The past year has been challenging for students at UBC Okanagan. In addition to the normal financial pressures of being a student, FCCS students have had to adjust to new ways of learning and a lack of employment opportunities.

In an effort to support students, Jordan Stouck, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, has kindly donated her $3,000 Provost’s Award in Teaching Excellence & Innovation prize to create one-time awards for students in the faculty.

Dr. Stouck came up with this initiative after teaching throughout 2020-21 and seeing the challenging circumstances students were in and how they persevered through it all.

“The pandemic impacted and continues to impact students’ ability to work and study, and I think, as a faculty, FCCS really just wanted to support students through this difficult time.”

She invited other UBCO faculty and staff to join her in supporting our students by creating a crowdfundraising campaign through the Development and Alumni Engagement office with the goal of raising $6000 to offer three different awards, one in each of the departments.

“I was so pleased to see that we exceeded our goal and raised a total of $7200. We are now able to offer awards that can make a real difference to our students,” says Dr. Stouck.

With this funding, three one-time awards of $2400 each have been set up that will be awarded by each of our departments to students who are majoring in an FCCS program. These awards are available to domestic and international undergraduate students who are enrolled in the BFA, BMS, or the BA with a major, or combined major, in English, Cultural Studies, Art History and Visual Culture, French, Creative Writing, or Languages.

“We want to ensure that all of our students have the necessary supports they need to complete their studies here at UBC Okanagan, and I am so proud of our community for coming together to help students during these challenging times,” says Bryce Traister, Dean of the Faculty.

Students must apply to be considered for the award, and decisions will be made by each department. More information on these awards and the application can be found on the link below.

Learn More

On November 17th, Ian Williams read from his new book, Disorientation, and discussed the ways writing and race intersect. Disorientation examines the role that racism plays in the daily life of ordinary people.

Ian Williams is a distinguished author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and was hosted by UBCO’s Anti-Racist Reading Book Club and Kevin Chong, assistant professor of creative writing. Earlier this month, members of the club read Williams’ latest work Disorientation and met to discuss the book prior to this public event.

View the recording of the talk in the link below.

Ian Williams Public Talk

This event was organized by Kevin Chong, funded by the UBC Anti-Racism Initiatives Fund and supported by the Department of Creative Studies department.

What: A Reading & Conversation with Montreal Author and Scholar Karine Rosso (in French)

Who: Karine Rosso (she, her, hers; elle; ella)

When: Wednesday November 17– 5-6pm

Where: Zoom. To join, contact : Francis Langevin francis.langevin@ubc.ca

Free online event

Karine Rosso is a writer and a scholar based in Montreal. She is an assistant professor in the Département d’études littéraires of Université du Québec à Montréal. She is a founding member of the feminist bookstore L’Euguélionne. She co-edited several fiction and non-fiction monographs: Histoires mutines (with Marie-Ève Blais and Cathon, Remue-Ménage, 2016), Nelly Arcan. Trajectoires fulgurantes (with Isabelle Boisclair, Christina Chung, & Joëlle Papillon, Remue-Ménage, 2017), and Interpellations. Enjeux de l’écriture au « tu » (with Isabelle Boisclair, Nota bene, 2018). With Nicholas Dawson, she published Nous sommes un continent, correspondances mestiza, an epistolary essay (Tryptique, 2021). This year, she also participated in a bilingual collection of texts on the theme of migration, Allers Simples. Sin Retorno (Urubu, 2021). In fiction, she is the author of a short story collection titled Histoires sans Dieu (Éditions de la grenouillère, 2011) and a novel, Mon ennemie Nelly (Hamac, 2019).

Invited by Francis Langevin, she is meeting with the students of a UBC Okanagan course – FREN330 (Quebecois Literature) – to talk about her novel, Mon ennemie Nelly.

Join Tempest Theatre, Inspired Word Café, UBCO’s Creative Studies, and Inner Fish Performance Co in a cabaret style night of climate action focused plays and poetry.

What: Six short plays and four spoken word pieces
Who: Directed by Denise Kenney, Kate Twa, Erin Scott, and Tracy Ross
Penticton Events: Nov. 25 & 26, 6:30 pm PST
Venue: Tempest Theatre, 125 Eckhardt Ave E, Penticton, BC
Kelowna Events: Nov. 27 & 28, 6:30 pm PST
Venue: Blackbox Theatre, 1375 Water St, Kelowna, BC

These events, in both Kelowna and Penticton, feature 6 short plays directed by Denise Kenney, Kate Twa, Erin Scott, and Tracy Ross, as well as local spoken word poets performing original works. Kenney has teamed up with the Tempest Theatre and the Inspired Word Café to produce four events of cabaret performances.

