IICSI

Thinking Spaces: Dreams Come True "Improvisation and Radical Accessibility"
2024-03-13 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, March 13 at 1:00 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Improvisation and Radical Accessibility” with Dreams Come True Music Studio.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) is pleased to host an extended Thinking Spaces event focusing on ‘radical accessibility’ (Rice & Besse, 2020) within arts education. In this moderated discussion/mini-performance, we are joined by special guests, Dr. Caroline Blumer (Western University) and Allison O’Connor (Dreams Come True Music
Studio, Founder). They will share ways they have merged radical accessibility and improvisational practices in creating and sustaining inclusive musical theater spaces in Brazil and London, ON Canada. This two-hour special event will feature a mini-performance by members of London, Ontario’s very own, Dreams Come True Music Studio (DCT). Come enjoy a live performance by the “dreamers”as they are affectionately called, and also insightful conversation with the DCT team, families and caregivers.
More about the speakers:
Allison O’Connor holds a Bachelor Of Music Honours Music Education and Bachelor Of Education from Western University and has been an elementary school vocal and instrumental music teacher since 1988. She has taught for the North York Board of Education and Thames Valley District School Board conducting choirs, bands, and school musicals. Allison is founder and artistic director of Dreams Come True Music Studio (DCT), a studio focusing on people of all ages and abilities. DCT holds summer, fall, and winter music programs, where “dreamers” learn, improvise, and rehearse in preparation for musicals and concerts. Allison and the DCT musicians have received numerous accolades and notable recognition from the community, including The London Free Press and CTV news for their commitment to inclusion and making a difference through music.

Dr. Caroline Blumer holds a Ph.D in Music Education from Western University as well as a Bachelor in Popular Music & Jazz degree and a Master in Music Education degree, both from the State University of Campinas, Brazil. As a soloist, she has performed in “Los Conciertos de Navidad” in Havana and Matanzas (Cuba) accompanied by Brasília Jazz Symphonic. Caroline taught voice in her private studio for 10 years. She was instructor for the “Popular Singing” and “Singing for Actors” courses at Carlos Gomes Conservatory (Campinas). She was Musical Director and Vocal Coach in
important Brazilian musical theater productions such as “Malandro’s Opera”, “The Lion King”, “Man of La Mancha”, “Notre Dame of Paris” and others. Alongside her work as a jazz singer and musician, she is a researcher and teacher interested in inclusive musical contexts where people with intellectual disabilities experience music-making. Caroline has worked with individuals with disabilities and individuals on the Autistic Spectrum within inclusive musical theatre programs and schools in Brazil. In Canada, she is engaged as a volunteer and researcher with two inclusive musical programs at L’Arche Community and Dreams Come True Music Studio in London, ON.
Get up each day and sing your song.

These words are near and dear to my heart not only because they were composed by our friend Ken Fleet, but also because Dreams Come True Music Studio aspires for everyone of all ages and all abilities to be able to get up each day and sing their song.
The Dreams Come True Music Studio creates opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in high quality productions and to transform their lives through music. The studio celebrates diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and all abilities.
It was April 2018 while walking my dog Max, that I was chatting with my sister Heather on the phone about my dream to find a music program which was truly inclusive for all; one in which my son Cameron could be successful. He has been surrounded by music all his life and knowing the importance of music in life, I wanted Cameron to experience success with music. We found our love of sport through Special Olympics but we were missing the music piece. Because of his intellectual disability and FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, he learns differently. But he learns. The goal was for Cameron to experience music and feel confident. Those of you who have been involved in music programs must relish the memories of your rehearsals, your concerts, your shows and your friendships made through music. I want that for everyone.
During that walk with Max, my sister said, “Stop looking for the program. Create it. You are a music teacher specialist and have been advocating for inclusion since you and Cameron became family.”
So began the adventure. We offer Summer, Fall and Winter programs all culminating in amazing Showcase Concerts. Rehearsals are spent together singing, moving, experiencing music and making friendships. We don’t try harder, we try differently. We are a family. We are not a special needs music group. We are not a kids choir. We are a fantastic, dedicated and energetic Musical Theatre group! I am so proud of every one of my musicians. It is a privilege to work with our families, musicians, caregivers, local agencies and spectacular volunteers who make our dreams come true. They teach me so much and I am grateful.
Our musicians: Wow! They are capable and we believe in them. We thank them for pushing themselves personally and musically. They make a difference.
Please visit our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to learn about our DCT Family and our upcoming programs.
I want to thank my son, Cameron for believing in the power of Music. He provided the experiences for me to help to make this happen. Being removed from programs, being told to look elsewhere, motivated me to show others what he CAN do. The journey can be lonely but now with our Dreams Come True Family, we are not alone. We believe.
We thank you for believing. This experience will be forever in our hearts.
#inclusion #abilitiesfirst #singyoursong

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Labour and Us: A Workshop and Performance Series
2024-03-14 15:00 - 16:30 | Ontario
Please join us for Labour and Us: A Workshops and Performance Series by IMPR Students “Cohort Four / Almost Alchemy.” All workshop events and the final performance are free, and the organizers a offering free snacks and hot beverages. Participation is limited to folks ages 19 and up. Please register for these special workshops at the Eventbrite link.
The schedule is as follows:
Workshop 1) Thursday March 14, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm at ImprovLab, MCK U of G
WRITING & IMPROVISED DANCE WORKSHOP W/ AIMÉE DAWN ROBINSON
Workshop 2) Wednesday March 27, 5:00 pm -7:00 pm Silence, 46 Essex
STORYTELLING THROUGH MUSIC SHARING W/ MATTHEW ENDAHL
Workshop 3) Friday April 5, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm at Guelph Public Library, East Side Branch
DEVISED MAKING (HANDS-ON) WORKSHOP W/ MICHAEL BERGMANN
Workshop 4) Wednesday April 17, 5-6:30pm at Massey Hall, room 300, U of G
DEVISED THEATRE CONFLICT RESOLUTION W/ TOM SCHOLTE
Performance and Roundtable Discussion – Friday April 19, 7:00 pm, ImprovLab, MCK U of G
Participating in the performance is optional (but encouraged!) and requires taking part in at least one workshop, though we’d love to have all workshop participants join as much as possible. The roundtable discussion will feature Alan Filewod, Cynthia Ashperger, and Judith Thompson, and explore the history of worker’s theatre, how labour and the arts interesect, and how radical labour may help (re)define our work in the arts in the future.
More About the Events:
The workshops are designed for workers to explore creative outlets for themselves, to build solidarity with each other through the arts. We are CUPE 3913 members – but all workers are welcome to attend! For all people ages 19 and up.
More About the Organizers:
We’re second year PhD students, Michael F Bergmann, Lucas Carravetta, Matthew Endahl, and Aimée Dawn Robinson – the fourth cohort of the Critical Studies in Improvisation program (IMPR) at the University of Guelph. We come from dance, music, and theatre backgrounds. We also have a band called Almost Alchemy, which you can check out it here!

"Mop Mop" aka "Boff Boff" aka "For Big Sid": Max Roach, Transcription, Composition, Improvisation, Rhythm, and Creativity | IMPR Colloquium: Nick Fraser
2024-03-15 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, March 15 at 1:00 PM (ET) for “Mop Mop” aka “Boff Boff” aka “For Big Sid”: Max Roach, Transcription, Composition, Improvisation, Rhythm, and Creativity | IMPR Colloquium with Nick Fraser.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom.

