Identity-make-art 2020-2021 – I Belong Project

OPTION 1

Identity

MAKE ART

Timeline

This project must be completed by March 31st, 2021.

Sorry, registration is now closed. We have reached full capacity.

Project Requirements

Teachers participate in a 60-minute webinar, highlighting performers, project resources and guidelines for supporting conversations about identity (language, sexuality, ethnicity and race) in relation to belonging.
Students are given an opportunity to reflect and discuss what it means to them to belong (examples of question prompts will be provided).
Students witness performances about identity and belonging by artists commissioned by LEARN.
- Performances are 1hr long (includes time for discussion).
- Artists will perform live using video conferencing technology.
A local artist is identified through the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) to collaborate with students and their teacher to develop their own self-expressive, narrative or visual arts piece(s).

*LEARN is developing a catalogue of project examples. We will reach out to select teachers (or Community Development Agents) to document their project.

Teachers will be provided with:

Question prompts for students
(download pdf)
Note-taking template for students
(download pdf)
Planning resources:
- Curricular connections
- Assignment opportunities
- Consultation of up to 1hr with an Equity Education Advisor (optional)

(download pdf)

Teachers can ask their school’s Community Development Agent to help:

Identify a local artist through ELAN and coordinate student workshop(s)
Coordinate payment processes with LEARN
Identify community venues or community members to celebrate student art pieces

Open to students in cycle 3 and up

Registration deadline:
Open until all spots are full (space is limited)

Spots are limited to a maximum
of two classes per school.

combine funding

CLC schools participating in the arts stream of “I Belong” can combine project funding with ELAN’s ArtistInspire Grants to work with multiple artists or collaborate with artists for a longer period of time, allowing for profoundly transformative impact. Schools interested in combining their $1500 grants with the iBelong project should contact artistsinspiregrants@quebec-elan.org

Collaborating artists

Nina Segalowitz, (Inuit/Chipewyan from Fort Smith, NWT) is an internationally known throat-singer. Her achingly honest and deeply personal stories about her journey to reconnect with her culture, after being stolen from her birth family during the 60s Scoop, continue to shed light on an incredibly dark time in Canada’s history. Nina grew up in a Jewish-Filipino home in Montreal and is a mother of 3.

Photo submitted by Nina Segalowitz

Deanna Smith, is a lover of words. Over the years, she has expressed this love through art, as a poet, and through science, as a Speech-Language Pathologist. Her creative work is rooted in her experiences as a descendent of the African Diaspora, a person who thinks in two languages, a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a neighbor of the many displaced peoples of Turtle Island. She has been fortunate to perform in venues across Canada and to have led workshops for participants aged 4-80. Her work has been published in Montréal Serai and in “The Great Black North – Contemporary African Canadian Poetry” (Frontenac 2013). She performs regularly with the Kalmunity Vibe Collective.

Photo Credit: Deanna Smith

Jason “Blackbird” Selman, is a Montreal-born poet and trumpet player. He is the author of The Freedom I Stole (2007, Cumulus Press), and Africa As A Dream That Travels Through My Heart (2016, Howl), and co-editor of the poetry anthology Talking Book (2006, Cumulus Press), which chronicles the writings of Kalm Unity Vibe Collective (of which he is a founding member). He has done extensive poetry workshops in schools and community groups across the Montreal area. His work is grounded in the themes of ethno-musicology, surrealist expression, love, and the intersection of masculinity and emotional vulnerability.

Photo Credit: Kevin Calixte

Liana Cusmano, also known as Luca or BiCurious George, is a writer, poet, filmmaker and spoken word artist. They are the 2018 and 2019 Montreal Slam Champion and runner up in the 2019 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship. A graduate of McGill University (BA’17) and participant in the 2019 Spoken Word Residency Program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Liana has presented their work in English, French and Italian across North America, Europe and Asia. They wrote the short film “La Femme Finale,” screened at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and wrote and directed the award-winning “Matters of Great Unimportance,” screened at the 2019 Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. In the 2019 Canadian federal election, Liana ran for office with the Green Party of Canada in Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Île-des-Soeurs and is currently the Co-Chair of the Young Greens Council of Canada. They also took part in the spoken word poetry tour “I See You,” alongside poet laureate of Edmonton Nisha Patel in the fall of 2019. With work that touches on heritage, queerness, relationships and mental health, their aim is to help others feel both seen and safe.

Photo credit: Faces MGMT