This event is one of many events being managed by Climate Change Theatre Action in New York, an organization that commissions 50 playwrights from around the world to write five minutes plays for people to produce any way they like in their communities. If you want to see what’s happening elsewhere, you can go to the CCTA 2021 website: www.climatechangetheatreaction.com

“Scientist have done their job. We have all the information before us in regards to climate change. Right now, world leaders as talking at COP26, but artists can add something quite different to the conversation”, explains Kenney, UBCO Associate Professor and co-founder of the Inner Fish Performance Co.

She adds: “As artists, we are uniquely positioned to enter the fray. Poetry, performance, and art takes us beyond the facts and our fears and gets us to acknowledge our shared humanities and our shared dilemma.”

“There is also something exciting about sharing with a world-wide community– a global community.”

This fundraiser event is part of the Climate Change Theatre Action global series aimed at bringing communities together and encouraging them to take local and global action on climate. All proceeds from these performances will go to the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance. These events are supported by the Inner Fish Performance. Co. and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

To purchase tickets, visit: www.ourwickedproblem-kelowna.eventbrite.ca or www.ourwickedproblem-penticton.eventbrite.ca.

Climate Change Happenings!

 At UBCO and around town, a class of UBCO students will be presenting Climate Change Theatre Action plays and their own climate change-focused work in short (less than one hour) happenings.  The poems, microfictions, plays, music, and films all concern this most pressing issue of our time- the Climate Emergency.  Get informed, come together to talk about COP26, and experience the vision of young artists as they grapple with their future.

Climate Change Theatre Action is a project spearheaded by UBC’s 2021 Woodhaven Writer in Residence, Chantal Bilodeau.  She has challenged people around the world to take on producing one or more of a collection of 50 short international plays written under the theme “Envisioning a Global Green New Deal.”  Creative Writing 260 students have taken up the challenge!

Attend any or all of these free events.  Masks required and Covid protocols are in place.

Keeping the Lights On!—November 22   1 PM,   ART 102

A screening of a short film based on a production of Chris Thorpe’s play Not Because We’re Good. These students will bring Thorpe’s vision to life, and enrich the event with songs, poems and stories of their own.

Fungoj- November 23,  7 PM,   ADM 026

Fungoj is Esperanto, an international auxiliary language, for mushrooms. The play is affirmations by Elena Eli Belyea and accompanying poems and stories are student work.  This is all about small actions, our obsession with technology, and mushrooming hope for the future.

Are You Listening Now? December 9, 11 AM.   Third Space Coffee House, 1708 Dolphin Ave, Kelowna.

A reading of Keith Barker’s Apology, My showcasing new and original work by creative writing students alongside the play. The event will include an opportunity to discuss ways in which the community can combat climate change.

On October 19, 2021, Dr. Pavadee Saisuwan, Assistant Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Southeast Asian Linguistics Research Unit, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand discussed the relationship between the Thai language, gender and sexuality, and will demonstrate their role in reflecting and constructing gender and sexual identities in Thai society.

The constellation of gender and sexual categories in Thai society is complicated. One of the ways to understand the complexity is through the Thai language. Linguistic labels and expressions in Thai are employed to classify and portray people of different gender and sexual identities, and construct the stereotypical discourse about them. Various linguistic resources including pronouns and in-group language are significant to gender and sexual identities in Thai society.

View the recording of the talk in the link below.

Viewing gender and sexuality through the Thai language

This talk was organized by Diana Carter as part of the Inclusive Languages project, and made possible with the support of the Department of Languages and World Literatures. 

Interested in the arts, visual arts or digital media? Join us for virtual info sessions to learn more about our Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Media Studies  and the programs we offer in the Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degrees.

Our program coordinators will share information about the portfolio requirements for the application for the BFA and BMS, course options and pathways throughout the BA, BFA and BMS degrees and give examples of student work to give a better idea what happens in the programs. One of our Student Advisors will also be on hand to answer any questions about degree requirements and program progression.

Prospective students, parents and teachers are invited to attend either of the sessions below and will have a chance to ask questions about the programs and the application process.

INFO SESSIONs

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021
Time: 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Zoom.

