ABOUT TIM BORLASE AND THE LABRADOR CREATIVE ARTS FESTIVAL
“Telling stories you like to hear” was one of the workshops offered in the 2020 on-line version of the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. Co-creator Tim Borlase is himself a wonderful story-teller, and eager to share all that the 45 year-old festival has accomplished, and has to share. The Labrador Creative Arts Festival is a celebration of the arts created by and for Labradorians. It is known as the longest running children’s festival in Canada which involves children from the Inuit, Innu, and NunatuKavut communities of the north and south coast and the towns and communities in Upper Lake Melville, Labrador West and Churchill Falls and Labrador City. It hosts visiting artists who give workshops in schools in most of those communities during the week of the festival with a concentration of workshops in Upper Lake Melville area. As of January – March 2021 – the LCAF has entered the Virtual world and were able to deliver workshops to ALL schools in Labrador! These workshops augment the teaching of all areas of the curriculum through the arts and furthers new explorations by young people in new art practices. It represents the largest enrichment opportunity for schoolchildren in Labrador. For many schools it may be the only visiting professional artistic practice in a year. For the artists it provides an unparalleled opportunity for them to see the north and participate in an event which is multi-disciplinary and which provides opportunities for travel to remote locations as well as the rare opportunity to collaborate with artists in other disciplines.
It is a wealth of resource material, easily accessible for anyone who’s interested. The plays presented at the festival are created by and for youth. These performances are surrounded by workshops, special events, and guest presenters from anywhere in the country. The guests get the sensory experience of living within the beauty, the culture, and the inspirations of Labrador. It’s like being on a paid retreat for those lucky artists, and every second of the festival is devoted to the enhancement and joy of the young participants. The festival doesn’t run on a prize system, but every year there is a competition for a button design, open to all the students. The button becomes a little work of art worn by everyone who participates. Last year there were 6000 buttons given or mailed to participants, the large number due to being able to welcome people digitally. The huge loss, of course, was not being able to see the students perform on stage. Each year there is a theme given; last year it was Respect. providing an opportunity to develop and highlight this important cultural value through learning and discovery within the creative arts.
The communities of Labrador are largely rural, Indigenous and northern. As such, survival has long been predicated on respect for the environment, for land, and for the community members and neighbours whose participation and assistance supported a lifestyle that required mutual trust. Respect for independence, resilience and knowledge have long been the underpinning of a life that provided rich rewards in spite of tremendous challenges.
You can easily lose time by visiting the web site and seeing all the wonders that have unfolded, including access to scripts.
https://www.labradorcreativeartsfestival.ca/home/
Tim has also spent a lot of time with community theatre performers in Nain, Hopedale, Rigolet, Cartwright and Postdale. They spent a lot of time developing plays about their communities and issues that were important to them. Sandra Broomfield is the festival co-ordinator.
The team hope to expand into summer workshops as well, all volunteers toiling in the world of grant writing and constant fund raising.
Board of Directors:
Rupert Dawe – Co-Chair
Tim Borlase – Co-Chair
Vicki Noseworthy - Treasurer Jamie Felsberg
Martina Lavallee, Denise Cole, Tina White
Members: Karla Abbass Martha MacDonald Anne Wells Paula Dawe
#Labrador #Indigenous #Youth #workshops #storytelling
It is a wealth of resource material, easily accessible for anyone who’s interested. The plays presented at the festival are created by and for youth. These performances are surrounded by workshops, special events, and guest presenters from anywhere in the country. The guests get the sensory experience of living within the beauty, the culture, and the inspirations of Labrador. It’s like being on a paid retreat for those lucky artists, and every second of the festival is devoted to the enhancement and joy of the young participants. The festival doesn’t run on a prize system, but every year there is a competition for a button design, open to all the students. The button becomes a little work of art worn by everyone who participates. Last year there were 6000 buttons given or mailed to participants, the large number due to being able to welcome people digitally. The huge loss, of course, was not being able to see the students perform on stage. Each year there is a theme given; last year it was Respect. providing an opportunity to develop and highlight this important cultural value through learning and discovery within the creative arts.
The communities of Labrador are largely rural, Indigenous and northern. As such, survival has long been predicated on respect for the environment, for land, and for the community members and neighbours whose participation and assistance supported a lifestyle that required mutual trust. Respect for independence, resilience and knowledge have long been the underpinning of a life that provided rich rewards in spite of tremendous challenges.
You can easily lose time by visiting the web site and seeing all the wonders that have unfolded, including access to scripts.
https://www.labradorcreativeartsfestival.ca/home/
Tim has also spent a lot of time with community theatre performers in Nain, Hopedale, Rigolet, Cartwright and Postdale. They spent a lot of time developing plays about their communities and issues that were important to them. Sandra Broomfield is the festival co-ordinator.
The team hope to expand into summer workshops as well, all volunteers toiling in the world of grant writing and constant fund raising.
Board of Directors:
Rupert Dawe – Co-Chair
Tim Borlase – Co-Chair
Vicki Noseworthy - Treasurer Jamie Felsberg
Martina Lavallee, Denise Cole, Tina White
Members: Karla Abbass Martha MacDonald Anne Wells Paula Dawe
#Labrador #Indigenous #Youth #workshops #storytelling
The Thriving Together initiative has been made possible through support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