More About this Talk:
Musical improvisation is real-time invention––the creation of the new. My master’s research examined one of the most common current ways of teaching musical improvisation in the jazz education system: the act and study of “transcription,” whereby students learn other musicians’ improvised acts (usually iconic “solos” from the jazz tradition), commit them to paper (or memory). The pervasiveness of this practice was interrogated through Gilles Deleuze’s and Félix Guattari’s conception of “the smooth and the striated” and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work on embodiment and speech. I argued that transcription, as currently taught, privileges a type of listening that elevates individual improvised acts above group interaction and is only tangentially related to improvisation itself. Further, though jazz educators speak of transcription as a part of the process of arriving at a personal approach to improvising, by defining improvisation within such measurable models, I argued that its implementation has (in Deleuze’s terms) taken something smooth (fluid, negotiable, dialogic) and fashioned it into something more striated (repeatable, set, hierarchical). For this presentation, I will demonstrate some of the issues raised by this work, using different strategies in performances of Max Roach’s solo drum piece, “For Big Sid,” offering openings to discuss the complex intersection of composition and improvisation in musical performance (which is the focus of my doctoral research).
Musical improvisation can stand alone or occur within compositional parameters. In the mid-1960s, composer and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell spoke of composition as the creation of an environment and made a distinction between “composition” and what he imagined as a possible “free” music. Regarding his early work, Sound, he states, “the musicians are free to make any sound that they hear at a particular time. That could be somebody who felt like stomping on the floor, well, he would stomp on the floor.” Mitchell (and many others) compose music that rejects the composition/improvisation binary, embracing a wide spectrum of intentionality where the ideas and desires of the performers can be central to the pieces––equal, in fact, to the those of the composer. In my view, too much improvised artwork hinges on the mere possibility of unexpected events, and exactly how those events play out can be viewed as incidental to the work––their occurrence can be conflated with artistic success. I believe this question to be key to writing contemporary music for improvisers––not merely “if we wish, we can stomp on the floor” as Mitchell would have it, but “if we are to stomp on the floor, how do we stomp on the floor?” If the art of improvising in music is to be advanced, and if composition within this artform is the creation of environments, those environments must be conducive to judgement and discipline, as well as to novelty and the unexpected. As the Jimmie Lunceford Band sang in 1939, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”
More About the Speaker:
Nick Fraser has been an active and engaging presence in the Toronto new jazz and improvised music community since he moved there from Ottawa in 1995. He has worked with a veritable “who’s who” of Canadian jazz and improvised music and with such international artists as Tony Malaby, Kris Davis, Marilyn Crispell, Anthony Braxton, and William Parker. Nick’s recorded works as a leader include Owls in Daylight (1997), Nick Fraser and Justin Haynes are faking it (2004), Towns and Villages (2013), Zoning (2019), and If There Were No Opposites (2021). For 10 years, he co-led the co-operative group Drumheller, who released four critically acclaimed CDs between 2005 and 2013. Other projects that occupy Nick regularly are the Florian Hoefner Trio, Ugly Beauties, Peripheral Vision, the Lina Allemano Four, and Titanium Riot. Nick has been engaged in graduate studies at the University of Guelph since 2021.
“Fraser not so much plays the drums as hurls himself whole body and soul against skin and metal… truly talented.” Bill Stunt, CBC Radio.
“The Toronto drummer is perhaps a little too progressive for the hidebound Canadian scene… Fraser is a deft and sensitive percussionist with a hint of an enigmatic streak, a feeling for economical gestures, and an innate sense of form.” Mark Miller, The Globe & Mail.
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, March 21
2024-03-21 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us for a schedule of Thursday afternoon (1–3 pm ET) ImprovLab Open House Sessions! The sessions will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. Bring any instrument and be ready to improvise!

The full schedule is as follows:
February 8th (Electronic Music Session); immediately following Thinking Spaces: Colin Harrington
February 29th
March 7th
March 21st
April 4th
April 18th
May 2nd
Hope to see you there!

Balance (Detroit): Improvised Music Masterclass at ImprovLab
2024-03-22 14:00 - 16:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, March 22 at 2:00 PM (ET) for a Masterclass with the boundary-pushing jazz duo, Balance. This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free! As always, our Masterclass events are free!
The duo will also be performing a ticketed concert at Silence, at 8:00PM (ET), that same night.

More about this Masterclass:
Balance, the dynamic duo of saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis, renowned for their boundary-pushing jazz, are set to share their creative process in a masterclass setting. With a fusion of composed and improvised music, and drawing from their extensive experience as bandleaders and sidemen, they promise insights into crafting captivating compositions and heartfelt performances.
More about the Artists:
Balance is a collaborative duo between saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis. Called “two of Detroit’s most important young jazz musicians” by the Detroit Free Press, Elliot and Malis’ “intuitive improvisations” stand on the threshold of composed and improvised music, creating intimate portraits of musical expression that deal in the language of subtlety.
Check out Balance and give them a listen via https://balance.bandcamp.com/
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Thinking Spaces: adam patrick bell "Admiration and Imitation: Toward a Disability-Led Model for Music Education"
2024-03-27 13:30 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, March 27 at 1:30 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Admiration and Imitation: Toward a Disability-Led Model for Music Education” with adam patrick bell.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
In this presentation, adam will discuss the disability-led model of Drake Music Lab, a UK-based organization that brands itself as “leaders in music, disability, and technology,” its influence on his community-based collaborative research projects in Canada, and the implications of this approach for the profession of music education
More about the speaker:
adam patrick bell is Canada Research Chair of Music, Inclusion, and Accessibility and an associate professor of music education at Western University, Canada. He is the author of Dawn of the DAW (Oxford, 2018), and editor of the Music Technology Cookbook (2020). adam is the editor of Canadian Music Educator and serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, Journal of Popular Music Education, and Visions of Research in Music Education. Currently, adam is the principal investigator of three studies funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada that focus on disability and music education

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Campus Friends and IICSI present: "Sounds Like Us" - Final Performance
2024-04-03 13:30 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, April 3 at 1:30 PM (ET) for “Sounds Like Us” a Final Concert Performance by Campus Friends and IICSI.
This performance will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. This special concert event is free and open to all!
MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT:
“Let’s make it up as we go along!”
“Sounds Like Us”—presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) and the Campus Friends (CF) program—brings professional musicians into collaboration with community members of varying developmental and physical needs through a series of fun and playful improvisation-based workshops.
This event celebrates a semester of music and community making with a final public concert!

MORE ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Campus Friends is an initiative that offers post-secondary experiences on the University of Guelph campus to adults with varying developmental and physical needs.
A partnership between Community Living Guelph Wellington and U of G’s Experiential Learning Hub, this program has run on campus since 2016. Twelve participants take part each year, along with more than 20 mentors.
Typically, students attend Campus Friends one day per week during the year for up to three years. They take part in activities including academic and learning opportunities, volunteering, athletics and special events.
“Sounds Like Us” draws upon IICSI’s 12+ years of co-running “Play Who You Are” workshops with KidsAbility that have offered all participants—from new musicians to the very experienced; from music afficionados and scholars to first-time listeners—revelations about the links between music and community-making, improvisation and individual/community well-being, sound and self-expression.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, April 4
2024-04-04 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

Thinking Spaces: IICSI Postdoctoral Researchers, "Same Place, Same Time, Different Stories: Creative Interpolations"
2024-04-05 10:30 - 12:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, April 5, at 1p:30 AM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Same Place, Same Time, Different Stories: Creative Interpolations” with IICSI Postdoctoral Researchers, Rebecca Barnstaple, Shelby Bohn, and jashen edwards.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
In this improvisational play session, current IICSI postdoctoral students (Rebecca Barnstaple, Shelby Bohn, and jashen edwards) will demonstrate and discuss ways their research intersects to inform new ways of sensing, knowing, and being. Weaving a tapestry of dance, science, and music, our presentation will elucidate how multisensory perceptions may be formed and (re)formed via multidisciplinary approaches to creative arts.
More about the speakers:
Rebecca Barnstaple (PhD Dance Studies; Graduate Program in Neuroscience 2020, York University) is the Manager of Community Initiatives, Research and Innovation at Centre Communautaire Chigamik Community Health Centre, Midland, Ontario, and an IICSI Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Guelph. A graduate of the National Centre for Dance Therapy at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (2015), she provides education and training in dance therapy and associated research globally. She has been involved in the development and delivery of improvisational arts and health initiatives in the United States (IMPROVment, Wake Forest University) and Canada (SingWell, Toronto Metropolitan University; Piece of Mind, McGill; Dance for Health, Nova Scotia) and serves in a leadership capacity for professional organizations including the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Canada (Accreditation and Certification Committee), the American Dance Therapy Association (Research and Practice Committee), and the International Association of Dance Medicine Science (International Benchmarking Standards Task Force, Dance for Health Committee). Rebecca directs the Research to Practice Lab for ZOE School of Dance Movement Therapy in Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Shelby Bohn, a post-doctoral researcher at #UofG and lead artist behind College Royal’s 100th-anniversary mural, aims to bridge the gap between two disciplines that don’t often communicate with each other.

jashen edwards‘ research centers around students’ sonic lifeworlds – sound currents streaming at home, school, on the streets and cyberspace –examining how sonic encounters may be a conduit and catalyst for creative critical consciousness. Drawing upon the fields of archaeoacoustics, sound studies, and sensuous scholarship, his work seeks to draw connections between music education and social justice arts education through the phenomenon of sound. He has worked in PK-12 schools, colleges and universities, juvenile detention centers and homeless shelters in San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, Berlin, Deutschland and London, ON. jashen has published and presented his research internationally and is co-founder of Sound, Meaning, Education (SME). Presently, jashen is a in post-doctoral fellow at the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). He has earned a Ph.D. in music education from Western University, an MA in music education from Northwestern and a BA in music (composition) from the University of California, Berkeley.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab - VoI. III: AJAY, EMMA, KATHRYN and jashen
2024-04-06 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us Saturday, April 6th, at 2:00 PM for the third in a series of small-scale, largely acoustic Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab.
Vol. III:
AJAY, EMMA, KATHRYN, and jashen
(piano, electric guitar, loop pedal viola, and trumpet)
Subsequent ‘Pop Up Concerts’ will take place the first Saturday of each month, @ ImprovLab (108 MacKinnon Building, University of Guelph Campus)—the best sounding room in Guelph!
As always, entry is free and our Pop Up series will remain low-key.

