By Keiko Honda Photography by Noriko Nasu-Tidball We continue to ask ourselves: how can cultural differences and unique heritage benefit everyone? How can we utilize these cultural differences as a multigenerational and multicultural force for good? Going a little further, what do you know about Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) or Indigenous knowledge? I want to begin by acknowledging that we live, work, and play on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam people.  The Kerrisdale Community Centre sits in the heart of the Musqueam’s traditional land and was once an ancient Musqueam village site. One of the important things for us all to remember, one of the reasons that we wanted to be here at the Story Circle is to celebrate the unexpected unfolding of life. For instance, I would not be here doing what I’m doing [facilitating the event], if Gail Sparrow, the former Chief of the Musqueam Nation, did not stop to talk with a stranger – me – on Dunbar street 10 years ago, shortly after I moved to Vancouver from NYC. Despite the vastly different histories and experiences, there are many things that connect us. Empathy, for example. That is what Gail shared with me back then and thereafter. I’ll never forget our chance encounter and the many beautiful shared memories, but these are stories for another time. I met Gail Sparrow, the former Chief of the Musqueam Nation, 10 years ago. Back then, I interviewed her shortly after I joined the board of the Kerrisdale Community Centre. When we preserve stories in stable forms such as recordings, people from different times and places can access them year after year. And, stories become part of who we are, what we believe, and how we see our future. The reason why...

By Keiko Honda It is not a coincidence that during the lockdown in the face of the pandemic, most of us looked for new ways to maximize the functionality of our home space, then found ourselves feeling more independent, competent, and comforted, despite the challenge. As many activities are happening in our homes and proximity, we have invested our practices and developed an emotional sense of deep connection with particular places – a sense of “rootedness”.  Place becomes an extension of the self.  That’s called place attachment, the concept which scholars in environmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, and human geography consider an essential element in understanding identity, human well-being and sociality, memory formation, community participation, and environmental responsibility and advocacy for the environment.   “Place makes memories cohere in complex ways. People’s experiences of the urban landscape intertwine the sense of place and the politics of space,” says architectural historian Dolores Hayden. Similarly, psychologists postulate that we lock ideas and objects by linking them to a place: integrating many stimuli together helps us remember something particularly important, called episodic memories. This pandemic has disrupted our physical connections to many familiar social places like offices, cafes, schools, gyms, restaurants, community centres, movie theaters and many more, keeping almost everyone, especially seniors and those who are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, at home for seemingly endless time (until the pandemic will come to an end).  How does supposedly immobilized life imposed by the pandemic affect the way we store memories and the way we create meaning in our lives? What do large groups of people remember – and forget? It is an intriguing question for future historians. Social memory is at stake and thus deeply pertinent here. As reminded by WHO’s Healthy Ageing, being...

By Eileen Chen Photo courtesy of Eileen Chen, Kevin Wong *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society   “The location is the KCC Senior Centre, and you will probably hear our laughs when you come in,” said the founder of Kerrisdale Community Centre’s language exchange group, Kevin Wong, in his email to me. Sure enough, after my initial mistake of barging in on a group of pool-playing friends, I did find the small group through the sound of their laughter. There were about 8-10 people occupying one table in the lounge area. An elegant white lady, who later introduced herself as Paula, was reading a story about a little horse crossing a river in Mandarin. The little horse is told by an ox that the water is shallow but warned by a squirrel that it’s deep, and only discovers that the water is just shallow enough for it to cross when it steps into it himself. Paula’s accent was imperfect, yet oddly musical. Other Mandarin speakers at the table corrected her from time to time, and she enthusiastically translated the fable into English as she read along. As I learned later, the merry group meets every Monday to study English and Mandarin together. The learning methods range from reading stories to learning vocabulary and carrying out casual conversations, and members both strive to learn one language and offer their knowledge of the other in the same session. Some members find themselves learning both Mandarin and English. Kevin was originally open to having an exchange group for more than just two languages, but decided that focusing on English and Mandarin would be the most effective. The group has existed for a year in this form, and although some members come and go,...

