KITEWORKS

KiteWorks' Festival Fast Approaching

2009-03-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

K i t e W o r k s :

A Community Arts Festival

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Sorauren Park 1-3.30

Join us on Saturday, April 4* from 1-3.30 PM for an afternoon of art animated by dance and music! Stroll the streets surrounding Sorauren Park and Roncesvalles Avenue to the melodies of accordions and violins. Witness guerilla performances and ad-hoc exhibitions that creatively comment on local histories, present-day realities and future visions of Ronces-dale / Park-valles.

1 PM: Orientation in Sorauren Park. Maps will be distributed with the locations of each performance and exhibit.

3 PM: Kite-Flight in Sorauren Park. In concert with live drumming, we'll fly kites en masse - those made during our workshops at High Park Library and Howard Park Public School, and others brought by you. If you missed our workshops, bring your own kite or share one of ours.

*In the event of heavy rain or (gasp!) snow, the festival will occur on Sunday, April 5 instead. Same time, same place.

Projects include...

AERIAL PARK(OUR)

with HerciniARTS

"At heart, we're a bunch of show-offs who can't resist climbing things. In good weather, expect to see us bringing our unique brand of art-y parkour to the streets of Toronto. This is truly performance art for the masses."

Watch as aerialists balance and dance on mailboxes, swings and benches. See them spin and swing from street signs, utility poles and trees. Through guerilla movement, these dancers dramatically rethink the use of public space and comment on relationships between natural and built environments in Parkdale.

Hercinia Arts is a collective endeavour where core members with foundations in aerial, dance, acro and theatre collaborate in an open door environment with artists from a diverse range of fields. Our goal is to continually blur the line between traditional art forms and create work that cannot necessarily be classified as a specific genre. Through our open door collaborative process and by offering classes at accessible rates, we also aim to encourage and inspire young artists to do the same.

http://herciniarts.com/index.html

THE PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT SERVICE

with Michael Fazackerley

A performance of stories inspired by Ronces-dale / Park-valles commenting on the disappearance of the public square and calling for a collective re-visioning of public space.

In days past before television and other forms of mass media the public actually came together to hear public service announcements or other news. Radio took people into their homes, although many gathered in groups to listen together. Television was initially a communal activity when televisions were scarce and probitively expensive. Now with several televisions and personal computers in a single home, we tend to receive news about the world in an increasingly individual and isolated manner. As such, this project aims to put the public back into public announcing.

onecalledmichael@gmail.com

WE.AVE (tisser/tejer/weben)...

with Catherine Mellinger

Participate in a grand WE.AVE installation on the lawn of the High Park Library by helping to decorate and weave pieces of fabric between two trees. All ages welcome!

In WE.AVE-ing, we can create fertile ground for cultural understanding and changes in perception through creative expression.

WE.AVE is an ongoing community art installation that creates enormous weaves by threading together various materials, including fabric, yarn, images, objects and words to tell the stories of the communities in which they are created.

WE.AVE is a visual representation of community; it forms a literal and communal link in which various elements and diverse people come together to create. By continuing the tradition of weaving and its history of storytelling, WE.AVE seeks to give voice to things that are often left unspoken or unseen in our cultural environments.

cat@mellangearts.com

www.mellangearts.com

EMBROIDERY STITCH-IN

with Japneet Kaur

Stitch your stories into a grand piece of fabric draped over home plate in Sorauren's ball diamond. Bring blankets and pillows, needles and thread!

ART IN THE PARK:

A Pilot Project of "Painting our Stories"

Calling all youth! Join us in Colombus Parkette to design and paint wooden cut-outs for installation in the park. Art in the Park is a grass-roots community-building programme working in partnership with the Roncesvalles-Macdonell resisdents' Association, the Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre and local elementary schools to

- increase use of run-down Colombus Parkette

- encourage active stewardship for public spaces

- enhance the local environment in a community park with installations of children's art

- help build participation in the life of the neighbourhood

- build capability for future, similar projects

Kevin Healy, Chair R.M.R.A

http://www.rmra-to.org/

PERFORMANCE PROMENADE

Watch dancers weave their way through neighbourhood streets accompanied by local musicians.

Musicians:

Willow Rutherford www.myspace.com/willowrutherford

Eleanor Edgar

Ronen Segall

Rebecca Bruton

and more!

Dancers:

Penny Chivas

Celine Marks

Julye Huggins

Marcinku Kedzior

Shirin Yousefi

and more!

EVERY 3 MINUTES

with Elison Zasko

Inspired by the proposed local train schedule to the airport, join esteemed performer Elison Zasko, the Grand Train Conductor, as she travels around the neighbourhood making something new happen every 3 minutes!

For more information or to find out how to be involved contact us at kiteworks@gmail.com.

2009-01-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Call to Performing and Visual Artists.
Submissions for KiteSite: Ronces-dale/Park-valles.

Established in 2008, KiteWorks is a collective of community-minded artists who strive to celebrate and create community connections. We are inviting artists of all disciplines to submit proposals for the inaugural community arts festival KiteSite: Ronces-dale/Park-valles occurring Saturday, April 4th 2009. We are seeking artistic projects that creatively reflect on local histories, present-day realities and/or future visions of Roncesvalles/Parkdale. As sections of the neighbourhood are about to undergo a 'renewal,' we are particularly interested in projects that critically consider themes of renewal such as politics of neighbourhood beautification and urban revitalization.

Proposals should include:

1. Names of individuals involved. We are particularly interested in collaborative projects and community partnerships such as those between local artists and local businesses, schools, organizations and community members. We are also interested in community-minded projects proposed by individual artists.

2. Description of project including:
- Artistic discipline(s)
- Timeframe
- Technical or material requirements
- A detailed explanation of how your project reflects on local histories, present-day realities and/or future visions of Roncesvalles/Parkdale.
- Please also identify specific location(s) in the Roncesvalles/Parkdale neighbourhood that could be potential sites for your project and explain how these location(s) are relevant to your project’s themes and/or objectives.

3. Support material from past community arts projects and/or weblinks or digital slides of previous artwork.

Please also indicate whether or not you would be interested in offering a community workshop in relation to your proposed project or your artistic discipline.

Please direct applications and any questions to KiteWorks at kiteworks@gmail.com.

Deadline for submissions: February 15 2009.

About KiteWorks

2009-01-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

KiteWorks is an ad hoc, not-for-profit collective that believes art can work to build stronger communities and bring about meaningful social change. With your help, KiteWorks aims to coordinate an interdisciplinary community arts festival in Parkdale called KiteSite: Ronces-dale / Park-valles scheduled for the first weekend of April 2009.

Our workshop series invites community members to explore local history through storytelling and arts-based activities. By sharing stories about local history and community development, KiteWorks hopes to spark dialogue about local issues that resonate among Parkdale's residents. This dialogue will then inform the collaborative creation of artworks that speak to these issues.

Committed to community engagement, KiteWorks strives to impart the value of community custodianship, teaching how small actions can make big differences and be catalysts for meaningful social change. KiteWorks believes that our responsibility to our local community and our immediate environment is directly linked to our sense of allegiance to place. By celebrating stories of local history and social justice, KiteWorks hopes to honor a diversity of neighbourhood experience and affiliation.

Arts-based workshops will be held at the High Park Library in the Community Room on Mondays from 6.15-8.00 p.m. on the following dates:

January 19

January 26

February 2

February 9

February 23

March 2

March 9

March 16

March 23

March 30

Be Involved!

Be Inspired!