IICSI Research Studio Session, Featuring Dr. Rashida K. Braggs' "Amber in the City of Light"
2024-04-12 09:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, April 12 at 9:00 AM (ET) for IICSI’s “Research Studio Session, Featuring a Keynote Presentation by Dr. Rashida K. Braggs: Amber in the City of Light”
The morning will begin with Dr. Braggs’ keynote, followed by presentations of student work through the rest of the day.
This event will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. The keynote presentation by Dr. Braggs will be streamed online via Zoom, the student portion will be in person only.

To attend the Keynote Portion of our day of research, please RSVP via our Google Forms. The studio session and keynote presentation are free and open to all!
More About the Research Studio Session:
The idea is to encourage grad students in the IMPR program and students/researchers working as research assistants with IICSI to present short (3-5 minute) descriptions of their improvisation-related research or work at an end-of-semester gathering of other students, as well as IICSI team members, staff, and invited guests.
Inspired, in part, by the “Three-Minute Thesis” competition for grad students, we hope that participants will respond to the challenge to present their work and its wider impact and implications in plain language in five minutes or less.

Kicking off the Research Studio Session will be a keynote presentation by Dr. Rashida K. Braggs (Africana Studies, Williams College, USA), entitled “Amber in the City of Light” which will begin around 9:00 AM (ET). Dr. Braggs’ presentation will be streamed online via Zoom.
More About The Keynote Presentation:
Dr. Rashida K. Braggs will screen and discuss Amber in the City of Light, a solo multimedia performance that shares and re-envisions the experiences of Black African diasporic women jazz artists who have migrated to Paris, France. Culling original interviews, field notes and archival research, Dr. Rashida K. Braggs enacts multiple narratives through an embodied performance that merges original song, dance, poetry and theatre.
More About The Presenter:

Dr. Rashida K. Braggs is a scholar-performer who acts, dances, sings, composes music and performs spoken word. Jacob’s Pillow, Williams College Museum of Art, the Tapir Art Gallery and the United Solo Theatre Festival have featured her performances. She is also a Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts), a Fulbright Global Scholar, and a co-recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship. The author of Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music and Migration in Post-World War II Paris, Rashida has also published in such journals as the Nottingham French Studies, the Journal of Popular Music Studies and The Black Scholar.

Schedule of Events:
9:00 KEYNOTE: Rashida K Braggs (Africana Studies, Williams College, USA), “Amber in the City of Light”
10:00 – 10:30 BREAK
10:30 Nick Fraser, “Smooth Operations: Composing Music for (Free?) Improvisers”
10:45 Rachelle Myrie, “‘The Spirit of the Thing’: Music, Improvisation, and Human Flourishing in African, Caribbean, and Black Communities”
11:00 Taylor Graham (School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph), “The Blyth Festival Theatre and the Imagined Community of Rural Canada”
11:15 Matthew Endahl, “Holding Space for/in Ensemble Creativity”
11:30 Kathryn Cobbler, “Growing Intimate Conversations: Examining the Performer-Composer Connection of Music Improvisation”
11:45 Jordan Zalis (Ethnomusicology, Memorial University of Newfoundland), “Clouds of Probability: Improvisation as Effectuality in Spectacular Sports Theatre”
12:00 noon – 1:00 lunch
1:00 Aimée Dawn Robinson, “Full Circle”
1:15 Michael Bergmann, Improvnetics: Post-anthropocentric performance and improvisational modes for human-AI play, or: What we talk about when we talk about Intersentient empathy”
1:30 Mike Hansen, “When Does Noise Become A Sound?: Redefining Through Participatory Sound Art Practices”
1:45 Sofia Boz (Pedagogical, Educational and Instructional Sciences, University of Padua, Italy), “Jazz’n School”
2:00 Bob Wiseman, “The Black Box”
2:15 Brent Rowan, “Critical Hardware, Software, and Infrastructure Considerations for Telematic Musicking”
2:30 annais linares, “Arts-Based Kin Making: Co-creative Multispecies Accompaniment”

Live @ImprovLab: Susanna Hood Trio and Sarah Belle Reid
2024-04-17 19:30 - 21:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:30 PM (ET) for the series premier of Live @ImprovLab, featuring the Susanna Hood Trio and Sarah Belle Reid in an inspiring double bill. This performance will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph.
Tickets are $15 or PWYC and available online through IICSI’s Eventbrite page. While tickets will be made available at the door, attendees are encouraged to reserve tickets ahead of time.
The double bill will be preceded by a panel discussion moderated by Marie Zimmerman in which the artists will contextualize the work they will be presenting, and share insights about the role that improvisation plays in what they do.
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT:
IICSI’s new Live @ImprovLab concert and performance series serves to showcase touring artists working in a variety of improvisatory idioms. Curated by IICSI Director Dr. Ajay Heble (Founder and former Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival and 2023 Killam Prize winner), the new series, says Heble, “aims to celebrate live improvised performances and to spotlight our beautiful new venue.”
Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal-based bandleader and vocalist-dancer, Susanna Hood, along with the superb Tkaronto/Toronto-based musicians, Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone) bring poet Judith Malina and composer Steve Lacy’s 1995 “Packet” suite to life through sound and movement. These audacious new arrangements blur the lines between what is heard and what is seen. Heart-felt, yet unsentimental, these eight songs hold no punches as they bring voice to a woman’s later life, grappling with imperfection, sexism, paradox, grit, beauty, regret, invisibility, death, and love.
In Sarah Belle Reid’s improvisations and compositions, musical notation is often experimental and graphical—an invitation to explore a new sonic universe. This spirit for exploration has led her to collaborate with musicians and artists of all genres, including experimental electronic musician David Rosenboom, thereminist Carolina Eyck, and baroque-pop artist Julia Holter. Reid recorded trumpet and electronics on Holter’s 2019 record Aviary, and recently wrapped up an extensive tour throughout North America, Europe, and Australia as a member of her band. Reid’s own compositions have been premiered and performed by a number of renowned musicians, most recently pianist Vicki Ray and trumpeter Nate Wooley. In 2017 her composition “Flux” for amplified percussion quartet won the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Percussion Quartet’s Next Wave Composer Initiative.
MORE ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Susanna Hood has devoted her career to synthesizing voice and movement, creating intimate, sensual and dynamic performances both in dance-theatre and improvised music contexts. Founder of her interdisciplinary performance company hum dansoundart (2000-2013) her work has been marked by significant collaborations with musical artists Nilan Perera (She’s Gone Away, Shudder), John Oswald (Spinvolver), and Scott Thomson (The Rent – Musique de Steve Lacy, The Muted Note – songs and dances setting the poetry of P.K. Page).
Recent creations (Music Is, 2016, and Impossibly Happy, 2019) have been driven by her own musical compositions arranging voices, instruments and movement. Other collaborations of note include Tortues Vapeur, a duo with Montreal turntablist, Martin Tétreault, mixing turntables, electronics, synthesizers, vocals and objects. (DAME’s Mikroclimat label, 2019); a duo with Belgian bassist, Peter Jacquemyn; and performances with the French trio Rrève Sélavy (Frédéric BBriet, double bass; Nicolas Pointard, drums; and Christophe Rocher, clarinettes). Unpacked, the first project with her trio with Toronto/Tkaronto musicians Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone), is a new arrangement and interpretation of the Packet suite by late American poet, Judith Malina and late American jazz composer, Steve Lacy. unPacked will be released as a recording in early 2024 on Quebec’s DAME label. Awards include the 1998 K.M. Hunter Emerging Artists Award in Dance, 2006 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance, and the 2008 Canada Council Victor Martin Lynch-Staunton Award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Dance. For more information, please follow this link to Susanna’s website.
Kayla Milmine loves the new and under-explored sonic possibilities that only the soprano saxophone can offer. Her unique approach has the edginess and brashness of Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell yet also a warmth and thoughtfulness reminiscent of Steve Lacy. In 2019, Milmine released a solo album called ‘Straight Horn Magick; a mixture of field recordings and solo soprano saxophone improvisations. She plays regularly in trio form with pianist Bill Gilliam and percussionist Ambrose Pottie, and in duo form with guitarist/composer Brian Abbott in their band FASTER. In February 2019, she was invited to record with celebrated bassist, William Parker in a chamber-improv sextet in NY, where she often travels to study with mentor/collaborator, Sam Newsome. She is presently composing for her new project, the ‘Kayla Milmine Quartet’ with aforementioned Sam Newsome, and drummers Mark Ferber and Rachel Housle. She is co-founder of the Women From Space Festival in Toronto.
Toronto-based pianist and composer Tania Gill has spent over twenty years cultivating a singular but polymorphous musical approach. She has developed a distinctive improvisational language in jazz and improvised music, playing in ensembles such as the Brodie West Quintet, Chris Banks Trio, The Titillators, See Through Trio and Rebecca Hennessy’s Makeshift Island. Her own group, the Tania Gill Quartet, comprises leading Canadian musicians Lina Allemano (trumpet), Rob Clutton (bass), and Nico Dann (drums). Their acclaimed disc Bolger Station (2010, Barnyard Records), was nominated for best debut album in the Village Voice jazz critics’ poll and was included among the Globe and Mail’s top ten albums of the year. The follow-up, Disappearing Curiosities, launched in 2022 and was included on best-of-2022 lists in the Wire. Gill’s unconventional versatility keeps her engaged in an eclectic array of styles. She was a member of Deep Dark United and the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, and is a regular collaborator to vocalist Fides Krucker, and singer-songwriter Kyp Harness. She has also shared the stage with Steve Reich, Man Forever, Gord Downie, Mary Margaret O’Hara, the Weather Station, Margaret Atwood, and Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project, and she has performed with dancers including Peggy Baker, Andrea Nann, Heidi Strauss and Laurence Lemieux. Tania is a supportive and dedicated educator and currently teaches at Humber College and the University of Toronto. Fore more information, please follow this link to Tania’s website.
Sarah Belle Reid is a performer-composer who plays trumpet, modular synthesizer, and an ever-growing collection of handcrafted electronic instruments. Her unique musical voice explores the intersections between contemporary classical music, experimental and interactive electronics, visual arts, noise music, and improvisation. Often praised for her ability to transport audience members through vivid sonic adventures, Reid’s sonic palette has been described as ranging from “graceful” and “danceable” all the way to “silk-falling-through-space,” and “pit-full-of-centipedes” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Reid holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from California Institute of the Arts, with a research focus on the development of new electronic instruments and musical notation systems as interfaces for exploring temporal perception and co-creation. Her debut album for trumpet and interactive electronics, “Underneath and Sonder,” was released on pfMENTUM in October, 2019. In March 2024 she released a tape-music inspired electroacoustic record titled “MASS”, featuring trumpet, voice, electronics, and amplified objects, on Aurora Central Records.
In addition to her performance and compositional work, Reid runs an online music education company dedicated to teaching sound synthesis and electroacoustic composition to professional and hobbyist musicians. She has mentored thousands of musicians from around the world in her online programs, and is a frequent guest lecturer at notable institutions in the US and Canada including Stanford University, University of Victoria, California Institute of the Arts, New York University (NYU), among others. For more information, please follow this link to Sarah’s website.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, April 18
2024-04-18 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

