The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us.
This educational program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.
David Jalbert
Pianist David Jalbert performs regularly as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe.
Jalbert will present a recital of Bach’s masterpiece, The Goldberg Variations, as well as conduct a masterclass for Brock piano students.
Sept. 20
- Public Performance: J.S. Bach’s The Goldberg Variations at 7:30 pm, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (free to MIWSFPA students; adults $15.04; seniors and students $10; eyeGo high school program $5)
Tickets available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office 905.688.5550
905.688.5550 x3257 or visit Arts.BrockU.ca (Prices do not include HST)
Sept. 21
- Piano Masterclass: Music students at 10 am-12 noon, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (closed session); MIWSPFA students are invited to attend as audience members.
CONTACT: Prof. Matthew Royal, Music, mroyal@brocku.ca
David Jalbert has recorded CDs of solo piano music by John Corigliano and Frederic Rzewski, Gabriel Fauré, Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as his most recent release, the work featured in the Walker School concert, Bach’s Goldberg Variations. He is also an accomplished chamber musician, being a member of the piano trio Triple Forte, and has accompanied cellist Denise Djokic, French hornist Louis-Philippe Marsolais, and the wind quintet Pentaèdre, among others. Jalbert has won two Opus Awards (from the Conseil Québécois de la Musique) and was the 2007 laureate of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts. He studied at the Juilliard School, the Glenn Gould School, the Université de Montréal, and the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, and is now a professor of piano at the University of Ottawa.
Patrice Baldwin
Patrice Baldwin is a world leader in Drama, Education and the Arts in learning, and their connections to the latest developments in Neuroscience.
Baldwin will spend eight days teaching, speaking, and giving demonstration classes at Brock and throughout the Niagara peninsula.
Oct. 3 & 8
- Teaching/Demonstrations: DART 1F95, 2P01, 3P03, 3F92 students, scheduled class times (closed session)
Oct. 5
- Drama in Education Intensive Workshop: 9:30 am – 5:30 pm,Centre Stage Theatre School and Productions, 3505 Mainway, Burlington, ON (free for DART students; all others $20 to cover costs for refreshments and venue). Limited registration.
Oct. 7
- Teaching/Demonstration Classes: FOE pre-service and DART students and alumni, 8 am – 2 pm, Faculty of Education (FOE), Hamilton Campus, 1842 King St. East, Hamilton, ON (closed session)
Oct. 9
- Teaching/Demonstrations in Niagara Schools: FOE pre-service students, DART students and alumni, and Niagara teachers (closed session)
- Public Lecture: “Neuroscience, Creativity, and Learning: Recent Research and Connections to Drama in Education and Arts-Based Learning,” 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Pond Inlet (free community event)
CONTACT: Georgann Watson, Dramatic Arts, dramatic@brocku.ca
Patrice Baldwin is president of the International Drama, Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), and Chair of National Drama (the UK’s leading professional association for drama teachers and theatre educators), and is also an Executive Forum member of the World Alliance for Arts Education. A renowned advocate for the Arts and Drama Education, she is a prolific and respected author, with a particular interest in: Drama as a way of teaching literacy and as a way of learning across the curriculum; Drama and Arts-based creativity; and Drama and Neuroscience. Baldwin, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, is known for her lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops at international conferences.
David Walden
David WaldenA long-time senior manager in the Canadian cultural sector, David Walden recently retired as Secretary-General, Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
Walden will present two public talks: one on the role of culture in international development, and the other on Canadian cultural property legislation.
Oct. 21
- Seminar: STAC 4P68 students, 1 pm, Rm. PL 311 (closed session)
Oct. 22
- Class: STAC 4F40 students, 3 pm, Rm. PL 408 (closed session)
Oct. 23
- Public Lecture: “Culture and Development -The Missing Link,” 7:30 pm, Sankey Chambers (free community event)
Oct. 24
- Public Lecture: “Art, Taxes, and the Public Good – how Canadian cultural property rules help artists, collectors,
museums, and the public,” 7 pm, Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines, ON (free community event)
Oct. 28
- Seminar: STAC 4P68 students, 1 pm, Rm. PL 311 (closed session)
CONTACT: Prof. Sharilyn Ingram, STAC, singram@brocku.ca
From 1984 to 1999, David Walden held the positions of Secretary to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board and Director of the Movable Cultural Property Program in the Department of Canadian Heritage. His numerous international involvements include chairing the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation; the International Network on Cultural Policy; and the UN Economic Commission for Europe Meeting on Sustainable Development.
A member of the Executive Management Committee of the Canada Council for the Arts from 1999 through 2013, Walden currently works as a consultant in international organizations and governance. He was recently named an Honourary Lifetime Member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
Althea Thauberger
Althea ThaubergerAlthea Thauberger is an artist based in Vancouver, BC. She was a 2011 finalist for the Grange Prize and her work is represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto.
Visual Arts students will have the opportunity to collaborate with Thauberger to produce an experimental documentary video on the future move of the Walker School to downtown St. Catharines, ending with a public screening and discussion.
