“de-colonize my heart”

a performance by Peter Morin

Part of the exhibition Moving Forward, Never Forgetting at the MacKenzie Art Gallery from February 28^th – April 19^th, 2015

Performance Workshop Details:

Tuesday, Feb 24th at North Central Community Association, 6:00-9:00 pm- food provided

Wednesday, Feb 25th at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2:30-5:30 pm- snacks provided

Thursday, Feb 26th at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2:30-5:30 pm- snacks provided

Peter Morin Performance: Friday, February 27, 2015, 4:00-8:00pm

Transportation will be provided for all workshops and the performance.

Artist Peter Morin is seeking individuals to work with in the development of a performance at the MacKenzie Art Gallery titled de-colonize my heart. Workshops are scheduled for February 24, 25, and 26, with the performance scheduled to take place Friday, February 27, 2015 from 4-8 pm.

Peter Morin is interested in transformation and how the act of transforming creates a new pathway for our experience of history. His medium for this work has been performance art.  When describing de-colonize my heart, Morin says: “This is a transformation. This is about de-colonizing hearts. This is about singing, healing.” Morin will collaborate with individuals in the creation and development of a new series of actions that will create a space for hearts to beat, to rattle, to sing, to transform.

Community Workshop Description

February 24, 25, 26, 2015

In preparation for this new performance, the artist will lead a series of performance workshops with community; a series of performance exercises designed to develop a visual and physical language that will be used to create the new performance work. These exercises will focus on developing performance language, de-colonizing strategies, and the ability to sing our songs in public. Each workshop will be a minimum of three hours long and will be focused on cultural practice and support through drumming, singing, and talking circles. The group will work collaboratively on developing a stronger connection to bodies and voice through guided activities. One of these activities will be focusing on building safe contact with objects through collaborative performance movement. Throughout the week sessions, the artist will also talk about his practice, the performance he would like to develop for the MacKenzie, and review the texts to be used in the performance.

Performance Description

Friday, February 27^th, 2015

4:00-8:00 pm

The artist, alongside workshop participants / members of community, will brew batches of tea made from harvested medicines. This tea will be used to wash colonial texts. They will use dampened/wet cloths, soaked in the tea, and go through each book page by page. Each text will be wiped clean; transforming the book into something new. The books will be left to dry in the space on a blanket. The culmination of the performance will end in collective song – artist, participants and viewers will, drum, rattle and sing.

About Peter Morin

Peter Morin is a Tahltan Nation artist, curator and writer who recently relocated from British Columbia to Brandon, Manitoba where he joined the Visual and Aboriginal Arts Faculty at Brandon University. Morin studied art at Emily Carr University of Art+Design and recently completed his MFA at University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2011. In both his artistic practice as well as his curatorial work, Morin’s research investigates the spaces between indigenous cultural-based practices and western settler colonialism. This work, defined by Tahltan Nation production and worldview, often takes on the form of performance interventions, and also includes object and picture-making. Morin has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions across Canada and was long-listed for the Sobey Art Prize in 2014.

If you are interested in participating in this exciting project, please contact Michael Parker at (306) 791-9888 before February 18^th, 2015.

NCCA would like to announce it’s new Employment Training Program that is replacing the former Transition to Trades program.

Meewasasin was the program name gifted to us through a Naming Ceremony and Sweat Lodge guided by Elder Archie Weenie.

The program will continue to serve the same clients which are youth ages 18-29 who have barriers and are unable to find or maintain employment. We are offering a different approach that will individualize the program to best fit the clients needs and help them break the barriers which will assist them on the path towards employment.

We are looking for youth that have the desire to further themselves by gaining skills that will lead to employment. If you are interested, you can contact Meewasasin staff at      306-791-9530 or stop in at 1459 Retallack Street to meet with the staff and discuss how this program could help you to achieve your goals.

North Central Community Association would like to thank Elder Archie Weenie and his helpers with Open Sky Retreat as well as Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of the Economy.  Lastly, a huge thank you to Brenda Dubois who was an integral part of the planning and design of the Meewasasin program.  

Click the link below to view our poster.  Print it out, hand it out, hang it up and help us spread the word!

