February 8, 2014

1- 4pm at Xpace Cultural Centre

Please join us for a workshop and discussion on how to be an Ally with Robin Fraser, Jessie Short and Heather Haynes.

What is An Ally?
•Who are you and where do you come from?
•Diversity and Equity in a Cross-Cultural Landscape
•History and Who Tells It (how imperialism and colonialism inform todays’ social environments, i.e. systematic oppression)
•Unpacking Privilege
•Freedom of Expression in an Anti-Oppressive Context
•How to be an Effective Ally

Jessie Short and Heather Haynes first met when Jessie, an emerging Aboriginal curator, co-curated an exhibition at the Toronto Free Gallery in June 2012. Since this time, Jessie and Heather’s paths continue to cross in the arts/cultural world of Toronto. Both will discuss their respective understanding of anti-oppression work and the role of allies, taking account of the differences between theory, practice, taking responsibility and the necessity for building relationships.

Workshop is free and open to anyone.
Please RSVP to alicia@xpace.info

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Robin Fraser graduated from the New College of California for Social Change in San Francisco with a degree in Humanities and Experimental Performance. She has worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and local non-governmental organizations to create workshops intended to sensitize people in positions of power to issues of discrimination and inequity. Through her various training and experience in collectives, she supports active listening, and believes in the power of constructive communication.

Jessie Short attained a BA at Trent University in Native Studies and Anthropology Short and an MA Degree in Social Justice and Equity Studies at Brock University. Jessie’s MA thesis explored contemporary Métis visual culture. Jessie worked at The Banff Centre between 2009-2010 as the Aboriginal Arts Administration and Research work-study before moving into a contract position as one of the Program Coordinators of Creative Residencies for the visual arts department. In June, 2012, Jessie co-curated the exhibition entitled *Emnowaangosjig || Coming Out: The Shifting and Multiple Self *with Vanessa Dion Fletcher at the Toronto Free Gallery. Jessie is currently the National Coordinator of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective/Collectif des Conservateurs autochtones (ACC/CCA).

Heather Haynes is the founder of Culture Storm, a production company that supports artists who play an important role in arts and culture by fostering social, political and community engagement and change through performance art, theatre, film and music. Some of these artists include James Luna, Guillermo Gómez-Peña and playwrights Tomson Highway and Cliff Cardinal. Heather has also been an International Programmer for Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival since 2006 and she has produced three award winning documentaries; Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary, Super Amigos, and City Idol. While in San Francisco she founded the experimental art space Bewegung and was an exhibiting performance and installation artist. She received her B.F.A. from The San Francisco Art Institute and M.A. in Philosophy and Cultural Analysis at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her work focuses on the role of arts and culture in fostering, social justice, community engagement and positive change.

*image source: antioppressivebabyanimals.com