The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and Okanagan College Arts & Foundational Programs are please to present this new film series, Welcome to the Anthropocene: Now What?

The Anthropocene is a term increasingly entering public and policy discourses, including those of the humanities and social sciences, and it is understood as a force now altering the planet’s biosphere and implicating human-kind in mass extinctions of plant and animal species, the pollution of the oceans, deforestation and the alteration of the atmosphere, among other serious and even irreversible impacts.

While there is already ubiquitous evidence/data available regarding the Anthropocene, including climate change, environmental degradation, unsustainable water usage, deforestation and hothouse conditions, pollution, etc., the aim of this film series is to bring us to the “Now what?” a question that is not merely rhetorical but one that has local and global import.

All films will be held in the Okanagan College Theatre, Kelowna Campus (1000 K.L.O Road), from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Discussion will follow each film.

Film Series Schedule:

October 25, 2018 – Anthropocene
November 29, 2018 – Before the Flood
January 30, 2019 – H.O.P.E. : What You Eat Matters
February 27, 2019 – The End of Meat
March 27, 2019 – Speciesism: The Movie 
April 25, 2019 – Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home

For information contact:Dr. Jodey Castricano – Jodey.Castricano@ubc.ca or Dr. Shona Harrison – SHarrison@okanagan.bc.ca

This film series is made possible through the generous support of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies,, Okanagan College Arts & Foundational Programs , and VegFund.

(photo credit: Farm Watch, https://www.flickr.com/photos/93911830@N06/25611230188/)

Laura Wyllie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from UBC Okanagan in 2012. Originally thinking of pursuing a degree in towards architecture, she realized that the science aspects were not for her, and switched to a major in Art History and Visual Culture.

After completing her undergraduate degree, Laura continued her studies at Carleton University, completing a Masters in Art History. While in Ottawa, she had the opportunity to complete a practicum in the Education, Public, and Community Programs department at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Laura moved back to the Okanagan in 2015, and began working at the Kelowna Art Gallery as a summer student, continuing on as the full-time as a public programming assistant that fall, while working towards her Masters in Education at UBCO.

Nearly 4 years later, her job title is the Curator of Learning and Engagement. As the leader of the education and public programs department, she advocates the role of art in lifelong learning for all members of the community.

“I strive to create programs with my team that offer meaningful art experiences for all ages and abilities.” Laura says, “While my studies focused on art education and theorizing what the role of a public art gallery should be, I was able to reflect on daily experiences at the gallery and the diversity of visitors we work with, teach, and learn from.”

Laura Wylie, leading a public tour at the Kelowna Art Gallery

The Faculty of Creative and  Critical Studies is committed to supporting and encouraging our students to reach their full potential while at UBC Okanagan. FCCS Research Awards provide funding for both undergraduate and graduate students.

The  Faculty is now accepting applications from undergraduate students to pursue innovative and original research as part of their learning experience. The awards supports the production and dissemination of graduate student research and knowledge creation (i.e. creative arts) activities as well as support for undergraduate students to engage in research and creation activities over the summer months.

Domestic and International students who are enrolled in a major in FCCS B.A. or B.F.A. programs (English, Cultural Studies, Art History and Visual Culture, French, Creative Writing, Visual Arts, or Combined Majors) are eligible to apply for these research awards, with a deadline of February 26, 2019.

Award Details

Domestic students: 2 awards, $2,500 each

International students: 1 award, $9,000

Deadline to apply: February 26, 4:00 p.m.

Full guidelines and application: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/students.html (under the Funding & Awards heading)

Past award recipients

Jessica Bonney, a Creative Writing Major used the Undergraduate Student Research Award fund for a research creation project exploring small press and fine press publishing through the creation of a poetry chapbook.

With the support from The Undergraduate Research Award, Art History and Visual Culture student Asia Li worked on a project to research and write an advisory report for the Armstrong Heritage Advisory Committee and the City of Armstrong on the topic of the city’s proposed Chinese memorial to the Chinese market gardeners of Armstrong and their legacy.

