• • Arts
  • Event Listings

  Theatre of the Oppressed: A Basic Skills Workshop

  April 11, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Theatre of the Oppressed: A Basic Skills Workshop
  Wednesday May 8, 6 pm - 8 pm
  $10 /PWYC
  Academy of the Impossible, 231 Wallace Avenue
  Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/514643891902456/

  This school of theatre conceived and popularized by Augusto Boal, has had a life of its own in India for the past four decades. The workshop will provide skills in basic theatre of the oppressed techniques. This will involve working with voice, body and improvisation. This school of theatre, based on using theatre for social change, believes in theatre done with the most minimal resources and one’s body being the most important tool. It is believed that the process of creation is as important as the final performance. In line with these basic principles, adapted to and changed by folk forms from Tamil Nadu, India, the workshop will include a set of exercises that trains participants in numerous physical exercises and also to work through social concerns using theatrical tools. It will provide the opportunity for participants to evolve a brief improvised performance at the end of the workshop.

  The Theatre of the Oppressed: A Basic Skills Workshop will be led by Ponni Arasu. Please come prepared to do physical work. Previous theatrical experience is not required. Exercises can be adapted to varying abilities and any default ‘able bodies’ are not a prerequisite for this workshop. Please wear comfortable clothes that you can get dirty.

  This event is part of Mayworks Festival 2013 (see below for more information). It is being co-presented by The Academy of the Impossible and co-sponsored by Shameless Magazine.

  Tickets and Registration Information:
  Tickets to the event are $10/PWYC. Preregistration required; maximum Participants 15. First come first serve. To register, please email registration@mayworks.ca with the subject line “Theatre of the Oppressed”.

  More information:
  The Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates working class culture. This year’s festival will take place from May 1-15, 2013. Visit www.mayworks.ca for more information.

  

  
  

• • Activist Report

  Oasis Skateboard Factory is looking for new students!

  April 10, 2013 • Julia Horel

  OSF Info Session
  
  Oasis Skateboard Factory is actively looking for new students who love graffiti, graphic design and skateboards. Toronto’s #1 coolest high school according to the Toronto Star, OSF teaches kids by involving them in a skateboard business. Students learn about graphic design and business by developing their own brands and creating and selling merchandise. They also learn how to work with clients through collaborations with companies such as Roarockit Skateboard Company, Longboard Living and Bamboo Skateboards, and build a portfolio by working for individaul sponsors. They even get paid for some of these projects.

  If you’re not convinced yet, you’ll also get to chance to write something for Concrete Wave, an international skateboard magazine, and your work is guaranteed to appear in many art shows. OSF is a great place to build your business and design skills and develop a portfolio for arts school or working in design.
  
  To start the application process for September, all you have to do is attend an information session, being held every Wednesday at 9AM. For directions and more info, click here.

• • Arts
  • Event Listings

  FREE! Art of writing - Creative Writing Workshops for Women (Toronto)

  April 5, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Have you always wanted to write?

  Do you sometimes wish you could put some words that you think of on paper?

  How would you like to write beautiful words in your language and in English?

  Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto (NEW) is pleased to offer creative writing workshops for newcomer women on Saturday mornings, starting April 20th, 2013.

  Taught by Dr. Althea Prince, who has published 9 books including In the Black (2012), this 9-week program provides women a supportive space to write stories that they remember from their childhood and new stories that they heard or created as adults.

  *Participants who do not write in English are encouraged to write in their original language! - We will provide translators for the stories. A book of stories will be published at the end of the program.

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Dates: Saturdays, April 20 - June 15, 2013
  Time: 10 a.m. - 12p.m.
  Location: 745 Danforth Avenue, Suite 401

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Space is limited, please register by April 12, 2013.

  How to register:

  Register online at http://storytelling-420.eventbrite.com/ or call Najma at 416-469-0196

  For more information, please contact Najma by phone 416-469-0196 or email pa@newcomerwomen.org

• • Arts
  • Event Listings
  • Playlist

  Rock Camp for Girls - Montreal

  April 2, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Celebrate Rock Camp for Girls Montreal’s Fifth Anniversary with Us!

  Through its five years of existence, Rock Camp for Girls Montreal has been entirely self-funded and volunteer-run. Rock Camp for Girls Montreal has grown from its first year of 18 campers and 20 volunteers to an established community presence that puts on a Showcase Concert attended by hundreds of community members every year.

  Rock Camp for Girls Montreal is now accepting applications for Summer 2013! Camp will take place Monday July 22 to Friday July 26th at the Sala Rossa with a Showcase Concert on Saturday July 27.

  Check out our short documentary film about the Summer 2012 camp on YouTube

  What’s Rock Camp?

