Future Fest
April 22, 2024
Orillia Opera House & Creative Nomad Studios
An art symposium for Earth Day! This curation brings an eclectic array of local and international multidisciplinary Visual Artists together to share various bodies of creative work that focus on climate futurism. We’ll begin with several lectures from a high profile keynote speakers who will discuss sustainable goals for our community. Our day concludes with a physical theatre performance from Bare Nerve as they dance, “Hard Wire” – a performance that follows, “two scientists through a psychological journey and an embodied study of rocks and permanency”. Arts Orillia aims to create an intergenerational opportunity through experiential learning and exchange. The facts related to our planet's health are cause for great despair. Through connection and action we can support one another as we find solutions for the future.
Hard Wire
created and performed by Emma Kerson & Jane-Alison McKinney
hard wire follows two scientists through a psychological journey and an embodied study of rocks and permanency. Their archeological dig leads to a deeper reflection on life in the face of a climate in crisis. Felt through the lens of two millennial-ish women, they fight to reconcile with humanity’s inaction and deflection in determining how, and if we move forward.
Ghost Canoe
The Future of Care and Repair
All day
Creative Nomad Studios
The Ghost Canoe came to our community during a time of change and hope, but its journey was not easy. The boat was prepared, cared for, and delivered with the best of intentions. Prior to announcing itself in our waters, however, it had a dramatic accident over the Green River. All could have been lost, were it not for a kind stranger and a community of helping hands. After a rescue, a recovery, and a blessing with water from a copper vessel, its bruised and cracked body remains open for storytelling. This project was originally curated by JP Longboat and known as “The Four Directions Painted Story Canoe. The touch of Chief Lady Bird’s brush and the delivery of the Mnjikaning Fish Fences across its shell, has somehow changed the canoe’s course…
Ghost Canoe has willed itself to stay and become an ongoing project in our community throughout the 2023/24 season. Come and hear its story and view the beautiful collaboration that is unfolding.