SPECIAL INITIATIVES 2015 - 17

Four Lands of Regina

Four Lands is a Jumblies Theatre touring project hosted by partners across Canada. It aims to bring communities together for an exploration of relationships to place, asking: How can we learn more deeply about the places we live? What is available to the senses and what can be reached through memory, history and imagination? How do different people who share the same land experience it differently?  At the heart of this project is a reflection on how an individual experience of place depends on a number of factors, including that person’s culture, age, work, wealth, health, pastimes, relationships, histories, and life experience. In encouraging communities to probe these differing and converging realities, Four Lands is aiming to make complex and difficult questions accessible, while sparking curiosity and understanding. 

In November 2017, Common Weal and partners brought together diverse community members for Four Lands of Regina. Visiting and local artists led participants of all ages and backgrounds in considering their communities: what they like, want to change, remember, have learned, wish for, and imagine. Then, participants were assisted in bringing to life their own “lands” through drawings, miniature models, text, music, conversation, and performance. These miniature worlds were grouped under the categories of Goodland, Badland, Lostland, and Dreamland. Four Lands of Regina included additional activities including artist talks, community group visits, and final presentation and celebration.

Focus on Home

Focus on Home explored the stories of seven Regina residents, offering powerful insight into a world many never see. This participatory photojournalism and writing project engaged individuals experiencing serious challenges related to affordable housing and homelessness. Safe, affordable housing is a basic need; an essential part of the framework that is necessary for a stable and healthy lifestyle. Participants generously shared their circumstances in photos and written narratives, under the guidance of project artists. Their work was later curated into an exhibition shown at the Regina Public Library Central Branch with additional exhibitions at St. Mary’s Anglican Church and YWCA’s Coldest Night of the Year event.

Two stories, in particular, stood out for us. Joanne spoke of when she would take refuge under the Albert Street Bridge, often sleeping there despite the cold weather. From time to time members of the local police would pay her a visit to see if she was okay, and bring her coffee and a bag lunch. Rocky took us on a tour of Wascana Park, showing us the sites she featured in her photographs. When asked why she took so many photos of the park, she pointed out various bushes where she would sleep or hide her possessions during the day. These stories highlighted the desperate and often dangerous circumstances that many individuals are relegated to in order to stay alive.

Power of the Arts National Forum

Executive Director, Risa Payant, travelled to Ottawa in November 2017 to participate in the Power of the Arts National Forum, co-organized by the Michaëlle Jean Foundation and Carleton University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The event brought together artists, arts professionals, researchers, business leaders, policymakers, urban planners, architects, youth leaders, and health practitioners from across the country. The event aimed to be a “true focal point of collaboration, new strategies, and research focused on using the arts for social change all across Canada” through the sharing of best practices and common experiences in socially engaged art. The theme of the forum was Sustaining Social Change. Highlights from the week included hearing from youth leaders and recipients of the 2015 National Fresh Voices Artivism Awards and breakout sessions with case studies on community projects across Canada.

Generating Momentum

Generating Momentum is an activist leadership training camp for youth ages 18 to 35 that focuses on educating, training, and organizing around social and environmental justice issues, and giving youth the tools to make meaningful change in their communities. Camp organizers reached out to Common Weal asking: How can arts-based engagement at camp lead to increased empowerment of youth leaders and activists? Our artists developed a model that used activities, scenarios, and prompts to support the sharing of diverse perspectives, examine responses to conflict, and brainstorm tools for social change. This was done by creating an experiential workshop space with a less rigid structure than past camps. Instead of teaching “to” participants, facilitators served as hosts to an experience and carefully guided people through it, all while providing space to debrief and ask questions along the way. The experiential nature allowed participants to realize how the skills and knowledge they already possess are of value to their communities, and reinforced the idea that there is a role for everyone in community organizing.

Performing Turtle Island

Spearheaded by Dr. Kathleen Irwin of the University of Regina and Dr. Jesse Archibald-Barber of First Nations University of Canada and supported by more than 30 partner organizations, Performing Turtle Island brought together established and emerging scholars and artists in the form of a national symposium on how Indigenous theatre and performance are connected to Indigenous identity and community health.

Common Weal was pleased to present a keynote address from nationally and internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist of Cree and Saulteaux heritage, Margo Kane. Her work is socially empowering and has emerged from physically-based exploration of story using techniques that cross cultural and creative boundaries. This keynote was made possible with generous funding from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan.