Women's Respect, Women's Rights

On November 15, The Blue Castle welcomes MUN doctoral student and Trudeau fellow, Leila Qashu. Leila will discuss Ateetee, a musical conflict resolution ritual undertaken by Arsi Oromo women in Ethiopia. Although these women are excluded from many male spaces, activities and political decisions, they secure and assert their power by creating their own social spaces and by interacting with the male social order through such media as musical conflict resolution rituals. Leila will explain the ritual through stories, musical, video and pictorial examples from her fieldwork.

Leila Qashu is a doctoral candidate in Ethnomusicology at MUN. She has studied and worked in Canada, Africa and Europe. Outside her studies, Leila plays viola in the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.

Women's Respect, Women's Rights
Ateetee, a vernacular conflict resolution ritual

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

Fast Talk about Body Image

The Blue Castle welcomes St. John's artist, Pam Hall, for an unrehearsed, interactive multi-vocal community reading of part of her long term performance activism project around re-writing the female body.

Over 150 women from across North America have offered their insights into the phrase, "I feel beautiful when..." Join us in reading their words while also contributing your own!


Fast Talk about Body Image
Tuesday, April 26 at 8 pm !!!NOTE DATE CHANGE!!!
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

Je me souviens: memories of an expatriate anglophone, montréalaise, québecoise exiled in Canada

MUN students, faculty and community members present a public reading of Lorena Gale’s acclaimed dramatic monologue, Je me souviens, an autobiographical meditation on nation, language, identity, and the complexities of belonging. Challenging, provocative, thoughtful and intimate, this Governor General’s Award nominated play is also a love song for Québec. This is also our opportunity to remember Lorena Gale, a formidable Canadian actor and writer who died in Vancouver in June 2009, aged 53.

Tuesday, March 8 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

To Marguerite....

The Blue Castle and St. John’s Status of Women Council present:

To Marguerite...
A collaborative fundraising concert in support of Marguerite’s Place


Why listen to Johann, Georg, Frideric or Sebastian when you can join us instead for an evening with Anna, Elisabeth, a princess, a duchess and a few widows? Enjoy splendid, sophisticated and sensuous 18th century music for flute and harpsichord by...

Anna Bon di Venezia, an Italian composer born to Russian parents. This musical wunderkind disappeared from historical records as soon as she married. Her works are original and sophisticated.

Elisabeth de la Guerre, née Jacquet, was highly regarded by the French court and by her peers for her remarkable playing and variety of compositions.

Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia, the younger sister of Frederick the Great, for whom her work was no doubt composed.

The program also includes compositions by men whose music was engraved, published and supported by women ...

A sonata for flute by Michel Blavet, dedicated to his patron La Duchesse de Bouillon.

A work by Jean-Marie Leclair, engraved by his wife, Louise Roussel,, dedicated to Madame la Princesse D’Orange and sold by Madame Boivin..

This benefit concert for Marguerite’s Place features Sonja Boon, baroque flute, and Mary O’Keeffe, harpsichord. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at Memorial University, Sonja Boon is also an accomplished early musician whose professional career has included eight years as soloist and principal flutist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra (Oregon, USA). She was Artistic Director of The Burney Ensemble from 1998-2005. Harpsichordist Mary O'Keeffe performs in solo and chamber music recitals, and has appeared as soloist with the NSO Sinfonia. She is a cofounder of the Hot Earth Ensemble, a group dedicated primarily to presenting concerts of music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

All proceeds from this concert will go to Marguerite’s Place, a new facility which will offer supportive housing and affordable, fully accessible programming in a women-centred environment. This facility is named in memory of Marguerite Dyson, a friend and volunteer.

To Marguerite...
Friday, April 23 at 8 pm
St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church (entrance on Cornwall Crescent)
Admission: $20 general, $10 student, $50 (with $30 tax receipt)
Tickets: St. John’s Women’s Centre (Tel: 753-0220), The Travel Bug (155 Water) or at the door.

Forgetting...but not Forgotten

For the past year, Megan Morrison, from MUN's Department of Women's Studies, has woven in and out of conversation with and about women living with late-stage dementia. As a researcher, she had to step out of her comfort zone in order ot hear and see what was being communicated. Over time, she learned to express herself through art, music and writing. Over time, these women learned to express themselves in whatever ways they can. Without relying on words, these five elderly women have taught Megan about who they are. Through story and song, she will share this experience with us.

Perhaps you will find yourself within the stories...or wanting to share your own.

Forgetting...but not Forgotten
Tuesday, March 9 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)


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Coming up in April:

To Marguerite....
A collaborative fundraising concert presented in conjunction with the St. John's Status of Women Council in support of Marguerite's Place

Why listen to Johann, Georg, Frideric or Sebastian...when you can join us instead for an evening with Anna, Elisabeth, the Duchess and a few widows? Sonja Boon (baroque flute) and Mary O'Keeffe (harpsichord) whisk you away to the eighteenth century for a program of music written, engraved, published and supported by women.

All proceeds from this concert will go to Marguerite's Place.

To Marguerite...
Friday, April 23 at 8 pm
St. Mary the Virgin Church (entrance on Cornwall Crescent)
Tickets: $20 (general), $10 (student), $50 (with $30 tax receipt)
Available at: St. John's Women's Centre (150 Lemarchant), The Travel Bug (155 Water Street) or at the door.

For more information about the concert call: 737-2551.

Working for a Living: Gender and Class in the Literature of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Blue Castle invites you to join local authors Helen Porter, Bernice Morgan, Trudy Morgan Cole, and Carmelita McGrath, together with facilitator Phyllis Artiss for a roundtable discussion about working class women in the literature of Newfoundland and Labrador. The authors will provide insights into their depictions of women in fiction and expand on the themes of work, and gender, as they appear in novels, short stories, and poems set in this province. The roundtable will be followed by a general conversation with our audience, as the authors take questions and engage in debate about the topic.

Please join us for a roundtable conversation about Working for a Living: Class and Gender in the Literature of Newfoundland and Labrador, taking place on Monday, January 25th from 8-10pm at The Ship (265 Duckworth Street). Admission is free.

The Blue Castle on CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine!

Catch us here:

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlwamgaloot_20091206_24089.mp3

To all of you who took part in our Smallwood event - thanks! it was a fabulous evening!

keep your eyes peeled for our winter series, starting in January 2010 with a roundtable featuring some of Newfoundland and Labrador's best loved women authors, among them Helen Porter, Bernice Morgan and Carmelita McGrath!