Conferences

Manon Barbeau has worked for more than thirty years as a film writer and then as a director of award-winning documentaries. In 2003, she founded Vidéo Paradiso and then Wap­ikoni Mobile in collaboration with the Atikamekw Nation Council, the First Nations Youth Council and with the support of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador. Wapikoni Mo­bile is an ambulant video and music creation studio for First Nations youth who have produced more than 1,200 films that have won awards at prestigious festivals around the world. In 2007, Manon Barbeau founded Musique Nomade, which offers recording and outreach workshops to both indigenous and diverse musicians. In 2014, with fifteen international partners, she founded the INAAC, the first International Network for Aboriginal Audiovisual Creation. In 2017, Wapikoni became an official partner of UNESCO. In 2014, Manon Barbeau was named Officer of the National Order of Quebec. She received the Albert-Tessier prize, the highest award for cinema in Quebec. In 2017, Manon Barbeau was awarded the Order of Canada for “her cinematic achievements and her devotion to First Nations youth”. She was named Chevalière de l’Ordre de Montréal for her filmmaking career and social involvement, Chevalière des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française, Mentore de la Fondation Trudeau and in 2018, she redeived the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Unesco / Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence.

Kent Monkman is an interdisciplinary Cree visual artist. A member of Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works in Dish With One Spoon Territory (Toronto, Canada). Known for his provocative interventions into Western European and Amer­ican art history, Monkman explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience—the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experiences—across painting, film / video, performance, and installation. Monkman’s gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle often appears in his work as a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples. Monkman’s works have been exhibited at institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Denver Art Museum; Philbrook Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Musée des Beaux- Arts de Montréal; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; The Royal Ontario Museum; The Na­tional Gallery of Canada; Hayward Gallery; Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art; Musée d’art Contemporain de Rochechouart; Maison Rouge; and Palais de Tokyo. Monkman has had two nationally touring solo exhibitions in Canada – Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience (2017- 2020), and The Triumph of Mischief (2007-2010).

Richard Sandell is Professor in the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester and co-director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries. His research and practice, carried out in collaboration with museums, galleries and heritage organisations, explores the potential that museums might play in supporting human rights, social justice and equality. Richard led the research partnership between the National Trust and RCMG (Research Center for Museums and Galleries) that shaped the award-winning Prejudice and Pride LGBTQ heritage programme, 2017-19. A research collaboration with the Wellcome Collection, exploring new ethically – informed ways of presenting disability shaped a new permanent gallery – Being Human – that opened in 2019. Richard is also part of the research team that created HumanKind, a groundbreaking collaboration (2018-2021) with the National Trust that explores the potential for culture to tackle social isolation and loneliness. His most recent books include – Museums, Moralities and Human Rights (2017) and Museum Activism (with Robert R. Janes) (2019), winner of the Canadian Museums Association’s award for Outstanding Achievement for Research in the Cultural Heritage Sector.

Lois H. Silverman, Ph.D., is Professor of Museum Studies and Public Scholar of Museum Education with the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Museum Studies Program at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She is an accomplished scholar, mentor, and international consultant to museums, social service agen­cies, and arts organizations. Author of more than 55 publications, including The Social Work of Museums (Routledge 2010), and The Therapeutic Potential of Museums (1998), Lois Silverman is a thought leader, project innovator, and provocateur on such concepts as meaning-making, museums and therapy, and transcendence in museums. Through multidisciplinary work and innovative community collaborations, Lois strives to expand the theory, practice, and boundaries of museums, health and well-being. In current projects, she is exploring holistic and spiritual experiences in museums, the role of museums in social well-being, and the development of mu­seums, health, and well-being skills and curriculum for emerging museum professionals. Lois holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S.W. from Indiana University School of Social Work.

Maria Nengeh Mensah is a professor and the director of the School of Social Work at UQAM. A feminist and socially engaged researcher, she conducts research-action pro­jects on the issues related to stigmatization and social inclusion of sexual and gender diverse communities. In particular, she has been collaborating with the organizations Stella l’amie de Maimie, COCQ-SIDA and GRIS-Montréal for several years. Her current work focuses on the cul­tures of testimonies and the leverage for social and political transformation that can be achieved through singular voices in the media or through artistic expression. She is a member of the board of directors of Cactus Montréal, a prevention and harm reduction organization for people who use drugs in Montreal.

Isabelle Ginot is a professor at the Dance Department of the University of Paris 8. Her research focuses on somatic and dance practices and their political and social uses, particularly in contexts of social vulnerability. Co-founder of A.I.M.E. (Associations of Moving and Committed Individuals), she develops with the association a set of body practices based on dance and somatic practices for people in a situation of social or health precariousness. From 2007 to 2017, she created and directed the university degree Techniques of the body and the world of care (which became the course Dance, somatic education and fragile public). She founded the research group Soma & Po, which has published two books: Penser les somatiques with Fel­denkrais (dir. I. Ginot, éd. L’Entretemps, Lavérune, 2014), and Écosomatiques. Penser l’écologie depuis le geste (dir. M. Bardet, J. Clavel, I. Ginot, éd. deuxième Époque, Montpellier, 2019). Her current research opens this field to the analysis of works involving artists who identify them­selves as being in a situation of disability.

Judith Marcuse has worked in the arts for over five decades as a dancer, choreog­rapher, director, producer, educator, consultant, writer and lecturer. Trained in dance in Canada, the US and in England, she performed for more than 20 years with Canadian and European com­panies, including with the Repertory Dance Company she founded in 1980 which toured across Canada and abroad for 15 years. She has created more than 100 touring dance/theatre/film works and produced six large-scale arts festivals. For the last 20 years, her internationally-rec­ognized work has focused on community-engaged art for social change (ASC), including three 6-year projects with youth. She teaches, speaks and consults internationally. In 2007, Judith Mar­cuse founded the International Centre of Art for Social Change ICASC). More recently, she has led a six-year study of ASC in Canada while also teaching undergraduate courses and establishing a two-year graduate program in the field. She is a recipient of major awards, including an honorary doctorate. In 2019, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning. Website: https://icasc.ca

Marcos Antonio Cândido Carvalho works as the Art Coordin­ator of Projeto Axé. In 1990 he co-founded the organization with Cesare de Florio La Rocca. He worked as a consultant for UNICEF and Save the Children-UK in Angola and Cape Verve. He was a consultant to the Bank of Boston Foundation for Educator Training and Pedagogic­al Coordination of the Travessia Project from 1995 to 1996. From 2001 to 2010 he was Direc­tor of Staff Development for the New York City Public School Supervisors and Teachers at the Satanton / HeisKellTelecommunication Policy Center (Project Stretch) at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Heis also a Psychoanalyst member of Confraria dos Saberes, Salvador-Bahia, since 2005. As a cofounder of Projeto Axé, he has been working in Art Education and social transformation for the last 30 years. In 2004 he has also participated in the foundation of Axe Italia that has a similar mission in Italy were he has been running training workshop for educator and artists.