Oct. 28
- Artist’s Talk: 7 – 10 pm, Pond Inlet (free community event)
Oct. 29 – 31
- Student Seminar Series: Brock campus and Fourgrounds Media, 31 James St., St. Catharines, ON (closed session)
Nov. 1
- Public Panel Discussion: 7 pm, Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines, ON (free community event)
Nov. 2 – 7
- Workshop: Video Production for participating students Brock campus and Fourgrounds Media, 31 James St., St. Catharines, ON (closed session)
Nov. 8
- Public Screening and Discussion: 7 – 10 pm, Rm. AS 215 (free community event)
CONTACT: Prof. Donna Szoke, Visual Arts, dszoke@brocku.ca
Driven by her interest in collaboration, Althea Thauberger’s internationally produced and exhibited work involves interactions with well-defined groups of people and communities. While Thauberger’s practice defies strict definition by medium, she has produced remarkable films, videos, photographs, and performances over the course of her decade-long career. Her unique facility for collaboration is the thread that connects her projects as well as her thoughtful engagement with groups of people as her subjects. She works with these communities to develop performances that offer the participants opportunities for self-exploration and self-definition. Whether videos or photographs, the final works Thauberger produces are always striking documents that entice, engage and surprise her viewers. Her work has been presented recently at the Liverpool Biennial (2012); 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2009); and The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2009).
Jill Dolan
Jill Dolan is the Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theater at Princeton University, where she also directs the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Dolan will give a masterclass in online arts criticism, as well as a public lecture on “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” She will participate in a colloquium and open roundtable on the changing face of arts criticism in the digital age.
Feb. 20
- Masterclass in Online Arts Criticism: DART 3P95/96 students 2 – 5 pm, Rm. TH 257 (closed session)
Feb. 21
- Public Lecture: “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings” 10 am, Sankey Chambers (free community event). Presented in association with the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies
- Colloquium: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,” 2 – 6 pm, Sankey Chambers Keynote and presentations. (free community event)
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
- WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Critics and the arts in Niagara
- Chair: David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre.
- Participants: Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre; John Law, arts and entertainment writer, Sun Media; Sara Palmieri, co-founder, In the Soil Festival; Stephen Remus, minister of energy, minds, and resources, Niagara Arts Centre; Steve Solski, director, St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts; Candice Turner-Smith, managing director, Niagara Symphony Orchestra
- Respondent: Jill Dolan
4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?
- Chair: Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga
- Participants: Maddy Costa, critic and blogger, London, UK; Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University; Andy Horwitz, founder, Culturebot.org, New York; Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival
- Respondent: Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of Theatre, State University of New York at Buffalo
Feb. 22
- Colloquium cont’d.: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,” 10 am – 1 pm, Sankey Chambers. There will be a roundtable component (free community event)
10:00 am – 10:30 am
- WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation
- Chair: Karen Fricker
- Participants: Jill Dolan; J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail; Richard Ouzonian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star; Holger Syme, Chair, Department of English, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger; Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival
- Respondent: Andy Horwitz
12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
- COLLOQUIUM WRAP-UP
- Chair: Karen Fricker
- Participants: Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Rosemary Drage Hale, Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; Andy Horwitz
CONTACT: Prof. Karen Fricker, Dramatic Arts, kfricker@brocku.ca
Jill Dolan is the author of The Feminist Spectator as Critic (1989, 2012); Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre (2005); Theatre & Sexuality (2010); and many other books and essays. She won the 2011 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and a lifetime achievement award from the Women and Theatre Program (2011). She writes The Feminist Spectator blog at TheFeministSpectator.com, for which she won the 2010-11 George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism. A book of her selected blog posts and new essays, The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for Stage and Screen, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2013. Her full bio can be found at princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_princeton/theater/professor_bios/dolan/
Ensemble Vivant
Ensemble VivantEnsemble Vivant have recorded for such labels as Fanfare, Pro Arte, Doremi, SPY and Opening Day/Universal and Opening Day Entertainment Group, and their recordings are heard on classical radio around the world.
Ensemble Vivant, under the direction of Catherine Wilson, will present a concert with commentary on The Fugue, as well as give a masterclass on small ensemble playing for Brock music students.
Mar. 28
- Public Performance: The Fugue, 7:30 pm, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (free to MIWSFPA students; adults $15.04; seniors and students $10; eyeGo high school program $5)
Tickets available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office 905.688.5550905.688.5550 x3257 or visit Arts.BrockU.ca (Prices do not include HST)
Mar. 29
- Masterclass: Music students, 10 am – 12:30 pm Sean O’Sullivan Theatre; MIWSPFA students are invited to attend as
audience members. (closed session)
CONTACT: Prof. Matthew Royal, Music, mroyal@brocku.ca
Ensemble Vivant consists of pianist, founder and artistic director, Catherine Wilson, as well as Sybil Shanahan (cello), Don Thompson (acoustic bass, vibraphone), Erica Beston (violin) and Norman Hathaway (violin, viola). Championing a unique genre-diverse repertoire in their concerts and recordings since the group first came on the scene in the late 1980s, Ensemble Vivant has received critical acclaim for its work in the classical piano-trio literature, as well as for its forays into the worlds of ragtime, jazz and tango. Hailed as “Canada’s Chamber Music treasure.” – Toronto Star
Students from the Department of Dramatic Arts along with their colleagues in the Departments of Music and Visual Arts entertained almost 350 guests and dignitaries in period costume at the General Brock’s October Soiree, held Saturday October 15, 2011. More than $110,000 was raised, fifty percent of which after costs will accrue to scholarships in support of students in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.
Phèdre
For those of you unable to attend Nuit Blanche Brock this year, check out the short video above to see dancers Shannon Perugino and Jessica