studioformediaactivism, Author at Studio For Media Activism & Critical Thought

Q: Deana Bowen: Race + Media + Archive

"Deana Bowen: Race + Media + Archive" Co-presented by Black Lives Matter Toronto Tuesday November 24th from 7:00-9:00pm Eaton Lecture Hall (80 Gould Street), Room 204 From Ferguson to Toronto, Black lives have become targets – of violence, racism and misrepresentation. In this lecture/workshop, acclaimed Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Deanna Bowen presented her recent work using archives to discuss representations of Blackness and narrative omissions in Canadian & US history. Deanna Bowen is a descendant of the Alabama- and Kentucky-born Black Prairie pioneers of Amber Valley and Campsie, Alberta. She is an award winning interdisciplinary artist and recent recipient of the 2014 William H. Johnson Prize . Her work has been exhibited internationally in numerous film festivals and museums. (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EJJQYQKa2E )

Q: Inuit Women's Voices with Blandina Makkik & Marie-Helene Cousineau

Tuesday April 11th from 7:00-9:00pm Eaton Lecture Hall (80 Gould Street), Room 204 The event will feature the screening of the documentary “ Sol ”, which examines youth suicide in the North . It was produced by Inuit women’s media production collective, Arnait Productions. The screening will be followed by a Skype discussion with filmmakers Marie-Hélène Cousineau (Montreal) and Susan Avingaq (Igloolik), moderated by Toronto-based Arnait member Blandina Makkik . Marie-Hélène Cousineau (Montreal) is an award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Arnait. Susan Avingaq (Inuk) has been a participant in Arnait projects since its inception. A renowned seamstress/artist in the Baffin region, she is also active locally in teaching sewing traditions to younger Inuit women. Since its beginnings in 1991, Arnait Video Productions has promoted the unique culture and voices of Inuit women. Often working in difficult conditions, the sheer endurance required on the part of the women in Arnait to produce these award-winning video films testifies to the importance of the project in their lives. Moderator Blandina Makkik was born and raised in Igloolik on the northwestern coast off Baffin Island, Nunavut. From 1985 to 1991, Blandina was the Senior Producer for Inuit Broadcasting and developed the first children’s television programming available in Inuktitut. (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80G1_XT6G5A )

Q: "Mapping Safe Crip Spaces" with Maayan Ziv

"Mapping Safe Crip Spaces" Maayan Ziv Tuesday March 7th from 7:00-9:00pm Eaton Lecture Hall (80 Gould Street), Room 204 Mapping Safe Crip Spaces is an interactive workshop by disability activist and artist Maayan Ziv , who uses digital software to crowdsource and pinpoint accessible spaces across Toronto . Maayan will explore the role that media plays in creating accessible communities , by sharing thoughts on how such a cultural shift can happen. Workshop participants will be asked to imagine media innovation and inclusivity for diverse communities. The event will be moderated by artist, organizer, researcher, and educator Dr. Eliza Chandler . Maayan Ziv is an activist, a photographer and an entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada. From a young age, Maayan challenged norms and worked within her community to increase awareness of disability issues and improve accessibility. "Inuit Women's Voices" (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouutzyhucxE )

Q: The Studio for Media Activism and Critical Thought is launching our very own journal

Rally: Journal of Media Activism and Social Justice is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal run by the graduate student caucus of the Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought. The journal will be a sandbox to engage, support, and promote the work of emerging scholars, artists, and activists. Part academic journal, part zine, we envision Rally as becoming one of the key online publications publishing radical, exciting, and timely research on media activism and social justice in Canada. As an experimental journal, we are open both to traditional academic papers, but also prose, poetry, audio-visual work, and other non-textual and/or creative pieces. We will also publish reviews of books, films, and other media. Rally currently has one issue per calendar year published in the fall. Submissions are welcomed from across disciplines including but not limited to: communication studies, cultural studies, media studies, digital humanities, gender/sexuality studies, queer and trans studies, critical race studies, and disabilities studies. Drawing on the etymology of the term “rally” (from the French rallier , “to bring together again”), we are especially interested in work that brings together and bridges the gap between art, activism, and the academy, as well as work that takes an intersectional model as its starting point and actively works toward building coalitions. Our first issue will bring together work from the artists, activists, and academics who presented at our De/Materializing Bodies: Activist Media Archives symposium in November 2016. For more information, or if you are interested in getting involved, please contact the Studio: thestudioformediaactivism@gmail.com