Register Now

Date: Monday, Nov. 22, 2021
Time: 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Zoom.

Register Now

PORTFOLIO DAY SESSION

Date: Saturday, December 4, 2021
Time:  10:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m
Location: Zoom.

REGISTER NOW

This is a chance to get feedback and find out more about the Portfolio requirement for the BFA program. After you register, an email will be sent to you with a link to join and a 20 minute time slot.

About the Bachelor of Arts

UBC Okanagan’s liberal arts degree prepares students for global citizenship by integrating foundational knowledge with interdisciplinary opportunities in social justice, sustainability and Indigenous content. Students who earn a BA degree graduate with a broad range of knowledge and the ability to think critically, be creative, problem solve and communicate effectively.

The Faculty of Creative and Critical studies offers the following programs within the BA: Arts History & Visual Culture, Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, English, French, French & Spanish.

We also offer more study options in which students can take courses in any of these areas as electives to complement their degree, and in some cases add a minor to the degree they are pursuing: Chinese, Communications & Rhetoric, Digital Humanities, Film, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Theatre, and World Literatures.

About the Bachelor of Media Studies

The BMS is a four-year, direct-entry program that prepares students for careers in digital media creation. It is a computational arts program that combines digital arts, visual arts, media studies, social science and humanities. The program begins with designated “core” courses that provide a strong foundation in Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, Digital Humanities, Media Studies, and Visual Arts.

The foundation of the program is the opportunity for students to experiment with ideas and the newest technologies in a team-based environment, with a focus on innovation in digital-media design. The program is designed for students looking towards a future in creative and cultural industries, and to continue their education in design, art, and academics as postgraduates.

About the Bachelor of Fine Arts

The Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minor in Visual Art and the Minor in Theatre programs offer a perfect balance of studio work and academic study, immersing students in hands-on critical and contemporary art education. Students acquire the foundational skills, techniques, and theories needed to work in two and three dimensions in a variety of media such as drawing, painting, sculpture, digital arts, printmaking, photography, animation, studio theory, video and performance arts.

What: UBC Anti-Racist Reading Book Club and Reading Series
Who: UBCO’s Kevin Chong with guest author Ian Williams
When: First book club meeting November 3rd, 7:00 pm;  Public Reading with Ian Williams November. 17th, 7:00 pm.
Where: Live via Zoom

This book club and online reading series will feature high-profile writers of colour who have written recently about racism in society, and also in writing and publishing. Participants in the book club will get to discuss the books in a live, interactive setting facilitated by Creative Writing professor Kevin Chong, and will also receive a free copy of the books.

Ian Williams

The first book that will be discussed is Disorientation by Ian Williams. Kevin Chong will lead the book club meeting on November 3^rd in advance of a public event with Ian Williams scheduled for November 17th. Williams is a distinguished author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and his latest work Disorientation examines the role that racism plays in the daily life of ordinary people.

To be a part of the book club, limited to 25 members and which will meet in November and again in March, please sign up here. The first 20 people to sign up will get free copies of the books for the club.

Williams’ earlier novel, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and has received international acclaim. His collection of poetry, Word Problems, uses the language of mathematics and grammar problems to discuss prevalent ethical and political issues. The collection one the Raymond Souster Award, and his previous collection Personals was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award. Not Anyone’s Anything, a short story collection published in 2011, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. Williams is also a trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize.. After several years teaching poetry in the School of Creative Writing at UBC, Williams returned to the University of Toronto as a tenured professor of English. In 2022, he will be the Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris.

This event is presented with support from UBC’s Anti-Racism Initiatives Fund.

“Readers, writers, and creative writing students on both campuses will discuss the ways writing and race intersect through the bookclub discussion and then get the opportunity to have an elevated discussion with the authors,” says organizer Kevin Chong, a Creative Writing professor at UBCO. Chong will host the Reading Series, and is the author of six books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the novel The Plague.

Book Club Sign Up

Cameron Crookston

Cameron Crookston joined the Department of English and Cultural Studies this year as a lecturer teaching the Media and Popular Cultures courses in Cultural Studies. As an educator he has taught classes in theatre history, sexual diversity studies, gender studies, and popular culture. He has also worked in educational development and pedagogical support at the University of Toronto.

Cameron Crookston focuses on drag performance, both historically and in contemporary popular culture. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies in collaboration with the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. His work has appeared in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, The Journal of Homosexuality, and Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture. He is also the editor of The Cultural Impact of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Why Are We All Gagging?

