Still Creek | Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

December 19, 2016
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Still Creek Stories – Book launch

Preorders for the book were sold at this year’s Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. Photo by Kaitlyn Fung

BY EMILY CHAN AND KAITLYN FUNG

Over the past three years, Still Moon Arts Society has been producing a book to share memories about our beloved local Still Creek, which runs through the heart of the Renfrew Ravine. Artistic director Carmen Rosen started the project to chronicle the amazing stories of our neighbourhood and, together with her team, has gathered numerous stories from residents of various ages, experiences, cultures and length of time living in Renfrew-Collingwood.

From childhood memories in the ravine to the celebrated return of the salmon to our waterways, the book will feature the many experiences of art, nature, stewardship and more from Still Creek, as well as the community that has made it blossom. The stories have now been curated into a book that can be enjoyed by families, children, elders and everyone in between.

A preview of Still Creek Stories. Cover design by January Wolodarsky Cover design by January Wolodarsky

Everyone involved in the project was so proud to take preorders for the book at this year’s Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival in September. After the years of story collection, it is an honour to share the incredible stories about Still Creek and Renfrew Ravine, some of which were previously forgotten, unheard or lost, and others that had yet to be discovered.

The book will be launched in January 2017. If you are interested in learning more about the project and preordering Still Creek Stories, you can visit squareup.com/store/still-moon-arts-society.

This project has been the culmination of many peoples’ hard work, thoughtful comments and heartfelt commitments to making these stories heard. It also could not have happened without access to the beautiful, rugged, loved, exquisite piece of nature that is Still Creek.

A big note of appreciation to everyone that has loved and protected the creek, therefore allowing this project to come to life.

August 9, 2016
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Sculpture by local artist honours lost streams

Still Moon Arts events celebrate nature

BY LUCAS CHAN

Still Here art opening. Photo by Ben Rosen Purcell

On June 30 Still Moon Art Society’s artistic director, Carmen Rosen, unveiled her first public art sculpture Still Here. Located on 2699 Kingsway (close to the old Wally’s Burgers), Still Here is a testament to the lost streams that continue to exist beneath the concrete jungle.

The sculpture also represents the efforts of the community to acknowledge its existence and steward the future health of existing natural spaces that remain in the city, like Renfrew Ravine and Still Creek. More than just beautiful places teeming with wildlife and flora, these places present environments for communities to learn, explore and connect with each other as well as the natural world.

Come out to Stewardship Mondays

Still Creek Stewardship Mondays. Photo by Bea Miller

On July 11 the weekly summer initiative, Stewardship Mondays, had its first session and featured a workshop on weaving native and non-native plant species with local artist Sharon Kallis.

Every Monday for the rest of the summer Still Moon Arts will continue to host family friendly activities in the ravine from 11 am–1 pm, meeting at the Renfrew Ravine labyrinth on 27th Avenue.

Performance Exploration

Renfrew Ravine is the home to many memories about how this natural space has served as a place for community reflection, inspiration and connection. From July 10–14 Still Moon Arts organized a site-specific Performance Exploration workshop in Renfrew Ravine, a four-day process to tell community-inspired stories through dance, poetry, music, vocal body, theatre and ephemeral art.

Still Moon Arts invited aspiring youth performers share two of the days to learn interdisciplinary techniques to expressing their creativity under the mentorship of artist/vocalist Carmen Rosen and director/choreographer Isabelle Kirouac, singer/dancer Laura Crema and visual artist/musician Robin Lough. Material from this workshop will be used to develop material for a larger work to be presented next year.

Moon Festival

August and September will be busy months as Still Moon Arts prepares for their 14th annual Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival on Saturday, September 17 at Slocan Park and Renfrew Park. From September 6-9/ 12-15 there will be lantern workshops at Slocan Hall from 4–8 pm, with Moon Music Concerts at Slocan Park throughout the month.

Still Moon Arts will end the month with an Equinox Labyrinth Walk on Thursday, September 22 and a World Rivers Day art and water celebration on Sunday, September 25.

For more information on all events find them on Facebook as Still Moon Arts Society and on Twitter and Instagram as stillmoonarts.

Lucas Chan is a fourth year student at the University of British Columbia studying international trade and development in the faculty of land and food systems. He is interested in learning from community stories and knowledge to explore more ways of bringing people together. Through Still Moon he aims to increase awareness of Renfrew Ravine as a place for community, education, sustainability and art.

July 4, 2016
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Still Moon Arts takes youth on a caravan along the Fraser

The Still Moon Arts team started off at Mount Robson, the headwaters of the Fraser River. Photo courtesy of Still Moon Arts

BY LUCAS CHAN

Youth from the Still Moon Arts Society spent a week in June travelling along the Fraser River watershed in the 2nd annual Wild Salmon Caravan!

The Wild Salmon Caravan, taking place from June 6 to 11, was a journey from Mount Robson to Vancouver celebrating the spirit of the wild salmon through indigenous communities in Chase, Adams Lake, Kamloops, Lillooet, Lytton, Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

“The journey was really about celebrating, recognizing and honouring the spirit of the wild salmon, and how it is interconnected with First Nations culture as well as the rest of the environment,” said Henry Lau, one of the youth from the Still Moon Arts Youth Team.

The spirit of the salmon is something that influences across cultures and communities, representing more than just the ecological health of the land or water but also the relationships communities have with nature and each other.

It was an honour to take part in the Lytton ceremony. Photo by Chitha Manoranjan

Groups from across British Columbia joined the Wild Salmon Caravan in this travelling collective of culture, art, drumming, music and storytelling. It sought to connect with people and express the significance of salmon to the well-being of our cultures, communities, food systems and nature from an indigenous perspective.

“What I witnessed reminds me about how food is important to me in my neighborhood of Renfrew-Collingwood and how that is connected to the ways that First Nations groups access culturally relevant food in their own indigenous landscape,” said Crecien Bencio, who also participated in the journey.

The Wild Salmon Caravan also stressed the importance of building strong relationships with indigenous communities and conducting meaningful reconciliation processes. Threats of development and climate change endanger the well-being of the wild salmon that are so intricately linked with the land and its people. The Wild Salmon Caravan carried the wishes and hopes for what relationships with wild salmon was in the past, what it is in the present, and what will be in the future.

Still Moon’s previous youth engagement coordinator Chitha Manoranjan expressed, “I’m proud that we were able to take a small team of youth from this community up on this journey to share stories of our community’s successful efforts at bringing chum salmon back to Still Creek and bring some of Still Moon Arts’ creative energy. More importantly, it was an honour to be so warmly welcomed to different indigenous communities and be witness to the rich cultures and experiences that these communities have.“

The journey was part of Still Moon Arts’ Youth Engagement Project funded by the BC Arts Council. The youth team was made up of two Grade 9 students from the Leadership 9 Ecology class who have been working in the Renfrew Ravine this past year, and two long-time youth volunteers (and dedicated board members).

The team returns to the community with deeper knowledge, experiences and stories that are necessary to continue to act as stewards of the salmon and inspire the community to create their own intercultural experiences around food.

To find out more about Still Moon Arts Society’s journey on the Wild Salmon Caravan, visit www.stillmoon.org or find out more about the Wild Salmon Caravan at www.wildsalmoncaravan.wordpress.com.

Lucas Chan is a summer student with Still Moon Arts Society.

Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Tag Archives: Still Creek

Still Creek Stories – Book launch

Sculpture by local artist honours lost streams