Voices & Sights Workshops Part I

In partnership, Centre[3], St. Matthews House, and Sherman Hub initiated the “Voices and Sights” project.  The senior-inspired community arts project promotes and supports the social participation and inclusion of seniors in intergenerational programming with youth, allowing seniors to act as mentors to the younger generation in Hamilton.  Using art as a vehicle, seniors transferred their knowledge and experiences to literary (Spoken Word Poetry) and visual (printmaking and collage) formats, culminating in a fusion of the two forms through the creation of digital storytelling videos that were screened across the city.  This enabled the older generation to share their skills, resources, wisdom, and challenges with the younger generation.

Digital Storytelling combines Spoken Word Poetry and Visual Arts in the form of a video that shares a fully realized personal narrative from the creator. The poem that was created and presented in the first part of the project will be paired with imagery, artwork, and photographs and put into digital or video format. As the story is transformed into this format, participants will learn editing techniques and computer skills on state of the art equipment. As many older individuals, particularly those living in situations of poverty do not possess these skills, they will gain valuable knowledge which will make participation in activities that contain a technological component more accessible to them. Seniors learning to use this technology also provides an opportunity for volunteerism from youth participants that already understand the software and from the at-risk youth that participate in our NuDeal and NuSteel micro-enterprise programs. The public presentations of these will create volunteer positions at Centre[3] and at the off-site venues where they are screen. They will also offer the senior participants the opportunity to once again act as mentors as their stories are shared with a greater percentage of the population. Those that view the stories will likewise be more inclined to engage with the senior population in future activities and volunteer positions.