We met up with Dr. Crookston to find out a bit more about him, his research and his teaching practices.

What brought you to UBCO?

I was really excited for a teaching position that focused on the way media and culture are connected to issues of equity, diversity, and intersectionality, which has always been central to my work as a scholar and a teacher. My research examines points of connection between popular culture, mediatized performance, and the history of social movements at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. So to work in a department where I can really draw on that in my teaching was a great opportunity.

Tell us about your research interests.

My research looks at LGBTQ2+ history and popular culture. Largely I study drag and the politics of queer identities in the context of drag performance. I write about live drag, drag in film and television, as well as the history of drag, particularly as it parallels developments in LGBTQ2+ communities and politics. My doctoral research looked at drag as a form of queer cultural memory and I’ve continued that theme in a lot of my more recent work, examining drag across generations in popular culture and the way history and nostalgia play an important role in drag as an art form. I’m also working on a new project on the role Halloween has played in the development of queer culture over the twentieth century. In some ways this is a bit of a departure from my work on drag (although drag certainly shows up in queer Halloween!) but its very much a continuation of my interest in the way popular culture connects with queer culture and politics across history.

How did you know you wanted to be a professor?

When I was an undergrad majoring in theatre someone asked me what my favorite class was and I answered that it was our theatre history class. They seemed a little surprised that I was so passionate about the required academic class, but it actually made me more aware that it was something unique about my interest in the arts. I ended up working as an undergraduate RA for that theatre history professor and developed for real passion of studying history, art and the connection between popular culture and sociocultural issues. They encouraged me to go to grad school and the rest is history.

What kind of learning experiences do offer your students?

I try to create an interactive learning environment in which students can test out new ideas and ask questions. I really want my classroom to be a place where students can experiment and practice. I also really try and focus on the link between popular culture and social and political issues. To that end, I encourage students to take concepts from class and apply them to media and culture that they encounter in their daily lives.

Tell us about your book “The Cultural Impact of RuPaul’s Drag Race”.

I spent about two years working with twelve fantastic scholars from around the world on this collection on RuPaul’s Drag Race. I had seen a lot of excellent work that analyzed Drag Race as a piece of reality television, but after a decade on the air I noticed that the show was actually beginning to have an effect on the world around it, on local queer communities and drag subcultures. Audiences were growing and changing, there were more performers who wanted to have a career in drag, and the reach of the show was going well beyond traditional live drag performances. The contributors to this volume examined drag in their local communities, their own reaction to Drag Race’s global reach, as well the economics and politics of drag as the occur on and as a result of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The book came out in March of 2021 and I’m immensely proud of it. I got to work with scholars from Canada, the US, the UK, and South Africa and develop a strong network of people working on drag, queer popular culture and media studies. Intellect Books, my publisher, was really supportive and so great to work with. They do really fantastic work at the intersection of scholarly publishing and popular culture so I encourage anyone looking to write in these areas to take a look at their journals or get in touch with them. I was also recently interviewed on the New Books Network podcast where I got a chance to chat more about the book with Professor Rebekah Buchanan of Western Illinois University.

What: Soundtrack: a queer oral history project and open mic writing prompt
Who: UBCO’s Michael V. Smith with guests Ivan Coyote, Zoe Whittall, Suzette Mayr, Brianna Ferguson, Hasan Namir and Nicola Harwood
When: Tuesdays at 5 pm from September 7 to November 9
Where: Live via Zoom

With funding from the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office, UBC Okanagan Creative Writing Associate Professor Michael V. Smith has created, Soundtrack: a queer oral history project and open mic writing prompt.

Soundtrack is a weekly live broadcast that uses albums as a spark to ignite a conversation between queer artists about “where were you when.” It’s effectively a queer oral history project, with music as a mnemonic touchstone, explains Smith.

“Do you remember hearing Thriller for the first time? What about Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual? Purple Rain? Beastie Boys’ breakout Licensed to Ill?” asks Smith. “Or Madonna. Any album, you name it, what was going on in your life then?”

Every week over Zoom, Smith and a special guest will each share a story or a poem about their respective memories for what was going on in their lives when they first heard whichever weekly album is featured. Together they will unpack the positionality of those memories. Each episode features two queer moments from two different geographies and backgrounds, but in the same timeline and with the same cultural prompt.