  Rock Camp for Girls is a 5 day music camp where girls learn and practice instruments, form a band and write a song together, and perform at the Showcase Concert! Rock Camp is a space where girls discover and express their talents, and become leaders in creating their own kind of music!

  Who can apply?

  Any girl who will be between the ages of 10 and 17 at the time of camp may apply. You do not need to have any musical experience or own instruments to attend! Rock Camp for Girls Montreal welcomes campers who identify as female, trans, and gender non-conforming.

  How to apply:

  All the forms you need in order to apply are available on our website under “Apply Now!”. Apply to attend camp before May 1 at midnight. Volunteer applications coming soon!

  Have questions?

  Contact us at:

  info@girlsrockmontreal.org

  www.girlsrockmontreal.org

• • Event Listings

  Call for Submissions to Mad Pride Toronto 2013

  April 2, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Call for Submissions to Mad Pride Toronto 2013 – PLEASE SHARE WIDELY

  Monday, July 8 to Sunday, July 14
  www.madprideto.com

  Mad Pride is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people, folks the world has labeled “mentally ill”, and those in solidarity with us.

  Mad Pride is about:
  • remembering and participating in mad history
  • challenging discrimination
  • advocating for rights
  • affirming mad identities
  • developing and empowering mad communities
  • having fun!

  Our lives and contributions are valuable and need celebration!

  Do you want to host a consumer/survivor-driven event, performance, talk, presentation, film, or panel discussion at Mad Pride Toronto 2013? Please let us know via our event submission form – which will be available on our website at www.madprideto.com or by calling Tina at 416 926-9762 x 245. Contact: events@madprideto.com

  Do you want to submit to our second juried Art Exhibition? Weinvite two dimensional, sculptural, or time-based art submissions from psychiatric survivors, consumers, and mad people. Contact: Martine at martinematthews@soundtimes.com

  If you are a consumer/survivor and would like to display/sell your art, crafts, buttons, t-shirts, knitting, zines, books, music, baked goods or promote your blog, website, group, network, idea, consider requesting a table at the Mad Market. Contact: outreach@madprideto.com

  Deadline: Friday, April 26th, 2013

  Do you want to get involved in making Mad Pride Toronto 2013 happen? Check out www.madprideto.com for more information on joining the Mad Pride Toronto 2013 Organizing Committee and to complete a Statement of Interest.

  This information can be printed from: http://csinfo.ca/bulletin/Bulletin_483.pdf.

• • Event Listings

  York U: Women’s Quests for Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Contestations, Complexities, Contradiction

  April 2, 2013 • Julia Horel

  The Centre for Feminist Research presents
  Women’s Quests for Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Contestations, Complexities, Contradiction
  April 5 & April 6, 2013
  519 York Research Tower
  York University

  plenary panels with leading international scholars and activists:

  Karima Benounne, University of California, Davis
  Amel Grami, University of Tunis
  Hanadi Zarka, Al Adiat association
  Zeina Zataari, Arab Families Working Group
  Afiya Zia, independent scholar and feminist activist based in Karachi, Pakistan

  What has come to be known as the “Arab Spring” is a remarkable turning point in the modern history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Whatever the outcome of this regional, political earthquake, there is no turning back to the past in the countries that rose for democracy and social justice. However, there are plenty of signs of hard challenges ahead for women in MENA. This two-day conference will be a forum for scholars and activists in the field to analyze the potential of the Arab Spring for women.

  Space is limited, so please register in advance.
  To register, please RSVP to cfr@yorku.ca

  with support from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Office of the Vice President, Research & Innovation, the 2011 Trudeau Foundation Fellowship Fund at York University, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

• • Event Listings
  • Queeriosities

  love takes the worry out of being close: public assemblies in bed with queers

  March 22, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Reena Katz’s love takes the worry out of being close: public assemblies in bed with queers converts Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre into a free, public hotel suite.

  Bed-Ins: April 9 – 12, 9am – 9pm - FREE

  Final Presentation and Discussion: April 13, 8pm – 10pm - $10/$12
  Harbourfront Studio Theatre, York Quay Centre, Main Floor

  HATCH opens its 2013 Season with sound and performance artist Reena Katz’s fabulous reimagining of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s iconic Bed-in for Peace. From 9am – 9pm, April 9 - 12, Katz transforms the Studio Theatre into a Public Commons and Master Suite with a motley crew of LGBTQ folks in bed. Audiences are invited to come and go as they please, participating in conversations, game sessions, cuddles and crafting parties for free. Each day is hosted by different lovers: artists, academics, cultural workers and musicians. They address and explore a range of political issues affecting LGBTQ communities, from intimacy and decolonization to pop culture and civic engagement. Expect flowers, respectful debate, radical facilitation and queen-sized love.

