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Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice project welcomes Musagetes Foundation as partner and sponsor

Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009

The Musagetes Foundation has joined the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) project as a partner in the international research project. Musagetes is a public foundation focussing on the arts, creativity, and community. “ICASP and Musagetes share a vision about the power and efficacy of the arts, about the role that creativity can play in sparking social change,” says Dr. Ajay Heble, project director of ICASP. “We are genuinely excited by the opportunities and collaborations that such a partnership will open up.”

Website launched for Hearing-Visions-Sonores exhibit

Posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A website has been launched that provides an audio, visual, and text-based experience of the Hearing-Visions-Sonores exhibit currently on display at McGill University, Montreal. Hearing-Visions-Sonores is multimedia exhibit of graphic scores from nine contemporary Quebec-based composers who incorporate both notation and improvisation into their musical works, or question the dichotomy altogether.

Improvisation, Gender & the Body research area supports adaptive use musical instruments

Posted: Wednesday, June 3, 2009

ICASP's research area on Improvisation, Gender and the Body is currently supporting the work of Pauline Oliveros (Distinguished Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and ICASP Research Collaborator) on Adaptive Use Musical Instruments for the physically challenged. Adaptive Use Musical Instruments allow people with very little physical mobility to create improvised music either by themselves or with others.

“Sexualities in Improvisation” theme of recently released journal

Posted: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The much anticipated special issue of Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation on "Sexualities in Improvisation" is now available at www.criticalimprov.com.

Speakers announced for Lex Non Scripta, Ars Non Scripta: Law, Justice, and Improvisation conference

Posted: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Scholar performers Nichole Mitchell and John Oswald will join ICASP researchers Ingrid Monson and Desmond Manderson as keynote speakers at Lex Non Scripta, Ars Non Scripta: Law, Justice, and Improvisation, an international, interdisciplinary conference to be held June 19 and 20 at McGill University, Montreal.

New project manager begins May 12

Posted: Friday, May 8, 2009

Kim Thorne joins the ICASP team as project manager. Kim has more than 10 years experience in project management, organizational development, outreach, and communications in the charitable and non-profit sectors. Her previous position was as the executive director of the Organic Council of Ontario, a non-profit organization representing the organic sector in Ontario. Kim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Guelph.

ICASP represented at Boise festival

Posted: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Rob Wallace, the ICASP post-doctoral fellow at the University of Guelph, will perform at the Boise Creative and Improvised Music Festival with his musical partner, Colter Frazier. Wallace is a percussionist and Frazier plays tenor sax. The event takes place April 24 and 25 at the El Korah Shine Center in Boise, Idaho. b-cimf.com

Staff change at project office

Posted: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Michelle McMillan is no longer with ICASP as project manager. We'd like to thank Michelle for her contributions to the project and wish her well in the future. Ben Authers, a PhD student in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, will fill in as part-time administrative assistant until the position is filled.

Jazz in the Schools ties into Black History Month

Posted: Friday, January 30, 2009

Two New York-based jazz musicians will present workshops on black spirituals and gospels, connecting the Jazz in the Schools program to Black History Month. Jazz in the Schools is an educational and outreach activity offered in partnership by the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) project and the Guelph Jazz Festival.

2009 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium issues call for papers

Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A call for papers on the theme Improvisation, the Arts, and Social Policy has been issued for the 2009 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium. This year's colloquium will take place September 9-11 as part of the 16th annual Guelph Jazz Festival (September 9-13). It is presented by the Guelph Jazz Festival, in conjunction with the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice project, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, and the University of Guelph.

We’ll all be more innovative if we participate in collaborative webs and share more openly. Creativity is always a collaboration and it’s always a form of improvisation, written large in the social world.

– Keith Sawyer