Next month Jennie and I will be at the International Playback Conference in Montreal. We’ll be presenting a workshop exploring invisible differences and disabling experience. This is an important conversation in the theatre world at the moment, as is the larger issue of accessibility. We will be inviting participants to think about diversity, and some of the ways “business as usual” can be disabling to “persons of difference”. The workshop will focus on being aware that differences can be visible or invisible, and the importance of making a real effort to know who is in the room.
Montreal is home to many Indigenous people, although it is not always welcoming to First Nations. It is also surprisingly disability unfriendly. We hope our workshop, and the conference, will be places where the concerns of Native people, and persons with disabilities, can be heard and addressed.
This Autumn Jennie and I are traveling to India and Hong Kong. We are planning to be in Bangalore in mid to late September, and look forward to working with our friends and colleagues at “Yours Truly Theatre”. We are still working on our itinerary, but do know that Jennie will also be offering some clinical trainings.
We’ll then travel to the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association conference in Hong Kong, where we will be reconnecting with friends and colleagues, and leading a workshop. The workshop will explore some of the issues and forces that get in the way of participant’s living their preferred lives. In the workshop we’ll be introducing novel uses of Narrative ideas and puppetry, especially toy theatre. Once again, we will make room for conversations about disabling experience in all its many forms, as well as stories that give preference to lives richly lived.
It looks to be an exciting trip!
Dreaming the World 
I wish both of you some terrific experiences at your travels Michael 😀
All your travels sound very interesting.
Thank you, Irene. Oddly, I am most looking forward to a few days on the Maine coast…..
I do understand you Michael, I love to stay by the coast too. Just look out over the ocean and enjoy 🙂
How exciting, Michael! I wish you a safe journey there and back again. Take lots of photographs, and tell us all about it!
Safe travels, Michael. It sounds like a very busy but rewarding summer and fall.
Thank you, Pat! Am trying to breathe.
All sounds wonderful, Michael. Such good work you are doing and I am ever in awe of how much you accumplish and how wide is your reach.
Thanks Jamie. I think we both wonder whether we are really making much of a dent.That said, we are happy join you, and so many others, in the task of changing, abet slowly perhaps, the trajectory of the world.
Amen! Slow and steady … Like turtle …:-)
Wow…Michael…how exciting your summer will be! Have a super wonderful time…a great adventure! I know you will enjoy these experiences ❤
Lorrie, we are looking forward to these trips. Maine is one of my favorite places, along with the Mountains of New Mexico. India and Hong Kong are also magical, although getting there and back takes much from me.
Anyway, I hope and trust your summer will bring you joy, and you will share that with us.
Thank you Michael, I hope so to 🙂 Safe travels my friend. May you enjoy this wonderful adventure!
Thanks, Lorrie! May we all be safe, and all have adventures. Looking forward to seeing where the summer takes you.