  With: Trish Salah and Ilona Molnar; R3 Collective; Troy Jackson and El-Farouk Khaki; 2Spirit Skillshare; Eugenio Salas and Basil AlZeri

  Katz explains: “Though they were officially straight, Yoko and John’s infamous gesture of non-violent protest against the US-led war in Vietnam queered the idea of protest in the minds of the public. During a period of massive civil disobedience across the Western world, the Bed-Ins shifted the site of dissent from raging bodies demonstrating in the street, to a bustling hotel room, packed with everyday folks, various long-haired celebrities and a pair of strong lovers who saw their honeymoon as an opportunity to model peace.”

  Ono and Lennon understood how to capitalize on the potential of the late 60s, utilizing technologies such as live television and radio broadcast. Katz reciprocates with texts, Tweets and livestreams from the bed, highlighting the interactivity of our current global village. Focusing on intimacy, Katz and her crew explore the cultural resistance evident in contemporary movements such as Idle No More and LGBTQ Solidarity.

  FREE DAILY Bed-Ins

  Tuesday, April 9:
  Homonational Intimacies and Resistances
  Hosted by Trish Salah and Ilona Molnar

  Wednesday, April 10:
  Bedtime Stories of Resistance: An Open R3 Retreat–
  A day of dialogue, storytelling and sharing space
  Hosted by R3 Collective

  Thursday, April 11:
  Pop Culture and Social Justice
  Hosted by Troy Jackson and El-Farouk KhakiFriday, April 12: what we think we know
  Hosted by 2Spirit Skillshare

  A final presentation and Q & A with all the queers present will take place on:
  Saturday, April 13 at 8pm

  Tickets for the Saturday presentation are $15.00, $12.00 for Students/Seniors/Arts Workers or $40.00 for a HATCHpass for all four projects in the HATCH 2013 season, available by phone at 416-973-4000 or through www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch

  Contact the artist for special Group, Un/deremployed and Street Involved ticket rates.

  ABOUT REENA KATZ: Reena Katz works with the transmission and reception of sonic information present in the human voice. She uses live and recorded talking, whispering, yelling and listening to consider bodies as sites of knowledge, and communication as a social and political practice. Through audience participation in public space, Katz highlights the relationship between collective voice, the body politic and the empathic act of listening. Her installations, recordings and live performances have been performed, broadcast and exhibited throughout Canada and the U.S. as well as in Germany, Poland, Mexico, Hong Kong and Japan.

  HATCH: emerging performance projects at Harbourfront Centre
  Entering its tenth year, HATCH is a key initiative in Harbourfront Centre’s mission to develop local artists and their unique practices. Curated by Trevor Schwellnus, the 2013 HATCH residency and mentorship programme provides resources and professional assistance to a new generation of engaging and innovative contemporary artists.

  For more information please visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch

• • Event Listings

  Toronto event: “EDUCATION, LIBERATION, ACTION!” Forum on Education and Equity

  March 18, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Organized by University of Toronto’s Transitional Year Programme Students and Alumni

  Over the last forty-three years, the Transitional Year Programme (TYP) has offered applicants a full-time access program uniquely geared towards historically underrepresented experiences, while also offering students with a chance to gain entry into the University of Toronto Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Science. In an age of austerity and cutbacks to similar programming, TYP has remained steadfast in the delivery of an academic bridging program rooted in a pro-equity and anti-oppressive worldview.
  
  Recently, the University of Toronto administration has slowly adopted a particularly draconian method of displacement for TYP – through non-renewal of staff contracts, a refusal to replace recently retired staff positions, and a proposal to physically remove TYP from its current location (in an attempt to streamline with the Academic Bridging programme offered at Woodsworth College), ultimately threatening the autonomy and existence of TYP as it stands.
  
  In a response to the University of Toronto’s recent affront, Transitional Year Programme students, alumni, and allies have organized a public forum on equity and access to education entitled: “Education, liberation, action!” This forum will attempt to situate recent attacks on TYP within larger processes of austerity, growing barriers to accessing education, and a necessary drive to democratize and decolonize current educational practices, particularly at the post-secondary level.
  
  “We hope this event will bring together people from all over Toronto, since this issue is not specific to TYP only, but rather it’s an issue that affects students and educators all over our city,” said Zenee Maceda, Vice-President Administration for the Equity Studies Students’ Union at the University of Toronto, and one of the day’s principle organizers. A petition has also been drafted to demand that the University of Toronto administration reconsider its decision to undermine TYP’s autonomy.
  
  The forum is planned to take place on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 6:15pm in OISE RM# 2124 (252 Bloor Street West). If any organizations would like to participate in this event or are interested in supporting the fight for TYP and access to education more broadly, please get in touch with any of the contact persons listed below.