Meewasasin-poster

Invitation

On behalf of the North Central Community Association we would like to invite you to the launch of our new social enterprise, the neighbourhood’s first community focused electronic billboard. The event will take place at Regina Performing Arts Centre 1077 Angus Street on Tuesday February 11^th at 10:00 am.

Background

North Central Community Association has developed a social enterprise strategy to support the residents, businesses and agencies that call North Central home. Combined with the association’s Community Connection newspaper, the electronic billboard will be another tool to drive information to the people who work and play in North Central.

In 2007 the association started a legacy campaign and began fundraising to develop a series of community billboards as a means to notify and engage the community. Today the first sign has become a reality. With our partners Canadian Digital Network we can provide a cost effective venue for local and national businesses to advertise. Proceeds from corporate advertising subsidize the operating costs of the venture so that schools, agencies, and churches can advertise for free.

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses owned by nonprofit organizations, that are directly involved in the production and/or selling of goods and services for the blended purpose of generating income and achieving social, cultural, and/or environmental aims. Social enterprises are one more tool for nonprofits to use to meet their mission to contribute to healthy communities.” -Social Enterprise Council of Canada

For more information contact:

Rob Deglau, Community Relations

communityrelations@nccaregina.ca

Underdevelopment

“Poverty is not caused because money does not come into the inner city, It is created because money does not stay in the inner city” – Author Unknown

Rob’s Open House Celebration March 28 2014 1:30 to 4:00 at the Albert-Scott Community Centre on 1264 Athol st, program at 2 PM. If you have stories or photos of Rob you would like to share please contact info@nccaregina.ca

We are sad to announce that Rob Deglau is stepping down as Executive Director of the North Central Community Association (NCCA). Rob has spent 8.5 years at the helm of the organisation and was active as a board member and volunteer since the early 90’s. Rob represented Ward 6 at City Hall for 3 terms starting in 1996.  Rob has been a determined advocate for North Central and Regina’s inner city. Our neighbourhood and NCCA would not have been the same without his hard work and dedication. To name just a few of the many initiatives Rob has had his hand: improving housing standards, our annual clean-ups, University of Regina’s Community Research Unit, improving transit services, employment training and gang exit programs, and North Central’s history project. Rob has always had an attitude of cooperation and an upbeat win-win mentality that has brought along many partners to work together for the betterment of North Central. There will be a Celebration of Rob’s contribution to the Association and North Central on March 28 2014 1:30 to 4:00. Rob will be continuing to work part-time with NCCA during the transition and sees himself staying involved in the community. Rob’s hoping to work on various other volunteer projects, considering returning to university, and maybe spend a little more time on his sailboat.

Michael Parker has been appointed as Interim Executive Director of NCCA. Michael has been working with the Community Association for two years now and has 9 years combined experience and education in youth and community development work in western Canada and internationally. Michael’s first involvement with NCCA was as a volunteer for the 2009 North Central Fallfest. Michael and his wife now call North Central their home and are actively involved volunteering at Regina Alternative Measures Program and Indian Metis Christian Fellowship.

Michael’s new email exec.director@nccaregina.ca

Rob’s new email CommunityRelations@nccaregina.ca

Main office line: 306-791-9888

Renew Work Bee in Progress

Some of the highlights of the this year’s Renew project were engaging residents who had given up caring about their alleys which included reporting crime and observing traffic and garbage dumping in the alleys.  Renew staff were told on a few occasions from these residents that their sense of pride and care was renewed and they would now monitor the traffic in their alleys to try and keep it clean.  We had residents share that they felt we “were gifts from the creator” and “appeared like angels” as they were frustrated with their yards as they had no tools to cut the grass. We had many youth come and help with excitement and even had the youth go home and comment to a family friend of their parents that they did not want them over because they “would just mess the yard up all over again” which speaks volumes for the level of pride these children took in cleaning their yards/alley.  Those same children had a trampoline in their yard the very next day after the waist high weeds had been cut!

