hheART space - Community Conversations and Compassion-building around Overdose
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 27 August 2017 21:45
- Written by editor
Please see the message below from SJS Instructor Marion Selfridge:
My name is Marion Selfridge, a PhD student at the
University of Victoria, research coordinator at the Victoria Cool Aid Society’s
Community Health Centre and coordinator of the heART space project. I am writing to let you know about an
upcoming series of events in Victoria, BC, starting October 1st, 2017.
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> heART space - Community Conversations and Compassion-building around Overdose, is a collaborative project involving current and former street-involved youth, front-line workers and others affected by the current overdose crisis and the structural forces that have contributed to it. We are working to create an art show to honour those we know who have died of overdose and provide a space for deep and respectful dialogue and creative expression around drug use in our community. heART space is an invitation by youth/young people who intimately know about drugs, death and grief to... the community to come together. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Heartspacevic/
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> We’ve got a space for the art show, heART space at 821 Fort! Thanks to the Salient Group folks who own the building! They’ve given us a good price for the month of October! And that is going to sneak up on us before you know it!
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> The youth who know the streets/front line worker collective has been granted $7500 from the CARBC-supported funds from the Ministry of Safety and Solicitor General Dialogues on Opioid Use to put on an art show and host a series of discussions and events this fall.
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> Our hope is to start to gather art work and plan various events to happen during the month. We are so grateful to have support of staff and supplies from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria to curate this show! I’d love to find ways to collaborate with this project. Lots of possibilities! I’m hoping some agencies take on hosting or creating one event, or help to gather pieces and stories around them to have in the art show. If you have ideas of other agencies, businesses or organizations that would like to be involved, please let me know. A concrete and simple way to contribute is to become one of our heART space volunteers, a compassionate and skilled point person who stays in the space when it is open to the public for 2-4hrs.
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> We’ll be getting the keys on October 1st and have our Friends and Family only opening Friday Oct 6th and Art Opening to the public on Tuesday, October 10th. I’d love to chat about anything specific you or others who would like to do to be involved. Youth who may want to be involved and staff potentially to help with that process to make an empowering experience?
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> The City of Victoria’s current Indigenous artist in residency Lindsay Delaronde and Youth Advisory Council curator Naomi Kennedy will team up to do a 4 part mask making art therapy exploration around the process of grieving and transformation through creative activity. They will work with 4-15 participants and will use casting plaster to create the base of masks from their actual faces and then build regalia and forms around their masks. These masks will include sound and movement, leading to a one-off performance combined with a spoken word Open Mic. We are hoping to host an acoustic song circle Sunday October 22nd for those who’ve got a song they’ve created to honour someone, or just love to sing to think about their person.
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> We will also be hosting 3 Saturday Open Studios from 1-4 with local artists and youth collaborators. Marie Specht, poet, visual artist, teacher and member of the 2016 Vic Slam Team has offered to host a spoken word event, and will facilitate the October 14th Open Studio. Throughout the month of October art supplies will be available for any participants and the public to use. Anyone who comes into the space during times the art show is open to the public or during specific events is welcome to contribute to least one collaborative piece will be created through the month. We imagine at least 500 people will be involved, with at least 20-60 people engaging more deeply in an artistic process.
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> If it makes sense, if you could let youth, front line workers and other folks connected to your agency/school/organization that may want to contribute art or have ideas know about it so that we can start germinating seeds. If you know of any artwork by folks that have died of overdose we’d love to start the process of talking to families and friends so that we can have the pieces on display in a good way. Many thanks! m
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marion selfridge msw Ph.D (c)
Social Dimensions of Health
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https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/marionselfridge/
Sessional Instructor - SOCW319
Study/Research Coordinator
CARBC - Youth Experiences Project
Cool Aid Community Health Centre - GSK 201636 CTN 286 TriiAdd C-RESPECT
I am grateful to live, work, play and collaborate within the traditional territories of the Teechamitsa and Swengwhung (Songhees), and Kosampson (Esquimalt) Nations of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
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Margo MatwychukDirector
Social Justice Studies ProgramUniversity of Victoriaweb.uvic.ca/socialjustice/@UVicSJS on TwitterUVicSJS on FacebookUVicSJS on YouTube
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