On April 8th, 2018, the Kerrisdale Community Centre held their 4th annual Sakura Walk,  a local tree history and identification series lead by professional forester Robin Clark. The participants left the community centre at 10 A.M. to follow a trail of trees that outline the parameter of the block inhabited by the Kerrisdale Community Centre. Robin classified various tree and shrub species found in our local Kerrisdale community, from oaks, to maples, and even some trees that were initially unidentifiable, which left us with the interesting project of distinguishing these trees after the walk. After our walk, we met back at the community centre for tea and snacks to discuss our findings and further questions we had about the trees. We learned a number of ways of identifying local trees, such as leaf and stem placement, leaf shape, and any identifiable berries or flowers budding on the branches. Participants were particularly interested in grafting, which Robin pointed to on a few trees we encountered on our walk. Other areas of interest for participants were how to identify the male and female parts of trees, and the mystery trees we found along the walk. Robin’s help with identifying and mapping these trees along our route showed participants how connected our lives are with the lives of local trees. Trees are an integral and beautiful part of our Vancouver landscape, and we are thankful to have someone like Robin to show us the unique and distinguished nature of local trees! (text: Grace McRae, Vancouver Arts Colloquium...

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By Simran Dhaliwal Photo Courtesy of Danielle Gagnier *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society     “The world is so big! Why do the same thing over and over?” I walked into this interview nervous, not knowing what the temperament of Danielle Gagnier would be like. To my pleasant surprise, as we began to talk over hot cups of peppermint and nettle tea, Danielle revealed herself to be a kind and patient woman with a soothing passion lying beneath her words. As we continued to converse, my stiffness faded and was replaced with excitement as I learned more and more about this remarkable artist. Speaking to Danielle was enlightening as she is one of the best examples of a truly artistic spirit. Throughout her life, she has maintained an open-minded approach to art, branching out into many fields that appear to be divided by our arbitrary categories. Danielle has ventured into pottery, mask-making, singing, songwriting, improv, dancing, guitar, percussion, photography, and filmmaking. If all of this seems excessive, Danielle would disagree, as she is eager to venture into even more pursuits, open to discover new ways to express her creativity. She has this amazing mindset of a learner, something many artists cease to do once they feel like they’ve settled into their niche. Danielle breaks the conventional rules, and I am excited to tell you about how she does so. But to do that, I believe it’s important to go to where Danielle began. Growing up in Francophone Canada, she was quiet and contemplative as a child.  Danielle appreciates that her parents encouraged her innate draw to the arts, as she tells in a heartwarming story. When she was five years old, in the exuberance of youth she took a...

By Chloe Price Photo courtesy of Cathy Stubington *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society There are precious few remedies for the bleak mood of Vancouver in January, but I can say with certainty that a visit with artists Paula Jardine, Carmen Rosen and Cathy Stubigton is a sure-fire cure. Our meeting takes place on one of those grey winter afternoons that us locals know all too well, when it appears that someone has punched a hole in the sky and all the color has drained out of our city, only to be replaced with relentless drizzle. I hear Paula, Carmen and Cathy before I see them—their voices and laughter pierce the sleepy air, announcing their approach. The three women enter in a flurry of bright woollen hats, scarves and coats, chattering cheerfully as they shed this winter plumage. Greetings are exchanged, hands are shaken and we soon all settle at a tea and cookie-laden table. I quickly note that any question posed to the trio is met with a chorus of inter-weaving, over-lapping answers—and yet they are all remarkably, genuinely interested and engaged with each others’ comments and opinions. This is perhaps a side effect of the emphasis on being present, and re-connecting with one’s environment and fellow humans, that seems to be a unifying theme for all three artists’ work. We briefly discuss some of their past residencies—in this city as well as out of town—and the art they’ve created. Carmen, for example, cloned spores from local oyster mushrooms and incorporated them into deadwood sculptures to create environmentally sustainable art that would decompose over the years. Cathy and Paula use the term “guerrilla acts of creativity” to describe much of their work—that is to say, spontaneous instance of art...

