Earth Wide Circles

Hearing and Listening:  Youth and Elders in the Web of Life

SPIRIT MATTERS:  Toronto June 18-20, 2010

Earth Wide Circles – June 19, morning and afternoon, each session 1.5 hrs to 2hrs, facilitated by media artist Rebecca Garrett and Elder Vern Harper

The participants of Spirit Matters will hold a circle with the elders and the youth in Zimbabwe in the morning and in the afternoon with Elders and Youth from Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario. 

Here, the ancient art of storytelling interacts through modern technology. Earth Wide Circles will use videoconferencing to bring two semi-circles of people, in different locations,together to form a symbolic whole.

10:30 AM:  with Toronto and Zimbabwe, in smart room 

2 PM:  with Toronto and Attawapiskat, in smart room or in larger room for a debriefing with larger group of community organizers and activists

Indigenous, land based communities share some realities, issues, problems, etc, but there are very few formats or venues for these communities to speak to each other in a spirit of inquiry and reflection.   So the impulse was to bring together communities that are geographically distant and to connect communities by videoconferencing.

The form and process of the Earth Wide Circles is based in a North American Indigenous tradition of speaking circles.  The way the Earth Wide circles will work is that youth and elders here in Toronto will form a half circle that will be projected on the wall here and simultaneously in Zimbabwe.  Youth and elders in Zimbabwe will form a half circle there, which when projected will complete the circle.  An Indigenous Elder here will lead the discussion. The project is very much in progress and it can evolve to suite the participants’ needs and vision.   As of now, we have very little funding for this project.  The space and internet access and equipment are being donated by the University of Toronto and we are doing the rest.  This project a test, a work in progress, and if it succeeds it could lead to future projects or future applications and initiatives.

But for now, we are seeing what we can do with what we’ve got, and the bare minimum that’s needed for this is a small group of elders and youth who are interested in expanding their horizons; an internet connection, a lap top, and a projector, and the will to reach out and exchange. 

If nothing else, it promises to be an inspiring gesture to try to connect this way, and to begin a dialogue around culture and spiritual values, rooted in the realities of our lives and dreams.