CPAMOs news Issue 13 - December 2011

Welcome to the 13th Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) newsletter. This is a regular digest that will introduce you to, and keep you updated on CPAMOs initiatives, and act as a portal to relevant research in the field of pluralism in the arts, innovative artists, and links to interesting talks about pluralism in the arts. The newsletter is intended to be your go-to resource for information on cultural pluralism in the arts. You have received this e-mail because you are a member of the CPAMO listserv. Please let others who share our professional and artistic interests know about this listserv and encourage them to subscribe by visiting http://tinyletter.com/Cultural-Pluralism-in-the-ArtsMovement-Ontario-CPAMO. The listserv is moderated and is for sending out newsletters and CPAMO updates. You may unsubscribe at any time. For more information, you can look us up here: Website: http://cpamo.posterous.com Facebook: search CPAMO or click here! Twitter: http://twitter.com/_CPAMO

Content
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) What is CPAMO? Ottawa and Kingston Bound Toolkits on Diversity and Pluralism in the Arts Workshops on Cultural Competence and Curatorial Development Upcoming Events TED Talks on Diversity Who We Are Contact Us

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What is CPAMO?
Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) is a movement of Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists working with presenters to empower the performing arts communities of Ontario. CPAMO seeks to open opportunities for Aboriginal and ethno-racial performers to engage with presenters across Ontario and to enable presenters to develop constructive relationships with Aboriginal and ethno-racial performers. CPAMO is supported by Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists who are involved in theatre, music, dance and literary arts. They are members of CPAMOs Roundtable and include representatives of Sampradaya Dance, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Little Pear Garden Theatre Collective, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Kaha:wi Dance, Sparrow in the Room, b-current, why not theatre, urban arts and backforward collective, TeyyaPeya Productions, Culture Days, Canada Council Stand Firm members, Obsidian Theatre, the Collective of Black Artists, CanAsian Dance and others. With the involvement of artists from these organizations, CPAMO is working with Community Cultural Impresarios (CCI) and its members to build their capacities, cultural competencies and understanding of pluralism in performing arts so that CCI and its members engage performers from these communities and, thereby, enable audiences across Ontario to access artistic expressions from diverse communities on a regular basis. CPAMO gratefully acknowledges the funding support it has received for its activities from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Ottawa and Kingston Bound

CPAMO will begin its next phase of activities (2012-2014) in the Ottawa and Kingston communities. Following a presentation by CPAMO Project Lead, charles c. smith, at a forum on October 19 on pluralism sponsored by Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums, several contacts have been made with local artists representing diverse communities in the Ottawa community. CPAMO will be working with them and its Ottawa-based partners CAPACOA, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Shenkman Hall and CentrePointe Theatre as well as Kingston artists and representatives of the Grand Theatre to coordinate workshops and a Town Hall in 2012. CPAMO will also seek to involve Prologue to the Performing Arts in this work along with Creative Trust, members of CARFAC, the Independent Media Arts Alliance and others. This is an exciting development which will enable CPAMO to work closely with Ottawa and Kingston artists and presenters and, in this way, building a movement for pluralism in the arts across Ontario. As such, this effort will complement CPAMOs ongoing work in the Greater Toronto Area and with its Roundtable members.

CPAMOs news Toolkits on Diversity and Pluralism in the Arts

In recent issues, the CPAMO Toolkit on Evidence-Based Practices to Promote Pluralism in the Arts has been discussed. This Toolkit is now available online at https://sites.google.com/site/cpamotoolkit/. While the CPAMO Toolkit is rather comprehensive and more will be added to it as we learn about the experiences of arts organizations and presenters, it is good to know that other organizations have either released or are working on toolkits to promote diversity and pluralism. The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) and the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC) have now released their toolkit Cultural Diversity in the Media Arts: A toolkit to promote the presence of media artists and audiences from ethno-racial and Indigenous communities. This toolkit is available online at http://www.imaa.ca/tiny_mce/plugins/uploaded/IMAA_diversity.pdf Also, the Neighbourhood Arts Network (NAN) of the Toronto Arts Foundation is currently working on a toolkit to promote best practice guidelines related to community engagement. CPAMO will be working with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to release a book in the spring of 2012 that will contain its toolkit and that of NAN. This book will also include many of the presentations and keynote addresses delivered at CPAMO Town Halls over the past two years.

Workshops on Cultural Curatorial Development

Competence

and

To date, CPAMO has held two workshops to discuss cultural competence and curatorial development. The first two workshops were well-received with presentations by Mimi Beck and Anne Marie Williams. The second workshop featured a presentation b Patty Jarvis of Prologue to the Performing Arts . Respectively, these two workshops addressed: what is needed to develop guidelines and criteria for the selection of presenterperformer partnerships and the co-commissioning of performer works by presenters; and the importance of arts education in schools and in building communities.