(Cancelled) ImprovLab Open House Sessions, May 2
2024-05-02 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros - Film Screening - ArtsEverywhere Festival
2024-05-05 16:00 - 19:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Sunday, May 5th, from 4–7 pm (ET) for a screening of “Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros.” The screening will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. The event is part of the ArtsEverywhere Festival.
A post-screening conversation with director Daniel Weintraub (remote), executive producer IONE (remote) and collaborator Anne Bourne will be moderated by Ajay Heble.
More Information about the Event
Daniel Weintraub’s new feature-length film, “Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros“, is a documentary that traces the life and work of visionary composer, musician, teacher, technological innovator, and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016).
Pauline was one of the world’s original electronic musicians, the only woman amongst notable post-war American composers, a master accordion player, a teacher and mentor to musicians, a gateway to music and sound for non-musicians, and a technical innovator who helped develop everything from tools that allow musicians to play together while in different countries, to software that enables those with severe disabilities to create beautiful music.
Produced in collaboration with executive producer IONE, Oliveros’ partner in life and work, and the Ministry of Maåt, Inc., the film combines rare archival footage, live performances, and unreleased music with appearances by Terry Riley, Anna Halprin, Ione, Linda Montano, Laurie Anderson, Thurston Moore, Alvin Lucier, Claire Chase, Miya Masaoka, Morton Subotnick, Tony Martin, Ramon Sender, and many more ground-breaking artists.
Please find a preview on the festival event webpage.
ImprovLab is a physically accessible venue. The Q&A portion of this event will feature live transcription and ASL interpretation. For details on the festival’s accessibility, please visit our general accessibility page.

Live Music: Anne Bourne/Joe Sorbara/Ajay Heble Trio - ArtsEverywhere Festival
2024-05-05 20:00 - 21:00 | Ontario
Please join us on Sunday, May 5th, from 8–9 pm (ET) for a live music performance by the Anne Bourne/Joe Sorbara/Ajay Heble Trio. The performance will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. The event acts the finale of the ArtsEverywhere Festival.
Refreshments will be served before the performance.
More About the Event
For this special closing night concert at the ArtsEverywhere Festival, these three friends will come together to perform for the first time in a trio setting. Their music will be freely improvised and animated by deep and attentive listening, joyful creative interaction, meditative soundscapes, and possible nods to various influences and traditions ranging from Pauline Oliveros to Indian ragas to free jazz and beyond.
ImprovLab is a physically accessible venue. For details on the festival’s accessibility, please visit our general accessibility page.

"Has it started...?" by Rebecca Barnstaple - Artist Residency at ImprovLab
2024-05-27 10:00 - 18:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us, starting Monday, May 27, at 10:00 AM(ET) for “Has it Started…?” with IICSI Postdoctoral Fellow Rebecca Barnstaple. There will be a schedule of events each day until May 30th. “Has it started…?” is a 4 day open-door artist residency and practice-based inquiry at the ImprovLab, University of Guelph.
On May 31, at 11:00 AM (ET), Dr. Barnstaple has scheduled an Open Class, preceded by a lecture/webinar on adapted dance (Danse adaptee pour le bien-etre). Register here for the Open Class!
This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. The event is free and open to all.

More About the Residency

Adapted dance is a deeply improvisational practice, created in relation with people of diverse mobilities and ages. Community members and visitors are invited to join Rebecca Barnstaple for a drop-in class at 11am on May 31st as a Friday kick-off for the Guelph Dance Festival. Rebecca has worked extensively with partners in dance/movement therapy, IMPROVment, dance for Parkinsons, and dance for health internationally. Inspired by this broad scope of practice, we will explore the possibilities present for the bodies in attendance. All are welcome!
The Open Class will be preceded by a LIVE broadcast of Danse adaptee pour le bien-etre, a webinar exploring programs and research associated with adapted dance offered in partnership with the National Centre for Dance Therapy and Chigamik Community Health Centre.

More About the Presenter
Rebecca Barnstaple (PhD Dance Studies; Graduate Program in Neuroscience 2020, York University) is the Manager of Community Initiatives, Research and Innovation at Centre Communautaire Chigamik Community Health Centre, Midland, Ontario, and an IICSI Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Guelph. A graduate of the National Centre for Dance Therapy at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (2015), she provides education and training in dance therapy and associated research globally. She has been involved in the development and delivery of improvisational arts and health initiatives in the United States (IMPROVment, Wake Forest University) and Canada (SingWell, Toronto Metropolitan University; Piece of Mind, McGill; Dance for Health, Nova Scotia) and serves in a leadership capacity for professional organizations including the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Canada (Accreditation and Certification Committee), the American Dance Therapy Association (Research and Practice Committee), and the International Association of Dance Medicine Science (International Benchmarking Standards Task Force, Dance for Health Committee). Rebecca directs the Research to Practice Lab for ZOE School of Dance Movement Therapy in Basel, Switzerland.

