Good Art Talks
What?
A series of conversations/facilitations/hang outs across age, gender, sexuality, class, ability etc spectrum. The conversations will focus on Art, on Good and the intersection of Art and Goodness.
The guiding questions will be…
What is Art? Who makes Art? Where is Art?
What is Good? Who is Good and Why be Good?
Is Art inherent & Good? Can Art create collective Good?
Why?
Because we deserve it. Because we need it. Because we want it.
The world is so complicated, scary, weird, uncertain, fast paced. I felt like I needed a minute. To check with everyone. Are we ok? What’s Good ?
Everything feels us vs. them when there’s no them.. Just ALL of us. The world is telling us we must choose left or right and I just want to Art. I want universal Peace.
I found relief in Art. I found solace in Art. I healed through Art. I found comfort in Art. I found answers to big questions in Art. I learned big Truths through Art. So clearly there is a connection to this innate creative ability of ours and the Goodness in the world. Right?
That is how the Good Art talks were born. I would say I had them with myself first. I saw that there was a connection, an intersection, a venn diagram between Art and Good. And like Dora, Imma explore.
Over time, I realized these conversations needed to be had with others. Whenever I would say certain words such as Art is inherent or Art is always/only Good. Folx literally light up. The Good Art talks started happening, people wanted to think about it. As the world gets scarier, we are already talking about the spiritual, magical essence of Art’s connection to revolution, collective change but we don’t yet have the language for it. I believe through Art, through unpacking all the feelings of what was and what is, will we then be able to create/Art the future of what will be.
I’m hoping through this dialogue we can talk about what we have no name for yet at the end of these conversations and to have talks with many demographics across the Island, I hope a light of Good and of Art is lit. That a little seed is planted that carries this knowledge that Art, Good and Humans are inextricably intertwined and who knows where that seed/light goes and it doesn’t even matter if that little seed does not change the whole wide world, my hope is that seed/ that light changes the individual’s perspective of the world. That they see themselves and others as Good and as Art.
Who?
There will be different audiences curated for the Good Art talks. The audiences are listed below;
Public Edition
Members of Community, Creatives, Friends, Family, Elders, Local Leaders, Influencers, Magik Makers, Caretakers and anyone that fits, is interested, or is compelled to join is invited. This space at The Guild is open to anyone and everyone. The space will be guided by who is there is who was meant to be there. Outreach will be via word of mouth and Creative PEI. Folx will gather, eat Good local food and respond to the questions on Good, on Art and the intersection of Good and Art. At the the start of each Talk and at the end of the year, a survey will be administered to gather where people are at and what has changed for them through these conversations. The results/feedback from the talk as well as data from the survey will be published in the Good Book.
Happens once per month between February and November 2023.
Register Here
This part of the Good Art talks is funded by the GEDI fund, via the province of PEI.
School Edition
Youth, Kids are also members of Community, Artists, Creatives, Friends, Family, Local Leaders, Influencers, Magik Makers, Caretakers and more. They too deserve to be part of the dialogue of the changing world they are in. In this part of the Good Art talks, over the course of a school year grades K, 4, 8, 11 will be invited to a series of Art sessions/workshops that will explore Good, Art and the intersection of Good and Art. There will be three series of these. One on the west side of the island, one on the east side of the island and one in Charlottetown. This will be done with the support of the public school board via Debbie Langston and Vicky AllenCook.
The youth will have an email to send their after thoughts, reflections, creations to after the Good Art talks. With this time and freedom to reflect, we hope to see some interesting responses from all the age demographics.
The youth will also do the survey at the beginning of each Talk as well as when the Good Art Talks are over. The data from the survey as well as reflections emailed to us will be in the Good Book.
Elders Edition
Elders are critical members of the Community, Artists, Creatives. You can see where I am going here.I would like the Good Art talks to reach members of Community we don’t usually think to engage in such dialogue. Elders deserve a say in the fast changing world they live in. Through the Good Art talks we will explore Good, Art, the intersections while considering the past, the present and the future. This part of the Good Art talks will be recorded on a podcast so the wisdom of the Elders can be accessible to all. The podcast will be part of the Good Book.
Artists
Artists have a unique perspective on the world. The Good Art talks will have a podcast that focuses on the intersections of Good and Art with chosen local artists. The same questions will be asked of the Artists and they will be asked to wear their creative hat while responding to these Good questions. The podcast will be part of the Good Book.
