Join us for an evening celebrating the arts and their transformative power to open communities to newcomers in honour of World Refugee Day in the Waterloo Region.
Featuring discussion, art & performances by:
Crossing the Border Photo Exhibit
Photographer Kemal Vural Tarlan, Director and Co-founder, Kırkayak Kultur, Turkey
as he discusses his photos documenting the people, things, and spaces along Turkey’s border with Syria, and in Jordan, Lebanon, and France, since January 2012.
The X-Page: A Storytelling Workshop
Project coordinator, Carrie Snyder, along with co-coordinator and educational consultant, Dr. Lamees Al Ethari, and writing coach, Tasneem Jamal explain the power behind this writing workshop based on a method taught by Lynda Barry, an American graphic novelist and teacher. The result is a A Quilt of Stories, a selection of stories written by 19 immigrant or refugee women from different backgrounds. Select performances will be provided including: Ms. Amna Kulsoom’s “A Day at School”, Ms. Yomatie Persaud’s “Role Reversal” and Ms. Paulina Rodriguez’s “Teaching of Nature”.
Theatre Performance: Adrenaline
Written and acted by Ahmad Meree and directed by Majdi Bou-Matar. The performance features Jabr, a young Syrian man spending his first New year’s Eve in Canada who looks back and remembers his last New Year’s Eve in Syria with family.
Closing performance by Waterloo Region’s The Levant Community Dabke Dance Group.
This arts evening is part of the workshop “Opening Communities to Newcomers: Cosmopolitanism, Solidarity Activism & Cultural Connections“.
The workshop is made possible with the support of funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; the Balsillie School of International Affairs; Wilfrid Laurier and Trent Universities; Laurier’s International Migration Research Centre and Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Centre.
