Artists in the Schools Residency Program
March 4-15, 2013
154 students

The grades K-8 students and teachers at Beautiful Savior Lutheran School recently spent two weeks with Sue Proctor. Sue, who has performed as a mime, clown, and storyteller for over 30 years, brought her “Dramatic Story Creation” program to the school.

The students of BSLS study awareness and appreciation of various countries in their Social Studies Curriculum. This year, the students spent a week studying France. The artist and students created stories incorporating elements of French culture and folklore. The students had great fun exploring pantomime and mime techniques, which they then used to stage their stories.

 “Awesome!”… “Really fun!”… “Make it longer!” …”Let’s do drama again!”… Grade 7 & 8 students

The teacher’s responses were just as enthusiastic. Teachers thought they would be able to use many of Sue’s story-creation techniques and drama activities in their own classes.

“It was as though she had hidden ‘PD’ for the teachers in her plan.”…. Kristine Klatt (Grade 1/2 teacher)

At the end of the two week residency, the students performed their plays for their parents and friends at the school’s Family Country Night. Sue really enjoyed working with the students and teachers of Beautiful Savior Lutheran School.

“I was asked to perform by the parent council on their Family Night and, so Pierrot the clown performed with the students and even did the Harlem Shake!”

Click here for more on Sue Proctor

10 artists in residence | May 27 until October 6

10 free events | park visitors and residents gain a rare glimpse into how new works are created through “Meet the Artists” series

CLICK HERE for more information

(Note: MAC is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Joshua Pearlman – Meet the Artists Series

Doug Melynk – Meet the Artists Series

Artists in the Schools Residency Program
February 5 – 8 2012

Jessica McMann-Sparvier brought her Storytelling through Hoop Dance workshop to École Dugald School in the town of Dugald, located seven minutes east of Winnipeg. During this one-week workshop, students in grades K-8 learned hoop-dancing moves, focusing on creative movement based on animals and the Cree language.

The workshop emphasized healthy living while having fun and learning about the original intents and purposes of the traditional hoop dance. The students actively participated in cardio workouts and proceeded to some simple hoop dances, learning step-by-step how to use five or more hoops.

“Jessica gave the class an excellent workout, promoting fitness and a healthy, active lifestyle. Students really enjoyed learning a few hoop-dancing moves and learning a bit about First Nations cultures,” commented Liz Torchia, a teacher involved in the project.

The students liked the dramatic play of using the hoops to act like different animals. Students’ comments included, “Really, we’re gonna learn to do that? Wow!” and “I liked pretending to be a turtle!”

Jessica stated that a highlight of the week was “hearing the kids talk about the teachings, stories and language in the halls, and having the kids be so eager to speak Cree and get excited about environmentalism, water, and language.”

Click here for more on dancer Jessica McMann-Sparvier

• William Burke – Carson Nattrass*
• William Hare – Cory Wojcik*
• Rae – Gordon Tanner*
• Knox – Doug McKeag*
• Margaret – Heather Madill
• Helen – Jaclyn Kurceba
• Thomas – Nyk Bielak
• Fergusson – Murray Farnell
• Mary/Ensemble – Emma Stefanchuk
• Abigail/Ensemble – Dora Carroll
• Janet – Mallory Schellenberg
• Ensemble – Mitch Krohn
• Ensemble – David Fox
• Ensemble – Taras Luchak
• Ensemble/Fiddler – Elena Howard-Scott

THE CREATIVE TEAM:

• Director – Sharon Bajer*
• Playwright – Joseph Aragon
• Musical Director – Andrew St. Hilaire
• Choreographer – Kimberley Rampersad*
• Lighting Designer – Eric Bosse
• Multi-Media Designer – Ryan Schultz
• Stage Manager – Melissa Novecosky*
• Assistant Stage Manager & Props – Heather Lee Brereton
• Keyboard II – Paul De Gurse
• Apprentice Choreographer – Jillian Willems
• Executive Producer – Jeffrey Kohut
• Costume Coordinator – Gerri Stemler
• Costuming provided by Harlequin Costume

*appears with the permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association

Click here for more on White Rabbit Productions.

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an early version of parallel can be viewed here:

Visual artist Alejandra Diaz Roman spent several weeks collaborating with students at George McDowell School in the neighbourhood of St. Vital in Winnipeg’s south end. Together they created Alebrijes, brightly coloured Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. Various presentations and hands-on projects were also included in the workshop, incorporating the use of recycled and reusable materials. The end of the project cumulated in a fiesta, where students participated in working with traditional decorative design and enjoyed Mexican foods they helped to prepare.

“The goal of the project was to allow the students to understand the relationship between colour and its importance in art, design, history, traditions, and foods of Mexico, and establish similarities and contrasts with their own country and culture. The creation of an Alebrije was an enjoyable process that enriched the students’ learning.” – Alejandra Diaz Roman

The project and students’ written reflections on their work were included during parent evenings held at the school. A hands-on centre was also available for parents to see the process evolve in the classroom. “Many warm comments and smiling faces were observed as the sharing of successful work took place.” – George McDowell School April Bear Facts newsletter

“The project had good connections to the curriculum outcomes and was enjoyed by the students, parents, and staff. The class did work together to build community and develop communication skills to express their thoughts and feelings, both verbally and in writing.” – Jason Schneider, Amber Britsky, Dana Cormier (teachers involved in the project)

The project often made the monthly George McDowell School April Bear Facts newsletters:

February 2012
March 2012
April 2012

More on Alejandra Diaz Roman

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The 2013 recipients are: David Bergen, Grant Guy, Keri Latimer, J.J. Kegan McFadden, Nicky Mehta

CLICK HERE for more information on the artists.

