Second last class!

We are on the eve of our last class together for ENVS 2122, and today's class provided a lot of ways to summarize all we have learned for the last few months.

Deborah started the class with a  beautiful song by Rose Sanders entitled "There's a river", Deborah wanted us to focus on the journey that this life is, something that everyone can connect and identify with and how it flows, and also to think about our own value, asking "who told me in this life that I am valued?".

Some announcements: Blakka Ellis, who led the amazing Theatre of the Oppressed workshop a few weeks back will be performing at the Frankly Speaking- A Caribbean Christmas Dinner Comedy on December 10, this evening is sure to be hilarious.
http://www.afrotoronto.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:frankly-speaking-a-caribbean-christmas-dinner-comedy&catid=54:arts&Itemid=177

Also our very own Deborah Barndt will be participating in a benefit performance with her community choir this Friday evening. Contact Deborah for more details.

As next week will be our last class we will be celebrating all of our hard work over the last twelve weeks with a potluck. Please bring something to share with the class (keeping in mind any dietary restrictions people in the class may have) and don't forget your reusable dishes! This will also be your chance to provide a more creative evaluation of the course. Please spend some time over the next week thinking about the course and what you have learned and bring some of these thoughts to share with your classmates and class facilitators.

The main theme of today's lecture focused on artist and animator, the lines and connections between them and where do you feel you stand on the line? The key to finding our place is that there is no magic formula, often the lines are blurred and multiple roles are played, as artists and animators we must learn how to adapt and shift depending on what needs to be done.

A large portion of today's class was spent watching an amazing documentary made by Maggie Hutcheson, describing the Viva project, a collaboration of eight community arts projects throughout five countries. This film was an amazing way to see the giant scope of community arts programs and gave a better understanding  the processes  within them. Definitely worth checking out if you missed that portion of class. The eight projects featured in the film are: The Personal Legacy Project, by Diane Roberts http://urbanink.ca/?page_id=23 , Jumblies Theatre http://www.jumbliestheatre.org/
Tianguis Cultural http://www.myspace.com/tianguisculturalac
BILWI VISION, community television, Kuna Children's Art Project http://vimeo.com/1854542
Artsbridge http://www.artsbridgeamerica.com/pressreleases.php
Telling our Stories http://vimeo.com/1534486
and the Community Mural Production http://www.vientos.info/viva/en/uam_painting_by_listening
Eight amazing projects you should check out now!

Viva documentary

Deborah also asked us to go back through the reading and think about where each of the actors within the reading could be placed, artist or animator? This sparked a great discussion that highlighted that the two are often one in the same.

Ending today's lecture Deborah asked us again to take a look at the websites mentioned on moodle (Neighbourhoods, Artbridges, and the CAP websites), this is a way you can contribute and share your ideas and artwork to help these communities to continue to grow. Adding to this there is a CAP group in the works, a place for all of the CAP students, facilitators, administrators and friends of CAP to share ideas and information within our community. There is a sign up sheet so students can be added to a listserve once it is up and running posted in the moodle forums.