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Neighbourhood Spaces Interview with STAG Executive Director John Elliott

Next in the Neighbourhood Spaces (NS) mini-doc series is an interview with John Elliott, Executive Director of Sandwich Teen Action Group (STAG) in Windsor, ON. In this video, John talks about his organization, the importance of face-to-face communication, and community partnerships. STAG is a community-based charitable organization in the west end of Windsor, providing programs and support for at-risk youth. A former school, STAG offers an ideal location for the Centre, which will function as a music classroom, drop-in space and practice area for Neighbourhood Spaces (NS) artist-in-residence Kenneth MacLeod (Windsor).

Throughout his 6 week residency, Kenneth will oversee the project and offer free music instruction and workshops to neighbourhood youth ages 13-20. After the residency, Kenneth aims to continue the centre, creating a permanent space for youth to develop and expand their musical skills and abilities in Windsor.

He will also be at the Windsor Youth Centre (WYC), a drop-in Centre for homeless and at-risk youth ages 13-20 located in Wyandotte Town Centre. Every Wednesday he can be found jamming, teaching and learning with youth at the Centre.

Visit the NS Blog for more updates: www.acwr.net/ns-blog

NS is a collaborative partnership between the Arts Council – Windsor & Region, Broken City Lab and The City of Windsor (“the Collaborative”). This program is made possible through the generous financial support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

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A Look at Neighbourhood Spaces Artist-in-Residence Kenneth MacLeod’s Project with WYC & STAG

Here’s another great peek at one of the ongoing Neighbourhood Spaces projects happening right now in Windsor. I love seeing these projects starting to unfold — it’s only been a few months since we pulled together the roster and so exciting to see it starting already.

Neighbourhood Spaces (NS) artist-in-residence Kenneth MacLeod (Windsor), will be developing and creating a new drop-in music resource and education centre at Sandwich Teen Action Group (STAG), a community-based charitable organization in the west end of Windsor, providing programs and support for at-risk youth. A former school, STAG offers an ideal location for the Centre, which will function as a music classroom, drop-in space and practice area.

Throughout his 6 week residency, Kenneth will oversee the project and offer free music instruction and workshops to neighbourhood youth ages 13-20. After the residency, Kenneth aims to continue the centre, creating a permanent space for youth to develop and expand their musical skills and abilities in Windsor.

He will also be at the Windsor Youth Centre (WYC), a drop-in Centre for homeless and at-risk youth ages 13-20 located in Wyandotte Town Centre. Every Wednesday he can be found jamming, teaching and learning with youth at the Centre.

Visit the NS Blog for more updates: www.acwr.net/ns-blog

NS is a collaborative partnership between the Arts Council – Windsor & Region, Broken City Lab and The City of Windsor (“the Collaborative”). This program is made possible through the generous financial support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

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Day 3 & 4: Glaciers and Wreckage

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Over the weekend, we took a trip out to the Bow Glacier to see first hand where Calgary’s only water source begins. The three hour drive proved to be rather scenic with beautiful mountains in the background.

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Anticipating the scary scenario of encountering a bear, we equipped ourselves with a bear bell and bear spray. Both those items became useless when we spotted a bear and her cub on the side of the Trans Canada Highway. The black bear was so uninterested in us taking photos, she never looked up at us and just wandered back into the forest. I guess they’re not as scary as we thought.

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Josh getting his first glimpse of the Bow Glacier.

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After spending a few minutes staring at the glacier, we realized that we still had to hike to the top.

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About an hour later, we arrived to the top of the waterfall. Seen above in the top right, this waterfall is spilling glacier water directly down into the Bow Lake and eventually feeding the Bow River. It’s pretty amazing to imagine the distance the water travels; from the glacier all the way to the homes and gardens of Calgarians. The theme of time, flow, and repetition keep coming up in our research.

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Yesterday, Randy Niessen, the Programming Coordinator at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary and the Project Implementation and Development Lead for WATERSHED+, took us on a bike ride to see what’s left of the damage that the flood left behind.

Above: The 10 foot mark on the meter next to the bridge is how high the river rose in this area.

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Trees completely ripped out of the ground.

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Temporary fences mend the completely eroded trail.

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Josh observing the wreckage. Behind him, once cemented stones have been completely ripped out of the ground.

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This part of the trail is now completely gone.

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A lot of sites throughout Calgary are still under repair. However, it’s quite amazing to note that the majority of flood issues were taken care of during the first week after the flood.

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This bridge collapsed as the water rose and began eroding it. A cargo train was crossing over at the same time and it took search and rescue crews 12 hours to back the train safely off the bridge. They’re still working on its reconstruction.

More soon.

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Watershed+ Residency Day 2: Ralph Klein Park

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Day 2 of our residency in Calgary we visited Ralph Klein Park, which will be our home base for phase 2 and 3 of this residency. The structure was a massive investment in the environmental future of Calgary and showcases some pretty incredible building techniques.

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The main hall inside RKP is an interactive exhibition that highlights information on Calgary’s watershed.

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The Bow River is the largest river flowing through Calgary.

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We All Live Downstream From Someone Else.

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Tristan uses the interactive iPad that shows information as you point to certain spots through the park.

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Graph.

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Info.

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The exhibition hall.

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The schedule for all the workshops, tours and classroom lessons happening every month.

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Interactive lights.

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Each rock along this wall was hand washed. This building holds over 5 million of them.

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One of the classrooms where grade school and high school students come to learn and interact with the things they find in the ponds.

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The species in this tank were directly extracted from the water outside.

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Hadi used a camera to magnify the tank so it can be seen on a larger screen.

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Algae growing strong outside.

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This dragonfly didn’t want to leave.

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This storage room will soon be transformed into a wood shop that we can use if we choose to build something larger than our studio.

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Walking around the building.

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Ralph Klein Park from the other side.

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Hadi and Josh look for fish and frogs.

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Walking through the lower deck.

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Home of a cliff swallow. They repetitively spit mud until their home is complete!

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Hadi mentions to us that when the water rises, this whole lower level gets flooded.

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 Sentinels is a land art sculpture by artist Beverly Pepper and can be seen from almost every point of RKP.

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There are 5 different cells of water at RKP. Each body of water meanders in a snake-like pattern until it reaches the next cell. The building itself stands on cell 5.

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The top floor of the building is where the artist studio can be found.

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Studio.

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Artist In Residence Studio.

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Nick and Minty are currently the occupants of this space.

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Talking with Nick and Minty was great. We discussed their residency, the work they’ve bee doing and how they’ve liked working at RKP. They’ve come all the way from Glasgow, Scotland.

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The studio. So much great natural light and open space.

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Their library.

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Chatting.

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Some of their earlier notes!

Today, we’re heading about 3 hours out of Calgary to visit the Bow Glacier. It’s the starting point for Calgary’s water source and the beginning for this particular watershed.

More soon.