Brandon Taylor, and English major, worked on a research project that involved a critical investigation of how contemporary American commercial television programming creates empathetic routes toward sociopaths and what this relationship implies.

From the UK, performer/creators Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas in their multiple award-winning, internationally celebrated performance, Palmyra. Photo credit: Alex Brenner

What: Living Things International Arts Festival
Who: UBC’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and Inner Fish Performance Co.
When: January 11 to February 9
Where: Mary Irwin Theatre & Alternator Gallery (Rotary Centre for the Arts), Black Box Theatre (Kelowna Community Theatre) FINA Gallery (Creative and Critical Studies building UBCO campus)

The Living Things International Arts festival is a celebration of the sensuality, pleasure, and power of live performance

The third iteration of Living Things runs from January 11 to February 9 and includes performances from the United Kingdom, the USA, Montreal, Vancouver, and the Okanagan Valley.

“This festival is all about the simple but profoundly satisfying magic of the stage,” says Neil Cadger, organizer of the festival. “The more we are immersed in the strange public solitude of virtual networks, the more we cherish the sensual immediacy of a skillful live performer stimulating our collective imagination in real time and space.”

Throughout the festival, live public installations will take place in the FINA Gallery, and student and faculty exhibitions will be at the Alternator Gallery.

For the first time Living Things will also be offering performance WORKSHOPS led by visiting international artists: Politics in the Room, led by Palmyra performers Bert & Nasi (UK), makes the stage a space for artistic and political negotiation; Naked Comedy led by Deanna Fleysher (USA) explores the performers’ unique connection with the audience, the bravery required to be vulnerable and the gratification that comes from letting go.  For information and registration go to WORKSHOPS at the Living Things website.

The festival is organized by FCCS prof, Neil Cadger and supported by the City of Kelowna, the Canada Council, the BC Arts Council, the centre culturel francophone de l’Okanagan, UBC Okanagan’s FCCS, the Curious Café, and the Mission Group. It is also supported by a generous and enthusiastic group of volunteers including a number of alumni from Creative Studies who are contributing their skills to the production of this month-long festival, creating graphic art, writing grant applications, and designing and implementing the publicity and marketing strategies.

Tickets can be purchased online, and make perfect Christmas gifts! More about the festival line up of performers and ticket information: www.LivingThingsFestival.com

Kyla Morris leads discussion with author Yann Martel

When MA English student Kyla Morris began her work as a teaching assistant for first-year English, in September, 2018, she was struck by an idea, and she ran with it.

One of the required readings for the class stood out to Morris. She’d never met the author but she knew well one of his close friends (her aunt, as it happens). That was her “in,” as she reached out to him, asking if he’d consider speaking to all 192 undergraduate students registered in the course.

The result? An hour-long, “Q&A” teleconference between Yann Martel and students, organized and facilitated by Morris herself, about Life of Pi—the Man Booker-winning novel that has sold 15 million copies worldwide, in at least 40 different languages. Director Ang Lee’s version of it won four Academy Awards in 2012.

Morris jokes, now, about the “absence of any useful tips on the internet for ‘how to write an email to a world-famous author who knows your aunt.’” She refers to the writing of that first email as “one of the most nerve-wracking moments” of her life. But she had one goal in mind, and she stayed focused on it: “to foster our students’ interest in English and the book.”

As she goes on to explain, “I had the ability to give our students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ask Yann Martel directly what they wanted to know about the book. My hope was that the ability to ask these questions would foster deeper discussion of the novel’s complexities and themes, and encourage students to move beyond a surface-level interaction with the text.”

The experience, for students, was rewarding and illuminating. While Morris collected questions from students in advance and sparked conversation by asking these, she invited follow-up questions, and the discussion was lively. Martel’s responses were robust, wide-ranging, frank, and eye-opening.

Once-in-a-lifetime aptly describes the class. Congratulations to Kyla Morris for making it happen! A big thanks, too, to Auntie Victoria Morris and, of course, Yann Martel.