This Four Lands episode will have a special focus and be called Realms of Refuge.

with Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of a City Festival.

REALMS OF REFUGE, the Vancouver iteration of the Four Lands, is a community arts residency co-produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre/Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival and Jumblies Theatre, bringing artists and community members together to explore different ways we find, create and imagine places of refuge, shelter, comfort and renewal.

Realms of Refuge brings together artists and community members to create and animate four miniature worlds that explore and express different ways we find, create and imagine places of refuge, shelter, renewal and comfort.

People of all ages and backgrounds contributed to an evolving piece of art, through creative workshops; performance explorations, two public conversations, and a final presentation and celebration.

Realms of Refuge is a collaborative production of Toronto-based Jumblies Theatre and Vancouver Moving Theatre/Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. It is also part of Four Lands: a Jumblies’ touring project that is travelling to partner locations in Ontario and across Canada this year.

The project reminds us that how we view and live in a place depends on many things: histories, life experiences, culture, age, work, wealth, health, pastimes, and relationships. We don’t seek to blur over complex and difficult questions and realities, but to spark thought, conversation, curiosity and understanding about the lives and experiences of people living on the same land.

Artists and Contributors

from Jumblies Theatre:
Ruth Howard, Adrienne Marcus Raja, Karis Jones-Pard

from Vancouver Moving Theatre:
Savannah Walling, Terry Hunter, Bill Beauregarde, Kelty McKerracher, Montana Hunter, Sharon Kallis, Volodymyr Bedzvin, Rosemary Georgeson, Tiare Laporte, Ronnie Dean Harris/Ostwelve, Renae Morrisseau, Kat Norris, Tracey Weitzel, Russell Wallace, Sophi Liang, Dorothy Jenkins.
Read the full artists bios

Public Conversation Guests:
Angela Kruger, Stephen Lytton, Phoenix Winter, Diane Wood, Sam Bob, Hiromi Goto, Kat Norris.

Community Partners:
Interurban Gallery – Portland Hotel Society, Britannia Community Centre: Box of Light and the City of Vancouver Artists-in-Community Residency, Britannia Centre’s Healthy Choices Program, Strathcona Elementary School’s Red Fox Drum Group, Theatre Terrific, UBC Learning Exchange: Art in the Community Program, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Inside Realms of Refuge Workshop Artists:
Barbara Clausen, Jacyntha England, Roseanne Gervais, Jay Hirabayashi, Mike McNeeley, Brenda Prince, Julia Siedlanowska, Annie Smith, Marisa Smith, Priscillia Tait, Nawar Tamawi.

Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival Support:
Gerardo Avila, Hendrik Beune, Mark Carter, Jen Castro, Amita Daniels, Lalia Fraser, Liisa Hannus, Tom Quirk, Karen Thorpe, Teresa Vandertuin, Elwin Xie.

Special Thanks:
Katie Piasta, Joan Phillip, Nicole Brabant, Liam Coo, Molly Gaeta, Leah Houston, Donna Lokhorst, Liz Lott, Charlotte Marr, Keith Martin, Victor Wong, Michelle Ziebart, Linda.

Funders

For the Heart of the City Festival:
Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Government of British Columbia, City of Vancouver: Cultural Services, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, SFU/Woodwards, Friends of DTES Arts, Omni Diversity Television, Georgia Straight.

For Jumblies’ Four Lands Tour:
Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Inspirit Foundation.

Public Activities

Interurban Gallery, 1 East Hastings Street, Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, BC

Project Launch:

Wednesday Oct 19, 2016: 5:00-6:30

Art-making Drop-ins:

Wednesday to Saturday, Oct. 19-22: 1–4pm
Wednesday to Friday, Oct. 26-28: 11–4pm
Thursdays, Oct. 20 & 27: 6:30–8:30pm

Public Conversations:

Being a Good Neighbour in the Downtown Eastside Friday Oct. 21: 8-9:30pm
Reconciliation and cross-cultural collaboration Friday Oct. 28: 8-9:30pm

Final Presentation:

Saturday Oct. 29: 4:30 to 6:00pm

Media Coverage

• Jewish Independent
• The Georgia Straight

Artist Profiles

	Ruth Howard Ruth Howard is the founding Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre. She and Jumblies have created multi-year residencies resulting in large scale performances, in a series of Toronto neighbourhoods, resulting in large-scale productions and lasting Offshoot organizations. She has worked across Canada and in England as a theatre designer, has taught at many universities, colleges and schools, amentored many emerging artists and organizations, and won many awards for her work. In 2015 Ruth and Jumblies produced the west-to-east-coast Train of Thought tour with partners across the country. Her most recent projects with Jumblies include the May/June 2017 Touching Ground Festival of new works in Toronto and the Four Lands tour.
	Adrienne Marcus Raja Adrienne explores a range of practices which blends in painting, puppetry, audio, installation, moving images, and photography. As a Malaysian with a Kelabit and Hainan ancestory, she is a multi-disciplinary artist currently living in Toronto. Her works has been presented nationally and internationally. She is an MFA graduate of Ryerson University in Documentary Media. She also holds a BA degree in Mass Communication and Television Production from Curtin University. She is the first recipient of Jumblies’ Al Levitt Memorial Award. She enjoys travelling as well as learning alongside people from different backgrounds and communities. She is currently the Tour Coordinator for Jumblies’ most recent collaborative touring project, The Four Lands. She is also Jumblies’ Arts Management Intern (thanks to an Ontario Arts Council Compass grant).
	KARIS JONES-PARD KARIS JONES-PARD IS A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST WHO HAS WORKED IN THEATRE ARTS FOR MANY YEARS. SHE HAS WORK WITH JUMBLIES THEATRE, COMMUNITY ARTS GUILD, ARTS4ALL AND RED DRESS PRODUCTIONS. IN HER TIME WORKING WITH THESE COMPANIES SHE’S TAKEN PART IN MANY PRODUCTIONS SUCH AS; I WAS A BRAVE CHILD (AS A STILTER), TRAIN PAYANAM, BOTH RENDITIONS (AS A PUPPETEER), FOUR LANDS (AS A MINIATURE-MAKER), AND TALKING TREATIES (AS A PUPPETEER). SHE IS CURRENTLY GOING TO HUMBER COLLEGE FOR THEATRE PRODUCTION. SHE HOPES TO REMAIN IN THEATRE AND THE ARTS AS SHE HAS A VERY STRONG PASSION FOR ARTS MAKING. KARIS REJOINS JUMBLIES AND OFFSHOOTS AS A 2018 SUMMER STUDENT, CONTRIBUTING HER SKILLS AND TALENTS TO SEVERAL PROJECTS AND PRODUCTIONS.