Mayworks Kjipuktuk-Halifax

Untitled (Applying Joint Compound)
2017-05-02 19:00 - 19:15 (America/Halifax) | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
Video installation / performance by Michael Di Risio
Untitled (Applying Joint Compound) (2016) is a video-installation and performance that attempts to make visible the labour involved in maintaining public spaces. Though often unseen and undervalued, maintenance work is a fundamental component of the production of social space, in turn supporting other forms of collective work and cultural production. Through a reflection on the nuances of this work, the viewer is invited to consider what is involved in the production of the spaces that they typically inhabit.
NOTE: While the performance will take place on May 2nd at 7pm, the video installation will remain in the Bus Stop Theatre lobby from May 2nd to May 4th.
Michael Di Risio
An artist and writer currently based in Kingston, ON. His writing has appeared in Art Papers, Afterimage, Fuse Magazine, C Magazine and PUBLIC Journal, among others, where he reflects on art as a social force. He has participated in recent exhibitions at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, Artcite and Museum London, with forthcoming exhibitions at the Thames Art Gallery and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. He holds an MFA from the University of Windsor and is currently the Artistic Director of Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre.

Presented in partnership with the Bus Stop Theatre Co-op

The View From Her(e)
2017-05-02 19:30 - 20:30, 2017-05-03 19:30 - 20:30, 2017-05-09 19:30 - 20:00, 2017-05-10 19:30 - 20:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
A New Dance Piece by Liliona Quarmyne
Choreographed by Liliona Quarmyne
Featuring Liliona Quarmyne, Jacinte Armstrong & Sarah Rozee
Is it possible to maintain the abstraction of contemporary art and still share a clear message? Or does one have to be compromised for the other? Choreographer Liliona Quarmyne is deeply curious about pushing the boundaries between art and activism, and about the give and take between the two. In The View from Her(e), the audience will join her and dancers Jacinte Armstrong and Sarah Rozee to explore how art and activism can talk to each other.
2 Part Presentation
Phase 1 (participatory presentations) – May 2 & 3
Phase 2 (final performances) – May 9 & 10
This interactive, multi-disciplinary dance piece takes place in two phases, and audience members are invited to attend one or both.
Phase 1 performances are multi-disciplinary and interactive, and audience members are invited to directly become a part of the creative process.
Phase 2 performances are the end result of the process where the dancers share reworked material based on the discoveries of Phase 1.
ADMISSION PRICES
Phase 1 = $10
Phase 2 = $15
Both = $20
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Presented in partnership with the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union

New Waterford Boy – A Ceilidh
2017-05-04 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-05-05 19:00 - 21:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
A New Play by Richie Wilcox
Featuring Richie Wilcox, Aaron Collier, Lynn MacIntyre, Sarah Richardson and Brian Talbot
This is a tribute to the Cape Breton man I never was and never will be. This is a tribute to Cape Bretoners who have the songs of miners and fisherman embedded into their hearts and souls whether they have set foot in a mine, or cast a net, or not. This is a night of storytelling to pay respect to the Cape Breton of my childhood, with hope for the future. This is a tribute to the Cape Breton man I am and all the different types of Cape Breton man there can be. This is my Cape Breton … where I can be Rita MacNeil’s nephew for a week, I can be a superhero and conquer a junior high dance and I can belt the tunes of Allister MacGillivray, the Rankin Family and more songs we all know, all night long.
Richie Wilcox
A multi-talented director/singer/actor whose work has been seen across Canada and toured internationally. He is an Artistic Associate for Theatre Outre where he’s directed UNSEX’d, Castrati: An Electro Drag Opera, Late Company and more. Highlights include directing Daniel MacIvor’s I, Animal for Kazan Co-op and Gillian Clark’s Understudy. Wilcox is a Artistic Co-Producer of HEIST (formerly Angels & Heroes) where he most recently directed Girls! Girls! Girls!, the award-winning The Princess Show, Nation and How Do I Love Thee?
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Presented in partnership with the Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union and the Province of Nova Scotia

I Was There
2017-05-05 - 2017-05-10 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
An Audiovisual installation by Katie Toth and Mary-Dan Johnston
It goes like this: the bank closes, along with the grocery, then the laundromat, the club, the pub, the corner store where we bought popsicles and cartons of milk. The schools crumbled and were consolidated. Now, standing on the same spot where I bought my first vodka cran, underage, there is thick gravel where years ago I felt linoleum, softer, sticking to the sole of my shoe.
The geography remains the same, but the landscape changes
I was there is an attempt to illuminate the psychogeography of a city that is often accused of being stuck in the past. This mixed-media installation combines photography, oral history testimony and cartography to shed a light on what is lost in the process of gentrification.

