The pressing and complex problems of this age require creative and innovative solutions. Our success in responding to the problems we face depends on our ability to improvise, to adapt to the situations in which we find ourselves, to use the resources at hand to make right things transpire. At a time when diverse peoples and communities of interest struggle to forge historically new forms of affiliation across cultural and other divides, the participatory and civic virtues of engagement, dialogue, respect, and community-building inculcated through improvisational practices take on a particular urgency. On Thursday October 25th, a diverse set of experts—including an award-winning actress and activist, professors of improvisation, a community engaged scholar and facilitator, and members of a local improv education centre— will gather together to share inspiring stories of the power of improvisation for effective and lasting social change.

Panel Members:

• Mary Walsh, Canadian actress (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), writer, comedian and social activist, Gemini Award winner, Governor General’s Performing Art Award recipient
• The Making-Box, A hub for live comedy and improv education, empowering individuals and businesses through improv training and their one-of-a-kind live comedy events
• Daniel Fischlin, Recipient of the Premier’s Research Excellence Award (Humanities), chairs the Board of Silence, a community art space in Guelph, founding Director of the University of Guelph MA/PhD program in Critical Studies in Improvisation
• Ajax Heble, Director, International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation and Professor of English, University of Guelph, Artistic Director Emeritus, Guelph Jazz Festival
• Elizabeth Jackson, critical community engaged scholarship, arts-based community making, storytelling for social change

The Derry Dialogues, made possible by the vision and support of Margaret and Douglas Derry, embody the idea and values of interdisciplinary approaches to the big issues of our time. The speakers in this annual series reflect the values of the University of Guelph and are engaged in holistic, rigorous, and interdisciplinary engagement as much in the public arena as in the academy.

Rozanski Hall, Room 101