Diaspora Dialogues

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Nuit Blanche 2014

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Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is happening next weekend: Saturday, October 4 from 7 pm to the early hours of Sunday, October 5. Once again, we are excited to be a part of this fun night of contemporary art exploration.

Please join us for our installation Goodnight Storytime where we invite audiences to relive their childhood bedtime story experiences—or create new ones in adulthood—by relaxing on floor mats in a soothing atmosphere while having stories read to them hourly by Toronto’s writers and performers.

Among the readers/performers are: Rebecca Applebaum and Ananad Rajaram, David Celia, Marjorie Chan, Karen Connelly, Cherie Dimaline, Marcia Johnson, Alvis Parsley, Deepa Shankaran, Andrea Thompson, and more!

When: October 4-5; 7 pm–7 am
Where: Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street @ Queen West

Writers from the Underground

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Photo by Beautiful Blackbirds Photography

Join us to explore the secret Heritage Room, a crypt-like space underneath the Metropolitan United Church where few Torontonians have ventured. As part of this special Doors Open Toronto presented by Great Gulf celebration, we’re allowing you access, and we’ve invited our own crew of writers and poets to haunt it with underground-themed readings and talks throughout the day.

Look for appearances by acclaimed authors Lillian Allen, David Bezmozgis,Wayson Choy, Karen Connelly, Anthony De Sa, Marina Nemat, Shyam Selvadurai,Ann Shin, Antanas Sileika, Farzana Doctor, as well as a roster of writers from Diaspora Dialogues’ mentorship programs. They’ll read excerpts from their works, as well as selections of works that have been censored or banned, both at home and abroad, and speak about underground writing. Gain access to this secret subterranean space in the Metropolitan United Church, and stop in for the aural unearthing of works—formerly or currently—buried by repressive governments, schools, and religious organizations the world over.

Emerging writers include: Sanjay Talreja (2012), Deepa Shankaran (2013), Mia Herrera (2013), Hawa Yusuf (2014), Alvis Choi (2014), James Papoutsis (2014),Pratap Reddy (2012), Jo Simalaya Alcampo (2014), and Mollie Coles Tonn.

When: Saturday, May 24
Time: 11 am–4 pm
Where: Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen Street East
Cost: Free!

905 Road Show Recap

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Thank you to everybody who came out and all our participants of the 905 Road Show!

The Road Show was a hit, and we loved venturing out to the 905 neighbourhoods, which were all so welcoming. Our first stop was in Brampton at Davis Campus, Sheridan College. The evening was full of talent with readings from Ian Williams and Sarah Tsiang, including students from the Creative Writing Program; musical entertainment by guitarist Jarek Dabrowski and Musical Theatre students who performed Broadway numbers; on the spot art by visual artist Tazeen Qayyum; stand-up comedian Zabrina Chevannes brought the house down with the final performance.

The most unique aspect of the evening was seeing Tazeen create her art piece in real time projected onto the screen onstage alongside everybody’s performances. We were all impressed by the flawless performances and the upbeat energy of the performers and audience.

Photo by Faisal Anwar

The next stop was at Guilty Dog Coffee House in Mississauga for an intimate gathering of writers and poets, as well as lightening up the mood at the end with some laughter brought to us c/o Zabrina Chevannes. We appreciated how the writers, poets and musician Robert Ross set the stage by sharing the inspiration behind the pieces they’ve decided to share with us. Anupa Mistry took it a step further by inviting her brave parents to the show as she read a non-fiction piece about her teenage years and her parents’ influence. Luckily, the story was very heart-warming and revealed that her parents are individuals separate from the many titles they carry.

Our final destination was in Newmarket at Covernotes coffee and tea house. We, along with the audience members, thoroughly enjoyed the intimate setup of coffee houses, which provides a warm, welcoming and cozy feel like you’re being entertained in the privacy of your own home.

Visual artist Henna Kim started the evening off by sharing one of her art pieces from her collection I Come to the Garden Alone (2009).

Local writer Mollie Coles Tonn did a fantastic job hosting the evening at one of her favourite spots in Newmarket. Anna Yin and Keith Garebian returned for another night reciting their very touching and powerful poetry. Spoken word artist Sheniz Janmohamed composed a piece about her frustrations of having to answer the question of “where are you from? ” which she shared showing that she comes from a lot of different places: Canada, Kenya, India; and that there is no simple one answer destination. The evening was broken off into segments with readings and musical performances by musician Steve Porter and grade 11 student Kyle Sarjeant.

The combination of different art forms coming together was a real treat and we hope to bring this format to other neighbourhoods in the future.

Lexicon Resurrected

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Earlier this fall, we participated in the highly successful Scotiabank Nuit Blanche premiering our installation Lexicon. Thousands of Torontonians dropped by and wrote poems based on a twenty-word lexicon taken from TOK: Writing the New Toronto. Audiences were engaged and had fun with our interactive installation, where people stepped into the spotlight and shared their personal works.

Building on this momentum, we will be bringing this project to a community near you!

Lexicon is a community cabaret, where we are inviting patrons to use the same twenty words that gave rise to the poems created at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche to co-produce—alongside spoken word artist Andrea Thompson, musician David Celia and actors Beryl Bain and Ash Knight—a one-of-a-kind multi-media presentation about how language informs our sense of community.

Hosted by Rhoma Spencer.

When: Wednesday, November 20; doors open at 6:15 pm
Where: Daniels Spectrum, Artscape Lounge, 585 Dundas St. E.
Cost: Free!

When: Thursday, November 28; doors open at 6:30 pm
Where: S. Walter Stewart Library, Auditorium, 170 Memorial Park Ave.
Cost: Free!

When: Thursday, December 5; doors open at 7 pm
Where: Assembly Hall, 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr.
Cost: Free!

Actors at the events appear with the permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

It’s a Wrap—Lexicon, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

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On Saturday, October 5th from sunset to sunrise, we celebrated contemporary art at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. And, boy, was it an exhilarating night with thousands of Torontonians roaming the streets to revel in artistic expression.

We opened the doors at the majestic Metropolitan United Church located in the heart of Toronto by Queen St. E. and Church St. Our installation, Lexicon, invited audience members to share short poems about the city using words taken directly from our anthology series TOK: Writing the New Toronto. We saw over 15,000 people come through and share what they love, hate, feel about this diverse metropolis.

Throughout the night, participants were surprised by performances that include spoken word, theatre and music, where performers interacted with the audience who were invited to share the stage. We were delighted by the brave guests who stepped up to the open-mic and read their own poems or others’ poems whom they felt inspired by.

All in all, it was a fantastic and successful night where Torontonians let us into their creative side and opened up collectively speaking in one poetic voice reflecting the mosaic culture this great city has to offer.

Early morning when everyone has finally cleared out, and the church is once again peaceful.

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