York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, along with other partners, presents the 12th annual Eco Art & Media Festival, Feb. 28 to March 5, at locations within York’s Keele campus and in downtown Toronto. The theme of this year’s Eco Art and Media Festival is “Expressions of Healing”.
Healing reveals itself through various expressions: performance, food culture, visual art, the written word, community, medicinal forms, and relationships with people and the land. The 12th annual Eco Art and Media Festival gives everyone an opportunity to celebrate and embrace endless expressions of healing, revealing diverse and boundless ways of knowing.
Visitors are invited to join with the participating artists and performers to explore this broad theme and consider how expressions of healing relate to their own life and work. The festival is packed with events, including such highlights as:
- Tuesday, Feb. 28 – Roundtable discussion entitled “Ways of Knowing” and opening reception with a visual arts exhibition and food samples;
- Thursday, March 2 – Salsa Workshop with artist Raza Moghal;
- Friday, March 3 – Festival Cabaret at the Gypsy Co-op featuring performers from the York community. This eclectic evening of free jazz, dance, folk music, storytelling and poetry forms the highlight of the Eco Art and Media Festival. Acts include music, spoken-word, dance and theatre.
One of this year’s exhibits will focus on the essay as art form. By setting up the conventions of a gallery setting, this exhibit will put into question the artistic value and potential of the academic essay. Whether the authors-cum-artists interpret this theme in a way that is conventional or wild, the only criterium is that they believe their work to fall under a category called “essay”.
Other events planned for the festival include sessions on yoga, print-making, dance, two academic forums, film & video screenings, including a special screening of activist videos, and a walking tour of psychiatric history.
The Eco Arts and Media Festival is sponsored by York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts, Centre for the Support of Teaching, Graduate Environmental Studies Student Association, Graduate Program in Communication & Culture, Office of the Vice-President Academic, Bethune College Student Council and Office of the Vice-President Students.
For information and a schedule of events, visit the festival Web site.