INTENTIONAL GATHERINGS
Deaf MIGRANTS
Opening title card is deep purple with Invisible Practice logo, and simple white text beneath a dividing line: “Intentional Gatherings, a community consultation series.” Video clips focus on various shots of sage being prepared and lit in a small cast-iron pan, as well as a hanging collage of orange shirts cut out of construction paper with handwritten notes on them. People of various ages and ethnicities sit around a large, round, warm wood-panelled room. There is some signing in Plains Indian, Ukrainian, and American.
[land acknowledgement in Plains Indian Sign Language]
"You’ve moved to a new country, so don’t be afraid of Indigenous people. Be kind. We all struggle in the same ways and experience oppressions."
"We learned Ukrainian Sign Language from birth. Now that we’re here, we have to learn American Sign Language and also English. It’s very hard—we need more time."
"Many friends used to help me out, but now we are all separated and I am often alone all day.”
"You can save your clips in a folder, and when you’re ready, try to combine them to tell a story."
Everyone has a story.
Some of us might have years of experience telling them; others might still be dreaming up their first.
We bring together anyone who has recently migrated to Canada and who also experiences some intersection of language, identity, and cultural affinity with the Deaf community in amiskwacîwâskahikan.
We recognize that people move for many reasons: economic opportunity, regional conflict, personal safety, and even artistic ambition. Whatever your journey is, we’d love to learn about it.
And we ask: How can The Invisible Practice help tell your story?
WHEN
November 16, 2024
1:00pm - 4:00pm
Light refreshments will be provided.
WHERE
PÎYÊSÎW WÂSKÂHIKAN Room in Stanley A. Milner Public Library
7 102 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB
Not sure where to find the room? We’ll share a video in our Instagram story on the day of to help you navigate!
TOPICS
These are the topics we will discuss during this Intentional Gathering. You are welcome to read ahead of time so that you can come prepared. You will be able to provide all of your comments in ASL or English.
What has your experience been moving here from another country?
What do you wish your local community understood better about you?
Is there a part of your heritage that you want to see more of in the arts, such as a specific dance on stage, or a beloved legend on film?
Describe your relationship to your ancestral land. Is it positive, negative, mixed? Do you feel more connected to your original land or the land we share here now?
What do you want from a Deaf arts organization?
ACCESS
ASL interpretation provided.
Two informal Deaf interpreters provided to support multilingual and multicultural understanding.
Live-streamed captions by a human captionist available by request - please let us know if you need captions.
Deaf Interpreters for DeafBlind participants available by request - please let us know if you need additional access support.
CONTACT
As part of our commitment to transparency, this event will be recorded on video and in photos. You can opt-out and still participate. If you opt-out, your name and identity will be anonymized to the best of our ability, but we cannot guarantee this.
We gratefully recognize Connect Society’s support and expertise in providing accessibility support for DeafBlind participants.
The Intentional Gatherings community consultation series was made possible with generous funding from Canada Council for the Arts’ Sector Innovation and Development program. Thank you, Canada Council!
Once this project has concluded, we will share the final budget breakdown as part of our commitment to radical financial transparency.
