Image: Core-team member of Black Lives Matter - Toronto and Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University, Syrus Marcus Ware (left) and Governor General's Literary Award winner and Emily Carr University of Art + Design community member, Cecily Nicholson (right).
Conducting Creative Research
OCAD University has teamed up with Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) to present Conducting Creative Research, a speaker series that runs throughout October and November.
Launching with its first session , Reciprocity and Responsibility: Research via Mentorship and Partnership on October 15, from 1 to 3 p.m., the series welcomes scholars, artists and creative professionals from across Canada to discuss best practices in creative research. Visit the Eventbrite page for more information and to access the virtual link for the event.
Of the collaboratively presented series, organizer Chris Crisol, Manager, Research Policy and Research Ethics at OCAD U said, “OCAD U and ECU have active and robust research communities, with fundamental knowledge about art and design research, cultivated from their academic and professional practices. We can offer valuable insights on what it means to conduct art and design research responsibly, ethically and with integrity.”
Reciprocity & Responsibility: Research via Mentorships and Partnership features poet, arts administrator, independent curator and activist Cecily Nicholson and Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator Syrus Marcus Ware in conversation.
Their discussion will be propelled by the questions:
- What local interventions are leading collaborative and relevant knowledge production
- What research advances decolonial, abolitionist and disability justice futures?
- How do institutions generate liberatory practices?
“Existing research policy is ill-equipped to address many of the complexities, nuances and unique characteristics of art and design research, including a variety of voices is an important component of creating a research environment that is responsive to different types of research and that adequately protects and respects those impacted by it,” says Crisol.
This series is supported by Dr. Ashok Mathur, Interim Vice-President, Research and Innovation and Dean of Graduate Studies in collaboration with Steven Lam, Associate Vice-President of Research and Dean of the Jake Kerr Faculty of Graduate Studies at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
On October 27, Ken Lum will be featured in a keynote artist lecture that is part of the series titled Public Art. Visit the Eventbrite page for more information.
More about this week’s presenters
Cecily Nicholson is the author of Triage, From the Poplars, winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and Wayside Sang, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. She is a community member of the Research Ethics Board for Emily Carr University of Art + Design, volunteers with people impacted by carcerality and works in gallery education. Cecily was the 2021 Writer-in-Residence for the University of Windsor.
Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Syrus uses painting, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. He is part of the Performance Disability Art Collective and a core-team member of Black Lives Matter – Toronto. Syrus is the co-editor of Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020). He earned his PhD at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and is Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University.