Call for 2024 grad student ONC artistic residency

2021 ONC AIR Dennis Gupa

Are you a Fine Arts graduate student interested in oceans and looking for a paid artistic residency in 2024? Are you excited by the idea of exploring the potential for the arts or alternative cultural practices to highlight the visions, challenges, philosophical, aesthetic or ethical aspects of oceans and the impacts humans have on it?

If so, then the Fine Arts/Ocean Networks Canada Artist-in-Residence program may be the perfect fit for you!

Who can apply?

Open to current grad students (working in any discipline) who have completed most of their course requirements in any Fine Arts unit (including Art History & Visual Studies, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing and the School of Music), the Artist-in-Residence program is currently seeking proposals for 2024. The application period closes on December 22, 2023.

UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) co-lead and sponsor the Artist-in-Residence program, with additional financial support provided by the Faculty of Science and UVic’s Office of Research Services provide  to the program.

When does it run?

The residency period can start anytime between Feb 1 and August 31, 2024, and last for up to four months. A cost-of-living stipend of CAD$2,000/month will be paid to the selected Artist, with limited additional funds to support production or materials. At the conclusion of the residency, a public event featuring the resulting art will be presented, displayed or performed, and will be promoted by ONC and the Faculty of Fine Arts. This event will work within a specified budget agreed to during the residency, and depending on the type of project to be exhibited. Assistance for marketing and/or ticketing could be made available from other UVic departments.

Who else has done it?

Our 2023 AIR is Neil Griffin (Writing), who fused the creative with the scientific in a series of lyric essays titled Whale Fall, exploring the ecological stages of whale decomposition from its last breath to its incorporation into the deep-sea ecoscape.

Find out more here about our previous AIRs, including Colin Malloy (School of Music), Dennis Gupa (Theatre) and Colton Hash (Visual Arts).

What’s it about?

The ONC AIR program strengthens connections between art and science that broaden and cross-fertilize perspectives and critical discourse on today’s major issues, such as environment, technology, oceans, cultural and biodiversity, and healthy communities.

The Artist-in-Residence will ignite cross-disciplinary exchanges, interacting with Fine Arts faculty members and scientists & staff at ONC, as well as with other individuals using ONC’s ocean observing facilities and data portal. The Artist will learn from and engage with the current research, connecting it to the Artist’s own practice, and to wider societal and cultural aspects, creating work for public presentation at the end of the residency. The Artist will also be invited to contribute as a lead or co-author in scientific conference proceedings and/or journal articles.

Possible themes:

The selected Artist will actively engage with researchers on a variety of ocean science themes that may include:

  1. Natural hazards
  2. Ocean soundscapes
  3. Indigenous perspectives
  4. Arctic observing
  5. Community-engaged ocean monitoring
  6. Advancing deep ocean observing
  7. Hot and cold vent dynamics
  8. Coastal ocean
  9. Ocean data science 

How to apply

Proposal Submission Interested applicants are to email ONC (dwowens@oceannetworks.ca) with the subject line “Ocean Artist-in-Residence Program,” and attach:
  1. the artist’s CV
  2. a concise portfolio of previous relevant artistic work;
  3. a letter of motivation outlining the artist’s project proposal for the residency, and
  4. a 500-word project proposal with a separate project-costs budget
Applications will be reviewed by representatives of Fine Arts and Ocean Networks Canada. Artists may be contacted for an interview or to supply further information before a decision is made.

About the program

The ONC Artist-in-Residence program is established to:
  • explore the potential of the arts or alternative cultural practices in the area of the visions, challenges, philosophical, aesthetic, and ethical aspects of the ocean and the impacts humans have on it;
  • add a complementary artistic and creative perspective to ocean science, the societal ramifications of its exploitation, and its cultural aspects;
  • create opportunities for potential new research questions, experimental approaches and knowledge synthesis resulting from interaction between the arts and science; and
  • help envision and communicate the potential long-term impact of ocean changes on humanity.

Celebratory theatre: telling tales

This is a story of stories. And like all classic tales, each has an inciting incident followed by a turning point at which the hero steps onto a new path. They sidle or charge or struggle forward to a point from which there’s no turning back—they’re committed to the new path. Through, around and over obstacles, they continue toward their goal: safety, a grail, a job, a reunion. Maybe a home. A script.

And then, it seems, all is lost. The hero is, apparently, insurmountably far from their goal.

But lovers of story know—or hope—that that’s not the end.

In one story, Yasmine Kandil, associate professor of Theatre at UVic, has reached the point of no return. With co-principal investigator Catherine Costigan, professor of psychology, she is launching into a three-year applied-theatre project with almost $200,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

In the arts-based world, such large pockets of money are rare, but indicate the high value of such work, especially in community-based settings.

Of course this didn’t come out of a blue sky. Kandil began to develop a new applied-theatre method while at Brock University before she joined UVic. Collecting real stories of immigrants and refugees about their lived experiences, Kandil created short plays to be performed by students, even anticipating the future and writing in happy endings for each of the participants. That, she says, has been transformative for the group of newcomers.

“People don’t want to be seen as pitiful or needing help,” she says. “They want others to see their rich culture, what they bring to the community, that they are resilient, productive citizens, worthy of an equal share in society.”

Building a community partnership

The imagined finales also brought welcome resolutions for people whose paths are still uncertain. A Sudanese man, for example, who desperately missed the Nile had a (theatrical) opportunity to return to his river and say farewell.

Kandil partnered with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA) on Homecoming, a similar project with LGBTQ2S+ immigrants and refugees that aimed to educate and build empathy towards this group by the settlement workers who serve them, and who mainly come from conservative backgrounds.

“Many of the staff come from traditional cultures,” she explains. “By having theatre students perform the real stories of some of the LGBTQ2S+ clients, we hoped to help the staff become more comfortable and accepting, and to give the clients a sense of belonging.”

It worked. As one employee reported afterward, “It was like a window opened [for me].”

Research/creative project grant

Later that year, Kandil successfully applied for UVic’s internal Research/Creative Project Grant, seed funding to help scholars prepare to get larger external funding. That’s when Kandil and Costigan put their heads together to develop a theatre project with data collection that would allow them to evaluate the outcomes. The funds allowed them to pay participants in a two-day workshop and assess whether the project succeeded in helping them to achieve a sense of belonging and the audience to see immigrants and refugees in a new light.

The data collection is important for more than their own satisfaction. ICA is one of very few immigrant- and refugee-support agencies in Canada that has an arts program. Data will give them evidence to support applications for sustained government funding.

For the new project, Costigan is applying intergroup contact theory and social cohesion theory to design the data-collection and impact-assessment portions of the research. To evaluate whether the project has an effect on the storytellers’ sense of belonging and of self-worth, the researchers will use focus groups and questionnaires before the workshops begin, after they’re over and one year later.

Kandil and Costigan hope that the 16 weekly workshops will help 12 ICA and Vancouver Island Counselling Centre for Immigrants and Refugees clients develop a stronger sense of belonging within the group, to the Greater Victoria community and in Canada.

Then Kandil will write plays based on those stories, adding “embellished” conclusions that provide a vision for the people whose stories they are and for the broader audiences who will see the plays performed by UVic theatre students next summer.

That’s the definition of “celebratory theatre,” Kandil explains. “The participants benefit and the audience learns.”

The customized resolutions wrap up each individual’s journey with a vision of what their life might become here in Canada, Kandil says. Whether it’s a job, saying goodbye to a beloved homeland, feeling like a member of the workshop team or Victoria or Canada . . . .

“We give them,” Kandil says, “a happy ending.”

—Story by Rachel Goldsworthy, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation

Phoenix subscribers play a vital role as patrons & donors

Student Ximena Garduño Rodríguez in 2023’s Phoenix production of Mojada (photo: Megan Farrell)

As anyone who has ever been to the Phoenix Theatre well knows, our students learn by doing. They’re involved in every aspect of our productions—from running the box office and acting on stage, to working on the design, creation and management of sets, costumes, props, sound and lighting. 

But our audiences also play a vital role as patrons and donors, whose contributions allow us to provide the best education we can by hiring industry professionals, renting and building costumes and sets, and purchasing state-of-the-art production equipment.

“To me, it’s important to support theatre, as I feel it’s a vital part of life,” says Anne McLaughlin, who has not only been an annual subscriber for over 30 years but, as a donor, has also funded a graduate scholarship in applied theatre.

Many season subscribers also find it gratifying to be able to follow the careers of graduates as they move forward with their professional lives. “If you’ve never been to Phoenix Theatre, give it a try,” she continues. “You might get hooked!”

McLaughlin is just one of many longtime subscribers and donors who are vital to the Phoenix’s success. “Theatre as an art form cannot exist without our audiences and we are thankful for every patron who walks through our door,” says Audience Services Manager Sandra Guerreiro (right)—herself an alum of the department.

“I’ve worked here for over 37 years and pride myself on the relationships I’ve built,” she says. “Our loyal patrons even supported us through COVID and helped us weather a year without any performances in order to support students on their educational journeys.”

Tickets and subscriptions are now on sale for the 23/24 Phoenix season, which features three shows—The Importance of Being Earnest, 100 Years of Broadway and Hot L Baltimore directed by returning alumni directors!

Have you signed up for the Sept 5 New Student Orientation?

Wondering what it’s going to be like to be a UVic Fine Arts student? Get a snapshot of your upcoming year while meeting other students at our annual New Student Orientation event!

RSVP now for this free session & get a jump on the semester!

Date: Tuesday, Sept 5
Time: 2pm ~ 4pm (directly following UVic’s Welcome to the Territory event)
Location: Gather at the Phoenix Theatre building

Event description: The Dean of Fine Arts invites all first-year & new transfer undergraduate students in all five of our units (Art History & Visual Studies, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing) to attend this short introduction & overview of the Faculty, including speakers from Fine Arts Academic Advising & Co-op + Careers. You’ll have the chance to ask questions before breaking into groups for short, peer-led departmental orientation sessions and facility tours, plus a brief orientation in our computer labs.

By the end of this session, you’ll know what’s in which of our four buildings, where the faculty cafe is, how to access the computer labs, where to print assignments and art projects, who to talk to about your concerns, and so much more!

Staging an immigrant experience

2022 was a busy year for playwright Thembelihle Moyo, who came to Fine Arts from Zimbabwe as a Visiting Artist in 2021 and currently splits her time between our faculty and UVic’s Equity & Human Rights office.

In addition to being named playwright-in-residence with locals Puente Theatre, seeing her play The Prophetic Place run in Canadian Theatre Review and having a new play The Dark Bridge go into development with Puente and partners at the Arts Club Theatre, Electric Company, Playwrights Theatre Centre and ZeeZee Theatre, Moyo also saw the Phoenix Theatre mount both a staged reading and workshop production of her immigration play, It’s Just Black Hair.

“It’s about the experience of immigrants—especially those from Africa—and the microaggressions that people don’t discuss,” Moyo said during an interview with CBC Radio (above, with host Jason D’Souza). “You might think it’s easy to talk about our hair, our food, the way we think . . . the play talks about all the issues that surround us as people who are trying to get into a new culture.”

A group effort

Directed by Theatre professor Yasmine Kandil, produced by EQHR executive director Cassbreea Dewis and supported by EQHR’s Mandy Suen and Theatre’s Staging Equality research project and professor Sasha Kovacs, It’s Just Black Hair also featured Theatre student Divine Mercy Ezeaku in the lead role.

“About half of it was based on my experience as a new person to Canada,” says Moyo. “I lived in Africa for 39 years and it’s not easy for me to just throw away everything that I came with . . . it takes time for a person to learn a new place.”

Yet while her experiences were very specific, Moyo feels the play offers a universal with which people from many countries can empathize. “I just want people to get to know each other, accept each other, learn from each other. I want to commit to my Canadian lifestyle 100 percent, but I still have my African experiences with me. I just want people to be mindful as I’m learning the ways of Canada.”

Black Hair actors Wendy Magahay & Divine Mercy Ezeaku

Join us for New Student Orientation on Sept 5

Wondering what it’s going to be like to be a UVic Fine Arts student? Get a snapshot of your upcoming year while meeting other students at our annual New Student Orientation event!

RSVP now for this free session & get a jump on the semester!

Date: Tuesday, Sept 5
Time: 2pm ~ 4pm (directly following UVic’s Welcome to the Territory event)
Location: Gather at the Phoenix Theatre building

Event description: The Dean of Fine Arts invites all first-year & new transfer undergraduate students in all five of our units (Art History & Visual Studies, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing) to attend this short introduction & overview of the Faculty, including speakers from Fine Arts Academic Advising & Co-op + Careers. You’ll have the chance to ask questions before breaking into groups for short, peer-led departmental orientation sessions and facility tours, plus a brief orientation in our computer labs.

By the end of this session, you’ll know what’s in which of our four buildings, where the faculty cafe is, how to access the computer labs, where to print assignments and art projects, who to talk to about your concerns, and so much more!