Open Letter to the Lasqueti Community

‘Open Letter to Lasqueti Community’

Dear Lasqueti Islanders:

It is with great excitement that I write this letter! As many of you know, I have been studying at the University of Victoria for the past many years and am currently in the final year of my Master’s (MA) Degree in the field of Applied Theatre. What is Applied Theatre, you ask? Applied Theatre is a practice that engages with groups and communities, big and small, for the purpose of research, education, social change and community development; it offers creative ways for individuals, groups and communities to come together to communicate, collaborate, devise and perform their stories, histories and cultural perspectives.
In this vane, I am delighted to be undertaking my Master’s Project here on Lasqueti. I am undertaking this project as an expression of love and gratitude for the community I am so happy to call my ‘Home.’
I write to you now, so that you may be informed of the project I am undertaking…and that your interest may be piqued to become involved in this arts-based project:
Performing the Ecology of Place: Embodying an Eco-Cultural ‘Living History on Lasqueti Island/Xwe’etay will involve the creation of a one time community performative event that will allow for a deeper understanding of the eco-cultural web in existence on this unique ‘off-the-grid’ island. I will be undertaking the facilitation of a cross-generational and cross-cultural multi-month group devising process that explores and captures inhabitants’ (both present and past), our/their relationships this place, to the local ecology/culture. The exploration of these dynamic intertwinings will culminate in an outdoor, site-specific performance in Squitty Bay Provincial Park tentatively set for April 13, 2013. How do/can we perform place? Integral to this process will be the active engagement and co-creating with members of the Sliammon First Nation. In the past, the Sliammon actively inhabited Lasqueti during seasonal fishing, shellfish and food gathering rounds; however, there no longer exists any ‘physical’ presence of the Sliammon on the island known to them as Xwe’etay (Yew Tree). Working together with the Sliammon, along with a diversified group of current island residents, will result in the collective creation of a staged and embodied ‘living history’: a theatricalization serving as a bridging tool that aims to mobilize a collective community and activate reciprocal learning.

This project will involve many streams of participation by different members of the community that will all be woven together in a final performance.
I will begin working in the Fall with a small group of Lasqueti homeschool students in collaboration with members of the Sliammon Nation. There are currently a few elders left who remember coming to Lasqueti/Xwe’etay in their youth. The students will gather and share reminiscences and learn of Sliammon culture. Collaboratively, the students and members of the Sliammon will work to co-create a performative method to share this knowledge exchange, to form part of the performative event.
I will hopefully be engaging with the students of False Bay School, starting in February, dramatically exploring how they might interpret and express their relationships to Lasqueti. Their collaborative efforts will form part of the performative event.
And then the third stream is working with a group of Lasqueti Island adults. It is my hope to assemble a Core Group of adults, representing a wide cross-section of the community as well as ages (around 20+ people would be fantastic!) who, starting in late January will come together (at first on a weekly basis) to explore through drama and the arts the various ways we relate to the local ecology and culture of Lasqueti, to this dynamic place. How do or how can we define the local culture and ecology of Lasqueti and how migh/dot we perform them?
In December and again in January, I will post an ‘Invitation to Participate,’ so that interested adults might come forward. Absolutely no previous experience with the arts is necessary…but one could rightly argue that living on Lasqueti is an art unto itself! I will hold an Information Meeting at the end of January, where you can come and ask questions and become involved. (Of course, questions may be asked of me beforehand, as well as expressions of interest)! There will also exist the possibility to participate in the final performance, without being part of the Core Group.
All of these ‘separate’ streams of focus groups, will be woven together to form a pastiche/vignette-style performance in the couple weeks before the final performance date.
As this project is being conducted through the University of Victoria and being funded by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), it is qualifies as research. However, in the context of this Community-Engaged collaborative work, I prefer to think of this endeavor more as Reciprocitysearch or Restoryseach, rather than research. Needless to say, all participants will be asked to sign a Consent Form.
I look so forward to working with you….and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have!

Best,

Bronwyn Preece
Telephone: 250-240-3476
Email: improvise [at] bronwynpreece [dot] com