Saturday, 10:45 – 12:00, March 28, International Building, Rm. 1010
“Community-Engaged Public Art in Smaller Communities”
Roundtable Discussion featuring Bruce Barber, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design; Annette Hurtig, Kamloops Art Gallery; Adelheid Mers, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Ruth Howard, Jumblies Theatre; Lisa Baldissera, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Moderator: Craig Willms, Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday, 12:30, March 28, Arnica Artist Run Centre (Downtown):
The Arnica Open Studio Society is a non-profit artist-run centre located in the heart of downtown Kamloops, B.C. at 232 Victoria
Hosted lunch + Artwalk
(Workshop participants’ lunch will be served at 12:30pm in the Panorama Room.)
Saturday, 1:30 – 4:30, March 28, Rooms TBA
WORKSHOP 1: "Conversation Mapping and Collaborative Live Diagramming as Tools for Community Communication"
Workshop Leader: 
Adelheid Mers is an Associate Professor in the Arts Administration and Policy program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she also teaches in the Art History and Criticism, Visual and Critical Studies, and Sculpture Programs. She serves on the editorial board of WhiteWalls and was recently hired by the City of Chicago as an artist/consultant to facilitate effective community discussions.
Workshop Focus: Increasingly, group leaders, community organizers, conference conveners and policy developers employ artists to visualize group conversations on site, both between professional peers and among diverse stakeholders in a community. Metaphor, pictorial language, and diagramming have become exciting tools to visualize issues, map group dynamics and facilitate the flow of conversation.
This workshop will feature a series of examples from the workshop leader’s own practice and will explore how those same live diagramming techniques can be introduced into community settings to map group relationships and facilitate effective collaborations. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own case studies, example scenarios, for immediate experimentation and discussion.
Workshop space is limited; please register early if you wish to participate.
SATURDAY WORKSHOP 2: "Storytelling Our Lives: Including Immigrant Communities in the Performing Arts"
Workshop Leader: Lina de Guevara is the artistic director of PUENTE Theatre, in Victoria BC. Their 
mandate is to use theatre to explore the immigrant experience. The theatre company has been in existence since 1988, and they have a long history producing plays and other events to create bridges between immigrants and the mainstream. In 1996 they produced "Sisters/Strangers," the first community play in BC about immigrant women. Since then they have produced four versions of "Storytelling our lives," another community play that toured different cities in BC. In addition to these specific community play productions PUENTE Theatre has produced over 20 plays dealing with different aspects of the immigrant story.
Workshop Focus: The workshop will work with participants on how to create plays that include the immigrant community in the performing arts. The immigrant community has so much to offer, while at the same time it has many challenges to overcome, such as language and cultural barriers, isolation, culture shock, traumatic experiences, and so on. PUENTE Theatre has dealt with those challenges and found exciting solutions that the workshop will explore through discussion, role playing and the use of workshop videos produced by PUENTE.
Further information about PUENTE Theatre can be found at their website www.puentetheatre.ca, where you'll locate information about the company, photos and video excerpts of their work, and other relevant material.
Workshop space is limited; please register early if you wish to participate.