UBC Creative Writing students Michelle Grahame, Logan Saunders, Natalie Rice, Daniel Vineberg, Amy Stetzl, Kelly Shepherd and Karen Meyer display some of their creations based on Kelowna’s North End neighbourhood.
All-ages eco-gathering features visual arts, music, drumming, history, poetry
WHAT: Dig Your Neighbourhood launch event
WHEN: Saturday, April 20, 1 to 4 p.m.
WHERE: Knox Mountain Park, Kelowna, BC
ADMISSION: Free
Ever wonder how your street got its name? What was on the land before your house was built? Dig Your Neighbourhood is a package of art and activities that will introduce residents to the cultural and environmental past, present, and future of their neighbourhood.
Twelve Creative Writing and Visual Arts students at UBC’s Okanagan campus have created a project focused on Kelowna’s North End neighbourhood. The community is invited to the official launch event.
On Saturday, April 20 from 1 to 4 p.m., the public is invited to come to the base of Knox Mountain Park. Those taking part in this all-ages event will enjoy music, drumming, street food (available for purchase from TNT Dynamite Foods), and meeting the creators of Dig Your Neighbourhood: Kelowna’s North End. There will be a free prize draw, as well as an opportunity to preview the works in the winner’s package.
“The artwork in Dig Your Neighbourhood was created from research in local archives, interviews with residents, and from students spending time in the neighbourhood,” says Nancy Holmes, associate professor of creative writing in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
Dig Your Neighbourhood has inspired diverse, student-produced artworks. These include a calendar, set of postcards, DVD, CD of specially composed North End music, children’s activity book about the neighbourhood, board game, North End graphic fiction, strange alternate histories and futures of the place, poetic guide to the trees of the area, quirky mini-plays, and a writer’s journal.
“The goal of the project is to help residents live sustainably and consciously in their place,” says Homes. “By lavishing the neighbourhood with loving and playful attention, we hope to encourage residents to see the North End neighbourhood as truly special.”
The Eco Art Incubator, a research project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and administrated through professors Nancy Holmes and Denise Kenney at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, are funding the production of several packages. One will be on display at the Okanagan Heritage Museum in May 2013. The remaining packages will be delivered to new North End neighbourhood residents by Welcome Wagon Ltd., as a one-year pilot project starting May 1.
More information: http://ecoartincubator.com/project-welcomewagon.php
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