David Bergen is the author of seven novels and a collection of stories. In 2012, his novel The Matter with Morris, an intimate portrayal of a grieving man in mid-life, was short-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His novel The Time in Between won the Giller Prize in 2005. In 2012, he published The Age of Hope, a “potentially optimistic” novel that follows, in unadorned prose, the life of an unadorned woman.

project description  Bergen will be working on a novel called In the City of S., which features three characters: an itinerant in the manner of Cornelius Suttree, a prostitute, and a detective. These three overlapping lives are guided by the contingencies of need, poverty, greed, love, and grace. The story takes place in, of course, the city of S., which will be recognized as a mid-sized Canadian city in the centre of Canada.

Grant Guy, founder and artistic director of Adhere and Deny, is a director, designer, playwright, curator, video producer, performance artist, and writer. His credits with A&D are The Bedbug, Three Sisters: A Still Life, Woyzeck, Paradise Lost, Still Walking, The Telephone, Found and Lost, and The Grand Inquisitor.   Guy has also worked for the Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Projects Manitoba, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Theatre Calgary, Shakespeare in the Ruins, and Stratford Festival. In 2004, Guy was named the third recipient of the Manitoba Arts Council Arts Award of Distinction. 

project description  SACCO & VANZETTI, a work incorporating puppets, shadow theatre, actors, projections, and music, is a retelling of the facts and legends of the famous trial of the two Italian immigrant anarchists (1920-27).  SACCO & VANZETTI will extend Guy’s work into the realm of Theatre of Mixed Means (Expanded Theatre).

Keri Latimer is a composer, songwriter, and musician living in Winnipeg, whose music is heard in films, on television and radio, and on international stages. Projects she has contributed to include the Academy Award-nominated film Frozen River by Courtney Hunt, the Juno Award-winning album, Key Principles with her group Nathan, and the upcoming short film Only Dream Things by Guy Maddin.

project description  Latimer will be composing Singularity: Songs for the Theremin, a series of works for the theremin, an electronic instrument that is played without being touched. The series will be based on the idea of merging man and machine, in which society’s obsession with information and technology will be juxtaposed with its desire for serenity, simplicity, and spiritualism.

Nicky Mehta is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose solo career, and backup and ensemble work have made her a highly respected musician on the folk/roots scene. As a solo artist and founding member of the double Juno Award-winning, Billboard-charting trio
The Wailin’ Jennys, she has toured three continents over the last ten years, garnering critical acclaim and a devoted fan base.

project description  Mehta will be writing an album of lullabies for people of all ages, inspired by the vast Manitoban landscape. She will explore ideas of human connectedness to landscape, highlighting the wisdom and comfort one gleans from recognizing oneself as part of the natural world. It will be an album of deceptively simple melodies with a gentle exploration of our place in the cosmos.

Click to hear the music of  Nicky Mehta:

Begin
Music Composed by Nicky Mehta
Lyrics Written By Nicky Mehta
Performed by The Wailin’ Jennys (Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody & Annabelle Chvostek

Away But Never Gone
Music Composed by Nicky Mehta
Lyrics Written by Nicky Mehta
Performed by The Wailin’ Jennys (Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody & Heather Masse)

What Has Been Done
Music Composed by Nicky Mehta
Lyrics Written by Nicky Mehta
Performed by The Wailin’ Jennys (Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody & Heather Masse)

J.J. Kegan McFadden has spent the last ten years developing a hybridized practice as a writer, publisher, curator, and artist. Having toured exhibitions to public, university, and artist-run galleries throughout Canada and beyond, he has also contributed critical and creative texts for publications through various galleries as well as reviews for national magazines.

McFadden is currently on a one-year research leave from his position as Director/Curator of PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, a role he has developed since 2007.

project description  During his leave from PLATFORM, McFadden will be dedicating his time to the project of researching and categorizing a ‘school’ of contemporary photography indicative of the work produced by Winnipeg artists over the last 30 years. Research material will be collected through studio visits with practising Manitoba artists, study of the origins of the Department of Photography at the University of Manitoba School of Art, and interviews with critics, historians, and curators familiar with this history.

Click to read:

Notes on Systems, with Winnipeg in Mind by J.J. Kegan McFadden, Commissioned by CV2 (2013)

Larry Glawson’s home bodies 2008, a response by J.J. Kegan McFadden (co-published by PLATFORM and As We Try & Sleep Press)

By Evelyne de la Chenelière, translated by Morwyn Brebner
March 14 – 24 2013 at the Rachel Browne Theatre

Bashir Lazhar is the acclaimed English translation of de la Chenelière’s exquisite, humanistic and topical play about a substitute teacher helping a traumatized middle school class in the wake of his own path through violent upheaval. Dispensing with conventional teaching methods, he tries to prepare his students for an unpredictable world.

Bashir Lazhar is a story concerned with the language of loss, the process of grieving and the things that compel us forward when our world is no longer recognizable. It is a celebration of survival through love.

In 2011 the play was adapted as a film entitled Monsieur Lazhar. It won the City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian Film, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film & won a Genie for Best Canadian Motion Picture.

Artistic Team

Director: Ann Hodges
Bashir Lazhar:  David Adams
Lighting Design:  Hugh Conacher
Sound Designer: Chris Coyne
Set & Costumes Designer: Joan Murphy Kakoske
Stage Manager: Ivory Seol

Click here for more on Theatre Projects Manitoba – Community Outreach for Bashir Lazhar.

Click here for more on Theatre Projects Manitoba.

(Note: MAC is not responsible for the content of external links.)