By Eileen Chen Photo courtesy of Pille Bunnell *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society What does an intersection between poetry and science mean? Does it relate to poems that talk about science or scientists that speak in verse? These were the questions that plagued me when I was preparing an interview with Dr. Pille Bunnell – an ecologist and cyberneticist – to discuss the topic of integrating poetry and science, as well as her experiences and fields of study. Before diving into discussions of what systems ecology and cybernetics are, I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Bunnell relate a beautifully personal tale. In the year 2002, Dr. Bunnell attended a course at the University of Tartu during a visit to her mother country, Estonia, which she left as a refugee when only eight months old. There, she joined a field trip to an ancient raised bog, where the peat moss had built up several meters above the surrounding area. It was a chilly November day, with a smatter of snow on the ground. After receiving a bog-walking lesson, she had a chance to explore the ancient landscape herself. Pausing to look around, she was suddenly overcome with a striking sense of awe and familiarity: “I am home!” The emotional intensity of this experience was evident, even when retelling her story. After long reflection on that impactful experience, Dr. Bunnell came to the conclusion that language links people with their ancestry through its connection with the land. I was surprised to see language brought into the equation like this, but through Dr. Bunnell’s explanation of how the grammar, intonation, and flow of language arises from how people relate within the landscapes they live in, I eventually became convinced. To apply...

By Eileen Chen Photo Courtesy of Keiko Honda, Eileen Chen *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society   When I walked into the Kerrisdale Community Centre on a Saturday afternoon, I half-expected to witness children being taught to produce intricate designs in the print-making class I was to observe. Instead, I was met with a few participants from varyingage groups, each too invested in pressing seemingly ordinary leaves dipped in black rice water or diluted coffee to notice an additional visitor. Initially, I was somewhat underwhelmed, but my curiosity towards the workshop soon grew as the participants took turns coming to me to display their artwork before the camera. There were elementary school-aged kids, teenagers, and even a senior, but all enjoyed this simple workshop and looked upon their creations with an unmistakable expression of pride. As I began pressing my own leaves onto paper, I let go of any prejudices and genuinely indulged in the simple pleasure of directionless art. The instruction I received was minimal, with the only guidance being to “do as I like.” That was my first taste of improvisation as devised by Soyoung Park, the instructor of the workshop. By the end of the workshop, I was a little surprised that Soyoung gave me the casual permission to dispose of all the unclaimed artworks when I was helping her with the clean-up. Throughout the clean-up, I felt slightly wary of approaching her for conversation due to her seriousness. The silence was broken when I came across her own creation from the workshop and inquired about it, which elicited a tender smile as she patiently explained the process of her artistic creation. The freshly created work featured the delicate body of a sparrow, outlined using the same...

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As the year comes to a close and we prepare for the holidays, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the people and experiences that made the Opera Zone a part of our own history. It began, sometime during 2015, with a casual conversation between Gerard and I, where passions bubbled and the idea of a community singing space was born. Soon, Jane and many other artists were eager to bring their talents to the table to get the Opera Zone off the ground. And the rest is history. This is an initiative that is entirely artist-run, volunteer-based, cross-cultural, cross-generational, cross-fertilizing for artists and participating audiences, and OPEN to EVERYONE. Truly, a remarkable and extraordinary thing! What more could anyone ask for to create a radically inclusive and vibrantly playful community?  KCCS’s Community Engagement Committee offers pathways of engagement for any individual and organization eager to deepen a commitment to creativity and social change! Join us! I would like to thank you all for your continued support and look forward to growing as one in 2018 and beyond. Keiko Honda, Chair, Community Engagement, Kerrisdale Community Centre Society     The Opera Zone End-of-Year Celebration, Sunday December 3, 2017 Thank you EVERYONE for coming! We had a great turn-out (140 people!)! See you all in the New Year! Photography: Syed...

  By Liam McLean Photo Courtesy of Lawrence Au *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society Four and a half years ago, Lawrence Au returned home from a trip to Japan with a new vision. While visiting a mall attached to the Tokyo Skytree, he came across a floor devoted entirely to restaurants. An advertisement for a green tea café featuring a brilliant image of a bright green Matcha drink caught his eye. The advertisement stunned Lawrence and made him curious. As far as he knew from his experience living in Vancouver, Matcha was sort of a yellowish green or brown colour, not the vivid green he saw in the mall. He decided to go to the café and find out for himself. “I ordered an iced Matcha tea and sure enough it was that colour. And when I tasted it, it was very refreshing, very rich, completely unlike anything I’ve had in Vancouver before,” said Lawrence. “And that’s when I realized what true Japanese Matcha really is and I almost instantly fell in love with it.” The branding and tea culture also left an impression on Lawrence, and he visited Kyoto later on his trip where he was further exposed to the beauty and depths of Japanese green tea history. Returning home from Japan, Lawrence searched everywhere for a similar Matcha experience but was unsuccessful. He realized that the Matcha served here was actually green tea powder and had nothing in common with the authentic drinks he had in Japan. “And so, at that point, I decided to start my own business by recreating the experience that I first had in Japan,” said Lawrence. “That was basically my guiding light: what should I do in creating a brand that would...

