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AHA MEDIA is very pleased to meet Lesley Ewen a facilitator for Story Box Project at LifeSkills Centre in Vancouver Downtown Eastside
Lesley Ewen is a Theatre, Film and TV Artist
A 2005 Moffat/LIllo prize winner and two time Jessie Theatre Award nominee, Lesley has lived in Englad, Australia and Canada, graduated from the Vancouver Playhouse Acting School under David Latham and has contributed to Vancouver’s cultural milieu since 1977.
As an artist who responds to the world via diverse media, Lesley’s created an array of theatrical/art/events, videos, music and has over 150 professional film/tv/theatre acting, directing and producing credits. She works as an wholistic dramaturge and has written 4 plays, with her latest, Camera Obscura (Love. Murder.), featured at Factory’s ’05 Crosscurrents and in PTC’s inaugural Playwright’s Colony. Assorted modes of live performance include: Shakespeare at the Bristol Old Vic and Stratford, conventional theatre with most major and many smaller theatres throughout Canada, new circus and independent live art here and in Europe.
Things I’ll bring to Story Box:
– an understanding of and an ability to support the diverse components and modes of creation within the group
– the ability to recognize and nurture things before they’ve sprouted, helping them to cultivate ground within which they can grow
– recognizing and en-couraging the quieter voices in the group being fearless
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In this video, Hendrik Beune of AHA MEDIA reads a poem called Worms for Story Box Project, facilitated by Lesley Ewen at LifeSkills Centre in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
This video was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a New Media camera This video was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a New Media camera – Panasonic DMC-ZS3. AHA MEDIA is about exploring mobile media production through New Media cameras. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter or Facebook.com/AprilFilms
April Smith of AHA MEDIA is very proud to be on the cover of Megaphone Magazine in Vancouver Downtown Eastside
Yes, in this issue we feature April Smith; once homeless and searching for herself on the streets of the Downtown Eastside, she is now one of the city’s leading social media activists.
We look at Leef Evans, who battled crippling depression in his Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel, yet has gone on to become one of the city’s most formidable artists and a big part in the burgeoning street soccer movement. And we remember Margaret Prevost, a disabled athlete known to many as ‘the mayor of the Downtown Eastside’, who sadly passed away last month.
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We encourage everyone to buy a copy from your favourite vendor or sign up to read online! 🙂
http://www.megaphonemagazine.com/content/subscribe.html
Megaphone’s mission is to provide an opportunity for our homeless and low-income vendors. We are very proud of how hard our vendors work – to become self-sufficient and build grassroots support to end poverty. Please support our vendors by buying a copy of the magazine from them.
Video of Woman reporter who is a Tent City resident arrested by Psych-Police in Downtown Eastside (DTES) on March 19, 2010
In this video, Diane Claveau, reporter and Tent City resident is pursued, SWARMED, handcuffed and ARRESTED by 8 Vancouver Police and Psychiatric workers on March 19, 2010
Immediate Release 20 March 2010
Contacts: Wendy Pedersen, 839-0379 Rider Cooey, 872-1382
Vancouver Tent City Woman Arrested, Held for Psychiatric Assessment
Diane Claveau, a reporter and tent city resident often quoted in the media, was arrested Friday night. She was tied to a stretcher, and transported to St Paul’s Hospital for 48-hour “assessment.”
Fellow campers Rene, Marley, and Gillian were outraged, emphasizing that Claveau was quiet and polite, with a friendly and calming manner that had a positive influence on others in the tent city. They speculated her apprehension under the mental health act was instigated by Concord Pacific, owner of the site.
Concord wants to build a controversial condo development at 58 West Hastings. Homeless people and supporters have demanded for two years that the full-block sized site be used instead for social housing. They’ve peacefully occupied the land since February 15.
On Wednesday, in response to a CoV directive, Concord’s contract employees teamed with housing agencies to sweep the site clear of campers and their sometimes makeshift camping gear. Campers who weren’t present returned to find their possessions gone.
The housing agencies offered a variety of “housing” and inducements for campers to leave, and— despite campers’ fear that some housing would be pest-ridden SRO hotel rooms— all campers were persuaded to leave the tent city by Wednesday night.
Except Claveau. She stayed, insisting she wanted to pay rent for “real housing,” not for a pestilential SRO or an institutional cubicle.
She was effectively imprisoned for the night when Concord representatives chained the gates shut. Friends passed her food and supplies over the 6-foot fence. The Vancouver Fire Department—after a month of multiple campfires on this property—gained entry and poured water on her tiny fire. A breach of the Fire Bylaw, they said.
By Friday, the fears of other campers about bedbugs and other pests had come true, and a few had returned to the campsite. When the VPD appeared seeking Diane, the campers succeeded in delaying any action by demanding that Claveau be allowed to consult a lawyer.
After the lawyer (David Eby) arrived and determined the paperwork was in order, a squad of eight VPD and health unit officials pursued and cornered Diane at the western end of the site. She shouted and fought, aided by three women friends, but all were overpowered by the police. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was pushed and pulled across the vacant lot, onto a stretcher, and into an ambulance.
Three supporters drove to St Paul’s and called encouragement to Diane from the lobby, until until asked to leave.