CFP - The 2024 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium, "Sheets of Sound: Jazz, Improvisation, and Liner Notes"
2024-05-31 | Ontario
The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), in partnership with the Guelph Jazz Festival and the University of Guelph, invites proposals for presentations at our annual interdisciplinary international conference. The colloquium will take place September 11-13, 2024, as part of the 31st annual Guelph Jazz Festival. Featuring panel discussions, debates, performances, workshops, keynote presentations, and critical conversations among researchers, artists, and audiences, the colloquium fosters a spirit of collaborative, boundary-defying inquiry and dialogue, and an international exchange of cultural forms and knowledges.
In his liner notes for John Coltrane’s 1958 recording Soultrane, jazz critic Ira Gitler famously coined the phrase “sheets of sound” to describe Coltrane’s unique style of improvisational playing. It’s an apt phrase not only for attempting to capture in writing the spirit and energy of Coltrane’s distinctive style, but also for acting as a metaphoric descriptor for the very genre of liner notes. As an important part of the history of jazz and creative improvised music, liner notes might themselves be considered as something akin to “sheets of sound” that have played a vital role in shaping our understanding of the music.
“Part publication relations blitz, part advertisement, part advance directive for hipsters, part forum for writers hoping to match chops with the musicians they adored, liner notes accomplished several tasks at once” writes Timothy Gray in his essay on “Jazz Criticism and Liner Notes” in the recently published volume Jazz and American Culture. This year’s edition of The Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium invites presentations, prompts, and creative responses that reflect on some of these tasks, and that take up the question of what it means to use the liner note genre to write about jazz and creative improvised music.
In what ways have liner notes shaped the way the music is received? To what extent do liner notes contribute to the ways in which we negotiate and construct meaning about the music, how we understand history, how and why we listen? In what ways have digital dissemination and streaming services disrupted our notions of liner notes? And how has this shifted listener/audience understanding about their favourite artists?
Citing the “far-out notes produced by Sun Ra, John Coltrane,” and others, Daphne Brooks in her book Liner Notes for the Revolution explains that “liner notes hold out the possibility of operating as critical, fictional, or experimental works of writing in and of themselves. Conventional liner notes,” she suggests, “often walk a fine line between pedagogy and socialization, between sociohistorical and cultural reportage and heuristic conditioning (here’s how and why to love the artist in question). The most ambitious notes strive toward the narrative realization, or the narrative reimagining, of a sonic collection of songs altogether.” What, then, does it mean to engage in a narrative realization or reimagining of music? What are some of the critical, fictional, conceptual, or experimental forms and practices being advanced by writers of liner notes? What is it like to hear about the music from the artist’s perspective, and how might this shape the listener’s sonic experience? What is the future of liner notes in an age dominated by the digital delivery and dissemination of music? Does writing liner notes constitute a lost art or is the practice enjoying a resurgence? In what ways do archived/archival forms of liner notes play into thinking and writing about jazz and creative improvised music today? And what roles do artwork, design and layout play in the presentation and impact of liner notes and the reception of an album?
We invite presentations that address these (and other related) questions and concerns, as well as creative work that takes up the conference prompts. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary presentations that speak to both an academic audience and a general public. We also invite presenters to submit completed versions of their papers and presentations to our peer‐reviewed journal, Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation (www.criticalimprov.com) for consideration.
Please send (500 word) proposals (for 15-minute delivery—alternate formats may also be considered) and a short bio by May 31, 2024, to Dr. Ajay Heble at jazzcoll@uoguelph.ca

IF 2024: Silence-Producing Machine
2024-06-26 20:30 - 2024-06-29 22:30 | Fonoteca Nacional de México, Francisco Sosa 383, Barrio de Santa Catarina 04010, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Our fifth annual Improvisation Festival runs from June 26–29, 2024.

IF 2024 will feature robust, in-person programming inside the Fonoteca Nacional de México, in Mexico City—our first international iteration—and folks around the globe can tune in online for a stream of live events.
Watch Here!
Centred on the theme Silence-Producing Machine, IF 2024 will showcase legendary and emerging improvisational performers from “the territories of the ñ.”
For a full schedule and more information, please head to the IF 2024 website!
IF 2024 is a partnered project between the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and 17, Institute of Critical Studies in Mexico City, Mexico.
More About the Festival
IF is an around-the-clock celebration of improvised arts.
Founded by Dr. Ajay Heble (Founder and former Artistic Director, Guelph Jazz Festival) and presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, IF (Improvisation Festival) is a 24-hour celebration of creative art-making showcasing new, improvised works. Created in response to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this annual Festival is dedicated to showcasing an incredible array of new, original performances by improvising artists of all disciplines, for audiences residing around our home in Guelph, Ontario, as well as digital attendees from all around the world.
Since the Festival’s inception in 2020, IF has featured 400+ artists of all artistic disciplines hailing from over 25 countries. Through digital video livestreams and simultaneous international radio broadcasts, IF has reached thousands of attendees from 55+ countries.

Improvising Care - McGill/Montreal, October 5–9, 2024
2024-07-20 | Ontario
Improvising Care
McGill/Montreal
Oct 5-9, 2024
“In a democratic society art should be the location where everyone can witness the joy, pleasure, and power that emerges when there is freedom of expression….” bell hooks, “Workers for Artistic freedom”
“Healing can occur . . . when one’s inner experience is made manifest and accepted by others.” Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations
Recent history, from COVID through climate change, massive displacements of people, a worrying increase in various forms of totalitarianism, unjust wars (are there any other kinds?) the rapid rise of neo-liberalism (one can easily multiply this list) has both placed a greater focus on, and need for, care, and at the same time radically reduced the structures from which care often operates. As traditional institutions of care are denuded of resources, and governments implement policies that make care simultaneously more difficult to enact, yet that much more needed, it is fair to say we are facing a crisis of care. How can art and artists implement care in their practices? How should society care for artists, and artists for each other, and how can art itself be a tool for care and how should artists interact with communities in caring ways? Given improvisation’s ability to creatively and imaginatively find ways to modify existing structures, subvert norms and implement new forms of sociality, do we perhaps now more than ever need to improvise new models of care?
Some topics might include:
– How can artists work ethically in community, showing care for them?
– What would a society that cares for its artists look like, what policies and structures would be called for?
– How can art itself both model care and implement care—how can art be used to care for ourselves and others?
– How does putting care front and centre in artistic practice problematize a host of traditional assumptions about what art is and what it isn’t?
– How can new technologies both be used to create new possibilities for care, and themselves be the subjects of care?
We invite contributions addressing the topic of care and the arts, with an emphasis on the improvisatory. Contributions can be varied, traditional papers, panels, discussions, performances, mixed-media, videos, interventions—we place no limitations per se on what you might want to contribute, except that the linkage with the theme should be clear, and technically the contribution should not require excessive equipment, set up, staff, etc.
Some of this event will be dedicated to research and performance emerging out of the COST-Funded Toolkit of Care project (https://toolkitof.care). This pan-European project focuses on ways in which artists can model care, enact principles of care in their artistic practices, and create networks of mutual care.
We will be partnering with Art in the Margins’ Festival Flux Festival, which will run concurrently, affording us fun evening performances!
THIS CALL IS NOT DIRECTED ONLY TO ACADEMICS! We seek out contributions from community members/organizations, independent artists and researchers, or anyone with an interest in this topic.
Please send your proposal to: eric.lewis@mcgill.ca by July 20. Please put in the subject heading “improvising care”. Be clear about what you are proposing. If it involves other participants, please name them with contact info. If you have particular tech needs/space needs be clear about them. Also let us know the length of time you ideally would need—flexibility here is helpful (e.g., 25-40 mins, is better than just 40 mins!). Please limit proposals to one page.
While we will endeavor to have all our spaces wheelchair accessible, please let us know in your proposal if you have any particular needs with respect to access or adaptability (or anything else that will allow us to make the event as welcoming to you as possible!).
This event is a partnership between IICSI, LUC, Toolkitofcare, and Arts in the Margins

IICSI Co-Presents: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Hillside Festival 2024
2024-07-20 22:00 - 23:00 | Guelph Lake Conservation Area, 7743 Conservation Road, Guelph, Ontario, N1H 6J1, Canada
Please join us on Saturday, July 20 at 10:00 PM (ET) for “The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis” at Hillside Festival 2024!
This performance will take place in person on Guelph Lake Island. Tickets are available on the Festival Website.
More About This Event:
The Hillside Community Festival is a not-for-profit music festival that celebrates creativity through artistic expression, community engagement, and environmental leadership. This year, Hillside Festival runs from July 19–21.
More About the Artists:
One of the most iconic rhythm sections in modern music, drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally were the insistent engine of DC post-hardcore legends Fugazi for over 15 years. In 2016, they formed Messthetics with guitar virtuoso Anthony Pirog, and released two albums of turbulent, propulsive, groove-laden instrumental art rock. Drawing on jazz, punk, dub, and free improv, they’re equally at home in an expansive take on Sonny Sharrock’s “Once Upon a Time” as they are in blazing, math-metal riff barrages.
In late-2021, they were joined onstage by acclaimed saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, and sparks flew. Lally recalls a full-throttle passage when Lewis and Pirog began trading solos. As the intensity escalated, the bassist felt simultaneously challenged and exhilarated. “You’re just holding on and going, it sounds great,” he remembers telling himself. “Just keep going!” Thankfully for fans of next-level, genre-defying music, they have. Called “one of the modern titans of the tenor” by All About Jazz, the ecstatic fervour of James Brandon Lewis’ playing points back to John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and the rich tradition of the Impulse! label–a tradition that the combustive quartet is now a part of with their eponymous 2024 release. For his part, Lewis relishes the chance to plug into the power of the Messthetics’ punk-adjacent milieu, calling their provocative real-time musical conversation a “high point of musical bonding and purely unapologetic energy! When you hear the Messthetics by themselves, that shit is cranking. And I’m always signing up to crank.”

"Aerials" with François Houle LIVE at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum
2024-08-12 20:00 - 21:30 | Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum, 294 route 132 est, Coin-du-Banc, Quebec, Canada
Please join us on Monday, August 12 at 8:00 PM (ET) for “Aerials with François Houle at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum.”

