The Future of Activism in the Arts
Toronto, Ontario
Presented by
Harbourfront Centre
A continuation of the Nordic Talks series featuring discussions on the future of activism in the arts.
Art has the power to reach many people and bring communities together. Can we increase the potential of art to be a catalyst for changing human behaviour? How can artists play a larger role in inspiring action for social and environmental justice?
See full list of event participants below.
Event Supporters
Heiðrik á Heygum (b. 1983) was educated at the Danish independent film school Super16 in 2014 and the Academy of Art of Iceland in 2017.
Heiðrik is called a renaissance man whose work encompasses film, art, and music and often combines all three art forms into one. Heiðrik is one of the leading artists from the Faroe Islands producing art, music and award-winning films and music videos for acclaimed Nordic singers and acts.
Hailing from a conservative background in the isolated Faroe Islands and growing up in a religious and patriarchal society has impacted his childhood greatly. Heiðrik’s art can be divided into two different worlds: a world of the surrealistic and fantastical, to the quiet and private world questioning identity, social heritage, sexuality and adulthood. Still, if it’s fantastical or if it’s realism, we can all feel an undertone of isolation and loneliness.
In 2021, Heiðrik had a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands and now for the first time he has a solo exhibition outside Europe.
Finland-based artist Dawn Jani Birley was born in Saskatchewan to a third generation Deaf family and identifies herself as culturally and linguistically Deaf. Toronto Theatre Critics Award Winner for Best Actress in a Play 2017 for her role as Horatio in Prince Hamlet, Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf Person of the Year 2017 and Swedish Riksteatern’s Artist of the Year 2015, Birley is a versatile actor with an uncanny ability for storytelling. Her career takes her all over the world, spanning more than fifteen years of professional experience in theatre and film. With a Master of Arts in Physical Theatre with Merit from St. Mary’s University in London, Dawn established 1S1 Theatre in 2019 with a vision for Deaf and hearing to enjoy theatre together. The mission is to create theatre at the intersections of Deaf and hearing worlds, always from a Deaf-led perspective, to push for positive change in today’s world. Aside from acting, Dawn Jani is often summoned to give workshops/training, motivational speeches and appearances.
Santee Smith Tekaronhiáhkhwa/Picking up the Sky is a multidisciplinary artist from the Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan, Ohswekén/Six Nations of the Grand River, Haldimand Treaty territory. As a creative she is dedicated to cultivating space for embodied storytelling, collaboration, exchange through performance and cultural talks, work with land and earth/clay. In 2005, she founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre and also works as an independent artist on projects such as The Mush Hole, and Talking Earth installation at the Gardiner Museum. Her practice is process and for her, the process is full bodied, ceremonial in intent and crafted through research with knowledge keepers and sites/land. Smith trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, completed Physical Education and Psychology degrees from McMaster University and a M.A. in Dance from York University. Santee premiered her debut work Kaha:wi – a family creation story, in 2004 and one year later founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre which has grown into an internationally renowned company. Santee’s artistic work speaks about identity and Indigenous narratives. Her body of work includes 17 productions and numerous short works which tour nationally and internationally. In 2020, The Mush Hole production received 5 Dora Mavor Moore awards. Santee is a sought-after teacher and speaker on the performing arts and Indigenous performance and culture. Her life and works have been the topic of TV series and films and most recently on CBC and APTN. Smith is the 19th Chancellor of McMaster University.
Claude Schryer (1959, Ottawa, he/him) believes the arts, in the context of decolonization, can play a much more impactful role in shaping our collective future and has dedicated the rest of his life to this vocation. He is a Franco-Ontarian sound and media artist and arts administrator of European ancestry. He holds a MM in composition from McGill University and was actively involved in the acoustic ecology and electroacoustic music communities in the ’80s & ’90s. From ’00 to ’20 he held management positions at Canada Council for the Arts in Inter-Arts, partnerships and as a senior strategic advisor. He currently produces the Conscient podcast on art and the ecological crisis; season 4, ‘Sounding Modernity’, begins January 1, 2023. He describes his artistic aesthetic as “an exploration of the liminal space between reality, fantasy and spirit”. He is also an environmental activist who volunteers with the Sectoral Climate Art Leadership for the Emergency (SCALE)(currently chair of the board and member of the Mission Circle), and regularly gives workshops, facilitates meetings, and participates in panels and presentations on art and sound and the ecological crisis. He is grateful to the Gesturing Towards Decolonized Futures collective and the Facing Human Wrongs course for guidance in his learning and unlearnings. He is a zen and qi gong practitioner, son of Jeannine and Maurice Schryer, husband of Sabrina Mathews, father of Clara Schryer and Riel Schryer.
