Welcome to the Summer Issue

This has been a busy, compact first half of the year. We have been hard at work on our arts and wellness research, collaborating with external research partners, and making art with Indigenous youth. The summer months have presented blessed pockets of rest and restoration, albeit mixed with anger and sadness at the outrageous injustices that persist. We hope you are finding joy and respite. Stay well. Stay strong and wondrous.

Wellness Research

We are so proud to share a sample of the very positive results of our latest Wellness Reports from several 6-week programs offered in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association and two major American universities.

The Wellness Reports offer a mix of qualitative and quantitative data on the impact of Creative Practice on individual health and wellness, and allows for cross-program comparison. The high level of reliability of our Wellness Scale (now in its third iteration) has been noted by researchers at U of T with plans underway to advance this research further.

A call for participation will be circulated later this year to engage more research partners and to share how to track the impact of your programs on health and wellness. To be sure you receive the information please send a note to info@artisticintelligence.com with the subject line: wellness research.

Indigenous Youth Training

The Virtual Creative Native residency program concluded this Spring, and culminated in a beautiful private screening of short films made by the Indigenous youth. Click on the image below to read about the films and these rising Indigenous talents!

Creative Immigration

We continue to think about how to create more possibilities and meaningfully introduce more imagination into the immigration process. Khush Parekh, who first interned with the Lab back in 2017, and Gopi Chinnaraju, our project-manager-in-residence from 2019 / 2020 cohort, in consultation with some alumni and friends of the Lab, developed a proposal for a new initiative to bridge gaps in understanding between employers and job-seekers. If successful, the Lab will play a small part in their project, offering a Human Resources Sandbox program to build new practices.

Celebrations

• We are celebrating our friends and colleagues:
  Anita Agrawal and her collaborator Anita Bhandari have won three international jewelry design awards bestowed by INSTORE Magazine. This is the duo’s first collaboration. Congratulations Anita and Anita!
• Gopi Chinnaraju and his wife have bought a new home and happily announce the arrival of their newborn. Congratulations Gopi and Meenakshi! We wish you and your daughter the very best.
• Sharada Eswar returns to the stage with The Draupadi Project in the first-ever Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival. Show dates: Aug 16 – 22. Tickets $12 available online.

Opportunities

We are immediately hiring for a short-term contract (Aug-Sept) for a researcher / research associate to help develop a preliminary framework for a repository of arts and wellness data. Do you have experience with repositories / archives / metadata plans? Are you familiar with health research, and/or community arts practices, particularly within BIPOC communities (e.g. hip hop, Indigenous arts, working with communities of colour)? Send your resume and a few lines about your relevant experience to jobs@artisticintelligence.com. Fees start at $25 / hour for a research associate.

Coming soon: Seeking curious minds for a project on digital currencies and the virtualization of artistic co-creation practices. As well, our wellness research will continue — are you a health researcher or health promoter? International experience welcome. Details to be posted on our website. If you think your professional background would be a good fit for our work, please feel free to send a short note in advance to introduce yourself.

Parting Thoughts

The Lab is grateful to all the artists, administrators, alumni, and allies who make the interesting work we do (together) possible. Our existence, and the meaning we help create, is made possible by a large community of people who say ‘yes and…’

If ever you hear of something we’ve done or are doing, and wonder who has helped us with it, please reach out. We’d love to make an introduction.