This performance will take place in person at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum, located at 294 route 132 est in Coin-du-Banc. Tickets cost $10 and will be available for purchase at the door (cash only). Please note that seating is limited.
MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT:
Aerials is a set of improvisations exploring the clarinet’s uncharted territories. Developed during a five-week residency in Italy at the 15th century Castello Civitella Ranieri, the music is complex and seductive, taking the listener inside the instrument. Technically, this project taps deeply into the clarinetist’s inclination for the unexpected, from disembodied clarinets played simultaneously to flute-like melodies. Examining the way the instrument “reacts” to various acoustical spaces, this program is virtuosity coupled with stunning lyricism.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Clarinetist François Houle has established himself as one of today’s most inventive musicians, in all the diverse musical spheres he embraces. Inspired by collaborations with the world’s top musical innovators, François has developed a unique improvisational language, virtuosic and rich with sonic embellishment and technical extensions. He has worked with Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Joëlle Léandre, Benoît Delbecq, Evan Parker, Samuel Blaser, Gerry Hemingway, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford, René Lussier, Alexander Hawkins, John Butcher, Kris Davis, Georg Graewe, Håvard Wiik, Guillermo Gregorio, Eyvind Kang, Hasse Poulsen, and many of Canada and the International scene’s top creative music artists.
His extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals across Canada, the United
States, Europe and Australia. A prolific recording artist, he has released over twenty recordings as a leader, earning multiple Juno Award and West Coast Music Award nominations. He is the founder of Afterday Audio, a record label dedicated to the documentation and dissemination of his many musical projects and collaborations. In addition, he has appeared on numerous recordings on the Songlines, Red Toucan, Leo Records, Drip Audio, PSI, Between-the-Lines, Nuscope, Spool, hat[now]ART, Redshift, and CRI labels, among others.
He has been listed on numerous occasions in DownBeat magazine’s Readers and Critics’ Polls as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and a “Rising Star”.
François studied at McGill University, went on to win the National Debut competition, and
completed his studies at Yale University. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, and was a featured soloist in the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 and 2008 ClarinetFests. He is a faculty member at the Vancouver Community College School of Music, and a former graduate clarinet studio instructor at the University of British Columbia. He served as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute for five years. In 2008 he was appointed as “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre.
François Houle is a Backun artist and clinician. He plays Backun clarinets, mouthpieces, bells, and barrels. He is also a Légère Artist, performing on Signature European cut reeds.
Visit François on-line at www.francoishoule.ca
These events at Musical Improvisation at Land’s End / Coin-du-Banc en folie are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Musagetes Foundation, La société historique de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Historical Society, La MRC du Rocher-Percé, La Ville de Percé, the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

François Houle and MILE Camp Participants LIVE at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum
2024-08-16 16:00 - 18:00 | Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum, 294 route 132 est, Coin-du-Banc, Quebec, Canada
Please join us on Friday, August 16 at 4:00 PM (ET) for “François Houle and MILE Camp Participants LIVE at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum.”

This performance will take place in person at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum, located at 294 route 132 est in Coin-du-Banc. Tickets cost $10 and will be available for purchase at the door (cash only). Please note that seating is limited.
MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT:
On Monday, August 12th, at 8:00 PM (EDT), camp facilitator François Houle—improvising clarinetist extraordinaire—will perform a concert at the Musée culturel de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Cultural Museum, located at 294 route 132 est in Coin-du-Banc. The Vancouver-based musician is one of Canada’s most renowned and innovative improvisational musicians, and his performance in this wonderful space is not to be missed.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Clarinetist François Houle has established himself as one of today’s most inventive musicians, in all the diverse musical spheres he embraces. Inspired by collaborations with the world’s top musical innovators, François has developed a unique improvisational language, virtuosic and rich with sonic embellishment and technical extensions. He has worked with Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Joëlle Léandre, Benoît Delbecq, Evan Parker, Samuel Blaser, Gerry Hemingway, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford, René Lussier, Alexander Hawkins, John Butcher, Kris Davis, Georg Graewe, Håvard Wiik, Guillermo Gregorio, Eyvind Kang, Hasse Poulsen, and many of Canada and the International scene’s top creative music artists.
His extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals across Canada, the United
States, Europe and Australia. A prolific recording artist, he has released over twenty recordings as a leader, earning multiple Juno Award and West Coast Music Award nominations. He is the founder of Afterday Audio, a record label dedicated to the documentation and dissemination of his many musical projects and collaborations. In addition, he has appeared on numerous recordings on the Songlines, Red Toucan, Leo Records, Drip Audio, PSI, Between-the-Lines, Nuscope, Spool, hat[now]ART, Redshift, and CRI labels, among others.
He has been listed on numerous occasions in DownBeat magazine’s Readers and Critics’ Polls as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and a “Rising Star”.
François studied at McGill University, went on to win the National Debut competition, and
completed his studies at Yale University. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, and was a featured soloist in the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 and 2008 ClarinetFests. He is a faculty member at the Vancouver Community College School of Music, and a former graduate clarinet studio instructor at the University of British Columbia. He served as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute for five years. In 2008 he was appointed as “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre.
François Houle is a Backun artist and clinician. He plays Backun clarinets, mouthpieces, bells, and barrels. He is also a Légère Artist, performing on Signature European cut reeds.
Visit François on-line at www.francoishoule.ca
These events at Musical Improvisation at Land’s End / Coin-du-Banc en folie are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Musagetes Foundation, La société historique de Coin-du-Banc / Corner of the Beach Historical Society, La MRC du Rocher-Percé, La Ville de Percé, the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Ultra-Sonic Moth Songs
2024-08-20 19:30 - 21:30 | The Moth Garden (Ignatius Jesuit Centre), 5420 Highway 6, Guelph, Ontario, n1h6j2, Canada
Please join us on Tuesday, August 20 at 7:30 PM (ET) for “Ultra-Sonic Moth Songs” with Lucy Rupert, Lisa Hirmer, Christina Kingsbury, and Ben Finley.

This performance will take place in person at the Moth Garder, located at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre, 5420 Highway 6 in Guelph. Attendees will meet at the Ignatius Farm Workshop parking lot at 7:30pm and walk out to the garden for the performance. The event is free, although seating is very limited. Preregistration is required. Please book your ticket on the Moth Garden Eventbrite page.

More About This Performance

Join us at the Moth Garden. At dusk on August 20th, experience improvised music and movement amoung the moths. Created by artists Lisa Hirmer and Christina Kingsbury, the Moth Garden is dedicated to the often underappreciated, yet vitally important nocturnal pollinators of our world. Did you know moths make music that human ears can’t hear? As the sun sets and the moths come out to play, you are invited to experience dancer Lucy Rupert and bassist Ben Finley’s interpretation of ultra-sonic moth songs.
We will meet at the Ignatius Farm Workshop parking lot at 7:30pm and walk out to the garden for the performance. The garden is a 10-15 minute walk along a gravel roadway and then mowed grass paths which have some uneven surfaces and slight inclines. The walk is less than 1km. Please let us know if this is an access barrier as we can arrange to shuttle some folks to the garden if needed. There are several straw bales and blankets around the garden for informal seating. Please contact us if you have any other access needs that we can support with.
Because the garden and event are centred around meeting other beings in their own sensory worlds, and to support human access considerations, we ask that you avoid the use of insect repellents and other scented products. We will have bug suits available, or let us know if you will bring your own. We also recommend long sleeves and pants to protect from the mosquitoes.
This workshop is part of the project Moth Garden by artists Lisa Hirmer and Christina Kingsbury.
More About the Performers
Lucy Rupert is a dancer, choreographer, art-science researcher, and writer. She has performed with Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Theatre Rusticle, Nova Dance, Anandam Dance, Sashar Zarif Dance, Puppetmongers Theatre, Circus Orange, and Chartier Danse, among others. In 2004 Lucy founded Blue Ceiling dance, an umbrella for her choreography and commissions, performing throughout Ontario, in New York, Montreal and Stuttgart, Germany. Her creations are inspired by cosmology, biology and philosophy – anything from monsters to photons to the end of the universe. Lucy has a Joint Honours BA in Dance and Music (University of Waterloo), an MA in History (University of Toronto), and currently studies philosophy through Oxford University. She lives in Toronto with her husband and son, and two feral cats, in a magical neighbourhood full of coyotes and old trees.
Lisa Hirmer is an interdisciplinary artist who works in visual media, especially photography; social practice; community collaboration, and sometimes writing. Her work is focussed on collective relationships both in human communities and in human relationships with the more-than-human world. A lot of her recent work wrestles with what it means to be living inside the climate emergency and on the edge of planetary collapse. Her work finds home both in traditional gallery contexts and an expanded field of other public and semi-public spaces and is always created with a keen awareness that multiple realities exist alongside one another.
She has shown her work across Canada and internationally including at Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Guelph, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Cambridge Art Galleries, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Tom Thomson Gallery, Art Windsor-Essex, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Peninsula Arts, CAFKA, Queens Museum, and Flux Factory, among others. She has done artist residencies with Arts House Melbourne, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, KIAC and Camargo Foundation, and was the 2022 Waterfront Toronto Artist in Residence. She has received numerous grants including from the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts and has a Master of Architecture from the University of Waterloo.
Christina Kingsbury’s (she/her) interdisciplinary art practice is inspired by histories of care and explores themes of place, ecology and inter-species relationships. Her work takes the form of performance, installation and social practice. Christina collaborates regularly with poets, ecologists, artists, choreographers and the public-including ecological public – to create relational works that offer a quiet and radical challenge to the commodification of life. Her work is rooted (often literally) in the Grand River watershed and treaty lands of the Mississauga’s of the Credit and part of her practice works through relationships with land as a settler person. Her solo and collaborative work has been shown as public interventions and in curated exhibitions both locally and internationally.
At the age of 14, Ben Finley plucked his first bass string. Everything changed! Immediately, things fell still, without worry, in playful possibility. Miraculously, that feeling remains. Ben Finley is a collaborative and solo performer-composer, singer, improviser, and writer grounded in creative acoustic and electric bass playing. He leads and co-leads several ensembles that cross compositional boundaries, drawing inspiration from chamber music, song forms, improvisational music making, electronics and the sound worlds of local environments. He grew up on a music festival farm (Westben) where he witnessed many ways of making music, entwined with land and creatures. Ben is the co-founder and creative director of the Westben Centre for Connection & Creativity’s Performer-Composer Residency, which since 2018 has welcomed many diverse sound explorers to collaborate, share creative music and exchange perspectives. He is also Westben’s Sustainability Coordinator, working on various environmental care initiatives on the Westben grounds. He is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Critical Studies in Improvisation program at the University of Guelph, studying music festivals and creative music practices as sites of eco-cultural regeneration. Please find more about Ben’s projects at benfinleymusic.com.
Be sure to book your ticket on the Moth Garden Eventbrite page.

