Dear Friends and Colleagues
I hope you will join us in a very special project.
As Covid 19 was spreading globally, I reached out to my friend and wonderful poet and theatre maker with down syndrome Niall McNeil. I asked him to write a poem we could share with other artists that could help inspire folks in their own art and bring us together in our various isolations.
Niall wrote the beautiful PRESENCE OF INNOCENCE OF HOPE
Ni and I invite you to respond with your own creations!
Sounds Great! How do I participate?
You can read the poem Here
In addition to English, it has been translated to French (Canada), Spanish (Ecuador), Portuguese (Brazil) and Traditional Chinese (Mandarin from Taiwan).
Join our facebook group GHL-Vancouver: Call and Response Group.
Take inspiration from Niall’s poem, a word, a sound and create an original work or build upon it with your own. Then post /link it here for the group to take inspiration from.
There is no limit to how you can respond. Write a scene, a poem, a short story, a journal entry, a song or music, create a video, an image, a collage, a sound scape, a sculpture, a dance.
We encourage responses from all walks of life, perspectives, experience and practices.
Although the administrative working language is English, please feel free to create in any spoken, written or physical language you prefer.
Currently the project is being facilitated through facebook on the the GHL-Vancouver: Call and Response Group. That may change in the future and I will let you know in advance.
Additionally: We are living in an uncertain time period and it is taking its toll on everyone. If you have found your way to this group and don’t feel up making art at the moment, that’s fine. Look after yourself and your loved ones and feel free to check in from time to time and take inspiration.
About Niall McNeil: Niall McNeil has been involved with theatre from an early age through his long association with the Caravan Farm Theatre. As a youngster he performed in Romeo and Juliet, Bull by the Horns and Strange Medicine. Niall acted in Leaky Heaven Theatre in Vancouver since its inception in 1999 under the direction of Steven Hill. In 2010 Niall performed A Christmas Carol as a member of the English Acting Company of the National Arts Centre under the direction of Peter Hinton. Niall and Marcus Youssef have written two plays together, Peter Panties (2011) and King Arthur’s Night (2017). Niall loves researching new ideas, writing lyrics and making plays.
About Global Hive Labs.:
Global Hive Lab is an international collective of like-minded independent companies & artists. With members in Beijing (China), Chicago (U.S.A.), Denpasar (Indonesia), London (UK), Paris (France), Piacenza (Italy), São Paulo (Brazil), and Vancouver (Canada) we work together in shared creation.
Projects to date have included Towards a Global Practice Workshop (London, UK); Climate Change Theatre Action (Chicago, USA); Medusa Italy (Teatro Trieste 34), Medusa UK (The Pleasance Theatre, The Cockpit Theatre), Medusa USA (Steppenwolf Theatre); Atlantis Italy Workshop (Teatro Trieste 34).
Global Hive Labs. holds international collaboration, multi disciplinary/ total theatre approaches and accessible Universal Design as core to our creation practices. www.globalhivelabs.org
May you and yours be safe, well and awesome!
John Jack Paterson
Co-Founder of Global Hive Laboratories
