Grit Uplifted Writing Group London Ontario features art by homeless

Please join us in celebrating poetry and visual art by people with lived experience of homelessness at the

Grit Uplifted Creative Writing & Arts Magazine Launch Party!

(Co-hosted by the London InterCommunity Health Centre with the support of London Community Foundation and London Homelessness Outreach Network)

When: Friday July 22, 2011

Doors open 7:30pm

Poetry Reading by members of Grit Uplifted 8:00pm

Musical entertainment to follow, featuring Henry Eastabrook, DJ Sope, The Raspberry Heaven and The Ending To This Story

Art exhibit featuring work by The New School of Colour and other magazine contributors

Admission by donation/ pay what you can

Where: apk live, 340 Wellington Street @ York Street (York Street entrance) London, Ontario N6A 3N8

** apk live will be donating 10 % of all food revenue to the cause. Please come try out our new apk plates menu, enjoy our wonderful patio and help marginalized voices to be heard. Our chef Sonya Gammal will be preparing special features for the night. Please call 519.601.5483 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 519.601.5483 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email Marc Gammal at marc@apklive.com for reservations.

For more information, please visit http://grituplifted.com or contact Kelly using the contact info listed below.

Grit Uplifted Offers a Place for Self Expression for People who are Homeless

I would like to share with you information about a unique writing group based in London, Ontario.


The "Grit Uplifted Creative Writing Group" is an open forum for learning, self-expression and the building of trust and community for people who are homeless, at risk of being homeless, or have experienced homelessness. The group has a blog which serves as a venue through which the Grit Uplifted writers can share their work, their ideas and their experiences. Visit http://grituplifted.com/ The site features stories, poetry and video and offers a place to share personal experiences and revealing insights raising awareness about the human stories of homelessness.

Arts Informed, Community Based Research

Arts Informed, Community Based Research, Stories for Change

Homelessness and Solutions from Lived Experiences is a collaborative exhibit of eight participatory, arts-informed, community-based research projects featuring stories about people at risk of or with experiences of homelessness. A report synthesizing shared findings and recommendations will be released at the Launch. The exhibit will be on display on Tuesday September 30 to Friday October 3, Toronto, Metro Hall Rotunda, 55 John St. See the PDF here

These projects were conducted by peer researchers, community agencies and academics working with people with experiences of homelessness. Together, these works represent an important body of evidence on the lived experiences of homelessness.

Street Health Stories will be one of the presentations featured.

About Street Health Stories.

"In 1986 a group of homeless people in Toronto met to discuss health care issues they were facing. They felt discriminated against within the health care system, and given their circumstances they were often unable to follow prescribed treaments. The group identified nurses as the people they would feel most comfortable going to for health care.
Upon learning of the initial discussions, a group of volunteer nurses opened the first Street Health nursing station in September, 1986 at the Toronto Friendship Centre drop-in, in the All Saints Church at Sherbourne and Dundas. Other nursing clinics followed, located where homeless people congregated, in order to provide hands-on health care and assistance in accessing and navigating the existing health care system."
From http://www.streethealth.ca/aboutus.htmtm

Street Health Stories, Picture of Homelessness in Toronto

"Street Health Stories is an NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence project.The exhibit was sponsored by Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. Street Health Stories opened alongside the release of the Street Health Report 2007, which reveals a picture of homelessness in Toronto that demands immediate action. Community-based healthcare organization, Street Health, surveyed 368 homeless adults in Toronto about their health and access to health care. The Street Health Report 2007 presents the findings.

The National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmaker-in-Residence program presents the Street Health Stories installation which gives a human face and voice to Street Health’s statistics."

Photo and info from http://www.nfb.ca/filmmakerinresidence/blog/?page_id=87

See Youtube video clip from "Street Health Stories"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-omQ5rr3GUk

See Homelessness and Solutions from Lived Experience PDF Flyer

Homelessness and Solutions from Lived Experience Presentations and Exhibit, Toronto

The exhibit will be on display from Tuesday, September 30, 2008 to Friday, October 3, 2008.

Read this post for more info:

http://ccahtecrossingborders.blogspot.com/2008/07/homelessness-and-solutions-from-lived.html

Homelessness and Solutions from Lived Experiences through Arts Informed Research

From the Day in the Life Photography and Story Collective, Photo from Anagraphia website Nancy Viva Davis Halifax

Homelessness –Solutions from Lived Experiences through

Arts-Informed Research

Come and listen to our speakers panel and experience the arts based research projects.

a collaborative initiative to put forward and take action on the knowledge gained from eight arts-informed, community-based participatory research studies in Toronto. Help move our recommendations forward:

Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008

9:30 am – 12:30 pm

Speakers Location: Toronto Metro Hall (Rotunda)

55 John Street, Toronto

A Day in the Life: Stories and Photographs of Health and Homelessness in Toronto

Coming Together: Homeless Women, Housing and Social Support

asleep in Toronto

Count Us In! Inclusion and Homeless Women in Downtown East Toronto

I WAS HERE

The Street Health Report 2007

Street Health Stories

Struggles, Strengths and Solutions: Exploring Food Security with Young Aboriginal Moms

These projects were conducted by peer researchers, community agencies and academics working with people with experiences of homelessness. Together, these works represent an important body of evidence on the lived experiences of homelessness.