Wendy Pedersen, 839-0379 Rider Cooey, 872-1382
AHA MEDIA was very proud to attend Paralympics Ice Sledge Hockey event – Italy vs Sweden 1:30pm at UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver on March 16, 2010
AHA MEDIA was very proud to attend Paralympics Ice Sledge Hockey event at Preliminary Round Group B Game 10 Italy vs Sweden at 1:30pm at UBC Thunderbird Arena on March 16, 2010
About the Sport
Ice sledge hockey was invented at a Swedish rehabilitation centre in the early 1960s, when a group of athletes with a disability decided they wanted to continue playing hockey. The Swedes took two regular ice hockey skates and built a metal frame (called a sledge) to fit on top, with enough room for the puck to pass underneath. Using short poles to propel themselves along the ice, the men played the first ice sledge hockey match outdoors, on a lake south of Stockholm. By 1969, Stockholm had a five-team ice sledge hockey league.
Ice sledge hockey debuted at the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games in Lillehammer.
How It Works
Ice sledge hockey follows all the International Ice Hockey Federation rules, with a few small modifications.
Instead of standing on skates, players sit on aluminum or steel sledges fitted with two blades. They grip two double-ended sticks, one in each hand. One end of the stick has a sharp pick that the players use to propel the sledge, the other has a curved blade to pass and shoot the puck.
Eight ice sledge hockey teams compete in round-robin tournaments, and top seeded teams from round robin play advance to the playoff rounds. A team must not have more than six players on the ice while play is in progress. The object is for one team to get the puck (a hard black rubber disc) past the other team’s goaltender and into the goal.
A regular game consists of three 15-minute periods.
For more information on Ice Sledge Hockey, visit the IPC’s website or Hockey Canada.
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AHA MEDIA’s Alvin Clayton – Reporter and Richard Czaban – Photographer traveled from Vancouver Downtown Eastside to UBC
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AHA MEDIA’s Alvin and Richard were able to go to the Paralympic Ice Sledge Hocket event, thanks to the wonderful generosity of:
Randi Winter http://www.passionatetravel.com
Robyne Kassen http://www.pedestrianstudio.com
Sarah Gluck http://www.urbanmovementdesign.com
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Below is a photo and video montage of AHA MEDIA’s Alvin Clayton and Richard Czaban’s time going to Paralympic Ice Sledge Hockey
This photo and video montage was filmed by Richard Czaban of AHA MEDIA on a New Media camera Fujifilm S200EXR. AHA MEDIA is about exploring mobile media production through New Media cameras. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter or Facebook.com/AprilFilms
AHA MEDIA is very pleased to have ongoing rehearsals for our second performance of “Love In Shadows” – Shadow Theatre Play in Vancouver Downtown Eastside
AHA MEDIA is very pleased to have ongoing rehearsals for our second performance of “Love In Shadows” – Shadow Theatre Play at the end of March at Interurban Gallery in Vancouver Downtown Eastside
AHA MEDIA cast and crew members were so encouraged by the very positive feedback by our audience from our first performance, we are continuing to do rehearsals in anticipation for our second performance.
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Below is a photo of AHA MEDIA’s cast and crew of the second production of “Love in the Shadows”
Richard Czaban, Hugh Lampkin, Clyde Wright, Holly Boyd, Alvin Clayton and Alex Martin
AHA MEDIA wants to present a play with seven scenes based on true personal stories about how child abuse, trauma and sexual molestation can lead to some folks unable to deal with issues and may end up in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside trying to cope in a variety of harmful ways .
Warning – the following scene is considered graphic but is a real story that happened to some of our actors
This video was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a New Media camera Fujifilm S200EXR. AHA MEDIA is about exploring mobile media production through New Media cameras. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter or Facebook.com/AprilFilms
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Below are thoughts from AHA MEDIA cast and crew and their thoughts on WHY they are presenting a graphic shadow play depicting Child Abuse scenes from their childhood to help inform people WHY some end up in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside and how they want to have a Harm Reduction project
This video was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a New Media camera – Panasonic DMC-ZS3. AHA MEDIA is about exploring mobile media production through New Media cameras. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter or Facebook.com/AprilFilms
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AHA MEDIA believes “Love In The Shadows” can show the reasons WHY some people end up in the DTES – for the MEDIA, our friends and street folks. We wanted to help everyone remember us and our stories through visual and performing arts
AHA MEDIA is about doing positive community engagement and harm reduction strategies in our neighborhood through media, arts and now shadow theatre performances from our members.
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AHA MEDIA is very proud to have been mentioned in the Georgia Straight by Stephen Hui from our first production in February
Downtown Eastside media makers to put on first shadow play
By Stephen Hui
A group of Downtown Eastside media makers will present its first shadow play on Saturday (February 27).
AHA Media will put on Love in the Shadows at the Downtown Eastside Community Arts Network’s art space (67 East Hastings Street) in the Lux hotel.
“AHA MEDIA wanted to present a play with six scenes based on true personal stories about how child abuse, trauma and sexual molestation can lead to some folks unable to deal with issues and may end up in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside trying to cope in a variety of harmful ways,” the group states on its Web site.
“AHA MEDIA believes our play can show the reasons WHY some people end up in the DTES – for the MEDIA, our friends and street folks.”
The show—starring Alvin Clayton, Mike McNeeley, and Richard Czaban—starts at 7 p.m.
You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui
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AHA MEDIA is proud to do our “Love in the Shadows” Play in great collaboration with DTES CAN – (DTES Community Arts Network)
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