Concurrent Sessions
Session list may be subject to change
Sarah Pharaon, International Sites of Conscience: The Nuts and Bolts of Sites of Conscience Facilitation
This session will explore the core methodologies underpinning the facilitation practice of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience including our triangular theory of change, the Four Truths, the Arc of Dialogue and the Art of a Good Question.
Lauryn Record, Calgary Zoo: Busting through the exhibit glass: Transforming design through interpretation
This session was born from a desire to bring together interpretive professionals from across Canada to share experiences and work together across exhibit and content modalities. By sharing our successes and challenges, we will generate conversation that supports shared growth in our field across the country. This session will facilitate that dialogue and create space to communicate ideas for participants to bring back to their home facilities and integrate into their practice. We will also discuss strategies on advocating for interpretive pedagogy to be included in the exhibit design process, to help interpreters share their expertise on communicating with visitors with designers and curators.
Silva Johannson, Parks Canada: Heart and Soul of Effective Facilitation
As we add facilitated dialogue to our toolkits, interpreters need to develop their facilitation skills. Learn some key principles and tools for how to do it right.
Dr. Michael Fontana, The Cinematheque: Let Them Make the Film
Video-making is an effective strategy to actively engage youth in programs that explore challenging topics. However, participants usually lack key technical skills. Through a dialogic relationship, facilitators can provide technical support while empowering youth with cultural agency. Facilitation becomes then invisible, and the distinction between participants and facilitators blurs.
Dusty Molinski, Oak Hammock Marsh: Answering the Call
What to do when teachers request specific programs that are not necessarily part of your mandate? You answer their call! This session will demonstrate how listening to your audience can reap some big benefits.
Sarah Rauh, Parks Canada: Behind the Panels: Collaboration to tell a Story
When creating interpretation panels, clearly, written content is key. But what about the dialogue behind the scenes? Join a participatory discussion on lessons learned and best practices of working with other organizations on interpretive panel projects. Together, we will create a guide to facilitate dialogue in non-personal interpretation.
Ian Martens, Canadian Museum for Human Rights: Ice Breaker Rally
Icebreakers can be used to energize, build bridges and begin dialogue Your host Ian Martens will take you through a few of his favourite ice breakers and share how he uses them to assess prior knowledge and tailor his tours . Bring your favourite icebreakers to the session to share.
Carolyn Rock, Gooseberry Falls State Park: Got A Minute or Two?
Do you struggle to connect with an ever distracted audience? Join the club and learn some tips, tricks and resources to attract and slow down your visitors. Working at Minnesota's 2nd busiest parks, one naturalist shares her secrets and traps to capture busy visitors to share the property’s main themes.
Bill Reynolds: Opening Minds, Focusing Thoughts
Bring examples of dialogue successes and failures as we work together to address what composes a proven strategy. We will explore approaches to different mission-based dialogues in this participatory mini-workshop. Can you have internal dialogue? How can you dialogue with a plant or historic house?
Hayley Caldwell, Canadian Museum for Human Rights: The Blanket Exercise
The Blanket Exercise is an experiential learning tool that traces the history of relationships between Europeans and Indigenous nations in what we call Canada today. Participants will leave with a better sense of Indigenous peoples’ experiences of colonization. The session concludes with an opportunity for reflection and dialogue.
Tracey Turner, Manitoba Mystery Co.: Mystery with History
The Manitoba Mystery Co. brings live theatrical tours/ experiences to cultural and natural heritage & historic sites. We engage in site specific theatrical archaeology, building narrative around true crime, local murder cold cases, and bring forensic tales to life, with the audience as participants!
Vincent Jacot, Historiart: Interpreting Stories with Art Prints
Historiart wants to raise the voices of underrepresented groups by creating tools to help them interpret and share their stories. This presentation will detail how we intend to do that and how our concept is designed to act as a private partner that collaborates with public institutions.
Jacquie Gilson, Parks Canada: Small Talk, Active Talk, Deep Talk
You already do at least one of these types of dialogic interpretation: Small Talk, Active Talk, Deep Talk! Jacquie will share examples of each from four years of dialogic experiments in the mountain parks. The actual questions asked are critical, so we’ll practice writing questions for all three types.
Robert Gendron, The Manitoba Museum: Mediating Imagination: Facilitating Self-Reflection in Treaty Literacy
Using Welcome to Treaty 1 as a case study, explore how Cultural Mediation connects museum participants to subject matter through self-reflection, critical analysis and personal experiences. Investigate how this is achieved by using a full range of tools and resources used to forge a relationship between the visitor, subject matter and the organization.
Desmond Mentuck, Parks Canada: Anishinabe: Interpreting my creation
The Anishinabe connection to the earth goes back to the beginning of time. This is according to the symbols written on the land and in the stars. How can we begin to understand this concept and share this information?
Munju Ravindra, Parks Canada: Grow A Great Guide
Tearing out your hair trying to stuff linear organizational goals and mandates into your lateral free-thinking staff? All is not lost. Join this free-wheeling session for a look at best practices in interpretive leadership and share your insights on how to work collaboratively with your team to 'wakeup wonder.'
Cal Martin, Frog in the Pocket: Rethinking Interpretive Writing
Today's visitors don't want to read dry panels overloaded with content. They want to be engaged as part of a broader conversation. This workshop will share current thinking about written communication and explore ways to engage audiences through better interpretive writing.
Margaret Vaughan, Metropolitan State University: Start Building Dialogue: Legos, Art, and Creativity in Adult Learning Contexts
Legos worked as an excellent ice-breaker in a graduate level liberal arts course, setting the stage for an interactive class and the acceptability by students of multiple creative endeavors in the course (such as collages for presenting theories and making basswood cordage). Ideas for using Legos and other arts-focused materials will be discussed for adult groups meeting together over several weeks (such as graduate level higher education classes).
Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, Sikh Heritage Museum, National Historic Site Gur Sikh Temple: Building Bridges and Building Community Through Affect
Many years ago, while providing a museum tour to a group of grade four children, a young girl asked me why she felt so safe and so welcomed in the upstairs hall of the Sikh Heritage Museum. The impact of this child's comment has continued to resonate with me and through my curatorial work and engagement at the Sikh Heritage Museum. This presentation will bring forth the processes of why I believe the young child made this comment. I argue that the Sikh Heritage Museum is unlike any other museum in the world-it is a space which negotiates decolonization and solidarity by engaging different groups of people in critical dialogue and conversations. It is the power of the space which allows community building to take place. I will explain and walk through the audience members my touring process, which ends in an open ended dialogue in the sacred space upstairs of the Gur Sikh Temple. Through this, I will explain the process of anti-racist discourse, decolonizing, reconciliation and a framework for solidarity.
Nicholas Catalano & Alexandra Moreau, Canadian Museum for Human Rights: Positionality in Dialogue: What you Bring to the Table
Explore the importance of identity in dialogic interpretation. Two Interpreters will unpack their positions, and invite the audience to do the same.