Media releases

• Online symposium celebrates new publication on theatre pedagogy and climate crisis

  Monday, March 15, 2021 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 15 March 2021 – R0032

  An upcoming weekend of online events will explore the role that theatre education plays in relation to climate crisis.

  To launch the new Routledge publication Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis, the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) is hosting a two-day online symposium featuring historians, theatre practitioners, playwrights, designers, professors and activists.

  Presented as part of the 2020-21 Walker Cultural Leader’s Series program, the online symposium “Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis” runs Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21 and will be livestreamed free on the MIWSFPA YouTube channel.

  Convened by volume co-editors David Fancy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University, and Conrad Alexandrowicz, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Victoria, the event features four online panel discussions with contributing authors of the volume, each a theatre scholar and/or practitioner.

  Through these panel discussions, volume contributors will answer the question of how theatre pedagogy can be transformed in response to the global climate crisis. Panelists are purposely divided into groups that mix their different expertise, encouraging a rich and invigorating discussion.

  “Nothing could be more pressing than understanding how to evolve our theatre training and pedagogy to address the climate crisis,” says Fancy.

  The volume’s authors, he adds, also “unpack how supremacy thinking informing the climate crisis — that humans are more important than nature — is echoed across racial and gendered violence in contemporary societies.”

  Each panel is based on a theme in the anthology: Intersectionality and the Body of the Earth; Eco-Aesthetics in Performance and Design; Eco-literacies in Teaching Theatre; and Theatre Pedagogy and the Climate Crisis.

  A summary of the volume can be found in a manifesto signed by all contributing authors in the epilogue of the book.

  Upcoming Walker Cultural Leaders events:

  Saturday, March 20

  1 to 2:15 p.m. – Theatre Pedagogy and the Climate Crisis
  Moderated by David Fancy with Lara Aysal, Derek Davidson, Katrina Dunn and Beth Osnes.
  Watch the livestream.

  3 to 4:15 p.m. – Eco-Aesthetics in Performance and in Design
  Moderated Conrad Alexandrowicz with Tanja Beer, Rachel Bowditch, Joan Lipkin and David Vivian.
  Watch the livestream.

  Sunday, March 21

  1 to 2:15 p.m. – Eco-Literacies in Teaching Theatre
  Moderated by Sasha Kovacs with Mary Anderson, Dennis Gupa and David Fancy.
  Watch the livestream.

  3 to 4:15 p.m. – Intersectionality, Solidarity and the Body of the Earth
  Moderated by Rachel Rhoades with Gloria Akayi Asoloko, Soji Cole and Conrad Alexandrowicz.
  Watch the livestream.

  More event information, including full biographies of each panelist, can be found online at brocku.ca/tpcc

  About the Walker Cultural Leader Series:

  Beginning in 2011 the academic programs of the Marilyn I. Walker School have celebrated the legacy of Marilyn, her gift and her vision by programming the Walker Cultural Leaders (WCL) Series. The ongoing development and refinement of the WCL program facilitates invitations to recognized cultural leaders, top researchers, visiting artists, scholars, professionals, theatre companies, producing and presenting organizations, associations, and others to contribute to the intellectual and creative life of the School and the Niagara region.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  Gillian Minaker, Marketing & Communications Officer, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University [email protected] 905-688-5550 x4765 or 289-696-0805 

  Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Third Annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture set for Friday

  Monday, March 15, 2021 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 15 March 2021 – R0031

  A lecture series held in honour of a Brock University student killed in 2017 continues Friday, March 19.

  Yosif Al-Hasnawi, a first-year medical sciences student who had ambitions of becoming a doctor, was shot and killed in Hamilton in December 2017 while trying to protect an older man from two aggressors.

  Organized by Brock’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Office of Human Rights and Equity and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, the third-annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture: Promoting racial justice in health care will be held online via Lifesize Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. and will welcome back guest speaker Notisha Massaquoi.

  Massaquoi will present “Where do we go from here? Health care delivery in the age of racial reckoning.”

  “There is clear evidence that disparities in access to health care and successful outcomes are strikingly different for racialized communities in Canada,” says Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Dean Peter Tiidus. “By continuing to educate and engage in public discussions of racism and racial equity in healthcare with our students and within our community, we are helping to improve the quality of service provision and reduce barriers to care.”

  Massaquoi also delivered last year’s Yosif Al-Hasnawi lecture, but organizers asked her to return after such a powerful and meaningful 2020 lecture.

  An expert in the areas of health equity, anti-oppression and anti-Black racism, she holds a PhD from the University of Toronto/OISE in Social Justice Education and has consulted globally for the United Nations Social Development Council on the subject of racism and its impact on health outcomes for workforces.

  “We are very fortunate to welcome back one of Canada’s leading experts in developing equity responsive organizations,” says Associate Professor in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies Margot Francis. “This topic could not be more important, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. There is a pressing need for us to name racism as a specific barrier for racialized communities in our health care system. Notisha’s experience developing policies and strategies to respond to anti-Black racism will enable us to gain a better understanding of how to go about this important work.”

  Massaquoi is a past Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto, which provides specialized primary health care for Black and racialized women. She has served on councils and working groups for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies and the City of Toronto.

  The lecture series was founded by Brock Medical Sciences graduate Zanab Jafry (BSc ’18) in memory of Al-Hasnawi.

  “Zanab Jafry said during the 2017 vigil for Yosif that his ‘incredible sacrifice … will not be forgotten,’” says Brock Human Rights and Anti-Racism Advisor Kattawe Henry. “This is just one of the ways Brock is helping to fulfil that commitment and support the Al-Hasnawi family by honouring not only Yosif’s memory, but also his goals and aspirations.”

  What: Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture: “Where do we go from here? Health-care delivery in the age of racial reckoning” presented by Notisha Massaquoi
  When: Friday, March 19 from 1 to 3 p.m.
  Where: Online via Lifesize

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases