Singing Our Truths: Telling Our Stories

I’ve heard it shared from locals who live in the area that there are not enough queer friendly or 2SLGBTQIA+ friendly spaces in the Comox Valley. One of the goals of this project is to gather the stories and voices of community members within the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community, both local and afar, in order to offer them a platform to be heard, witnessed and honoured.

Growing up here, there was not a lot of diversity in terms of race and ethnicity or of gender expression and identity. As a queer expressive arts therapist who is ethnically half Chinese, quarter Scottish and quarter Ukrainian Canadian, I realize the potential that I have to help fill a gap in our community and also to help create more space for community members from marginalized identities. In conjunction with partners Cumberland Culture and Arts Society, Cumberland Village Works, Caresse Nadeau Film and Holly Keen Goldes Expressive Arts Therapy, our team has developed a workshop series which will celebrate identity and visibility for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members. This will culminate in an artistic soundscape that can and will be offered as an interactive installation of community voices and experiences from the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community. It will be shared within local physical spaces here in the Comox Valley and can be hosted for sharing within multiple digital community arts spaces, such as the Cumberland Arts and Culture Society, websites for art galleries, Queer BC magazine, museums, small arts-based and community-based businesses and organizations.

Community partners:

The Cumberland Culture and Arts Society, Cumberland Village Works, Holly Keen Goldes Expressive Arts Therapy, Caresse Nadeau Film