Ria Links
Artists for Systems Change invites you to
Salon in the Cloud # 12,
with Maren Kathleen Elliott
Arts as Good Medicine:
A Personal Journey
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
On Zoom
Register by emailing
researchinart.ria@gmail.com .
You will receive a personal Zoom link close to the day of the event. Registrations will be accepted
until May 11, 6:00 PM
Hello, Ria Links artists,
Our Ria Links Salon 11 with Daniel Buckles came down to the ground at the Shenkman Arts Centre this month. It was an exception, and local artist Maren Kathleen Elliot takes us back into the sky for her Salon presentation on Cloud 12.
Cloud # 12 extends the vision of Cloud# 1 (October 2020), where cj fleury spoke about her 2-year residency with the Bruyère Organization. Soon after, she and Dr.Carol Wiebe established Radical Connections, combining their creative, healthcare, & research experience. Maren demonstrates this with her own project mentored by cj, which will enrich the lives of people-in-care through direct involvement in the arts, and co-curating the art around them.
Thank you so much, Maren, for sharing your experiences with us,
Looking forward to seeing many of you on Cloud # 12!
Petra Halkes
Maren writes:
I have had my eye on the topic of arts-in-medicine for much of my life, through lived experience, academic study, mentoring, and close observation. In the fall of 2020, I connected with artist-activist cj fleury in response to her call for an emerging, interdisciplinary-social-practice artist to help build an innovative and inclusive approach to curation.
Medical patients seldom have the opportunity to be treated as regular citizens with access to cultural production. Their environments are designed for efficiency of care rather than quality of life.
Some environmental features are inherent to the delivery of care and thus cannot be controlled (i.e. sounds of machines, sanitary infrastructure etc). But what CAN we control and improve? And how do we determine WHAT might make things better or worse? Furthermore, is there a way to include those most impacted by these decisions in the conversation? People like staff (both medical AND support staff), families, and especially the patients who wield the least amount of power in these worlds?
This talk will explore some of my research on the topic of arts-in-healthcare, my personal connections to the topic, and visions for empowerment and change within Healthcare Systems through active, participatory arts-based approaches.
Maren Kathleen Elliott is an emerging social-practice artist, curator, and community activator with a background in education. Her expressive modalities include movement, visual arts, storytelling, and music, and her approach is deeply collaborative. Maren has spearheaded community-based arts activations (from live concerts, art exhibitions, and panel discussions to workshops) across Canada, including projects in Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, and Online. She is a strong believer in arts as activism and catalyst for change. Through art, she engages communities on numerous levels: as a participant, creator, ethnographer and curious student of life.
