GROUNDS FOR GOODNESS DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE:
Adventures in digital community art making
A virtual residency with Jumblies Theatre & Arts
October 30 - November 12
Online & Window Displays
Free, donations appreciated
Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside artfully explores why and how people sometimes do good things toward each other. We have all grown up with and inherited evidence that people, especially in groups, do harmful things to others. We may be less aware of times that groups of people have helped, protected and rescued others from harm. These stories are there if we look for them – hidden in history, folk tale and memory. They show that ‘social goodness’ is perhaps, as Tzvetan Todorov states, ‘always difficult, rare and fragile. And yet possible.’
The public is invited to take part in Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside by participating in online activities, including opening concert, workshops, talks, evolving gallery and a closing interactive event. Activity is also taking place in the Downtown Eastside, including participatory Goodness
Story Cards displayed in gallery windows at the InterUrban Art Gallery / Culture Saves Lives and Skwachàys Lodge Hotel & Gallery. Please see activity details on how to participate.
The Vancouver artists with the Ground for Goodness Downtown Eastside team include Olivia C. Davies, Beverley Dobrinsky, Khari Wendell McClelland, Renae Morriseau, Rianne Svelnis, and Savannah Walling joined by Elder Bob Baker of the Squamish Nation, and Downtown Eastside-involved participants Gilles Cyrenne, Rosanne Gervais, Angela Kruger, Stephen Lytton, Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie, Tarene Thomas, Helen Volkow, Phoenix Winter and Henry Wong. The artists from Toronto include Ruth Howard, Martin van de Ven, Shifra Cooper, Animikiikwe Couchie, Adrienne Marcus Raja, Karis Jones Pard and others.
Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside project is produced by Jumblies Theatre + Arts (Toronto) in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre. This project is one iteration of a larger national Ground for Goodness initiative produced by Jumblies Theatre + Arts that is taking place in multiple locations across Canada and will culminate with an event in Toronto (June 2021).
For further information please visit www.groundsforgoodness.com or contact Olivia C. Davies at groundsforgoodness202@gmail.com
WORKSHOP
Zoom Mechanics For Community Artists with Shifra Cooper
Friday October 30, 2pm - 4pm
Online, Registration Required
Free, donations appreciated
Discover some of the challenges and successes of interactive art and music-making over Zoom. Learn how to navigate controls and settings to support your own online arts activities and facilitation. For information, groundsforgoodness2020@gmail.com or www.groundsforgoodness.com. Limited to 20 participants.
Register (required)
PERFORMANCE
WELCOME TO GROUNDS FOR GOODNESS
Sunday November 1, 1pm - 2:30pm
Online, Registration Available
Free, donations appreciated
Join us on Zoom for a sampling of work from two years of Jumblies’ Grounds for Goodness project, to inspire and kick off the Vancouver Downtown Eastside residency. We are delighted to present the world premiere of ‘BESA’, inspired by the history and verbatim text about the rescue of Albanian Jews during WW2 by Albanian Muslim people. Composed for Zoom by Martin van de Ven, with singers Lisette Cogdell, Shifra Cooper, Natalie Fasheh, Hussein Janmohamed, Risa de Rege, Sam Rowlandson-O’Hara, choreographer Michelle Silagy and other artists and performers.
The event will also include a work-in-progress by composer Arie Veheul van de Ven, with The Gather Round Singers community choir conducted by Shifra Cooper, with choreographer Kevin Ormsby and ASL Poet Tamyka Bullen; and glimpses of other aspects of Grounds for Goodness in other locations. Olivia C. Davies will be the host, and there will be a traditional welcome and opening story by S7aplek (Bob Baker) of the Squamish Nation.
For information contact groundsforgoodness2020@gmail.com or www.groundsforgoodness.com.
Register (optional)
WORKSHOP
IN GOOD HANDS with Ruth Howard, Martin van de Ven, Olivia C. Davies
Wednesday November 4, 4pm - 6pm
Online, Registration Required
Free, donations appreciated
Looking for a fun engaging workshop in which to take part? Join this virtual workshop on Zoom, facilitated by Ruth Howard and musician Martin van de Ven of Toronto-based Jumblies, and Vancouver’s Olivia C. Davies. Listen to and tell stories about times that people or groups of people have acted to help, shelter, protect or rescue others. Enjoy a gentle rapid creation process, combining words, objects, gestures and music. Contribute to the national Grounds for Goodness project unfolding in different locations across the country, including the Downtown Eastside. For information, groundsforgoodness2020@gmail.com or www.groundsforgoodness.com. Limited to 20 participants.
Register (required)
CIRCLE CONVERSATION
Talking Truths: Matriarchs Uprising
Thursday November 5, 10am - 11:30am
Online, Registration Required
Free, donations appreciated
As creators, we are constantly in dynamic exchange with the forces of social structures that can help or hinder our creative expression. Join O.Dela Arts, Artistic Director Olivia C. Davies in circle conversation with four other tour-de-force female artists including Dalannah Gail Bowen along with Diane Roberts, Rosemary A. Georgeson, and Savannah Walling as they discuss ways they have confronted and overcome adversity in the arts, and changed the way we look at the world around us by incorporating matriarchal values and right relations agreements into the work. The circle conversation is on Zoom, followed by an interactive Q&A. For further information contact info@oliviacdavies.ca before Nov. 4. Limited to 100 people.
Register (required)
INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL GALLERY
Discovering Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside
Sunday November 8, 1pm - 3pm
Online, Registration Available
Free, donations appreciated
Drop by on Zoom to enjoy short performances, interactive activities, and art contributed and created by Downtown Eastside community members. This collaborative event is the finale of our Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside virtual residency, co-produced by Toronto-based Jumblies, Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. Created and hosted by Ruth Howard, Shifra Cooper, Adrienne Marcus Raja, Martin van de Ven, Arie Verheul van de Ven, Animikiikwe Couchie, Ahmed Hegazy, Karis Jones Pard and others (from Toronto), and (from Vancouver) Olivia C. Davies, Beverley Dobrinsky, Khari Wendell McClelland, Renae Morriseau, Rianne Svelnis, and Savannah Walling and Downtown Eastside-involved participants Gilles Cyrenne, Rosanne Gervais, Angela Kruger, Stephen Lytton, Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie, Tarene Thomas, Helen Volkow, Phoenix Winter and Henry Wong.
For information contact groundsforgoodness2020@gmail.com or www.groundsforgoodness.com.
Register (required)
Grounds for Goodness Story Card Window Displays
October 23 to November 8
InterUrban Art Gallery / Culture Saves Lives, 1 E. Hastings
Skwachàys Lodge Hotel & Gallery - 31 W. Pender Free
A real-life exhibition of cards created by residents of the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver and from across the land. The cards share stories and images of people helping, protecting and rescuing others, drawn from history, memory, family, tale, legend, memory and imagination – to be shared, collected, traded and enjoyed. Over the last month story cards have been contributed by community members at neighbourhood gathering places including the Carnegie Community Centre, InterUrban Gallery, Aboriginal Front Door, Carnegie Community Action Project, Community Thrift and Vintage, Benny’s Market, All Bodies Dance at BC ArtsScape Sun Wah, and the Art Tent and Peer Outreach at Strathcona Tent City. For further information, contact groundsforgoodness2020@gmail.com or www.groundsforgoodness.com