By Tatiana Zamorano-Henriquez Photo Courtesy of Dr. Mique’l Dangeli *Permission to reprint granted by the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society Art plays an integral role in the process of reconciliation as it is a way in which people, nations, and cultures can “say what goes unsaid” (Dr. Dangeli). For this reason, art “has a really important place within the reconciliation dialogue and… more funding should go to supporting Indigenous people creating their art (culture and way of being) with and for their people rather than reconciliation being focused on Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaborations because we have so much to reconcile within our own communities” (Dr. Dangeli) first and foremost. The process of reconciliation itself is a challenging one, and the difficulty of this process comes in understanding what reconciliation truly embodies. I had the privilege to sit down with Dr. Mique’l Dangeli, an Indigenous visual and performing artist who holds a PhD in Northwest Coast First Nations art history , while also working as a curator and a professor. As I sat in her and her husband’s art studio, I was so encompassed by culture, histories, and knowledge that it was as if the entire room was alive. It was breathtaking and moving all at the same time. It was here, as she painted one of her collaboration pieces that she had done with her husband, Mike Dangeli, that she relayed to me her powerful words and guidance for a legitimate form of reconciliation and the role of art in this process. Through her words, what profoundly resonated with me was the following statement: “Education is important, but if the focus is always outwards and not inwards, then we are not strengthening our practices we are just practicing for others” (Dr. Dangeli). These words were striking,...

By Jamie Zabel Photo Courtesy of Rebecca Salters Engagement with the arts and arts-based programs is a new primary focus of the Kerrisdale Community Centre in the coming year. As such, the Playbook is highlighting a few instructors already running arts-based programs to showcase their efforts and emphasize the wonderful effects of their programs. I had the honour of talking to one of these instructors, Rebecca Salters. Who is Rebecca Salters? Currently, Rebecca runs a program called Drama Bugs at the Kerrisdale Community Centre for children ages 1-15. I sat down with Rebecca to talk about how her early, persistent passion for drama and her belief in the power of the arts manifested itself into her children’s program. Rebecca grew up in Liverpool, England. What better place than the home of the Beatles to become passionate about the arts? She began going to drama schools at the age of three, and as she grew older, she became involved in more proper performances as well. One of her favourite experiences from this time was participating in pantomimes — i.e., theatre performances in the UK generally around large holidays like Halloween or Christmas — that would be on different themes like Cinderella or Peter Pan. The performance she loved the most was performing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Following university, she went on cruise ships for five years, working as part of the entertainment team for Royal Caribbean. All of these different experiences solidified Rebecca’s love for drama and the arts more broadly. Her university experience added another dimension to this. Her degree from Manchester Metropolitan University was a double major in Drama and Community Arts. She explained that the Community Arts side entailed using different art forms and putting them...

Since the beginning of this year, a new community urban agriculture project, Come To My Yard (CTMY) led by Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society supported by the City of Vancouver, has been well underway.   As Vancouver becomes more urbanized, and gardening space is harder to come by, CTMY aims to fill the gap by teaming up with homeowners who have space for a garden and can share some of that space with other community members wanting to grow food, learn more about permaculture, and connect people.  CTMY is way to form stronger, healthier communities. If you are looking to connect with nature and like-minded people, there is one CTMY garden in the heart of Kerrisdale. There are 2 accessible raised beds (wood donated by Kerrisdale Lumber) that are allocated to any community members who would like to garden. Please go check it out and sign up. It’s FREE and OPEN to all abilities. For more information, check out their FB page or email to contact@myvacs.org  ...