Downstream from What?

Ep. 10— Simone Schmidt(part 2): Of Course None Of Us Are Free

This is part 2 of Ken's interview with Simone Schmidt aka Fiver. Next week Ken sit's down with photographer Samantha Wehbi. Simone Schmidt is a musician and multidisciplinary artist who recently moved to so-called Sackville, New Brunswick for work. Schmidt grew up as a settler in Toronto during Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution and has been involved in resisting austerity since grade school. Schmidt's musical practice involves research-based songwriting, improvisation, analog recording, and a deep fascination with form. They have performed with units like The Highest Order, One Hundred Dollars, and their solo project, Fiver. Their chapter in Displacement City (U of T Press, 2022) describes the City of Toronto's organized abandonment of housing-deprived people during the early pandemic, from their perspective as a community organizer. Photo credit : Alexandra Stairs This episode also includes original tracks from Simone's back catalogue including: 'Rosemary and Rue' and 'Cargo of Hollywood Stars' from Soundtrack to A More Radiant Sphere : The Joe Wallace Mixtape available here: https://fiverforreal.bandcamp.com/album/soundtrack-to-a-more-radiant-sphere-the-joe-wallace-mixtape 'Death is Only a Dream' from Fiver with the Atlantic School Of Spontaneous Composition, which you can but here: https://fiverforreal.bandcamp.com/album/fiver-with-the-atlantic-school-of-spontaneous-composition To find out more about and to follow Simone's work, please check out the following links: Website: https://www.fiverfiverfiver.com/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/fiverfines/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fiverfiverfiver Twitter: https://twitter.com/UhhFiver For updates on the pod and more, follow Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/ken._moffatt_/

Ep. 09— Simone Schmidt(part 1): The Utility of Metaphor

This is part 1 of Ken's interview with Simone Schmidt aka Fiver. Please watch this channel for part two coming shortly. Simone Schmidt is a musician and multidisciplinary artist who recently moved to so-called Sackville, New Brunswick for work. Schmidt grew up as a settler in Toronto during Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution and has been involved in resisting austerity since grade school. Schmidt's musical practice involves research-based songwriting, improvisation, analog recording, and a deep fascination with form. They have performed with units like The Highest Order, One Hundred Dollars, and their solo project, Fiver. Their chapter in Displacement City (U of T Press, 2022) describes the City of Toronto's organized abandonment of housing-deprived people during the early pandemic, from their perspective as a community organizer. Photo credit : Alexandra Stairs This episode also includes original tracks from Simone's back catalogue including: 'House of Lost Words' from Audible Songs From Rockwood, which you can but here: https://ideefixerecords.bandcamp.com/album/audible-songs-from-rockwood and 'Dayton' from Lost the Plot, which you can buy here: https://crowncrowncrown.bandcamp.com/album/lost-the-plot To find out more about and to follow Simone's work, please check out the following links: Website: https://www.fiverfiverfiver.com/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/fiverfines/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fiverfiverfiver Twitter: https://twitter.com/UhhFiver For updates on the pod and more, follow Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/ken._moffatt_/

Ep. 08 Natalie Wood: 'This Is A Wakening!'

In this episode, Ken interviews Natalie Wood. Natalie is an award-winning Trinidadian-born, Toronto-based visual and media artist, a PhD student in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University and a tenured Professor at George Brown College (GBC) where she specializes in teaching social innovation and social economies and is seconded to the role of Black Futures Coordinator. She is a cofounder of the Environmental and Urban Change Black Caucus, fellow at Black Lives Matter’s Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism, founder of the Blue Devil Posse and co-founder of the GBC Social Innovation Hub. Her educational pathway includes an MA in Art Education from the University of Toronto and studio courses at OCADU. Her PhD is a research-creation project that explores the practice of Black Futures in Black Queer diasporic resistance in Caribbean Carnival. Her multimedia art-work cohabits the areas of popular culture, education and historical research and explores her fascination with counter-narratives, healing cultures and icons that liberate Black and Queer communities. Selected awards include a SSHRC grant, several York University, Ontario Graduate Scholarships and Fellowships, a Canada Council creation grant 2020, a Black Leadership Award from the Black Student Success Network at GBC 2017, Community Based Research Award of Merit, from the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives & the Wellesley Institute 2007, the New Pioneers Award for contribution to Arts and Culture 2006, and the City of York Civic Recognition Award for using the Arts to support marginalized communities 1997, a Nourbe Se Philips Arts recognition grant and numerous grants and awards from Toronto, Ontario and Canada Arts Council. Her artwork is represented by Paul Petro Contemporary Art. For more on Natalie's work, please check out the following website: http://iamnataliewood.com https://socialinnovationhub.wordpress.com http://www.paulpetro.com/artists/223-Natalie-Wood/ For updates and more, follow Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/ken._moffatt_/

Ep. 07 Winnie Ng: The Struggle of Memories Against Forgetting

In this episode, Ken interviews Winnie Ng. Winnie is a labour rights activist and scholar with a deep commitment to anti-racism, equity and worker empowerment. She is Chair emeritus Unifor National Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Toronto Metropolitan University, the first and only union-endowed Chair at a Canadian university. She began her activist work in the labour movement in 1977 as a union organizer with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union; and later on with HERE Local 75. She served as the Ontario Regional Director with the Canadian Labour Congress for 8 years before returning to the academy to complete her doctoral program at OISE/University of Toronto. Winnie’s research focuses on reimagining the labour movement from a decolonizing and anti-racism perspective, and the physical and mental health impact of global labour market re-structuring, plant-closure and precarious employment on racialized, immigrant and migrant workers, and in particular women workers. She is the recipient of numerous distinctions, including the Urban Alliance on Race Relations Leadership Award, the United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez Black Eagle Award and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award. She is a founding member of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance and Asian Canadian Women’s Alliance, and the former co-chair of the Good Jobs for All Coalition. In her retirement, Winnie serves as the Co-Chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China and volunteers with the International Domestic Workers Federation, a global union that represents over half a million members worldwide. For updates and more, follow Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/ken._moffatt_/

Ep. 06 Samantha Wehbi: Home is a Complex Proposition

In this episode, Ken interviews artist and social worker Samantha Wehbi. Samantha Wehbi (MSW, PhD, MFA) is a professor, author, artist, and award-winning educator. Her research and practice interests have focused on international issues and grassroots community activism and organizing in Canada and abroad including Lebanon, her country of origin. Her creative practice relies on photography to explore our relationship to the communities we inhabit. Her work has explored the complexities of urban landscapes and issues of displacement, postcolonialism, translocality and social change. Her scholarship explores interdisciplinary intersections of art, community practice, and pedagogy. For more on Samantha's work, please check out the following website: https://samanthawehbi.com For updates and more, follow Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/ken._moffatt_/