#hostoftheday

[marrwaterside-blog]

And the #hostoftheday award goes to our brilliant #Starbucks and #roomservice attendants, Analia, Joanne & Ahmed for spotting the opportunity to #wow just how we hold ourselves to #better & #greater standards here at #marriott #marrwaterside @marriottintl @tampabayisawesome (at Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina)

[trainofthoughtnews]

HOST OF THE DAY - Sarah King Gold

Sarah King Gold, Artistic Director of Myths and Mirrors Community Arts, was our Train of Thought host in Sudbury, Ontario.  Sarah is a multi-media visual artist, social artist and performer. She plays with fantasy and reality, creating alternate worlds into which she and her audience may enter, and finds ways to draw people out of the sole role of audience into the role of co-creator.

"The most memorable moment for me while the Train of Thought travellers were in Sudbury, was when I stood on top of our park mountain and looked down at the flock of park children and Train of Thought travellers who played together to animate our name stories across the park with music, movement and spoken word.  It was a beautiful sight. I felt deeply grateful to have the opportunity to host the travellers, share our work with them and invite them into the process of creating and better understanding this territory, its names and waterways. A precious moment for me as a traveller was dancing as a human and creating the sounds of the trees, in the Aanmitagzi guided performance  at the Capitol Centre in North Bay.  Being a part of the beautiful tale of the relationship between the trees, the two legged and the four legged, I felt deeply connected to this old story as well as the beings I played with to tell it in a new way.   I feel the impact of this project as it continues to resonate and ripple through my consciousness. Voicing our stories, listening to each others' stories and creating new stories together is the way we are building a new relationship as Indigenous, settler and immigrant people.  We create our stories with the spirits of openness, dialogue, playfulness, deep respect, humility and love. I continue to be grateful for the connections which grew from this journey with amazing people across Turtle Island’s northern parts. Thank you to all of you!”

[trainofthoughtnews]

HOST OF THE DAY - MIKE HIRSCHBACH

We are so grateful to our wonderful Halifax Circus host - Mike Hirschbach. Mike has been a circus artist for 35 years. He performed from 2001-2003 with the Cirque du Soleil’s touring show “Dralion.” From 2003 – 2005 he was a Master Trainer with the Cirque’s social outreach program, Cirque du Monde. He traveled the world training the trainers in the existing Cirque du Monde programs in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Montreal, Toronto, South Africa and Burkina Faso. He now works full-time as founding director of Halifax Circus - offering social circus programming, public circus arts classes and professional performances. Mike first struck up a relationship with Jumblies in 2005, when he came to lead a series of clown workshops with artists and community members, and has since then collaborated on several workshops in Toronto and Halifax. Mike produced the spectacular Train of Thought grand finale at the Halifax Train Station, has made the Halifax Circus premises available to our project this entire weekend (including commercial kitchen, Out-of-the-Cold beds and circus performance gym), and will travel with us at least to the Deanery on June 21st.

[trainofthoughtnews]

HOST OF THE DAY - ANDY TRULL

On June 12th, a contingent of Train of Thought Travellers were treated to a wonderful and inspirational afternoon and evening at Pikawakanagan First Nation and Killaloe, Ontario. Our partner there was Ottawa Valley Creative Arts Open Studio, weaving creative arts into the life of rural community. Andy Trull is their new Artistic Director. When he’s not at the OVCAOS studio, he works out of the Hermit Lab, his home studio, where he is completing a PhD from Concordia University in the philosophy and poetics of participation A few of his favourite things: conversation, mutual aid, affection for place, gardens and buildings.

"I've always had a suspicion that art makes a difference. This suspicion has led me to follow shadows and hints; looking underneath surfaces, between the lines, over rainbows to not just find, but make what becomes the future. Sometimes, somedays these shadows and hints bloom into beauty so obvious, it completely fills you. The day we had with Train of Thought in Pikwakanagan and Killaloe was one of those days, and these are the days I live for. As Columba Bobb said that evening, "Art is the gentle doorway into soul speak. It affords us time, space, and a venue to delve into what can be very difficult issues in a good way, a soft way." So thank you to all the people who joined in that day to travel through a doorway - to not just find, but make a way to share our home."

[trainofthoughtnews]

TRAVELLER AND HOST OF THE DAY - ALANA FORSLUND

Alana Forslund is the Executive Director of Thunder Bay's, Community Arts & Heritage Education Project (CAHEP) and a practising visual and textile artist.  She is passionate about using the arts as a means for social inclusion and growing community, and believes in the magical role that art can play in bringing people together to create, collaborate, and dream. Alana was host to Train of Thought in Thunder Bay and then she joined the travelling company from there to Toronto. Jumblies hopes to continue collaborating with Alana and CAHEP in the coming year. 

"What was something memorable and meaningful about the journey?" "Hearing people in so many different communities speak about the importance of this journey; how it is creating hope for the future. I loved reconnecting with areas of Northern Ontario that were so familiar to me from family journeys taken when I was a child.  We were fortunate to receive so many shared stories and teachings, both from fellow travellers, and from members of the communities we visited.  I loved seeing familiar areas in a new light.  The warmth and openness of everyone still resonates in me.  I also loved hearing the cries of loons and the hooting of owls during our Full Moon Ceremony at Kegos Camp." "How will it make a difference to your work and life?" "I left the journey feeling so encouraged and renewed.  I know that this is just the first ripple of many great things to come.  Meeting so many folks on this journey who have such strong spirit and drive has been so inspiring.  I'm bringing back feelings of lightness, fullness, and desire to learn more about the untold stories in my own community.   This is something that will echo in me for the rest of my life."

[trainofthoughtnews]

HOST OF THE DAY - CLARKE MACKEY

Yesterday we featured one of our key Kingston Train of Thought hosts  - Lib Spry. Today we are proud to acknowledge the other: Clarke Mackey has been pushing at the boundaries between art producers and consumers for over four decades. Starting in the early 1970s when he received several “Artist in the Schools” grants from Ontario Arts Council to work with Aboriginal children and prison inmates, Clarke has been researching and practicing what he calls “vernacular culture”. He has worked as a director, cinematographer, editor, producer or writer on over 50 film, television and new media projects.  His book, Random Acts of Culture: Reclaiming Art and Community in the 21st Century, was published in 2010. Clarke teaches in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University. He has been a supportive colleague of Jumblies for many years and is now sparking a new community arts organization in Kingston called Makers and Shakers.

"There were many highlights and memorable moments during the Train of Thought visit in Kingston but, for me, the most rewarding part was meeting, getting to know, and collaborating with members of the Kingston Indigenous community. Without Train of Thought, I¹m not sure I would have reached out to these individuals. I sincerely hope that we can find other ways to work together in the future."

[trainofthoughtnews]

HOST OF THE DAY - JUDY McNAUGTON

Now we're looking back on and trying to acknowledge the great hosts who have organized Train of Thought events and greeted our Travellers as we crossed the country. One of these was Judy McNaugton, Northern Artistic Director of Common Weal, Saskatchewan. Judy worked hard to raise funds and co-create and host a wonderful day of events in Saskatoon on May 20th.  Judy lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Her personal studio practice includes drawings and animated sculpture. She has a BFA from the University of Regina and a Master of Applied Arts in Visual Art from Emily Carr University and is the mother of one young son. Judy and Ruth of Jumblies have crossed paths, conferred and conversed on and off for many years, and we hope that there will be opportunities in coming years for further connection and collaboration.  The photo below shows Ruth and Judy at beautiful Wanuskewin.