The Gathering 
Celebrating 10 years of showcasing, convening and support
for equity and pluralism in the Arts

The Gathering: A Conversation on Disabilities and Artistic Practice
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 | 1-4:30pm 

CSI Daniel Spectrum
585 Dundas Street East, Toronto, ON M5A 2B7

In collaboration with Reelabilities, Workman Arts, and Tangled Arts.

Involving three of Toronto’s highly regarded arts organizations working with the Deaf and Disabled communities, this session will explore in depth the workings of such artists and the role these organizations play in presenting and advocating for increased recognition of Deaf and Disabled Artists, their arts practices and stories.

Participants: Andrea Thompson, Sean Lee and Cyn Rozeboom.
Performance by Cahoots Theatre.

Panel General Admission:  $10
Register on Native Earth’s Box office.

Bios:

Andrea Thompson is a writer, educator and spoken word artist who has been publishing and performing her work for over twenty-five years. In 1995 she was featured in the documentary Slamnation, as a member of the country’s first national slam team. In 2005, her spoken word CDOne was nominated for a Canadian Urban Music Award, and in 2009 she was awarded the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word’s Poet of Honour. She is the author of the novel Over Our Heads and co-editor of Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out (both Inanna Publications). Thompson currently teaches at Workman Arts (CAMH), as well as through the Ontario College of Art and Design University and The University of Toronto’s Continuing Studies departments.

Sean Lee is a part of a new generation of artists, curators, and arts leaders bringing fresh perspectives to the contemporary art field through an intersectional disability arts praxis. His methodology reframes embodied difference as a distinct resource that resists aesthetic ideals. Orienting towards a “crip horizon”, Sean leads with disability in his curation for its transformative possibilities.

Sean is the Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability. Previous to this role, he was Tangled’s inaugural Curator in Residence (2016) as well as Tangled’s Gallery Manager (2017). In addition, Sean  is an independent lecturer and holds a B.A. in Arts Management and Studio from the University of Toronto, Scarborough. He currently sits on the board of the8Fest, Creative Users Projects and is a member of the Ontario Art Council’s Deaf and Disability Advisory Group.

Cyn Rozeboom (Tangled Art + Disability Executive Director) has over 25 years experience in the non-profit arts sector as a fundraiser, communications specialist, artist, and administrator. Career highlights include founding the Art of the Danforth festival; serving as the inaugural Managing Director of East End Arts; helping establish the Next Stage Theatre festival during her tenure at the Toronto Fringe; and three years with Hospital Audiences Inc. a group which provides innovative arts-access services in New York City. She has an MA in Communications, a Certified Fundraising Executive designation, and a college diploma in Radio & Television Arts. Cyn is Mad-identified and is particularly interested in the contradictions of human nature, construction of identities through story-telling, and the fluid dynamics of power within social structures.

Performance by Cahoots Theatre:

Kirsten Kirsch

Gimpy was born out of frustration and what I felt was misrepresentation. I was tired of disability being seen as supplements or catalysts to other stories. We have stories too. It’s important to me because I think too often, we are an invisible minority, and because I can remember being small and not seeing myself in media anywhere and it really upset me. I wanted to write something for all the young aspiring artists who are looking for themselves.

I’d love to be in your stories and would totally be open to doing a takeover! I can take over Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday (or a combo… whatever you’d like)

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Accessibility: Aki Studio Theatre and Regent Park Film Festival are wheelchair accessible. NIA Center for the Arts is partly wheelchair accessible.
We aim to host a fragrance-free event. Please do not wear perfume, cologne, or other scented products.

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The Gathering on May, 21 and May 27-29 is in collaboration with: