Stage to Page

Her third album, Freedom & Dance and her recording for children and young people, Nothing But a Hero, were released to critical acclaim. Allen is a recognized authority and activist on issues of diversity in culture, cultural equity, cross-cultural collaborations, and the power of arts in education and has worked, locally, nationally and internationally in this capacity. Her eclectic, insightful and inspiring lectures and performances have taken her as far as Jamaica and Switzerland. She has also held the post of distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Canada’s Queen’s University and the University of Windsor.

In this way, Brandon Wint is devoted to a poetics of world-making, world-altering and world breaking. For Brandon, the written and spoken word is a tool for examining and enacting his sense of justice and imagining less violent futures for himself and the world he has inherited. For more than a decade, Brandon has been a sought-after, touring performer, and has presented his work in the United States, Australia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Jamaica. His poems and essays have been published in national anthologies, including The Great Black North: Contemporary African-Canadian Poetry (Frontenac House, 2013) and Black Writers Matter (University of Regina Press, 2019). Divine Animal is his debut book of poetry.– I am a nationally-celebrated poet, spoken word artist and arts educator.

Poets:

Nura Ali

Nura Ali is a visual artist, community organizer and social activist, living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her multidisciplinary practice engages issues of memory, place building, displacement, and power.

Nura is committed to community-oriented organizing and for this reason became one of the founding members of the Vancouver Artists Labour Union, unionized workers cooperative with a mission to transform labour practices within the arts and cultural sector.

Jonathan Chan-Choong

Jonathan “JCC” Chan-Choong is a poet and writer, born and raised in
Scarborough, Ontario. He has since relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2018. Informed by multicultural and multiracial backgrounds, one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Canada, and his work in food justice, JCC writes from experience, memoir, and a deep passion for Hip-Hop. His works’ central themes include the human condition, social observations, and the never-ending internal struggle – sprinkled with a healthy dose of romance.

Lindi Nolte

Lindi Nolte is a 31-year-old, South African-Canadian spoken-word poet, writer, TEDx speaker, and educator. Lindi has actively been involved in the poetry slam scene in Vancouver since 2014. In 2018, she placed first in a spoken word poetry competition and was crowned Vancouver’s Grand Slam Champion. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of British Columbia.

Lindi is an active member of the performing arts community in Vancouver and has performed on stages across B.C. and the west coast of the United States. Her poetry explores universal human experiences and gives a raw and intimate account of her own life. Lindi strives to make poetry accessible for any and all listeners, regardless of their relationship with poetry. She teaches creative writing and poetry as a means to help people connect through authentic self-expression by allowing them to bravely share their voices. Currently, Lindi’s first poetry book is being published by Naledi Publishing house in Cape Town, South Africa. The book is set to be available for audiences by August 2020.

Anjalica Solomon

Anjalica Solomon is a poet, spoken word artist, organizer, and multi-disciplinary performer based in what is colonially known as Vancouver, BC on the stolen and unsurrendered territories of the Coast Salish, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and MusqueamNations. You can watch their most recent poetry film production “The Fruiticana on Fraser Street” which recently premiered on YouTube!

Anjalica is a leader in arts administration, with experience in working in the forefront of Vancouver’s arts and cultural scene which includes: Indian Summer Festival, UBC Arts and Culture, Verses Festival of Words, the TD Coastal Jazz Festival, and The Cultch Theatre. As an arts educator, Anjalica has developed workshops to generate healing poetry, collage to classrooms across the lower mainland with Wordplay Vancouver. With deep roots in Vancouver’s poetry scene, Anjalica has served as an executive organizer and host of UBC Slam Poetry and as a frequent host and hug-giver at Vancouver Poetry Slam.

Their poetic work often seeks to proclaim the possibilities of love and resilience. Anjalica is a poet of startling emotional intellect and candour whose work testifies to a deep faith in beauty, the power of nature, and ultimately, the human capacity to salvage integrity, radiance, and joy from moments of struggle. In this way, Anjalica Solomon’s poems and performances offer robust visions of hope, tenacity, and love. Anjalica is currently conjuring an arts collective of queer brown womxn and nonbinary artists. Follow @Anjalicrush on Instagram to learn more about upcoming short films, experimental fringe productions, virtual workshops, #brownhistory, and for #birdoftheday features!

Chronfused

Chronfused (Julie B.) is a poet, melodic vocal looper, and improv artist who may actually just be a puff of smoke vaguely shaped like a lady. Having spent her youth involved with the arts in her hometown of Yellowknife she has been performing professionally for over 15 years. Her love of spoken-word-poetry and audience collaboration has given her performance a style that captivates and inspires.

This dedication to whimsy has taken Chronfused from private events to cabarets and festivals around North America, most notably “Astral Harvest Festival” “Hulaween FL” “Vancouver Pride” and “Vancouver Coastal Jazz Fest.” Recently she has begun to host a musical improv show at CiTR called “MUSE-ish” and has joined forces with ‘The Artemis Musicians Society’ as their poet. Still, no matter if it’s serious or silly a Chronfused experience is always as strange as it is stirring.

Panelists:

Sheri-D Wilson D. Litt C.M., Order of Canada

Poet Laureate of Calgary 2018—2020

Sheri-D Wilson, aka Mama of Dada, is the award-winning author and creator of 13 books, 4 short films, and 4 albums which combine music and poetry. Known as the High Priestess of Spoken Word in Canada, she is an international artist known for her electric performance-style, making her a favorite of festivals around the world.

In her poems, Wilson uses personal narrative to address themes of personal story, social justice, lost languages, bullying, violence against women and the earth. Her tenth collection of poetry, Open Letter: Woman against Violence against Women; was short-listed for the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award & CanLit.

In 2019 Sheri-D was appointed one of the country’s highest honours, The Order of Canada, for her contributions as a Spoken Word Poet and her leadership in the community. In 2017, she received her Doctor of Letters—Honoris Causa from Kwantlen University. In 2019 her play, A Love Letter to Emily C, was produced in Calgary to rave reviews, and was published in book form by Frontenac House.

Other Honours: 2015 City of Calgary Arts Award * 2013 CBC Top 10 Poets in Canada * 2009 Ted Talk * 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry * 2005 SpoCan Poet of Honour * People’s Choice * 2006 Woman of Vision * 5 Rosies * 2003 USA Heavyweight Title * Her 1991 jazz-play, Confessions, received 5 Vancouver Jessie Nominations * Ace Award.

Sheri-D is a Marriage Celebrant and Ceremonialist.

A strong advocate for social change & community building,
Founder/Artistic Director of: Calgary Spoken Word Society (2003-2020)
Spoken Word Program | The Banff Centre (2005-2012)

www.sheridwilson.com

Brad Morden, Write Bloody North, is a ukulele playing, poetry speaking folk artists from Norfolk, Ontario. He’s is one half of the folk/hop sensation ‘Atomic Wednesday’ and the founder of Write Bloody North.

Using a mix of uplifting verse and ragged floor stomping ukulele uproariousness, Brad seeks to connect with audiences across the vastness, on their own terms, with a little something for everyone. Brad has performed his work on five continents from dive bars to classrooms, from festivals to grand theatre stages.

Performers:

Kathryn Bracht, Head of Drama, University of Regina, is an actor, director, playwright, and an Associate Professor in the Theatre Department at the University of Regina, where she directed an experimental, devised work-in-progress titled Secrets from the Borne Settee, which had sound live-streamed nightly from Mexico City, and was also streamed online. (thebornesettee.com)

Past professional directing credits include Demolotics at The Saskatchewan Playwright’s Centre’s Spring Festival of New Plays, Gramma for Hyphen Theatre, and various staged readings and productions for the Globe Theatre’s On The Line festival, Theatre Network, Workshop West, Vancouver Playwright’s Centre, and the Saskatchewan Playwright’s Centre. Kathryn participated in the Persephone Theatre’s 2017-18 Playwright’s Unit with her one-act play Draw Near, which was presented in part at the 2018 Saskatchewan Playwright’s Centre’s Spring Festival of New Plays. In the fall of 2018 her work-in-progress Seed was selected from over 300 international applicants for a staged reading at the Women Playwright’s International Conference in Santiago, Chile. Kathryn’s most recent directing project was Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone for Western Gold Theatre in Vancouver, Nov. 2019.

Munish Sharma is an actor, writer, and dancer.
Originally from Saskatchewan, Munish has called Vancouver home for over a decade. A Jessie award nominee, Vancouver Fringe Festival winner, and former Burlesque dancer, Munish is currently working on his second show, Danceboy.

He also for fun occasionally make Sketches on his Instagram @munisharma.com0 and on his Youtube Channel: You I Love. Recent credits include; A Thousand Splendid Suns (Arts Club), All’s Well that Ends Well (Bard n the Beach), The Orchard(After Chekhov)(Arts Club), The Matchmaker(Arts Club), Bombay Black(Raghupriya Arts and Culture),
Victim Impact(Theatre Conspiracy).

Deneh Cho Thompson is a Dene director, actor and playwright and member of the Pehdzeh ki Nation. Currently in his final year of an MFA in Indigenous Theatre at the University of Alberta and has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Saskatchewan starting January 2020. At the University of Saskatchewan, he will oversee the wîcêhtowin Theatre Program, currently the only Indigenous theatre program housed in a Canadian university.

Deneh’Cho’s research focuses on the development, naming, and centring of Indigenous acting pedagogy and Indigenous dramaturgies. The pedagogy work is extension of his MFA research and is continuous. Research into Indigenous dramaturgies has led to the formation of an Indigenous dramaturgies research group that hosted two national research gatherings in 2019. Research in this area is also continuous. Collectively, Dr. Lindsay Lachance (Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre), Reneltta Arluk (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity), Kenneth T. Williams (University of Alberta) and myself have created a multiyear research program that engages senior Indigenous theatre makers and academics, and mentors emerging theatre artists and scholars. Deneh’Cho is also engaged in the (re)storying of personal family archives focusing on healing, resilience, and Indigenous storywork (Archibald, 2008) as a pathway towards the creation of new works of theatre. His artistic practice focuses on new play development and Indigenous collaborations while centering the values of reciprocity, respect and reflexivity. Deneh’Cho’s recent acting credits include the world premieres of Iron Peggy, by Marie Clements, REDPATCH, by Sean Oliver Harris and Reas Calvert, and Thanks for Giving, by Kevin Loring. Directing credits include Institutionalized, by Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, The Girl Who was Raised by Wolverine (written by Deneh’Cho Thompson, and winner of the 2016 Fringe New Play Prize), and The Governor of the Dew by Floyd Favel. Deneh’Cho also teaches youth and community theatre workshops.

Sedina Fiati is a performer, producer, creator and activist for stage and screen. Proudly Black and queer, Sedina is deeply invested in artistic work that explores the intersection between art and activism, either in form or structure or ideally both.

Favourite and recent artistic projects: Every Day She Rose (Nightwood Theatre, co-director), Switch: The Village (collective member, QTBIPOC street performance, Buddies in Bad Times 2018 & 2019), Feminist Fuck It Festival (multidisciplinary festival, co-creator and co-producer), Tokens (performer, web series). Sedina is the lead facilitator of Generator’s Artist Producer Training Program. Upcoming projects: Switching Queen(s) (devised street performance), Last Dance (a web series).