COMMUNITY ARTS

it takes a table

This video is documentation of a live shadow puppet show I designed and sound designed in collaboration with Making Room Community Arts at Camp Naivelt as a part of Art Week 2015. The performance was the culmination of a week of story-gathering and puppetry workshops with community members. 

Interviews and concept: Michael Burtt and Jess Shane
Sound Design: Jess Shane
Puppeteers/Technicians: Jess Shane and Patrick Peachey Higdon
Puppet Designers: Callen Froese, Danae Froese, Patrick Peachey Higdon and Jess Shane
Voices: Community members from Camp Naivelt and MABELLEarts

Read more about this project at making-room.org.

The Museum of Arrabon House

I facilitated an 8-week community arts workshop at Arrabon House, a residential program for young women in Toronto. Guided by conversations and activities about place-making and the significance of objects, the workshops culminated in this video, created with and presented for staff, residents, and volunteers as part of a celebration.

Screened in the 2016 Parkdale Film and Video Showcase.

Thanks to support from Platform A, Making Room Community Arts, and Jumblies Theatre.

Know Thy Neighbour

Shakespeare in the Ruff approached me to create a community engaged arts project in tandem with their 2016 production of Romeo and Juliet.

Over the course of the summer, in three different Toronto Community Housing courtyards over 100 community members from Toronto's East End contributed stories of shared park space to create the ‘tin can telephones’ of Know Thy Neighbour.

This outdoor installation was displayed nightly for audiences to explore and contribute to prior to the performance.