The whole purpose of the work bee clean ups was to engage residents and renew their sense of pride in their environment as well as renewing North Central in the bigger picture of things.  Residents from all walks of life came out to help and it allowed them to meet other neighbors as well as the youth.  We had a great partnership with Rainbow Youth Centre’s (RYC) Road to Employment youth who expressed to Renew Staff as well as to RYC staff how good about themselves they felt after a day of doing alley clean ups (see attached letter of support).  They came out almost every Wednesday all summer and many of the accomplishments Renew achieved can be directly attributed to their assistance as they worked hard and full of heart and spirit.

The City of Regina reported that they picked up an average of 50 hoppers per month which is their measurement with the older garbage truck.  Although in one alley alone the workers estimated it to be 30 hoppers and that it took them 3 days to clear all of the garbage and branches we piled.

In addition to the work bee clean ups, we also participated in graffiti cleaning blitzes which consisted of painting over graffiti and removing tags from garbage bins. The area from the 600-1400 blocks (tracks to Dewdney Avenue) and all the way between Albert and Elphinstone Streets were completed for garbage bins and graffiti removal.  Only a handful of blocks were completed on the other side of Elphinstone up to Lewvan Drive.

In these blitzes youth graffiti offenders, who will call J and E who came through the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan (JHSS), they had each worked 10 hours with the Renew Project doing alley clean ups.  When they had another set of hours to complete they requested to JHSS to work with the Renew Project specifically which the JHSS coordinator expressed gratitude and appreciation for the Renew Project staff as well as the impact it had on these youth.  In one blitz E and the coordinator were driving down an alley and he pointed out his tag which was quite old.  The coordinator had E knock on the home owner’s door to introduce himself as the offender who vandalized her property.  The lady was elderly and told the youth she had just painted over a tag when his appeared and she did not have the ability due to health or the funds to cover it again and so it sat there for over a year.  E apologized and offered to cover it up immediately for her.  He did and the lady expressed such a sincere appreciation for it.

These youth expressed a strong sentiment of remorse and understanding of the impact of their crimes.  The biggest level of awareness for these youth came from the moments of being in the alleys painting.  We would have all types of people approach us.  People would approach us, question what we were doing, thank us for our work, and even sometimes would lecture the youth on completing their hours by working hard.  Some of these people would also enquire about jobs doing what we were doing.  The youth offenders both expressed complete shock and humbleness to have so many different types of people thank them.  It was a matter of not being judged as well as breaking stereotypes to these youth and helped them see that even down and out people do not want their neighbourhood vandalized/abused. Conversations with these youth reflected their sense of awareness of the impact of their crimes to the victims as well as to the neighbourhood.

In addition to the work bee and the blitzes, Renew staff have been monitoring for re-tags.  We have had approximately 20 re-tags the entire summer out of the entire area of the 600-1400 blocks from Elphinstone to Albert Street.  Most of the re-tags were done by the same individual (s) as well. We would paint over the re-tags and as of today, there are only 9 re-tags remaining.  There are approximately 30 graffiti tags on non-white surfaces that we chose not to paint over due to using white paint only.

Process of the Renew Project:

The process started off with delivering an introduction flyer to residents of targeted blocks notifying of when Renew Project staff would return to conduct a survey and solicit volunteers for the work bee.  Renew Project staff would then return to conduct the survey and educate residents on the reporting process for graffiti as well as other NCCA programs. This was followed by conducting the work bee with community participation to pick up garbage, cover graffiti and perform minor yard work.  After the work bee, staff would host a BBQ to encourage community engagement and communication.

The Renew project would like to thank the following people for their donations and support:

City of Regina, Rainbow Youth Centre, John Howard Society of Saskatchewan, RAMP, B&B Small Engine Sales & Service Company, Wendy Dumalski, General Paint, Colorburst Paint, James Morberg and Wendy Grant, Regina Police Service, Aids Programs South Saskatchewan, Go Green, Student Summer Works Program, McDonalds, 5^th Avenue Convenience Store, and Roberta Pelletier (for the AMAZING BANNOCK).  Most importantly, The Renew Project would like to thank all of the volunteers and especially the North Central Residents who came out and led by example in working towards a safer, cleaner community.  It is the volunteers that made the difference, and we are forever thankful for the time given!

