Exchanges: conversations about (a) community building

Sunday, April 12th from 1 – 3.30 pm

Please join us to explore the Right to Remain Exhibition and for a special workshop hosted by Gallery Gachet, the Revitalizing Japantown? research project, Powell Street Festival Society’s Advocacy Committee, and the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre.

We will gather in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) for an afternoon of listening, learning, and art-making. During this workshop, special guests will share personal stories of past and present connections to the DTES, some Japanese Canadian history, and human rights struggles in the neighbourhood. This will be followed by time for personal conversations and a chance to create fabric artwork to express your hopes for upholding human rights in the DTES and the future of the neighbourhood. This is the last day of the exhibition but at the same time, the first public gathering for the Powell Street Festival Society’s Japanese Canadian (JC) Community Building Project. Please join us to find out more! We want to know what you envision for the Powell Street area, that was historically the heart of the Japanese Canadian community before 1942, in the current context of the DTES.

With special guests:

Audrey Siegl
Musqueam artist and activist working in the DTES, has worked with the Musqueam Language and Culture Department
http://www.straight.com/news/703421/audrey-siegl-lets-work-radically-change-vancouver

Judge Maryka Omatsu
first woman judge of East Asian heritage in Canada, Redress Movement activist, and recent recipient of the Order of Ontario
http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/bulletin-interview-judge-maryka-omatsu/

Karen Ward
lives in supportive housing at the Woodward’s project, is an artist and activist in the DTES, associate member of Gallery Gachet, and was a member of the DTES Local Area Planning Process Committee
http://themainlander.com/2014/04/09/voices-against-displacement-karen-wards-speech-to-city-council/

Haruko Okano
process-based artist and activist focussing on concerns for the natural environment
http://www.harukookano.com

Daniel Iwama
Japanese Canadian / Métis member of PSFS’s Advocacy Committee and the JC Community Building Project
http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-iwama/58/107/735
note:
The Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre will present a sister exhibition, Revitalizing Japantown? October 24, 2015 – January 31, 2016, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC. http://centre.nikkeiplace.org

We would like to express our gratitude to: the Right to Remain Community Fair Arts Team that includes Ali Lohan, Andy Mori, Herb Varley, Karen Ward, and Quin Martins; Gallery Gachet, Carnegie Community Action Project, Carnegie Community Centre; Rika Uto; Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall; Nikkei National Museum; Beth Carter; Powell Street Festival Society; Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association and The Bulletin/Geppo.

gallerygachet | wed – sun 12 – 6 pm

http://www.revitalizingjapantown.ca/