History + Art = Peace

History + Art = Peace

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII and celebrate the pursuit of peace, ALPHA is partnering with local community organizations to host a series of events titled “History + Art = Peace”. We hope that through the film screenings, play readings, musical performances, and visual art exhibitions, you will have a renewed spirit for peace and have a deeper understanding of history and humanity

Brief Description of Programs


REMEMBERING RESILIENCE: COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY


Saturday August 15, 2015 
7pm – 9pm
Ted Rogers School of Management (TRS1-067) Theatre Hall
55 Dundas Street West, Toronto ON M5G 2C3

We may not all have memories of World War II but many of us have heard stories of courage and strength from family and friends that experienced the war. This commemorative ceremony is held to remember the courage and strength of those that suffered during the Asia-Pacific War.

Join us for a candle light vigil and an evening of music, performance art, film, and special guest speakers.

PEACE MASK WORKSHOPS 


Sunday August 16, 2015
3pm – 6pm
Korean Canadian Cultural Association 
1133 Leslie Street, North York ON M3C 2J6

Tuesday August 18, 2015
1pm – 3pm


Centre of Social Innovation – Spadina
Alterna Room – 4^th Floor

215 Spadina Avenue, Toronto ON M5T 2C7

How do we empower community members to become peace builders? The peace mask workshop gives participants an opportunity to explore the “harmony that can be found within diversity” through intercultural dialogue and examining (or experiencing) the meditative process of traditional Japanese mask making. Korean artist Myong Hee Kim and speaker Kya Kim from Japan’s Peace Mask Project collaborates with ALPHA Education to facilitate these progressive and unique workshops.

THREE YEARS EIGHT MONTHS – Play Readings

Three Years Eight Months (三年零八個月) is a trilogy of plays by Donald Woo concerning the Canadian experience in Japan-occupied Hong Kong during World War II. From nurses in a field hospital, to English and French Canadian rivals in a POW camp, to a deadly standoff between Nisei soldiers outside Kowloon City; Woo paints vivid portraits of life under occupation and the complexity of war. A uniquely Asian Canadian perspective on bravery, love and identity in wartime.

Come be the first to preview this fresh new series of plays that speaks to hidden stories in the chapter of Canada’s experience during World War II. The following plays will be directed by Fu-GEN Theatre’s artistic director David Yee.

COMFORT – Play Reading

Thursday August 20, 2015 
7pm – 9pm


Ontario Institute for Studies in Education – University of Toronto, Auditorium 
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6 



Comfort, by Diana Tso, is inspired by the comfort women in World War Two Asia and the resilience of women in war. It is a love story about two teenagers in 1937 Nanjing whose journey leads them into the horrors of a comfort house in Shanghai. This new theatre production is planned for 2016 (with the support of the Toronto Arts Council), directed by William Yong with music composed by Constantine Caravassilis.  Red Snow Collective merges the eastern and western storytelling art forms through the dynamic weaving of text, music and movement |  www.redsnowcollective.ca



Don’t miss this opportunity to preview this heartbreaking but enthralling piece that gives voice to the women, of past and present, that suffered from sexual slavery during WWII in Asia.

THE BIG PICTURE – Film Screening

Thursday August 20, 2015
7pm – 9pm


Chinese Canadian Cultural Centre of the Greater Toronto, Auditorium

5183 Sheppard Ave East, Scarborough, ON M1B 5Z5

P

icture book author Kwon Yoon-duk decides to join the ‘Picture Books for Peace Planning Committee’ with other authors from Korea, China and Japan to create a picture book on ‘comfort women’ to the Japanese colonial army. But as she proceeds, past wounds forgotten for years start to haunt her. Meanwhile Korean and Japanese authors start a heated debate over her sketch and the completion of the picture book seems to drift further out of reach.

Come join us at the North American premiere of this documentary that provides insights to the challenging collaborative process in peace-building through the arts. 



 PEACE FEST

Friday August 21, 2015
12pm – 9pm


Mel Lastman Square – 5100 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M2N 5V7 

Come join us as diverse communities in Toronto celebrate the pursuit for peace in times where tensions are rising all around the world. Wind through Mel Lastman Square to find socially conscious art vendors, a unique group of storytellers, chalk art, food vendors, table-tennis exhibitions and tournaments, an art exhibition, and later in the evening – an exciting peace concert.

(PRESS RELEASE)