Research Library

As part of our commitment to making our work and outputs accessible, and to generate further dialogue on the issues we explore, IICSI has created an online Research Library. Here you will find a range of pieces including films, articles, think pieces, and interviews. Please use the search function or browse, and check back again as this library will be updated regularly.

Research outcomes related to the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice project (2007-2013) are forthcoming.

A portrait of Wayde Compton in front of a brick wall.

Oral Histories: Wayde Compton

Wayde Compton is a Black Canadian writer/poet, DJ, and historian, born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. Compton has published two books of poetry: 49th Parallel Psalm, and Performance Bond. He has also edited an anthology, Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature, and recently a collection of essays entitled, After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region.

Oral Histories: George Elliott Clarke

George Elliott Clarke is one of Canada’s most prolific poets. He is also a renowned essayist, scholar, playwright, and, in many ways, a songwriter. His work largely explores and chronicles the experience and history of the black Canadian community of Nova Scotia, creating a cultural geography that Clarke refers to as “Africadia.” Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1960, near the Black Loyalist community of Three Mile Plains, as a seventh-generation Canadian of African American and Mi’Kmaq Amerindian heritage.

An image of d'bi.young performing

Oral Histories: d’bi.young anitafrika

d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian dub poet, monodramatist, educator, and Dora Award-winning actor and playwright. In this month’s Oral History we are gifted with an on stage interview with d’bi.young, and we get to witness the power of dub poetry in action by one of Canada’s most renowned dub poets.

A portrait of Cecil Foster.

Oral Histories: Cecil Foster

Cecil Foster is one of Canada’s leading public intellectuals on issues of race, culture, citizenship, and immigration. Born in 1954, he became a journalist in Barbados before emigrating to Canada, where he began reporting for the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. He worked as a senior editor for the Financial Post and in national radio news and national television news for CBC Toronto and for CTV News Network. Between 1979 and 1982, he was the editor of Contrast, Canada’s first Black-oriented newspaper.

A still frame from the documentary "Pourquoi je suis ici / Why I'm Here" that showcases some of the breathtaking landscapes of Coin-du-Banc, Quebec

Pourquoi je suis ici / Why I’m Here (Documentary Film)

In this poetic exploration of sound, silence, movement and places, director João França provides a glimpse into a magical world where musicians of diverse ages and abilities come together in an inclusive and supportive environment to explore the possibilities of improvisational collaborations (music, dance, and visual art). Following the experiences of the participants of the second annual Musical Improvisation at Land’s End / Coin-du-Banc en folie summer camp, which seeks to connect members of various communities with profound experiences of improvised music making, this short documentary interweaves the personal experiences of the camp participants with the breathtaking landscapes of Coin-du-Banc, Quebec and the surrounding areas. Why I’m Here / Pourquoi je suis ici offers an encounter between music, community, and place, painted in the delicate colours and textures of the Gaspé Peninsula.

A cover image with the text: select bibliography of research products and creative outputs

Select Bibliography of Research Products and Creative Outputs, April 2022 to October 2024

IICSI’s research outcomes during the first half of our SSHRC PG (2022–2027)—Improvising Futures (IF)—including free form-digital toy (video game), critical theory, reports, films, summer camps, and community programs—have been broadly shared via our peer-reviewed journal, research websites, ongoing annual conferences across multiple sites, our book series with Duke University Press, and hundreds of other peer-reviewed publications. Our team has also organized and hosted improvisatory arts festivals, workshops, talks, residencies, performances, and more!

Colin Harrington graphic for Thinking Spaces: Improvisation in Sequence-based Electronic Dance Music. A black and white photo of Colin is placed in front of colourful circles and squiggly lines. Thursday, February 8, 12 pm (ET).

Thinking Spaces 2023–24: Colin Harrington

The culture and technology of Electronic Music has seen tremendous developments over the last decade. Thanks to the increased availability, affordability and accessibility of equipment, the artform’s popularity has exploded worldwide. One booming area is that of “Sequencer-based Improvisation”, which entails the synchronizing of one or more instruments together via a “Master Clock”, then using sequencers, sound design, audio mixers, and effects, to spontaneously compose fluid and spontaneous music in real-time.

IICSI Research Studio Session Graphic for the Keynote Presentation by Rashida K. Braggs: Amber in the City of Light. A black and white image of Dr. Braggs is punctuated with colourful polka dots. Amber in the City of Lights, by Dr. Rashida K. Braggs. Friday, April 12, 2024. All Day Event. Keynote at 9:00 AM (ET), Student Presentations to Follow. The event is Free and takes place in ImprovLab.

Thinking Spaces 2023–24: Dr. Rashida K. Braggs

Dr. Rashida K. Braggs screens and discusses “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.

Zahra Habib graphic for Thinking Spaces: Lunar Rotations: Eternal Eleutheria. The poster features a black and white image over Zahra surrounded by clourful text, pola dots, and squiggles. Wednesday, February 28 at 2 PM (ET) @ ImprovLab (108 Mackinnon)

Thinking Spaces 2023–24: DJ Zahra Habib

DJ Zahra Habib takes you on the cosmic experience that is Lunar Rotations, blending musical selections with narrative overtones that connect the sounds with the theme of arriving at an eternally internal freedom: Eleutheria.

A woman wearing a hat is pictured in the centre of the graphic. The hat is tilted downwards and obscuring part of her face. Colourful dots and lines decorate the image. Thinking Spaces: The improvisation and reading group speaker series. "Improvisation, plantation societies, and difficult conversations. Marsha Hinds Myrie. Wednesday, March 29, 2 pm.

Thinking Spaces 2022–23: Marsha Hinds Myrie

The stated purpose of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation is “…to create positive social change through the confluence of improvisational arts, innovative scholarship, and collaborative action.” The purpose of this talk is to invite partnership and mutual sharing in Critical Studies in Improvisation to imagine uses and expansion in plantation societies.  Using art to confront complicated social issues is a long accepted and well received practice in plantation societies. Drumming, calypso, reggae music and parodies have been used by populations where other forms of expression such as newspapers and even social media are heavily policed to control dissent or calls for justice. 

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