February 2004 Newsletter

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Joan Patricia Meister, until recently our Board President and a powerful force in the disability movement in Canada. Joan died on January 10th, 2004, after a long battle with cancer.

A community celebration of Joan's life will be held on Sunday, March 7th, 2004 from 1 to 4 pm at the Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph (at Victoria) in east Vancouver. You are welcome to bring a photo, candle or object to help create an expression of our sorrow. In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan's memory may be made to your charity of choice. Call Bridget at (604) 251-5008 or Geoff at (604) 685-3368 for more details.

Here is the text from her memorial service.

Mark September 16th to 19th, 2004 in your calendars and look forward to another exciting celebration of disability arts and culture at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver, BC. It will be a four-day event, similar in format to the kickstART! Celebration in 2001, with oportunities to meet other artists, participate in workshops, view visual art, dance, theatre and comedy, listen to music and generally have a great time! Volunteer teams are forming soon, so let us know if you want to help put on the Festival!

Thanks to all of the artists who submitted applications. The curators and juries are meeting during March and we will be getting back in touch with everyone this month.

We encourage all of our friends – and anyone interested in the disability arts and culture movement – to consider making Vancouver a holiday destination this September. Consider, too, that kickstART2 will be an exciting learning and networking opportunity for artists, people with disabilities, their friends and supporters, and rehab professionals of all kinds! The first event, kickstART!, was simply thrilling, so come and catch the buzz at kickstART2!

The preliminary kickstART2 program will be announced late in March, 2004. Starting May 1st, 2004, you can purchase earlybird Whole Festival or Daily Passes. Prices for passes will increase on June 1st, 2004, and tickets for individual performances and workshops will go on sale August 15th, 2004.

Borg Again: reframing cyborg culture

Co-curators Persimmon Blackbridge and Elizabeth Shefrin identified, through a call to local artists, seven artists with disabilities: Marilyn Cherenko, Philip Davis, S.D Holman, Emma Kivisild, Irene Loughlin (in collaboration with artist Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa), Buz Onezed and Cleo Pawson. Ample gallery space allowed five of the artists to create larger installations, or mini-environments.

Approximately 60 people attended the opening reception at the Pendulum Gallery. We were fortunate that American humourist David Roche was in Vancouver for other purposes, and agreed to act as MC for the evening. Background music was provided by local live p.a. artist Mek, accompanied by violinist Kytami. Irene Loughlin and Archer Pechawis also performed “Synthetic Happiness” within Ms Loughlin’s installation. A solid crew of volunteers helped us to mount what we felt was a great opening night.

High speed: Photos of December 11 opening and Movie of David Roche

Slower speed: Photos of December 11 opening  .  Curators' Statement

The exhibit ran from December 11, 2003 to January 17, 2004; please see our website for comments from people who visited the show. Pictures of the exhibit will also be up on our website in the near future. An artist/curator talk was held at the Gallery Gachet on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004, at which Irene performed solo.

Thanks to the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Vancouver Foundation, City of Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs, the BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation for their support of this successful endeavour.

Movement Workshops

The last of three “Cyborg Movement Workshops” with Helen Walkley will take place on Sunday, March 14th at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver. After some warmup and trust-building exercises, the half-day session will explore a cyborg (human/machine hybrid) theme. The workshop will serve as research to develop an original movement/theatre production to premiere at the kickstART2 Festival of Disability Arts and Culture in Vancouver, September 16-19, 2004.

The workshop will take place at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street in Vancouver, on Sunday, March 14, 2004 from 12 noon to 5pm. People with disabilities and teachers or dance artists interested in the potential of integrated dance are invited to participate. The workshops will be informative and fun for anyone regardless of their interest in cyborgs or in performing!

Please register ahead of time and arrive at 12 noon to process your workshop fee; sliding scale $5 to $25. The workshop begins at 12:30. Wear clothing you can move in and bring a snack for the break. To register or for more information, contact Geoff at 604.685.3368 or email info@s4dac.org

Thanks to the Province of BC, the Herman Bischoff Foundation, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation for supporting this series of workshops and the Cyborg Project.

People Moving

The Society for Disability Arts and Culture, in partnership with Vancouver’s The Dance Centre, the Victoria Dance Series and Victoria’s Excalibre Dance, is pleased to present "People Moving - towards an integrated learning culture for dance”, a series of free, professional development workshops and public forums to build practical skills and debate issues around dance for students with disabilities.

People Moving workshops will take place in Vancouver on Friday, February 20 and in Victoria on Sunday, February 22. This integrated, full-day course for experienced dance practitioners (artists, teachers, workshop leaders) is designed to explore practical ways of creating an environment where individual learning can prosper. It will be led by two distinguished dance teacher/artists (Jo Parkes and Kelly Davidson) from London, England.

Sorry, the workshop is full. However, details about a public presentation by the visiting UK artists, about their work in community dance and working with integrated dance companies in England and in Ethiopia, will be announced at a later date.

S4DAC joins the Victoria Dance Series in thanking the following supporters for their contributions in making these events possible:
Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, British Council, Capital Regional District, The Chris Spencer Foundation, The Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation, Magnolia Hotel, The Dance Centre, Excalibre Dance Studios and Thrifty Foods.

Personal Information Protection

As you may know, BC’s Personal Information Protection Act came into effect on January 1, 2004. S4DAC respects your privacy, so when we collect addresses for our mailing list, that’s what we will use the information for. We won’t share the info or sell your name and address to an outside group. Anyone who handles this personal information has read and agrees to our Professional Code of Conduct and Confidentiality Policy. For more information, call Lorna Boschman, our Privacy Officer at 604.685.3368. If you don't wan't to be on the mailing list, just let us know and we will take your listing from our records. If you want us to correct your address, contact the office.

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