Location and Hours
This piece is presented in the lobby of The Bus Stop Theatre Co-op and can be experienced ahead or after any event presented at this location. I can also be experience between 10am and 4pm daily from May 8th to 10th.
Biographies
Katie Toth is an emerging audio artist and digital/audio journalist who has been published in VICE, the Village Voice, and NPR. Her first art piece, which celebrated New York City’s public transit system, was produced in collaboration with photographer Lara Atallah, and displayed at The New York City Transit Museum’s community artist event Platform.
Mary-Dan Johnston is a writer, researcher, educator working at the intersections of the public and the private. Trained as an oral historian and qualitative researcher, she is particularly interested in how the political economy of the Maritimes has shaped the embodied experiences of working people. Her writing has recently appeared in GUTS Canadian Feminist Magazine. Her art practice uses street photography to capture moments of tension and collaboration between individuals and the built environment.

Presented in partnership with the Bus Stop Theatre Cooperative and the StART Festival.

The Decelebration of Canada 150
2017-05-05 17:30 - 18:30 | NS
Performance by Raven Davis
Saturday, April 29, 10:00AM-11:00AM | Cornwallis Park
Friday, May 5, 5:30 PM-6:30PM | Citadel Hill – Clock Tower

The Decelebration of Canada 150 is a body of work and a performance piece created to critique and expose the myth of the confederation of Canada and the discourse and erasure of: Indigenous people, Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous history in Halifax and Canada.
NOTE: Performances are ongoing and can be joined or left at any time.
NOTE: Performances are outdoors. Please dress accordingly.
Raven Davis
An Indigenous, mixed race, 2-Spirit multidisciplinary artist and activist from the Anishnawbe (Ojibwa) Nation, Treaty 4 in Manitoba. They were born and raised in Toronto and currently works in Halifax. A parent of 3 sons, Raven’s work spans from painting, performance, traditional song/dance, design, poetry and short film. Raven cleverly blends narratives of colonization, race and gender justice, 2-Spirit identity and the Anishinaabemowin language and culture into traditional and contemporary art forms.

Presented in partnership with the Union of Food and Commercial Workers – Eastern Provinces Council and the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group

Mug
2017-05-06 19:00 - 20:00, 2017-05-07 14:00 - 15:00, 2017-05-07 19:00 - 20:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
A New Play by In My Own Voice (iMOVe) Arts Association

Mug revolves around the Mug Shots of three formerly incarcerated people – photographs that span collectively almost 30 years of being in conflict with oneself and the Justice System. When a photograph is captured we often refer to it as ‘taking’ the photograph. This process of taking is encapsulated by the taking of the mug shot. However, when a person is convicted of committing an offence, the process of taking involves much more. When a person is incarcerated, the liberty of free movement is taken. The person’s clothes are taken. The ability to make many of their own decisions is taken. Through Mug, three persons relive their past by offering their stories and invite us all to take the challenge of giving.
Featuring performances by JRDN

Cast & Crew:
Cast: Craig Kelly, Lance Perry, Darren Tynes and JRDN

Directed by Sobaz Benjamin
With assistance from: Liam Petite, Jacob Sampson, Michael Tennyson and Jordan Metro