Q: Resisting Erasure: Raising Voices Against Right Wing Nationalism

Winter 2017: Resisting Erasure: Raising Voices Against Right Wing Nationalism Panel Discussion Moderated by Deanna Bowen Activists, Media-Makers & Thinkers Speak Out February 7 2017 7:00pm - 9:30pm Eaton Lecture Hall, Room RCC 204, 80 Gould Street

Q: Statement of Solidarity

We at The Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought at Ryerson University in Toronto were saddened by the shooting of 6 Muslim men - Khaled Belkacemi, Azzedine Soufiane, Aboubaker Thabti, Abdelkrim Hassane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry - and the nineteen injured, at the Centre Cultural Islamique de Québec . We oppose the climate of fear produced by the US government’s travel ban and wave of deportations: its disregard for human rights and democracy, as well as its Islamophobia. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim students and colleagues at Ryerson, in Canada and around the world. The recent executive orders have impacted our peers in academic, activist and artistic communities who are or will be unable to travel to conferences and exhibitions due to, their race, citizenship or feelings of unsafety, as well as the unnumbered undocumented migrants, on both sides of the border whose very lives are in danger. As numbers of refugees trying to enter Canada increase, we urge the Trudeau government to stand up to the Trump administration, and to broaden its efforts to fight Islamopobia and racism in its own immigration policies. We will continue our efforts to promote and enact anti-racist pedagogy and programming, and encourage university faculties and administrations to do the same. It is increasingly urgent that we work towards social justice in every aspect of university curriculum, hiring, funding, administration and culture.

Q: "Co-creation and Anti-Poverty Media" with Cathy Crowe and Dr. Alex Abramovich

Tuesday November 10th from 7:00-9:00pm Eaton Lecture Hall (80 Gould Street), Room 204 Canada is in a housing crisis. On any given night, over 35,000 Canadians do not have a place to go home to. Declining wages, withdrawal of federal government support, reduced benefits and a severe lack of affordable housing are all contributing factors. This workshop asked: what happens when art is actually activism? Where do low-income people fit in? What happens when low-income people are involved in community art projects or individual activist works? Cathy Crowe is a well-known social activist, educator, and nurse. Crowe is a street nurse and has worked on issues such as shelter conditions and inadequate housing, for over two decades. She is currently a Distinguished Visiting Practitioner at Ryerson University and holds 5 honourary Doctorates from universities across Canada. Dr. Alex Abramovich is a nationally recognized leader in the area of LGBTQ youth homelessness and is one of few Canadian researchers studying the phenomenon of queer and trans youth homelessness. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1C6W-fhFQM

Q: “Aboriginal Community Media” with Dr. Raven Sinclair

Tuesday October 20th from 7:00-9:00pm George Vari Engineering Building (245 Church Street), Room 103 The 60s scoop is a shameful and little-known era of Canadian history. Following on the heels of the century-long residential schools system , it saw thousands of First Nations children forcibly taken from their homes via the child welfare system. Dr. Raven Sinclair , herself an adoptee of the scoop, comes to Ryerson to raise awareness about this issue. Dr. Sinclair discusses her latest film, There’s A Truth To Be Told , a project that involved collecting the stories of ‘60s scoop survivors. The event was moderated by Dr. Cyndy Baskin, Chair of the Aboriginal Education Council and Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at Ryerson University. (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_2Dc0beqK0 )