2024 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium: "Sheets of Sound: Jazz, Improvisation, and Liner Notes"
2024-09-11 09:00 - 17:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us from Wednesday, September 11–Saturday, September 14 for the 2024 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
This year’s event, titled “Sheets of Sound: Jazz, Improvisation, and Liner Notes,” draws inspiration from jazz critic and historian Ira Gitler’s description of legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s 1958 recording Soultrane. Gitler famously coined the phrase, “sheets of sound” to describe Coltrane’s playing. The event also takes its cues from Daphne Brooks’ recent work, Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, highlighting the overlooked contributions of Black women in the history of popular music. Dr. Brooks, one of the colloquium’s keynote speakers, will present a compelling new work on Friday from 2:30–3:45 PM, titled “Liner Notes for the Hurricane: Crate Digging for Porgy and Bess.” The other keynote speaker, Ashley Kahn, a prolific American music historian, will deliver a presentation on Thursday from 3:45–4:45 PM, titled “Liner Noting in the Time of Streaming.”

This colloquium will take place in person at ImprovLab (Room 108 MacKinnon Building) on the University of Guelph Campus. The event is free and open to everybody.

More About This Event:
Since 1996 the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium, co-presented by the University of Guelph in partnership with the Guelph Jazz Festival, has brought together diverse communities of interest by providing a scholarly forum for dialogue among researchers, creative practitioners, arts presenters, and members of the general public.
The focus of this year’s colloquium is “Liner Notes”
In what ways have liner notes shaped the way the music is received? To what extent do liner notes contribute to the ways in which we negotiate and construct meaning about the music, how we understand history, how and why we listen? In what ways have digital dissemination and streaming services disrupted our notions of liner notes? And how has this shifted listener/audience understanding about their favourite artists?
The learn more about this year’s presenters and to see a full schedule, please follow this link to the colloquium web portal.

KidsAbility Play Who You Are Ensemble - Final Performance at the Guelph Jazz Festival
2024-09-14 15:00 - 16:30 | TD Market Square, Guelph, ON, Canada
Please join us on Saturday, September 14 at 3:00 PM (ET) for a public performance by the “KidsAbility Play Who You Are Ensemble” at the Guelph Jazz Festival.

This performance will take place in person at TD Market Square, Downtown Guelph. The event is free and open to everybody.

More About This Event:
Since 2007, KidsAbility and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) have partnered to bring award-winning musicians to support youth with varying developmental and physical needs. Play Who You Are includes a FREE series of musical improvisation workshops which culminate in a FREE public performance at the Guelph Jazz Festival. The KidsAbility Play Who You Are Ensemble will be facilitated by Ben Finley.
This year, the workshops take place on August 12th (info session), 14th, 19th, 21st, and September 4th from 7-8 pm at ImprovLab, located on the University of Guelph Campus. The final culminating performance will take place at the Guelph Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 14th.
More About the Facilitator:
Ben Finley is an experienced collaborative and solo performer, composer, singer, improviser, and writer grounded in creative acoustic and electric bass playing. He leads and co-leads several ensembles and grew up on a music festival farm – Westben! He is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Critical Studies in Improvisation program at the University of Guelph.
The KidsAbility Play Who You Are Ensemble will also be joined onstage by the IICSI Improvisers-in-Residence, Jimmy Weinstein (drums, piano, guitar, composer) and Lilly Santon (vocalist, visual arts).
For more information, and to register to participate in Play Who You Are, contact Taylor Graham at improvce@uoguelph.ca.

Thinking Spaces: Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon, "Building a Safe Creativity Environment"
2024-09-27 11:00 - 12:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, September 27 at 11:00 AM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Building a Safe Creativity Environment” with Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon, a featured event in the Ontario Culture Days calendar!

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via IICSI’s new Twitch Stream. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

More about this talk:
Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon founded Travelling School in 2002 in Padova, Italy with the mission to teach jazz and improvisation as applied to general education. Many different projects grew out of this initiative. Drawing on their life in music and in association with other musicians, they create workshops at jazz festivals, music schools and regular schools.Over the course of twenty-two years since the founding of Travelling School, Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon have developed a highly effective methodology for introducing concepts taken from jazz improvisation. These concepts can be applied to general and special education situations and dynamics. Today, their introduction to these creative and educational concepts takes the shape of their workshop: Building a Safe Creativity Environment.

Some of the points that will be outlined in this workshop could be:
1. Inclusion with the self: Self inclusion exercises (most evident when one feels embarrassed).
2. High Energy Encouragement: Positive high energy received in the moment of improvisation as a teacher. Real ability to improvise a class, and how to develop this.
3. Inclusion of conflict and disruption: Using disruption as catalyst for the improvising teacher applied in real life class dynamics.
4. The Concert Game: The game of the 30 second concert presented as a game for kids.
5. Listening to jazz pieces and transposing the emotion into a solo or interactive performance/concert.
More about the Speakers:
Jimmy Weinstein / drums, piano, guitar, composer
Born in Chicago, Jimmy moved with his family to California and Spain. A Berklee College of Music alumnus ’89 and leader of a consortium of New York based ensembles, Jimmy has been on the move for over 25 years, touring the US, Europe and Japan. Major associations include recordings and tours with virtuoso improvisers, Ahmed Abdullah, Chris Cheek, Ben Monder, Satoko Fujii, Alex Harding, Jeff Parker, Oscar Noriega, Natsuki Tamura, Frank Carlberg, Elie Massias, Dan Fox, Sten Hostfalt, Masa Kamaguchi and Matt Renzi. As a sideman he has worked supporting Sheila Jordan, Noah Preminger, Rachel Gould, Greg Burk, Marcello Tonolo and Reggie Veal.
In collaboration with Abdullah, Harding and Kamaguchi he founded the adventurous and highly acclaimed melodic quartet NAM, whose album Song of Time was voted among the top 25 all time live performances by critic Kevin Whitehead. As a leader, his discography contains albums released by Fresh Sound, Clean Feed, Accurate, CIMP, El Gallo Rojo and Gunther Schuller’s GM Recordings. Among Weinstein’s current projects, is a quartet featuring the pianist extraordinaire Satoko Fujii, in addition to trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and vocalist Lilly Santon . As a teacher, Weinstein’s experience has brought forth TRAVELING SCHOOL PLAYJAZZ, an organization dedicated to conducting jazz workshops where he often performs with his students. Jimmy’s new quintet features Chris Cheek, Ben Monder, Tom Beckham and Dave Ambrosio, all musicians who he has worked with over the past 25 years, coming together to perform Jimmy’s new compositions on his latest album “Sobrinos”.
Traveling School Playjazz has been organizing the yearly jazz workshop at the acclaimed Mallorca Jazz Sa Pobla Festival since 2006. Over the years Jimmy has coordinated workshops with leading artists including Lee Konitz, Sheila Jordan, Chris Cheek, Dennis Irwin, Matt Garrison, Noah Preminger, Dan Fox, Toni Miranda, Pedro Cortejosa, Perico Sambeat, Marco Mezquida, Paolo Porta and Carlo Cattano.
Lilly / Liliana Santon / vocalist
Lilly Santon trained as an architect before venturing into the world of jazz and energy therapy. After spending her formative years in Brazil, she attended middle and high school in Padua, Italy and received her degree in architecture from the University of Venice.
Lilly lived in New York and Munich between 1980 and 2003 where she worked as an architect and studied jazz with the likes of Barry Harris, Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy and Jay Clayton. During the 80’s in New York she performed with Don Cherry’s Collective Ensemble alongside Jim Pepper, Bob Moses, Dennis Charles and Clarence “C” Sharpe. While deepening her musical studies, she trained in bio-energetic therapy, which has been integrated into her teaching methods in private classes and workshops. In 2003, she moved to Italy and Spain, and co-founded the Cultural Association Traveling School. Lilly performs regularly with Satoko Fujii, Jimmy Weinstein Quintet, and different formations of the Traveling School Band.
Projects include Sten Hosfalt’s Microtonal Ensemble Dimensional States; vocal duet improvisations with renowned composer Constance Cooper; 2014 appereances in NYC recording sessions with Jimmy Weinstein Quintet, Noah Preminger. New collaborations 2016/2017 include Johnny Lapio’s Porta Palace featuring Satoko Fukjii, Giancarlo Schiaffini and Natsuki Tamura. Story Told By Sound a multi-media project with Elie Massias and Jimmy Weinstein.
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

