Art. Access. Agency.
Listen to Dis' is proud to announce a partnership with The Cathedral Village Arts Festival and Artesian Presents for 2018 Culture Days. LTD' will be hosting a disability art and culture hub from September 28-30 at Artesian Presents (2627 13th Avenue). There will events throughout the weekend starting with a performance by Listen to Dis' VOICE as they perform the The Monster Monologue. The show, directed by LTD' Artist-in-Residence Natasha Urkow, tackles monologues of famous monstrous characters such as Frankenstein and reimagines them in relation to the disabled body. Last performed as part of the 2018 Cathedral Village Arts Festival to a sold-out crowd, the show is sure to please. The performance will be followed by disability art and culture roundtable. The discussion will involve local artist and academic Joanne Weber, Globe Theatre School coordinator Andrew Ritchie, Listen to Dis' Founder and Artistic Director Traci Foster, and Associate Artistic Director John Loeppky leading a discussion on how to make the art and wider community more inclusive for those with disabilities.
Saturday will see Traci Foster lead a fully inclusive workshop rooted in body, breath, and voice. Traci is Canada's first certified Fitzmaurice Voicework© instructor and she explores her work through somatic art with a focus on where awareness, intuition, and action intersect. She has taught in Regina, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.
Participants will be led through a series of exercises, coming together through song, to learn in a safe and comfortable environment. This work will help develop your body and voice to vibrantly communicate in creating art and your everyday life. Downstairs, will be a cuddle corner where participants can come to chill. Art and writing supplies and soft soothing music will provide a safe space for hanging out, creating or simply receiving positive, non-sexual touch that every human needs through cuddle and snuggles. Consent policies will be conveyed and displayed.
Sunday will see devising theatre workshop led by The Other Ordinary, Listen to Dis' reisent company of emerging professional artists. Using pieces from their two professional productions - Neither Heroes nor Ordinary People and Mine to Have: sensuality and circumstances - and employing the skills they've learned along the way, this group of up and coming artists will lead participants through exercises that will contribute to compassionate creative action.
Sunday will also see acclaimed visual artist Garbeila Garcia-Luna lead Light Slam Workshops throughout the day, Using just a camera, some lighting devices, and the participants' imaginations, Gabriela creates moving images that illustrate what we all hold within. Participants will be led through the process of creating a light play piece and will be able to view past examples from Listen to Dis' members.
To end off the weekend, there will be a Pizza and Pieces event. This creative jam invites creative people to come and share their work, in whatever medium that means.
For media inquiries please email John Loeppky at associateartisticdirector@listentodis.com.