Our Communications Coordinator Max finishes up his term with us this week and we wanted to give him the opportunity to share some of his thoughts and reflections on his time here with the NCCA. Take it away Max……

Hello to everyone who reads our blog! It’s really nice to know you’ve taken the time out of your day to keep in touch with what’s been going on here in North Central (and even nicer to know that you’re willing to read my ramblin’ rants.) I have thoroughly enjoyed working here for the very reason that it has been an experience unlike any I have ever had! Coming into this job I had plenty of ideas as to what communication and marketing should look like on paper but to be honest I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into. What I got into was an experience I cherish and will never forget…

I was lucky enough to work with some of the best folks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Hard working, dedicated staff, volunteers and community members who are proud of where they live and willing to put in the effort to make each day better than the last. Make no mistake, it might not always be roses here but there is truly something inspiring about a community that dedicates itself to self improvement and looking forward towards a brighter future!

Life is different here in North Central, different than the big city life of Australia anyway! But there’s certainly nothing wrong with different. Different is great and I’ve spent my whole career trying to celebrate different, (so maybe this was all meant to be!) I hope we can all continue to share and celebrate the struggles, challenges, successes and stories that make this such a unique place to live, work and play in. It is these stories that allow us to move forward, to reflect and to build. Sharing who we are, what we know (and don’t know)  and what we want (while working together) is the best way to get things done!

 I truly believe that even in the short time I’ve been here (and as an outsider) I’ve seen some really positive strides and believe this community is in the midst of some exciting times! I look forward to visiting the North Central Community, as I know it still has many lessons to share with me.

There is always more to learn.

Max 

Today we were delighted and overwhelmed by the support of the Saskatchewan Construction Association (SCA), who delivered a generous donation in lieu of our recent Transition to Trades program equipment robbery. SCA President, Mark Cooper (pictured with NCCA Director, Rob Deglau) visited us on behalf of Industry partners and members, awarding us with a donation of $5000 plus commitments of tool contributions to help replace the stolen tools.

We would like to take this moment to sincerely thank Mark, the SCA, and its partners for their commitment and support of the Transition to Trades program.

We are pleased to announce government approval to increase in our intake for the upcoming program semester.  We look forward to continuing to play our part in encouraging skills development both socially and professionally for our cities youth and overall prosperity for the greater Saskatchewan economy.

For media enquiries please contact:

Transition to Trades Director, Jane Gattinger on (306) 550 1202

President of the Saskatchewan Construction Association, Mark Cooper on (306) 527 6854

Introducing an exciting kaleidoscope of perspectives! Creativity through arts, music, workshops, performance and more. Stay tuned for future announcement, details and line up which will be announced soon. To get involved simply get in touch and in the meantime should you like to learn a little more about the National movement that is ‘Culture Days’ look no further than this link!

The North Central Community Association would like to thank you for your support!  We are very excited for the opportunity to work with the community of North Central to help increase community pride by working together towards a safer and cleaner community as a part of our Renew Project initiative.

We now have completed 6 work bees and we have had a total of 62 volunteers which includes 22 adult residents and 14 youth resident helpers! We also have had the Road To Employment folks come out and help us with a couple clean-ups. We have received very good feedback from the residents that come out to help us and there is a strong sense of pride flowing during our work day from all those that help.

We also created a group called “North Central’s Renew Project“ on Facebook where we will post our information.  Please join and share our group to have the most up to date information and notices.

We will be working with North Central residents on Saturday July 27th, 2013 in the shared alley of 800 Block Athol and Garnet Street from 10am – 4pm (weather permitting). We will end the day with a free BBQ to celebrate our hard work!

We are looking for volunteers to help do minor yard work and maintenance such as painting over graffiti, cutting lawns, trimming hedges and cleaning up garbage.  It would be a great opportunity for employees to educate North Central residents on their programs and service. We will meet in the alley at 9:45 am and will be working throughout the day if anyone wants to show up at a later time.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Renew Project staff at (306) 791-9888.  We hope to see you out there!

Who:  North Central Community Association’s Renew Project and North Central community volunteers

What: Minor yard maintenance, cleaning and graffiti covering

Where and When: 800 Block Garnet/Athol July 27 ^th (weather permitting) 10 am-4pm, BBQ to follow

Why:  Cleaning North Central to improve community pride for a safer and cleaner community