  The venue is accessible
  ASL interpreters available
  Snacks will be provided
  The event is FREE

  http://www.uoftessu.com/accesseducationno
  
  For more information, contact:

  Enas Abdalla, VP Finance, Equity Studies Students’ Union
  University of Toronto
  Email: enas.abdalla@mail.utoronto.ca
  
  Zenee Maceda, VP Administration, Equity Studies Students’ Union
  University of Toronto
  Email: zenee.maceda@mail.utoronto.ca

  

  
  

• • Activist Report
  • Anti-violence
  • Indigenous
  • Recommended Reading

  Recommended Reading: Police (In)Justice: Responding Together to Change the Story

  March 4, 2013 • Julia Horel

  From the Native Youth Sexual Health Network:

  We validate the many stories we’ve heard from families about a lack of police responsiveness and/or dehumanizing treatment directed at the missing woman themself, their family or friends. Families have expressed frustration and anguish of being ignored when they presented evidence countering police theories. For instance, pointing out that their loved ones disappeared without taking their wallet, clothes, or cell phone, told no one of their plans, left without saying goodbye, and have not heard from for months, years, and decades in some cases. When the police don’t view our loved ones’ disappearances are as a cause for alarm that leaves it up to families and allies to take on the role of investigating despite the shock we are experiencing.

  It is unacceptable and trauma-inducing when families are put in a position of having to circulate their own posters/information, raise money for rewards or to hire private investigators and lawyers, coordinate their own searches, set up tip-lines, follow-up on leads, or speak to the media, or mobilize community without supports in place. It is likewise problematic and harmful that families who do not have the capacity to undertake this overwhelming and expensive process are unable to advocate on behalf of their loved ones.

  These accounts illuminate a deeply complicated relationship with police that’s been shaped by colonial stereotypes that dehumanize Indigenous women and label Indigenous peoples as needing to be controlled, managed, and assimilated. Some families are reluctant to speak out when problems with police arise, out of fear of having it reflect back on the investigation and how it proceeds (or doesn’t).

  Read the entire statement here (PDF link) and check out the NYSHN’s resource list:

  INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
  Stop Law Enforcement Violence Toolkit

  Police Violence Against Native Women and Native Trans & Two Spirit People

  What Their Stories Tell Us: Research Findings from the Sisters in Spirit Initiative
  
  No More Stolen Sisters

  Streetwise and Safe
  Criminal In/Justice Map - working through the criminal in/justice system

  Young Women’s Empowerment Project
  “Street Youth Bill of Rights”

• • (dis)Ability
  • Activist Report
  • Event Listings

  Mad Students Society Presents: Presents: Taking Care of Ourselves and Each Other Inside and Outside the Mental Health System

  February 28, 2013 • Julia Horel

  What? A peer support meeting in Ottawa
  When? Saturday, March 9, 2013 from 5:30 – 7:30pm
  Where? University of Ottawa. Email outreach@madstudentsociety.com for details.
  Who? Students (from any college, university, or adult education course/program) and people planning to return to school with personal experiences of psychiatric systems, madness, mental illness, mental health disability, emotional or spiritual distress, etc.
  Cost: FREE

  Join us this month for an informal conversation about navigating the mental health system to get what we want and need – and where we find support outside of mainstream recommendations.

  • Talk with people who’ve been there about our experiences with crisis lines, emerg services, hospital care, medication, case managers, counsellors, and psychiatrists.
  • Share info about CBT, the best self-help books, group therapy, intake processes, wait-lists, and good doctors.
  • Discuss with your peers how helpful (or not) music, pets, friends, sleep, sex, exercise, pizza, veggies,
  spirituality, meditation, television, sunlight, or activism is to your quality of life – and how you explain this to
  your mother when she wants you to see your GP.
  • What’s the most unusual “alternative” source of care and support in your life?

  Of course, we rarely stay on topic during our Mad meeting meanderings and look forward to hearing whatever else is on your mind! We welcome new members, frequent faces, and folks we haven’t seen in a while.

  Can’t make the meeting? Looking for other support? Join our active email discussion listserv to continue this and other conversations. The listserv is a private place for members to talk about our lives, support each other, discuss ideas, share info/resources/events/news, and arrange local gatherings wherever we happen to be.

  Questions? Directions? Nervous? Need Something? For further info, location details, to join the listserv, or if you have accommodation needs, want someone to meet you at the bus stop, or would like to chat with a member before the meeting, please email Alisa and Elizabeth at outreach@madstudentsociety.com.

  More about us: Mad Students Society (MSS), created in 2005, is a community of students who are attending or planning to attend post-secondary or adult education institutions and have personal past/present experiences with psychiatric/mental health systems. We meet monthly (in Toronto and Hamilton) and communicate through an email listserv to support each other, discover tools for self-advocacy, and connect with our history and broader social movements. Visit our website at www.madstudentsociety.com or find us on Facebook.

  Spread the word! Share this event on Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/425402874209784/. Email for other ways to support MSS.

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