This is also a community project to help writers generate material, Smith explains. Viewers can participate by sharing their own short story or poem inspired by the album, in an open-mic style format.

Each episode will be an hour long, the first 20 minutes with Smith and that week’s guest, and 40 minutes for viewer participation. Viewers can share their memories of that album, asking questions such as: Maybe you’ve heard it for the first time this week? Write about that experience. Where were you then, or where are you now?

The open mic session will not be recorded — it’s an open, free-exchange, community-building space, hosted by UBCO Master of Fine Arts student Shimshon Obadia. The weekly album to be featured is announced at the end of each episode, so viewers will have a week to prepare.

Soundtrack will be broadcast live on Zoom starting at 5 pm PST, each Tuesday from, September 7 to November 9. Confirmed guests include Ivan Coyote, Zoe Whittall, Suzette Mayr, Brianna Ferguson, Hasan Namir and Nicola Harwood.

To register for the live broadcast, visit: ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Aqf-2srzkvG9LWQE8c3Iez2SeaDH0NSAyX

All archived podcasts can be viewed at: youtube.com/c/michaelvsmith71

This project is supported by the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office, and promoted by the Inspired Word Café and UBCO’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

With funding from the Equity Enhancement Fund at UBC Okanagan, current MFA students Michaela Bridgemohan and Andrea Routley are working on an exhibition through the Black Liquorice Studio, and invite submissions from BIPOC artists of the Okanagan for a gallery exhibit and exhibit catalogue in 2022.

This exhibit and catalogue will showcase the artistic practices, interests and processes of selected BIPOC artists of the Okanagan.

Artists may be current UBCO students, UBCO alumni or independent creators with no UBCO affiliation. Each contributing artist will receive a minimum fee of $250 for their participation. Submissions may range from any visual arts discipline, as well as performance art and sound installation.

Submission Requirements

Artists who are current UBCO students, UBCO alumni or independent creators are invited to submit. Artists must identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Colour, and live in the Okanagan. We also encourage LGBTQ2+ to submit.

The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2021, with the notification of results to be sent out by November 30. The exhibition will take place in both campus and community spaces: UBC Okanagan’s FINA Gallery in February and the Lake Country Art Gallery in September, 2022.

How to Submit

Email submissions and other queries to black.liquorice.studio@gmail.com.

Submissions must include:

1. An artist statement (500 words max) describing yourself, your art and/or artistic practice, and any interests, places and passions that inform your work/self and practice. Please include your name, location, email and any other contact information in this document.
2. Visual art: Please submit 10-15 images in PDF (digital images can be transferred via WeTransfer), clearly labelled (number_title), with corresponding image list (number, title, artist name, medium, dimension). For example: 01 Duppy, Michaela Bridgemohan, charcoal on paper, 10 x 15 inch

Video: Please submit video files as .m4v, .avi, mp4, or .mov or provide links to online video. (Links are preferred.)
Audio: Please submit audio files or provide links to online audio.

3. A CV may be included but is not required.

About Black Liquorice Studio

Black Liquorice Studio is the growing BIPOC artist collective. With this inaugural exhibit, as with future activities, Black Liquorice Studio aims to provide a platform for underrepresented artists in the Okanagan; create opportunities for those artists to build professional relationships with other artists and arts organizations; to foster the development of new ideas and approaches in art and artists’ working lives.

Black Liquorice Studio is founded by exhibit/catalogue curator Michaela Bridgemohan. An interdisciplinary Canadian artist of Jamaican and Australian descent, Michaela grew up in Mokinstsis, also known as Calgary, but now resides in Syilx Nation territory, in Kelowna, BC. She is an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) and received her BFA with Distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2017. Michaela’s work has been exhibited across Canada and in Australia. Reflecting various intersections of contemporary Blackness and Feminism, these exhibitions include the Feminist Art Collective (Toronto ON), Diasporic Futurisms (Toronto ON), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton AB), Stride Gallery (Calgary AB), Marion Nicoll Gallery (Calgary AB), Whitebox Gallery (Brisbane QLD) and Jugglers Art Space (Brisbane QLD).

Andrea Routley, an MFA candidate in creative writing, brings her background in professional publishing as an editor and promotions coordinator, as well her experience in community organizing to this project. She is the founder of Plenitude, Canada’s queer literary magazine, and for ten years organized LGBTQ2 and feminist youth programs, festivals, and other events. She contributes to Black Liquorice Studio with an eye to administrative and logistical needs.