Archived Changemaker Conversations Fall 2021
FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
2021 CONVERSATIONS
ARTIST CHANGEMAKER
THE ART OF SOCIAL CHANGE
How is art enabling and empowering communities to collaboratively address pressing social issues? Join us in conversation with Judith Marcuse as we explore the art of social change, why it matters, and how the Art for Social Change Network (ASCN) aims to foster a national voice for art for social change/community-engaged art in Canada.
FEATURING: Judith Marcuse, LL.D (Hon.)
Judith Marcuse has worked in the arts for over five decades as a dancer, choreographer director, producer, educator, consultant, advocate, writer and lecturer. For the last 20 years, her internationally-recognized work has focused on community-engaged art for social change (ASC), including three 6-year projects with youth. She teaches, speaks and consults internationally.
In 2007, Marcuse founded the International Centre of Art for Social Change (ICASC). More recently, she has led a six-year study of ASC in Canada while also teaching undergraduate courses and establishing a two-year graduate program in the field. Currently, she leads a national mentorship program in ASC and is the host of the new national Art for Social Change Network (ASCN). She is a recipient of major awards, including an honorary doctorate. In 2019, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning.
Website: https://icasc.ca
WELLBEING + BELONGING
THE VISION SERIES
In the past year, we’ve had to reflect on what matters most. What lessons have we learned through this reflection, and what is our vision, as a community, moving forward?
Join us for a 2 part conversation for THE VISION SERIES as we talk with change leaders in our community about how they are imagining and executing change.
PART 1: LEADING AND CHANGEMAKING WITH EMPATHY
FEATURING: Alice Lam
Alice was born in Calgary to Chinese parents who were refugees from Vietnam. She has been an active volunteer helping immigrant youth and seniors reach their full potential for over fifteen years. She sits on several non-profit boards in Calgary that have a mandate to empower and enrich the lives of immigrant seniors. She also volunteers as an interpreter and facility coordinator for Chinese seniors. Most recently, she founded a volunteer website that helps connect Calgarians to volunteer opportunities called www.vollyapp.com which is built by volunteers, and free to use. She is also the founder of Tigerstedt Flea, a shop for small-scale market vendors, sustained through community support and pop-up retail opportunities, with the goal of working on the local economy to build strong communities. Most recently she is the co-founder of the Calgary Community Fridge and Good Neighbour Community Market.
PART 2: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHANGEMAKER CAMPUS?
IN CONVERSATION WITH MRU’S CHANGE COUNCIL: James Stauch, Lena Soots, linda manyguns, Michael Quinn, and Natalie Meisner
RECONCILIATION + RACIAL EQUITY
ANITOPISI COHORT
Over the past month the Anitopisi Cohort has been tasked with using a systems thinking approach to address a complex challenge that impacts Indigenous peoples. The Cohort has been exploring the topic of suicide prevention and Indigenous peoples. Join us on October 26, to hear the findings and learnings of the cohort.
FEATURING: Samantha Pollock + Santana Manywounds
WELLBEING + BELONGING
HOLD THE SHIFT SERIES
How do our minds and bodies experience reality when there is a constant need to shift and adapt? How does it affect our mental health?
Join us for a 2 part series as we discuss how we, as a diverse community, are experiencing mental health and what we can do to enhance our well-being while managing change.
PART 1: A COMMUNITY VIEW OF MENTAL HEALTH
FEATURING: Mike Velthius Kroeze + Hilary Sirman
Mike Velthius Kroeze - Interim Director of Programs - Distress Centre Calgary
In 2015, Mike Velthius Kroeze completed his diploma of social work and began working at Distress Centre Calgary. Today, Mike is enrolled in a Master’s of Social Work program and is the Interim Director of Programs at Distress Centre. For the past year and a half, Mike has led a team who have been working to support Distress Centre staff and volunteers as they provide crisis intervention and information and referral services to Albertans, while navigating the impacts of the pandemic on their own mental health and well-being.
Hilary Sirman - Education Director - Centre for Suicide Prevention
Hilary Sirman is the Education Director at the Centre for Suicide Prevention (CSP) in Calgary, Alberta, an education branch within the Canadian Mental Health Association. With the committed team at CSP, Hilary works to reduce stigma and increase awareness of suicide prevention through education & training outreach. She holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees from Queen’s University, as well as certificates from Queen’s Smith School of Business in Marketing and Human Resources. Hilary has worked with CSP since 2013 and has over 18 years’ experience in organizational development, training and change management for a variety of non-profit and private sector organizations in Canada and Australia.
PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ON EDUCATION AND LEARNING
FEATURING: Madelaine McCracken + Michelle Chimenti
Madelaine McCracken - First Nations Child and Family Caring Society
Madelaine McCracken (She/Her/Elle) is Red River Métis with family ties Chartrand and Bruce families from St. Laurent and Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty 1 territory). Madelaine is the Education and Public Outreach Coordinator at the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and is also a PhD Graduate Student and Curriculum Scholar at the University of Ottawa.
Madelaine is always on the journey to offer connections of how Truth and Reconciliation and how First Nations, Métis, and Inuit rights, perspectives, and values can be appropriately and respectfully represented in curricula expectations, schools, and classrooms across Turtle Island. These relational understandings can help the development of professional learning opportunities and sessions for educators, general learning community members, and organizations. She is passionate about supporting community in many ways, all to uplift voices and make differences.
Michelle Chimenti - MRU Wellness Services
Michelle Chimenti (she/her) is a Registered Social Worker with a Bachelor of Social Work from Dalhousie University and an alumni of Mount Royal University’s (MRU) Social Work Diploma program. She has been working at MRU since 2018, beginning with a Dating, Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention program (Stepping Up) then moved into the Child Studies and Social Work Department, and since landed in the Mental Health Outreach Coordinator role in May, 2021.