To help publicize the collection, and disseminate its stories to a wider world, the seniors are working on a variety of ways to accomplish this. These include:
2021 Activities:
2019 Past Activities:
Promenade parlante: Episodes in a Changing Neighbourhood (2018-19) was an intergenerational, co-creative project about urban change, located in the Shaughnessy Village neighbourhood of downtown Montreal. Grounded in oral history research-creation, Promenade parlante was a series of audio-visual installations and performances that communicated senior Montrealers’ experiences and knowledge of urban transformation. This project was a collaboration between the founders of the Living History oral history project (a group of five seniors: Wendy Allen, Ramsay Blair, Penelope Cumas, Lilian Harper, and Wanda Potrykus), Dr Cynthia Hammond (Concordia University), Dr Shauna Janssen (Concordia University), and Eric Craven (Community Development Librarian and coordinator of the Atwater Library’s Digital Literacy Project). The two urban art walks, short film, and resulting archive were made possible through a Partnership Engage Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as funding from the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling of Concordia University, and the Concordia University Research Chair in Performative Urbanism.
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2018 Past Activities:
Friday, March 9, 2018 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm
Photographer Brian Merrett gave a public presentation on the role of the artist in shaping the built environment. He discussed local Montreal examples such as protests against plans for the Ville-Marie Expressway, the fight to save Windsor Station, and the conservation of Shaughnessy House as part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. This public event was held collaboratively with Concordia University Art History dept.
Friday, March 9, 2018 from 1:00 to 1:30 pm
Wanda Potrykus, one of the senior participants, presented “A Village Riddle” spoken word and photographic image presentation inspired by working on the Living History project collection, where the audience had to guess the subject of the riddle.
Friday, March 9, 2018 from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
Participants present videos and other media they made in the course of the project. This public showcase event featured light refreshments and introduced a selection of the stories recorded up to that time and accessible on tablets for participants and visitors to enjoy.
Starting February 25, 2018 – Ongoing
“Birth of a local living history collection” — A series of articles by project participant Wanda Portrykus published in WestmountMag.ca online — Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3 Part 4, Part 5
Thursday, February 15, 2018 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Workshop with deaf people about their relationship to music, in collaboration with Université de Montréal and UQaM. This workshop was recorded by seniors participating in the project.
Friday, January 26, 2018
Presentation by project participants to Concordia Art students. 50 people present.
2017 Past Activities:
Thursday, November 30, 2017 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
Mechanics’ Days Vernissage — A public reception to showcase project work as well as displays by Concordia History and Art Education students whose classes were at the Library during the Fall semester. Over 200 attendees.
Outreach and collaboration with Concordia University Faculty of Fine Arts, Union United Church, Royal Montreal Curling Club, RCA Museum, Canadian Centre for Architecture and others.
June to December – Weekly Friday sessions brought together project participants for learning, sharing and creating.
Friday, June 16, 2017 from 1:00 to 3:30 pm
The project started with an information session followed by a workshop facilitated by Dr. Steven High, Concordia University history professor.