Stopgaps & Gems

This project, created and run during Fall 2014 was a collaboration between IICSI, DodoLab, and Immigrant Services Guelph/Wellington. The project used arts-based inquiry to explore the experiences of newcomer youth with daily improvisation. Participants reflected upon and shared their experiences as newcomers to Guelph and to Canada, and shared their insights about how they had learned to improvise when faced with unanticipated or unfamiliar situations. Storytelling and sharing workshops, visual art, and collaborative project planning brought the youth’s perspectives into view, and a final public intervention temporarily animated and transformed downtown Guelph, as the youth shared their creations and stories with community members.

Site: Guelph

Researchers: Lisa Hirmer, Elizabeth Jackson