Biographies

Sobaz Benjamin, Founder and Executive Director of In My Own Voice (iMOVe) Arts Association, is an accomplished and recognized film-director, as well as a community advocate, youth mentor, program facilitator and educator. In 2009, he started working with the Nova Scotia Justice Department to deliver his Life Story course at the Nova Scotia Youth Facility, and was honoured in 2014 by the Provincial Justice Department with a Minister’s Award for Individual Leadership in Crime Prevention. He has taught and presented at a number of public schools and post-secondary institutions, as well as facilitated community-based projects around and beyond the HRM. Sobaz has also received a Humans Rights Award for his work with youth and directing awards from the National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television.
Jordan Croucher (aka JRDN) is a Canadian R&B/Hip Hop recording artist raised in Halifax and Toronto. After playing on the St-FX basketball team and a year of professional basketball in France, he began a career in music which has lead him to national and international recognition.
Craig Kelly is currently remanded at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside. He is a 23 year old Caucasian male and has been in conflict with the justice system since he was thirteen – the age when his first mug shot was taken. Craig is awaiting sentencing.
Lance Perry is a 33 year old African Nova Scotian. He was born and raised in Uniacke Square and has been in conflict with the justice system since he was thirteen. He is currently under house arrest awaiting trial. He is the father of three children: a 12 month old boy and two daughters aged 6 and 10. He is determined to turn his life around, and as he puts it, “to be of some good use to his children.”
Liam Petite is a Filmmaker/Editor and Photographer at Misfits&Masterminds Productions, a Halifax-based film production company producing a mix of music videos, promotional videos, short and feature films. Liam worked with iMOVe to produce the video elements of Mug.
Jacob Sampson is a Writer and Performer. Jacob Sampson is an actor from the Annapolis Valley and a graduate of Acadia University’s acting program. Jacob has performed at Shakespeare By the Sea for four seasons and is the playwright and star of Chasing Champions, an award winning biographical play about Sam Langford. Jacob was acting coach and assisted Sobaz Benjamin in the staging of the play.
Michael Tennyson is a Filmmaker/Editor at Tennyson Studios. Michael offers film and editing services for mainstream and social media and worked with iMOVe to produce the video elements of Mug.
Darren Tynes is a 39 year old African Nova Scotian born and raised in Uniacke Square. He was released from the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in December of 2016. He has found part time work with a construction company and, like Lance, Craig and Jeff, he is determined to make it on the outside – this time.
Jordan Williams Joseph (aka Jordan Metro) is a Halifax Music Producer and Audio Engineer. Jordan is a 22 year old hip hop and R&B producer stationed in Halifax and has produced and recorded a number of albums for local and international artists. He is a graduate of the Nova Scotia Community College’s Recording Arts Program and Music Business Program. Jordan worked with iMOVe to produce the audio elements of Mug.
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Presented in partnership with the Service Employees International Union Local 2 – Nova Scotia and with assistance from the Nova Scotia department of Communities, Culture and Heritage

Reel Justice
2017-05-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, NS, B3J 1E9, Canada
A Curated Program of Short Films
Reel Justice returns for a 3rd year to present a selection of short films examining issues of social justice that affect our community. This year’s selection includes works by local filmmakers who celebrate home, roots and belonging in a way that challenges common narratives about Nova Scotia.
The screening will include films by KeKe Beatz & MAJE, Raghed Charabaty, Sylvia Hamilton, Guyleigh Johnson, Koumbie, Ariella Pahlke and Stephanie Young.
2017 Program

Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia
(29 min)
Sylvia Hamilton, 1992
In their predominantly white high school in Halifax, a group of black students face daily reminders of racism. They work to establish a Cultural Awareness Youth Group, a vehicle for building pride and self-esteem through educational and cultural programs. With help from mentors, they discover the richness of their heritage and learn some of the ways they can begin to effect change.

Outhome
(14 min)
KeKeBeatz & MAJE, 2016
Rap artist Michael Earle, also known as MAJE, and director KeKeBeatz reveal the pride and resilience that shine through stories of violence in East Preston.

Tipping Point
(7 min)
Stephanie Young, 2016
A painfully-shy barista must overcome their own self-doubt when they start crushing on a customer who turns out to be a not-so-shy burlesque performer.

#Deema
(12 min)
Raghed Charabaty, 2016
As her childhood friend immigrates to Canada and visits her with news from home in Syria, Deema is haunted by a pain from her past that she must face.

Mi’kwite’tmn (Do You Remember)
(14 min)
Ariella Pahlke, 2016
This short doc examines how artist Ursula Johnson deconstructs and manipulates the function and image of Mi’kmaw basketry in an effort to preserve, remember, and build upon the traditional art form.

Conversations with Coretta
(4.5 min)
Guyleigh Johnson, 2016

Johnson reads from her book “Expect the Unexpected.” Through her poem she speaks to Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and reflects on being a Black woman.

Hustle & Heart
(12 min)
Koumbie, 2016

A film about friendship, sexuality and longing that takes place on the football field.

Smile
(3 min)
KeKeBeatz & MAJE, 2016

“I know the system don’t love you, but keep love in your heart.” Music video for MAJE’s single Smile featuring Cunny Ross.

Presented in partnership with the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television & Radio Actors – Maritimes and Halifax Public Libraries