The exhibit will be on display from Tuesday, September 30, 2008 to Friday, October 3, 2008. For more information, please contact Professor Izumi Sakamoto at (416)946-8224, or email: mailto:artsandhomelessnessresearch@gmail.com

Other links:
http://ccahtecrossingborders.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-in-life-nancy-viva-davis-halifax-is.html

Coming Together

Article Centre for Applied Social Research, University of Toronto http://www.socialwork.utoronto.ca/index.php?section=495

Visit Nancy Viva Davis Halifax BLOG Anagraphia/Photography and Story http://anagraphia.blogspot.com/index.html

Art for Social Change

A product. A statement. A crisis.



A portable inflatable shelter

attached to a building heating vent.

Product name: The Para SITE

Read more about this work and others featured at the current Museum London exhibit "Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art" in columnist Ian Gillespie's article, London Free Press, January 19
http://lfpress.ca/perl-bin/publish.cgi?p=222093&x=articles&s=arts

This exhibit at The Ivey Galleries, Museum London

Opening January 25 running until March 16, 2008.

"Organized by curator Stephanie Smith, " Beyond Green Toward a Sustainable Art" explores the ways that sustainable design philosophy resonates with the work of an emerging generation of international artists....Ranging from the highly practical to entirely rhetorical, these projects make use of the discursive power of art, embedding environmental concerns within larger ethical and aesthetic explorations and building paths to new forms of practice that go beyond green." Museum London Quarterly see: http://www.londonmuseum.on.ca/pdfs/jan3.pdf

"I think this is a great vehicle for demonstrating how artists are really starting to work differently," says Melanie Townsend, head of exhibitions and collections at Museum London. "There's a lot of collaborative work, where artists are working with scientists and researchers and agricultural workers. And there's a lot of activist elements at work."quote from article London Free Press

http://lfpress.ca/perl-bin/publish.cgi?p=222093&x=articles&s=arts

Homeless Woman Have a Voice with Community Based Research Project by Dr.Izumi Sakamoto, University of Toronto

"Community-Based Participatory Research using Arts:

"Coming Together": Homeless Women, Housing and Social Support"

Dr. Izumi Sakamoto, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto

Date: November 8th (1:15pm - 2:45pm)

Location: Bahen Centre, University of Toronto: Room B024 (40 St. George Street, immediately south of Russell Street)

'Coming Together: Homeless Women, Housing and Social Support ', is a community-based research project by the University of Toronto, Regent Park Community Health Centre, and Sistering - A Woman's Place, which explored how women and transwomen build support networks with each other when housing is the issue . With the help of the advisory board consisting of women/transwomen who experienced homelessness, women/transwomen at four drop-in centres created scenes depicting their own visions of inclusion, friendship and safe space through painting, theatre and photography ("staged photography"). Various methods have been used to disseminate the study findings and the evaluation of the project is under way. The challenges and rewards of conducting university-community collaborative research will be discussed.

Izumi Sakamoto is assistant professor of social work at the University of Toronto. A former Fulbright Scholar, she received MSW, MS (Psychology) and Ph.D. (Social Work & Psychology) from University of Michigan and BA and MA from Sophia University, Japan. Dr. Sakamoto's current program of research focuses on the intersecting oppressions, self-advocacy, and empowerment communities such as immigrants, homeless women/transwomen, and people of colour in local, international and transnational contexts. She has experiences in community-based research, arts-based research, qualitative research and mixed-method research. She has held research grants from the Social Science & Humanities Research Council, Wellesley Institute, and Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Settlement -Toronto(CERIS), among others. Free, all are welcome, please RSVP to cuhi.admin@utoronto.ca

Homelessness, Social Action, Photovoice, Appeal for Cameras and Donations

Urgent! Participate, Act, Get Involved
Help Homeless Persons Voice Their Stories
Support Research Project with
Cameras and Donations


We blogged a story on May 8, 2007 from Toronto,
Ontario, "Researcher Raises
Awareness About Homelessness through
Photodocumentary, Photovoice, Story and Narrative
Methods (refer to post in sidebar) about researcher
and artist Nancy Viva Davis Halifax Ph.D. and her photovoice
project working with homeless persons on the streets
of Toronto with the Street Health Community Nursing
Foundation. Read more
at http://anagraphia.blogspot.com/index.html

This empowering arts informed project helps
homeless and underhoused persons photograph, record and
document true stories about the realities of living
and surviving in downtown Toronto.

"armed with a shoestring budget and cameras that
eventually had to be held together by elastic bands
a group of homeless men and women set out to
document their first hand experiences in Toronto...
Each of the photographs shows a place in a way that
disrupts the central concept of its daily use. "

"These forgotten people, how can we forget

people who are in plain sight? How are we

able to construct an account of life that leaves

them out of any rights
based society where justice matters? How can
we work against the collapse of hope?"
Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, Ph.D. Researcher, Artist

How can you help?