CPAMOs third workshop will be on December 15, 2011. Beginning with a presentation by Skye Louis and Leah Burns of the Neighbourhood Arts Network/Toronto Arts Foundation, this workshop will focus on the importance of community engagement as an integral component of building audiences amongst Aborioginal and ethno-racial communities. Following this, a fourth workshop will be held toward the end ofJanuary 2012. This workshop will build on the previous sessions, finalize the criteria for co-commissioning and identify directions for future implementation. Specifically, presenters and performers will openly share what they have contributed and what they have learned through their work. This will ensure the 3

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outcomes of the project are shared by all involved and result in a shift in the performance ecology as the results are shared amongst a critical mass of presenters and performers.

Upcoming Events
Open Jam Night Hosted by Carolyn T - Mondays! Open Jam Night @ Harlem Restaurant hosted/created by Carolyn T-EVERY MONDAY 8pm midnight This is a community event for musicians and spectators that provides an excellent opportunity for full-time and part-time musicians to shed, network, collaborate, promote gigs and showoff their talent! * All Instruments/voices welcome! Pure LIVE music! * The Carolyn T Band consists of Bass, Drums, Keys and Vocals * Sit in on any existing instrument * We provide drum kit, a guitar amp and/or a DI box to connect to the house system. * Be ready to improvise or bring charts * Pure RandB, Soul, Jazz, Motown, Pop and Funk!!! Sponsored by: - Long and McQuade http://www.long-mcquade.com/ - Toronto Street Photography http://www.torontostreetphotography.com/ For more information contact: 416-368-1920 Location: Harlem Restaurant 37 Richmond Street East Richmond Street East & Church Street Map to this event Lost Secrets of the Royal Artists: soJin Chun and Louise Noguchi November 9 - December 11, 2011 MAIN GALLERY Curated by: Ben Donoghue , Heather Keung Copresented by: A Space Gallery, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival , Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. The Lost Secrets of the Royal project is a commissioning initiative of the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) and the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival working with four new installations by Cindy Mochizuki, Dachi Sato, soJin Chun and Louise Noguchi. The discussions leading to this project originate with Colin Geddes donation of an archive of 4

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incomplete and decaying 35mm Hong Kong films salvaged from the basement of what is now Torontos Royal Cinema. The only stipulation for Geddes donation of this trove of orphaned reels was that they became the source for remaking, transforming and plundering into new works. The collection includes period dramas, comedies, martial arts, and pink films. All the prints in the collection are incomplete and in various stages of decay and discolouration. Artists were invited to produce new works that could challenge the source material and break with overtly didactic collage-based composition. Emerging from this are four projects by contemporary Asian-Canadian artists that challenge cinematic narrative, locational identity, movement, and technologies. Presented with the support of a Media Arts Commissioning grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. A Space Gallery Installations by soJin Chun and Louise Noguchi 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 110 (416) 979-9633, info@aspacegallery.org Hours: Tue to Fri 11 AM 6 PM, Sat 12 5 PM Blackwood Gallery Installations by Dachi Sato and Cindy Mochizuki Kaneff Center, University of Toronto Mississauga 3359 Mississauga Road North (905) 828-3789, blackwood.gallery@utoronto.ca Hours: Mon to Fri 12 5 PM, Wed 12 9 PM, Sat- Sun 12 3 PM

How to Build an Igloo Interactive Filmmaking Activity A Free event presented by: NFB Mediatheque December 1 - January 31, 2012 Using the NFBs film of the same name as inspiration, How to Build an Igloo will allow you to create a snug shelter just like the Inuit in Canadas North, only with animation instead of snow! Drop by any time were open for a one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Event Time(s):12:00 PM January 1st) Everyday in December and January (except Dec 25th, 26th and

For more information: www.nfb.ca/mediatheque or 416-973-3012 All ages are welcome. Location: NFB Mediatheque 150 John Street, Toronto Street) ( Richmond Street West and John 5

