May 3, 2019

Locals Only: Performance, Conversation, and Book Launch
Burnt Sienna with Kris Alvarez: Thursday, May 30, 7:00 pm at AKA artist-run centre (424 20th St W, Saskatoon)
Community Conversation and Book Launch: Saturday, June 1st, 1 to 4 pm at Station 20 West (1120 20th St W, Saskatoon)

Please join us!

On Thursday, May 30th at 7 pm we will host a special performance by Kris Alvarez with Lindsay Eekwol Knight, Manuela Valle-Castro, and Leigh Thomas at AKA Artist-Run.

Then, on Saturday, June 1st, we’ll be at Station 20 West. Beginning with a lunch at 1 pm, we’ll also host a conversation between Elders, knowledge-keepers, artists, community leaders and project staff discussing their experiences and connections with the project. At 3 pm, we will serve light snacks and launch our new book, complimentary copies available.

These events are free and all are welcome!

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In 2017, Locals Only began as a large-scale multi-year project exploring food security, community-based artworks, and intergenerational exchange in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhoods.

Built around a key partnership between AKA Artist-run and CHEP Good Food Inc., Locals Only focused on engagement and dialogue to occur alongside the cultivation of new points of access to fresh food across core neighbourhoods.

Locals Only also commissioned a number of exciting projects from local and national artists that created community gatherings and engagement around local food, changing neighbourhoods, and creative forms of hospitality. Some of these projects, including the mobile carts, called Somewhere Between a Chicken and a T-Rex made by local artist Jordan Schwab served as a platform for community authorship and consultation, while Kevin Wesaquate’s misaskwatomina project formed new points of gathering by planting over 250 saskatoon berry bushes in Victoria Park.

Locals Only also commissioned a core group of youth artists to be at the centre of outreach and engagement efforts where they led community-based projects and activities. This youth authored work was a core focus of Locals Only, as we aimed to build new and resilient capacities in youth to take the lead on multigenerational considerations of food security in core neighbourhoods. Throughout the summer of 2018, the youth artists worked with Elders and knowledge-keepers and hosted weekly engagement activities in conjunction with the mobile art and food carts heading out into public spaces in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhoods.

Now, this new publication takes up a role of project archive, recipe collection, and proposition for continued dialogue and action. Gathered from project participants and extended community members, the wide range of contributions form a complex portrait of community engagement around food security, youth empowerment, and reciprocity. The publication will launch with many of our community partners and participants and free copies will be provided for local residents.