1. Put the cameras in the hands of the people

who can tell the stories. If you have a used camera,

or a new one, wrap it up
and send it today to:

Street Health,
338 Dundas Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2Al

Attention: Erika Khandor

2. If you are able, send a donation to Street Health,

visit website at www.streethealth.ca and click on "donations"
page for full instructions.

All cheques should be made out to Street Health

and should include
"PHOTOVOICE" in the memo line.

We hope you might consider participating in a very worthwhile

arts informed research project for hope and change.

"If I have my story I'm alive. If I share my voice with others I'm a human being."

CM

Researcher Raises Awareness About Cancer and Homelessness Through Photodocumentary, Photovoice, Story and Narrative Methods

Urgent! From the Day in the Life Photography and Story Collective

Nancy Viva Davis Halifax is an interdisciplinary researcher, scholar and artist. Her work is located at the intersection of the arts (broadly conceived), the body, healthcare, and the ordinary places of daily living in the context of urban communities.
She completed her Post-doctoral Fellowship Innovations in Cancer Education, Using Drama, Storytelling and the Arts for Information Dissemination on the Internet working with people with colon cancer using documentary methods in the development of textual and photographic expressions related to the cultures of disability and illness challenging both medical and popular representations of the stigmatized body. This work shares a place of being and body not in accord with dominant medical, social and cultural discourses.

Nancy Viva Davis Halifax held conversations with
people living with colorectal cancer, interviewing them and asking them to represent their experiences through journal writing and photography. What they revealed is represented on

the website "Things That Matter" http://www.storiesthatmatter.com/ This web site is in the form of creative non-fiction and photographs. The stories are built on the experiences, photographs and language of the participants.

Nancy Viva Davis Halifax was also Principal Investigator on the Wellesley Central Urban Health Enabling Grant A day in the life: Photovoice and the social determinants of health, partnering with Street Health Community Nursing Foundation. Together they engaged in a community based research inquiry supporting a research agenda identified by a community of underhoused and homeless individuals. Through their inquiry they documented three social determinants of health: poverty, social exclusion and the lack of secure housing. This research resonated with her Post-doctoral work as she continued with her determined grace to work with vulnerable communities, translating knowledge using photodocumentary and narrative methods.

Source: Centre for Global EHealth Innovation

http://www.ehealthinnovation.org/user/165

Visit website "Stories That Matter"

http://www.storiesthatmatter.com/

Visit blog site by Nancy Davis Halifax, Anagraphia/Photography and Story
http://anagraphia.blogspot.com/index.html

What dreams appear here?
"I took down Urgent on Friday night. Wrapped it up. Literally. Looked over the comments and began to think about how we provide space for stories that are "out of place" in the larger social and cultural memories of a citizenry. Each of the photographs shows place in a way that disrupts central concepts of its daily use.These forgotten people - but how can we forget people who are in plain sight? How are we able to construct an account of life that leaves them out of any rights-based sociey where social justice matters? How have we forgotten their belonging? Their place?In this photograph a person re-creates their nightly ritual of going to sleep with a blanket, by taking off their shoes and carefully placing them by their side for the night. This space feels too open for my personal safety, yet it was chosen deliberately because it is safe. And I wonder what dreams appear here?"
Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, read more at blog http://anagraphia.blogspot.com/index.html



Read about Urgent! and see photos from The Day in the Life Photography and
Story Collective, from Reconstruction Studies in Contemporary Culture Realistic Possibilities of Passing Interest, Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, Fred Yurichuk http://reconstruction.eserver.org/071/halifaxyurichuk.shtml

Read Report "Failing the Homeless Barriers
in the Ontario Disability Support Program
for Homeless People With Disabilities"
http://www.streethealth.ca/Downloads/FailSum.pdf

Info. about Photovoice http://www.photovoice.com/

We featured a story about Nancy
in our June 06 issue of the CCAHTE Journal
"Honouring the Creative Arts in Life and in Practice"
access full June issue as well as recent and archived
issues free by subscribing with an
email "please subscribe" to ccahte@cmclean.com







And this news just in from Rebecca Fortin by way of Sandra Knol HCTP, University of Toronto

Students Use Photography and Blogging to
Raise Awareness about Young Parents/homelessness

"With my summer placement at Toronto Public Health, I am working on a
project called: I WAS HERE. This project puts digital cameras and
online blogging into the hands of young parents, who are experiencing
homelessness. I have just met all of the artists on Friday and they
are some of the strongest, most beautiful, and talented women you
could ever meet. This project has also produced a "declaration of
needs" and has received overwhelming attention from the City of Toronto.
There is an opening reception for the I WAS HERE exhibit at the
National Film Board this Thurs. at 6:00 pm (150 John Street). I will
be there, and I would love for you all to hear about the project first
hand. If you cant make it the photos will be exhibited for the entire
month of May as part of the Contact Festival."

Rebecca Fortin

See video Filmmaker in Residence NFB

http://www.nfb.ca/filmmakerinresidence

http://www.nfb.ca/filmmakerinresidence/blog/?page_id=9

See info about "I Was Here"