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Workshop: Traditional Indian Miniature Painting with Tazeen Qayyum Saturday, February 11, 10am - 4pm Textile Museum of Canada 5 Centre Avenue Toronto, ON M5G 2H5 Join us for an introduction to miniature painting of the South Asian tradition with artist Tazeen Qayyum. The workshop will include demonstrations of the various traditional techniques and elements unique to Indian miniature painting, and drawing and painting exercises using wasli (archival paper). Members $57, Non-members $74, Full-time students $45. Materials $15. Advance registration is required, class size is limited. To register, call 416-599-5321 x 2228. NextSteps 11/12 - Globally inspired dance from Canada's best The NextSteps dance series is programmed to reflect our city's unique cultural diversity and features the best companies from Toronto and across Canada. This season is our most extensive ever! Harbourfront Centre is proud to host these artists, both emerging and established who call our stages home. Dance Ontario January 20-22, 2012 Fleck Dance Theatre Presented in association with Harbourfront CentreDance Ontario's stunning winter showcase features more than 26 superb companies and hundreds of dancers, live musicians and much, much more. Come celebrate the diversity of the city's dance companies in this unique weekend experience. COBA: Collective of Black Artists February 3-5, 2012 Fleck Dance Theatre Les Rythmes de la FortThe traditional dance forms from Guinea and Senegal will move you through an incredible and vibrant experience of folklore and storytelling. Dance and rhythm represent rites of passage, initiations, harvest and moments of pure joy and celebration. dance Immersion February 23-25, 2012 Fleck Dance Theatre TRIBUTE: A Moving History of Canadian Blacks in DanceThe 17th edition of dance Immersion's annual showcase celebrates black dance artists who have contributed to the Canadian and global dance ecology using dance, film and spoken word. For more information and to buy tickets: http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nextsteps1112/index.cfm

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Sunday Scene / Johnson Ngo Presented by: The Power Plant Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 2pm FREE with gallery admission Johnson Ngo is an artist exploring connections and disjunctions between his gaysian identity and Western queer culture. Every Sunday, speakers from the world of art and beyond offer their responses to the current exhibitions, drawing provocative connections between our programs and broader cultural and intellectual debates. Johnson Ngo is an artist exploring connections and disjunctions between his gaysian identity and Western queer culture. He created the Blackwood Gallerys 2011 Billboard Commission and is guardian of the Feminist Art Gallery. Location: The Power Plant , 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto For more information contact: Robin Boyko Phone: 1.416.973.4927 Email: rboykoSPAMFILTER@thepowerplant.org Web site: thepowerplant.org Cinema Kabuki Presented by: Japan Foundation, Toronto November 11, 2009 - January 24, 2012 Kabuki Theatre filmed in high-definition for the big screen! The box office is now open for exclusive screenings of Cinema Kabuki at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto. These screenings offer the rare opportunity to experience performances by some of Japan's biggest Kabuki stars in high definition on the big screen. Since its birth in the 1600s, Kabuki theatre remains at the cutting edge with live productions featuring some of the best Kabuki actors. Cinema Kabuki series are recorded by multiple HD cameras for screening in movie theatres by high-quality digital projectors and 6-channel sound. For film descriptions and schedule information, please visit the Japan Foundation, Toronto website. Seating is limited, so act now and purchase your tickets at www.cineplex.com or at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, 259 Richmond St. W. Location: Scotiabank Theatre, 259 Richmond Streeet West, Toronto For more information contact: Mr. Toshi Aoyagi Phone: 416-966-1600 x229 Email: taoyagiSPAMFILTER@jftor.org 7

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Web site: www.jftor.org Caroline, or Change Presented by: Acting Up Stage Company January 21 - February 12, 2012 Caroline, an African American maid to a Southern Jewish family, is struggling to keep afloat both emotionally and economically, while the young son of her employer tries to make sense of the world following the death of his mother. A Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Obie award-wining musical, Caroline, or Change mixes fact and fantasy, symbolism and reality, plus a wide palette of musical styles to tell the story of ordinary people facing extraordinary change. Location: The Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street, Toronto Times: Wed-Sat 8pm, Sat 2pm, Sun 7pm, Feb 12th 3pm Cost: $15-40 For more information contact: Elenna Phone: 416-927-7880 Email: elennaSPAMFILTER@actingupstage.com Web site: www.actingupstage.com In the Footsteps of the Black Victorians - A Walking Tour Presented by: Mackenzie House Saturday, February 16, 1 to 3 p.m Discover Black History in Toronto by walking through parts of Old York where AfricanCanadians carved a community through struggle and triumph. Learn about different Black leaders such as Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the first Black female editor in North America, and William Peyton Hubbard, a City of Toronto Alderman and Acting Mayor. Hot chocolate is available after the walk. This walking tour starts and concludes at Mackenzie House. Please RSVP in case of inclement weather. Regular admission applies. Please call 416-392-6915 for further details. International Association of Black Dance: 24th Annual Conference in Toronto January 26 29, 2012 Hosted by danceImmersion Connecting Our Diasporas Through Dance A conference for dance companies, choreographers, dancers, teachers, students and youth; historians, educators, and dance enthusiasts. For more information and to register please visit: www.iabdassociation.org/info-at-a-glance

