Youth-led Event Connects Climate Action and Poetry Reading
Three Metro Vancouver youth are organizing a free climate-centered poetry event on June 27. The Art of Change: Chapter 2 – Words by the Sword Fern Collective is the second event in The Art of Change series that uses the arts to create space for community dialogue and action. The event will be hosted at the Patagonia retail store in Kitsilano (1994 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver), and will feature performances from Johnny Macrae, Tawahum Bige, Linde Nolte, and Johnny Trinh from Vancouver Poetry House. This event is for all ages and is family-friendly.
Date: June 27, 2024
Time: 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm)
Location: Patagonia Kitsilano, 1994 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC
Notes for Media:
Correspondents are invited to take part in an interactive poetry workshop in the latter half of the event. Please confirm attendance by RSVPing to the below email address.
Contact Information:
Erica Binder
Member, Sword Fern Collective
erica@nullericabinder.com
(403) 304 9575
RSVP: Attendees can register at https://theartofchangechapter2words.splashthat.com/
Erica Binder, Paige Hunter, and Victor Yin wanted to organize something unique and different. “We realized that a lot of the discourse around climate action often focuses around technical aspects, like carbon emissions and targets. But what about the emotional and the social? We want to create a safe space for people to emotionally connect and talk about their feelings regarding the climate crisis,” says Yin.
Climate change requires creativity and the arts have a major role to play in our climate future. Music, art, theatre, and writing are powerful tools for social change and can inspire action in ways that facts and figures do not.
“I wanted to go a bit deeper than performing in front of an audience.” says Binder. “When we were planning the flow of this event, I was focused on using the arts as a tool to create connection and intimacy. How can we involve the audience in our artistic creation? What can we do to make the poetry feel personally relevant?”
This event will feature performances by local poets from Vancouver Poetry House and a collaborative writing workshop for all attendees.
Binder, Hunter, and Yin come from diverse backgrounds in arts and culture, housing justice, and climate action, but share a mutual interest in the arts, sustainability, and the great outdoors. It was this dynamic that inspired them to create climate-centered events that are valuable and engaging for anyone, regardless of artistic background or previous knowledge about the climate crisis.
About the organizers: The Sword Fern Collective is the brainchild of Simon Fraser University and SFU Centre for Dialogue alumni Paige Hunter and Victor Yin and co-led with Vancouver-based musician, arts leader, and Juilliard alumni Erica Binder. The Sword Fern Collective was created with the intention of bringing heart-centered climate education to the public.
