Critical Conversations
PODIUM 2024’s Critical Conversations will give the stage to important panel discussions with leaders in our community as we consider topics including Advocating for Collective and Choral Singing in Schools moderated by Clémence Modoux, Voicing the Ecological Crisis: What More Can We Sing and Do? moderated by Claude Schryer, and Imperfect Harmony: Exploring Pathways to More Just Choirs moderated by Frédéricka Petit-Homme.
These conversations will provide a forum for discussing relevant and timely themes in singing and choral practice, including the state of choral and collective singing in schools in Canada, choral-ecological action strategies for tackling complex environmental issues, and DEI-centered organizational change and our understanding of the role that pluralism and anti-racism play in creating more just choirs.
Each conversation takes place at 1:00pm in the Opus Room at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Montreal.
Critical Conversations will also be live-streamed for our virtual delegates, allowing in-person and online attendees to participate in the discussions and the Q&A.
Friday
MAY 17, 2024
Imperfect Harmony: Exploring Pathways to More Just Choirs
Moderated by Justin Jalea
Saturday
MAY 18, 2024
Advocating for Collective and Choral Singing in Schools
Moderated by Clémence Modoux
Sunday
MAY 19, 2024
Voicing the Ecological Crisis: What More Can We Sing and Do?
Moderated by Claude Schryer
Imperfect Harmony:
Exploring Pathways to More Just Choirs
May 17, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Opus Room, Delta Hotels by Marriott Montreal
Moderated by Justin Jalea
The choral arts in North America are undergoing rapid evolution, with many choirs actively striving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive. Concert programming and repertoire have similarly evolved, with choirs seeking out and co-creating works that celebrate differences and draw attention to injustice. Entire choral organizations have even been created to counteract a long history of practices that have perpetuated silence and social divisions. But the path to creating choirs that foster genuine belonging remains unclear. It is also unclear how choirs can know that they are on a path that leads to the positive change they aspire to in their organizations and communities. As choirs increasingly tackle the enduring legacy of racism and colonialism, open and frank discussions are crucial for learning from both mistakes and successes. This panel of four choral artists aims to model such discourse. They will discuss the challenges they have faced, those they see on the horizon, the strategies they have used or hope to employ in achieving DEI-centered organizational change, and their understanding of the role that pluralism and anti-racism play in creating more just choirs.
(click images to read bios)
Justin Jalea
Moderator
Roseline Blain
Panelist
Saunder Choi
Panelist
Laurier Fagnan
Panelist
Frédéricka Petit-Homme
Panelist
Advocating for Collective and Choral Singing in Schools
May 18, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Opus Room, Delta Hotels by Marriott Montreal
Moderated by Clémence Modoux
This critical conversation will address the state of choral and collective singing in schools in Canada, the challenges it faces, and what can be done to promote it, develop it, democratize it, and make it accessible to all children. The COVID-19 pandemic had a decimating impact on the choral art form, particularly in our schools. Different geographical and cultural perspectives will be brought by 4 panelists, experts from all over the country. We'll try to cover the issues our teachers are facing with group singing in their schools and discuss how can we promote choral singing on a political and institutional level to decision-makers, representatives and society as a whole, to ensure its development and sustainability within schools.
(click images to read bios)
Clémence Modoux
Moderator
Adam Con
Panelist
Robert Filion
Panelist
Heather Fraser
Panelist
Dominique Morin
Panelist
Voicing the Ecological Crisis: What More Can We Sing and Do?
May 19, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Opus Room, Delta Hotels by Marriott Montreal
Moderated by Claude Schryer
The ecological crisis (climate change, loss of biodiversity, etc.) is deepening at a frightening pace, leaving many feeling disempowered and demoralized. Moderator Claude Schryer writes in his a calm presence newsletter that ‘the arts can simultaneously comfort the afflicted, inspire the depressed, anticipate the impossible, invigorate the dispirited, catalyze the discouraged, challenge our assumptions, etc. but the arts also have the potential to inflict harm, consciously or unconsciously.’ The Canadian choral community has a history of engagement and foresight with environmental issues. How can the choral arts sector step up further? Building upon interconnections with previous critical conversations, notably on indigenous voices and just choirs, this panel will share their choral-ecological action strategies and explore how to further tackle our current poly-crisis through artistic creation, decreasing carbon footprints and collective political action. Panelists will tackle complex issues, such as complicity and accountability in the ecological crisis, but also what we can ‘sing and do’ more to reimagine a sustainable future for all life on earth. You’ll leave the conversation with a practical reality check while humming with hope. A resource list will be shared with opportunities for further action.
(click images to read bios)
Claude Schryer
Moderator
Megan Chartrand
Panelist
Deantha Edmunds
Panelist
Sarah Fioravanti
Panelist
Elise Naccarato
Panelist