Our group has begun reaching out to interviewees for our podcast. We have contacted the following artists, professionals, and community members:
On Friday, March 14 at 10:00am, Connor, Kabir, and Sandesh made their way back to Benny Bing’s studio for a formal interview to add to our podcast. Through Bing, we also got the contacts of other local artists to contact for an interview, two of whom accepted. We will be conducting interviews with Morgan Paige and Komi Olafimihan this coming week. Through Benny, we have also been in contact with representatives from Daniels Co. (the developer of the studios) and the Black North Initiative (an organization that works to support black entrepreneurs in Canada), who collaborated to make the Living Lane project possible.
The Interview with Benny Bing went very well and we were able to learn more about the Living Lane program from the perspective of one of the artists involved. For him specifically, the opportunity to have a subsidized studio has contributed towards economic justice because it gives him the opportunity to have space to create and use for business. He explained to us that the main thing lacking for artists is the availability of creative spaces. Now that he has a storefront studio, he is able to work on bigger projects, have formal meetings, and host art lessons, which he wasn’t able to do in his at-home studio. What really stood out to us was that he believed having a studio gave him the opportunity to show the community that there is space for creativity, and if you want to make a career as an artist, it is possible.
Goals for the Article & Podcast
During our meeting in class on Thursday we spent time brainstorming the structure of our podcast. We knew that we wanted our podcast to stand out and serve as a compliment to the long-form journalism piece we will be writing as our final assignment. We decided that the best way to do this was to tell the story of our project through the voices and sounds of the people we spent time interviewing. Inspired by the example podcast audios that used noises like footsteps and car horns, we plan on using clips of audio to immerse the listeners in the feeling of each art studio we were welcomed into. Our audio-visual component attached is a representation of the sights and sounds from Benny Bing’s studio that we will be capturing in the podcast. Included will be the noise of us walking into his studio, the jazz playing in the background, a dog’s footsteps, and paint brushes along canvas. We expect that there will be a different audio vibe from each of the four studios and plan on recreating them to add an element of differentiation between each artist.
AV content: https://youtu.be/trIaKTpzMHs
Through our article and podcast, we aim to define economic justice within the context of art and artists in Regent Park, as well as the role of art and relevant programming in creating an economically just community in Regent Park. Going back to our definition of economic justice, we believe it to be the creation of conditions that allow individuals to pursue self-expression and cultivate their passions, free from the constraints of financial limitations. Through this, we would also spotlight local artists in Regent Park and their experiences, while encouraging community engagement with art and artists in Regent Park.
Target Audience
Our target audience for the article and podcast include: existing and aspiring artists, Regent Park residents, public and private institutions that have the means through funding or space creation to provide artists with avenues to thrive, as well as anyone who is broadly interested in art, Regent Park, and/or the revitalization project. Regent Park artists and the spaces in which they practice their craft are rarely discussed in common discourse about Regent Park and its real estate. Our project aims to shed light on these artistic practices and implications for the Regent Park community and economic justice.
The Artists group members are Gayathri, Connor, Sandesh, and Kabir