The JHI is pleased to support the Provocations Ideas Festival (PIF) for the third year. PIF aspires to create a new public square of spirited discussion that is rooted in local communities but informed globally, for which an informed and engaged public is critical. JHI’s public humanities support will bring five events to Innis College Town Hall (2 Sussex Ave.) on May 24-25, 2024.
Bookmarks with Corin Raymond
Friday, May 24, 7:00 pm. Registration required, $15
Monologue, memoir, a feast of word-fun, and a deep-hearted treat for bookworms–or for anyone who's ever lost someone or something they loved. Storyteller Corin Raymond casts a poignant healing spell and joyous love letter to the books we’ve loaned and lost, and to the secret paths they travel in the world to find us.
Pretendians: Podcast Listening Party and Q&A
Saturday, May 25, 10:00 am. Registration required, free to all
With Canadaland Executive Producer Jesse Brown, Indigenous rights activist Robert Jago, and Director of Mvskoke Media and free-press activist Angel Ellis. Listen to the first episode of Canadaland’s Pretendians, followed by a conversation and Q&A. Pretendians will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about identity politics.
Within our Lifetime: A Wakeup Story with Mathura
Saturday, May 25, 11:30 am. Registration required, free to all
This immersive performance installation is an invocation to wake up - to our bodies, our longings, our lineages of resistance, to sharpening contradictions, to the everything-ness of These Times and our agency within them. Mathura Temwa Mahendren is a storyteller and design researcher whose practice is rooted in a commitment to designing and sharing tools, frameworks, and spaces that can hold us through difference, discomfort, grief, change, and ultimately, growth.
Make More Magic: My Life in Wonder Activism with Nikola Steer
Saturday, May 25, 1-2 pm. Registration required, free to all
Part lecture, part adventure, join me on a colourful journey to the intersection of art, archive and social alchemy. Learn why this world needs more wonder activists to uplift our collective spirit and reimagine our shared future. Nikola Steer is a multidisciplinary artist, cultural designer, and producer based in Toronto. She seeks to reconnect people with their shared humanity in a world where systems and technology intrude with increased acceleration. She uses storytelling, somatic practices, curiosity and play as entry points to shared questions and social discovery.
Blaze your Trail: A Fireside Conversation with Ivory and Sapphira hosted by Nikola Steer
Saturday, May 25, 2:30-4 pm. Registration required, free to all
Join Ivory, a powerhouse performer with a flair for the extraordinary, and Sapphira, a boundary-pushing architect of dreams for a power hour of bold ideas as we delve into the stories of those who dare to dance to their own rhythm. Ivory and Sapphira will share their secrets to living authentically and reframing challenges, while inviting us to consider the big questions that help us reimagine our collective future.
Alam, The Flag علم
Saturday, May 25, 7-9:30 pm. Registration required, $15
This is a fundraiser for humanitarian aid to Gaza presented in partnership with the Arab Film Festival. A skillful examination of the fraught political awakening young Palestinians are forced to undergo, the film Alam is a striking debut feature film from Firas Khoury that marries conversations around nationalism and iconography with the universal themes of growing up. Following the screening there will be a discussion of the film and the current situation in Palestine.