CPAMOs news
Aluna Theatre Come and celebrate great theatre with Aluna, this Monday, December 12th, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. (Free admission) Aluna invites you to an artistic gathering to discover some of the most engaging works of Contemporary theatre from across Latin American. Our Aluna Caf is a spontaneous, thoughtprovoking exploration of art where anyone can be the protagonist, the audience, or the critic. Join Aluna on an intercultural adventure to broaden our theatrical horizons through a series of voyages into other latitudes. Through the words of its writers, the Aluna Caf will present informal, interactive readings of great Latin American plays. This inaugural Aluna Caf facilitator will lead into the universe of rural Peru through the characters of La Chunga by Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature. This Caf will take place in our studio: 1 Wiltshire Avenue Studio 128 Toronto, ON M6N2V7 Tel: 416 203 2535 (Dundas West Station/ Bus 168 Symington to Kingsley Avenue stop)

TED Talks:
Leslie Dodson: Dont misrepresent Africa About this talk: Real narratives are complicated: Africa isnt a country, and it's not a disaster zone, says reporter and researcher Leslie Dodson. At TEDxBoulder, she calls for journalists, researchers and NGOs to stop representing entire continents as one big tragedy. About Leslie Dodson has reported throughout the world for Reuters, NBC, and CNN, among others. She has worked extensively in South America covering politics, economics, and international finance organizations. She has also covered Asian finance and politics for RHK Japan, and the Sandinista and Contra conflicts. In 2009, she helped found the Story Group, a multimedia organization focused on environmental issues in the Rocky Mountains. Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_dodson_don_t_misrepresent_africa.html Natalie Warne: Being young and making an impact About this talk: At 18, Natalie Warnes work with the Invisible Children movement made her a hero for young activists. At TEDxTeen she uses her inspiring story to remind us that no one is too young to change the world.

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About Natalie Warne: Natalie Warne did not let being too young stop her from running a successful campaign for the Invisible Children project In this talk, she calls on young people everywhere not to let age stop them from changing the world. When she was 17, Natalie Warne learned about the Invisible Children Project -- a campaign to rescue Ugandan children from Joseph Konys child armies. As an intern for Invisible Children, she led a nation-wide campaign for the project. She successfully got the campaign featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, a victory that dramatically raised the profile of the movement. Natalie now works as a film editor in Los Angeles. Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/natalie_warne_being_young_and_making_an_impact.html

Who We Are
CPAMO ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS As a resource to plan and coordinate its activities, CPAMO has set-up a Roundtable comprised of individuals involved in the performing arts from ethno-racial and Aboriginal creation-based arts organizations and those involved in performing venues. The members of the Roundtable are: Anahita Azrahimi, Sparrow in the Room Farwah Gheewala, Education Coordinator, Soulpepper Theatre Denise Fujiwara, Canasian Dance Charmaine Headley and Bakari Eddison Lindsay, Collective of Black Artists Lata Pada, Sampradaya Dance Creations Andrea Baker Nova Bhattacharya, Ipsita Nova Projects Seema Jethalal, Manifesto Festival of Community and Culture Cian Knights and Anne Frost, Cultural Pluralism in the Arts/University of Toronto Scarborough University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Phillip Akin, Obsidian Theatre Marilo Nunez, Almeda Theatre Mae Maracle, Centre for Indigenous Theatre Brainard Bryden-Taylor, Nathaniel Dett Chorale Emily Chung, Little Pear Garden Theatre Collective Spy Denome-Welch, Aboriginal Playwright Sedina Fiati, Actor Ravi Jain, why not theatre Shannon Thunderbird, Teya Peya Productions Olga Barrios, Olga Barrios Dance Santee Smith, Kahawi Dance Menaka Thakker, Menaka Thakkar Dance Company 10

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Kevin Ormsby, Kashedance Sandra Laronde, Red Sky Performance Mark Hammond, Sony Centre for Performing Arts Ahdri Zena Mandiella, b-current Jenna Rogers and David Yee, fuGEN Theatre Sandra LeFrancois, Cahoots Theatre Cindy Yip, Korean Canadian Dance Studies of Canada Wanda Nanabush, Association for the Development of Native Arts Michelle Kopczyl, Fuse Magazine charles c. smith, wind in the leaves collective

Contact Information
charles c. smith Project Lead of CPPAMO Lecturer, Cultural Pluralism and the Arts/University of Toronto Scarborough charlescsmith@sympatico.ca Victoria Glizer Project Assistant info.cpamo@gmail.com Website: http://cpamo.posterous.com Facebook: search CPAMO or click here! Twitter: http://twitter.com/_CPAMO Mailing Address: 32 Costain Avenue Toronto, ON M4E 2G6 416-686-3039

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