"Art is our story!" An enthusiastic crowd attends the launch of the Art is Your Story project in Kingston
After taking the stories to the streets, please feel free to post a comment recording your experience.
Tell us what story you read, sang, performed, painted, etc. where you were and who you were with.
Post up your photos too. Or just email us to tell us a story about how it went!
We will post more pictures and reports from the Kingston events. Stay tuned.
Contact: Julie Salverson salversn@queensu.ca & Jenn Stephenson jenn.stephenson@queensu.ca
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Here’s a picture of one of the signs posted by Devon and Adam (see comment below by Devon Murphy)
art on your $20 bill
September 30, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I think the key is that the arts in Canada require a partnership – individuals must join with the government as supporters, with actions as well as with funds. We as Canadians are ALL stakeholders in the arts – no one will be untouched by these drastic cuts.
We also need to think about Canada’s image abroad – do we really want to follow an entirely privatized model? Isn’t our ability as citizens to work WITH our government towards social and cultural progress what defines Canada as a nation? We have an identity as a country and the arts support that identity and how we are viewed by others. In reciprocally supporting the arts, Canada may also serve as a role model for other countries.
Nothing exists in a vacuum and the arts are but one component in the mosaic of Canadian culture in its most broad definitions. We also need to recognize how the arts touch our lives in the most intimate ways- from the storybooks we read to our children, to the songs we sing in our happiest moments, to the visual art works that capture an innately Canadian perspective on the world around us. We all have a story to tell and the arts are how we find our voice.
I truly support the efforts of the Queen’s community to take its message of support for the arts to the streets – making their hopes for our country clear through the embodied, and often passionate medium of performance. Please join us in our cris de coeur: Art is our story! Keep the arts alive in Canada!
September 30, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I was just out in the shopping centre at the edge of Kingston, and I asked the woman selling me a shirt if she had heard about the ‘art is your story’ project. She said, ‘i think so’, and then the other sales clerk came up and said, “I have!”.
October 2, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Hi ‘Art is Your Story’,
Put a pin on yer map at RMC, eh. I presented a poem I wrote –”The
Imagination: Job Description & Homage”–today, Thursday, after reading Margaret Atwood’s response to Harper in an article in the Globe& Mail one week ago today.
I’ve emailed folks here the email re local arts happenings & the website.
Thanks for galvinizin’.
Michael, professor at Royal Military College, Kingston
October 2, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Today my pal Adam and I photocopied a twenty-dollar bill and circled the quote on it:
“Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts”?” putting them up in the JDUC (Queen’s Student Centre) urging people to check their money – government issued tender – and see how the arts is everywhere!
We also added quotes of poetry, or lines such as “Mr. Harper, put your mouth where your money is”. We hope this will bring awareness to fact that activism is sitting right in our own pockets!
Let people know, circle the quote in marker, so that when you pass it along someone new will see it. Eventually the hope is that these bills will circulate all over Canada and back to Mr. Harper himself!
October 2, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Today, my friend Christine and I took quotations surrounding the cuts to arts funding, stood in near the bank machines of the student centre, and took turns reading out quotes about arts funding.
I was also sitting in the student coffee shop, and two girls were sitting there holding the photocopies that Devon and Adam made earlier that day and talking about it. They were DEFINITELY into it and thought it was a great idea. Way to go team!
October 5, 2008 at 12:50 pm
We had a rally today in Kingston and it was awesome!!! We craned (to walk like a crane, an acting warm up/focus exercise) our hearts out in downtown Kingston for the arts!! My friend Caitlin and I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead on a street corner for about an hour…much to the dismay of several market goers….but we got a lot of interest and many people wanted to know why we were acting like birds going down Princess St. It was wonderful! I urge everyone to get out there and show the world that ART IS YOUR STORY!
October 5, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Pictures from the Market Square and Princess St. Events in Kingston on October 5 have been posted on the site. See “Event Pictures” under Categories – http://artisyourstory.wordpress.com/category/event-pictures/
October 5, 2008 at 6:27 pm
We had a super day in downtown Kingston today – thank you to everyone who showed up and got creative out on the street. Despite the few aggressive responses I personally witnessed earlier in the day, most folks were curious, tickled and incredibly supportive of our creative-action. I look forward to hearing more about today’s events…
Did anyone out there attend the Toronto/Danforth event?
October 5, 2008 at 6:40 pm
In Toronto it was a lovely day on the Danforth and people were friendly and interested. Morgan Jones Phillips, a paramedic in Toronto, told stories from his one man show “The Emergency Monologues” and brought his large ‘wheel of stories’ with him. 7 year old Emma handed out flyers, and some other stories were read along the street. I’ve got some photos and I’ll get them posted as soon as i can figure out how!
October 5, 2008 at 8:38 pm
On my way downtown with my kids, we cheered the “cranes” as they paraded down Princess Street. Then we joined the crowd at the fountain. My “performance” was a reading of “Tatty Ratty” by Helen Cooper — a charming kids’ book with wonderful illustrations. Then the kids took up sidewalk chalk and decorated the corner. They danced like penguins and recited “Alligator Pie.”
Everyone I talked to was very receptive to the project. But likewise almost all were disillusioned with their perception of the lack of comprehensive art policies from any party. On a more positive note, I was surprised and delighted to see some of my neighbours joining the project. Word is spreading.
All in all a great morning. Let’s do it again on Tuesday!
October 5, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Flying down Princess street, our flock of artists flapped their wings for the arts. We couldn’t have asked for a better day in Kingston. People honked their horns, cheered us on and one man even began “craning” from the other side of the street.
It was wonderful to share our stories and hear others’. Thank you to all.
October 6, 2008 at 12:22 pm
In Toronto, I stood just down the street from Morgan’s storywheel, and read from Kate Story’s recently published novel, BLAST. I’ll post a photo of this in the photos section. Kate lives in Peterborough and hails from Newfoundland, and the book is a gorgeous hilarious vivid portrait of Ruby Jones, a fractious fun gal in her 20’s navigating home and Toronto and inter-generational haunting. It was fascinating to read to ‘the street’ without any effort to pull people in or perform, but quietly enjoy the book. 7 year old Emma handed out flyers, and lots of people smiled. I had the idea, what is on each street corner for miles someone was standing reading a different book, poems, play, stories… It might be wonderful to do this, you could set it up in groups so that no one reader lost her/his voice! But imagine, an entire novel read in one day, one on each streetcorner. The image i have is from Farenheit 451, where people walk through the woods in pairs, one reciting a book to another so that it won’t get lost. This in a time when all books are burned.
October 7, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I was downtown Kingston on Sunday morning and was delighted to come across singers and street artists (local children playing with chalk on the sidewalk). I picked up the flyer and would be interested in bringing the project to beautiful downtown Almonte. Interesting project.
October 7, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Put a pin on Princess street next to RBC. We got out there with a guitar and played songs to random but friendly people. Our most interesting song had to be “If the Arts had 40 million dollars”. It was great stuff and the weather was pretty good.
Can’t wait for Thursday to get some really big stuff going!
October 8, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I’ve just come upon a lovely and simple video posted on YouTube – Canadian Artists Are Ordinary People – take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dgQ2A6ElPI
Thanks, Michelle -
October 10, 2008 at 7:09 am
A bunch of us played music on the street last night with an “art is your story” sign. how do I post my picture??