New! Phewf, it’s been 16 non-stop years since I signed on as a Canadian War Artist. In that time I served as a war artist for 18 months, was offered a fully funded PhD in the UK (completed!), received multiple commissions (including a war requiem and an opera), began exhibiting my visual work (video installations, e.g.) overseas and in Canada, taught university, completed a postdoctorate, developed and co-produced a ground-breaking work that opened the main stage (opera) to a numerous Indigenous creatives (dance, directing, acting, translators, costume designers etc.), made many, many public speaking engagements and lectures, published, released a CD, and much more! Currently, I’m developing new and exciting projects with new collaborators … watch this space!!

A presser announcing my appointment as a postdoctoral researcher on the Red River Jig Network project, a project conceived of by me and two other researchers, Dr. Monique Giroux, and Dr. Michelle Porter. And here is another article on the project! Busy times. Drop by and visit the site sometime!

Finally, after four years of research, a 10,000 km road trip through the heart of the North American continent, a lot of time spent with Indigenous peoples and their communities working alongside translators, more hours doing primary research in archives, and finally, months of writing and refining the script, Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North was finished in December 2020. Scheduled to premiere in Winnipeg in 2020, after a 45-minute preview with the Regina Symphony in 2019, the world made other plans and it was cancelled and rescheduled for 2021, then again in 2022! That too was cancelled, and the work premiered with Manitoba Opera in November 2023.

Still, librettists move on! In 2021 I received an Artist Pivot Award from the BC Arts Council to develop new skills for my artistic toolkit. My goal was to begin learning American Sign Language with the view of an exciting new project (watch this space) and a result of this was appearing at the inaugural Ignite the Arts Festival in Penticton where I shared the stage with the fabulous Half/Asian and Amy the Coda! Thank you BC Arts Council for your generous contribution to my practice.