"Singing in the Circle," with the GCVI Chamber Choir, Carey West, and Joe Sorbara
2024-10-22 12:15 - 12:45 | “How to Draw a Tree” Wellness Circle, Johnson Green, Gordon Street, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Please join us on Tuesday, October 22 at 12:15 PM(ET) for “Singing in the Circle,” with the GCVI Chamber Choir, Carey West, and Joe Sorbara. This concert will take place at the “How To Draw A Tree” Wellness Circle, at the SW corner of Johnson Green, University of Guelph Campus (across from the Reynolds Building near Gordon Street). The event is free and open to all students and community.

Don’t miss the GCVI Chamber Choir (directed by: Lane Osborne) improvising with vocalist Carey West and percussionist Joe Sorbara in a special collaboration with the IICSI!
Rain Date: Thursday, October 24.

“Singing in the Circle” is presented by HowToDrawATree.ca with support from the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, UG Grounbds, and the “Activating Art Microgrant” through the Guelph Arts Council.

SOAN and IICSI Present: "Deference Rituals and Creative Buzz: Theorizing the Creative Trajectories of Songs and Songwriters" with Taylor Price.
2024-10-23 12:00 - 13:00 | MCKN 621, 87 Trent Lane, Guelph, Ontario, N1G1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, October 23 at 12:00 PM (ET) for the first event in the 2024–2025 SOAN Seminar Series: “Deference Rituals and Creative Buzz: Theorizing the Creative Trajectories of Songs and Songwriters” with Taylor Price.

This presentation will take place in person inside MCKN 621 at the University of Guelph (6th floor, next to the elevators). The event is free and open to everybody!

More About the Seminar
Taylor Price will dive into the dynamics of culture creation in songwriting teams, exploring how cognition, interaction, and relationships shape the creative process. Drawing from his ethnographic observations in music studios and interviews with music producers, he will discuss the social interactions that drive both the linear and nonlinear paths of creativity.
More About the Presenter
Taylor Price is a postdoctoral fellow in New York University’s Department of Sociology. He completed his PhD at the University of Toronto, where he wrote a dissertation exploring how cognition, interaction, and relationships facilitate culture creation in songwriting teams. His postdoctoral research draws on ethnographic observations in music studios and interviews with music producers to understand how social interactions facilitate the linear and nonlinear dimensions of the creative process. Beyond his research on creative situations, he has also written about cultural consecration, knowledge production, and qualitative social research methods.
For more information, contact Prof. Mervyn Horgan (mhorgan@uoguelph.ca).

"SAVE THE DATE!" A Creative Community Concert with Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon
2024-10-24 19:00 - 21:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 PM (ET) for the culminating event of our Fall 2024 Improvisers-in-Residence Series: “SAVE THE DATE!” A Creative Community Concert with Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon.

This community concert will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. The event is FREE and open to everybody.

More About the Event
After an inspiring series of six “Open Sessions” workshops, IICSI’s 2024 Improvisers-in-Residence are thrilled to invite you to a two-part evening of creativity and surprise:
“SAVE THE DATE! A Creative Community Concert with Jimmy Weinstein and Lilly Santon”
The night kicks off with an interactive, behind-the-scenes look at how multidisciplinary collaboration comes to life, as Jimmy and Lilly, along with an ensemble of creative community members from diverse artistic traditions, invite you to “peak behind the curtain” and witness their creative process.
In the second half, Jimmy and Lilly will take the stage for a more formal, concert-style performance with VERY special guests. (We can’t spill the beans yet, but you won’t want to miss it!)
More About the Performers
Jimmy Weinstein / drums, piano, guitar, composer
Born in Chicago, Jimmy moved with his family to California and Spain. A Berklee College of Music alumnus ’89 and leader of a consortium of New York based ensembles, Jimmy has been on the move for over 25 years, touring the US, Europe and Japan. Major associations include recordings and tours with virtuoso improvisers, Ahmed Abdullah, Chris Cheek, Ben Monder, Satoko Fujii, Alex Harding, Jeff Parker, Oscar Noriega, Natsuki Tamura, Frank Carlberg, Elie Massias, Dan Fox, Sten Hostfalt, Masa Kamaguchi and Matt Renzi. As a sideman he has worked supporting Sheila Jordan, Noah Preminger, Rachel Gould, Greg Burk, Marcello Tonolo and Reggie Veal.
In collaboration with Abdullah, Harding and Kamaguchi he founded the adventurous and highly acclaimed melodic quartet NAM, whose album Song of Time was voted among the top 25 all time live performances by critic Kevin Whitehead. As a leader, his discography contains albums released by Fresh Sound, Clean Feed, Accurate, CIMP, El Gallo Rojo and Gunther Schuller’s GM Recordings. Among Weinstein’s current projects, is a quartet featuring the pianist extraordinaire Satoko Fujii, in addition to trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and vocalist Lilly Santon . As a teacher, Weinstein’s experience has brought forth TRAVELING SCHOOL PLAYJAZZ, an organization dedicated to conducting jazz workshops where he often performs with his students. Jimmy’s new quintet features Chris Cheek, Ben Monder, Tom Beckham and Dave Ambrosio, all musicians who he has worked with over the past 25 years, coming together to perform Jimmy’s new compositions on his latest album “Sobrinos”.
Traveling School Playjazz has been organizing the yearly jazz workshop at the acclaimed Mallorca Jazz Sa Pobla Festival since 2006. Over the years Jimmy has coordinated workshops with leading artists including Lee Konitz, Sheila Jordan, Chris Cheek, Dennis Irwin, Matt Garrison, Noah Preminger, Dan Fox, Toni Miranda, Pedro Cortejosa, Perico Sambeat, Marco Mezquida, Paolo Porta and Carlo Cattano.
Lilly / Liliana Santon / vocalist
Lilly Santon trained as an architect before venturing into the world of jazz and energy therapy. After spending her formative years in Brazil, she attended middle and high school in Padua, Italy and received her degree in architecture from the University of Venice.
Lilly lived in New York and Munich between 1980 and 2003 where she worked as an architect and studied jazz with the likes of Barry Harris, Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy and Jay Clayton. During the 80’s in New York she performed with Don Cherry’s Collective Ensemble alongside Jim Pepper, Bob Moses, Dennis Charles and Clarence “C” Sharpe. While deepening her musical studies, she trained in bio-energetic therapy, which has been integrated into her teaching methods in private classes and workshops. In 2003, she moved to Italy and Spain, and co-founded the Cultural Association Traveling School. Lilly performs regularly with Satoko Fujii, Jimmy Weinstein Quintet, and different formations of the Traveling School Band.
Projects include Sten Hosfalt’s Microtonal Ensemble Dimensional States; vocal duet improvisations with renowned composer Constance Cooper; 2014 appereances in NYC recording sessions with Jimmy Weinstein Quintet, Noah Preminger. New collaborations 2016/2017 include Johnny Lapio’s Porta Palace featuring Satoko Fukjii, Giancarlo Schiaffini and Natsuki Tamura. Story Told By Sound a multi-media project with Elie Massias and Jimmy Weinstein.
