Packingtown

PAST EVENTS

Video Ballad Community Performance/Workshop, Newton Community Hall, December 2015

Maria Dunn and accompanying musicians performed original songs about working in the plants and community life along with videos created by Don Bouzek incorporating excerpts from oral history interviews and images such as archival photographs and promotional material. Catherine C. Cole provided a brief historical narrative and there was an audience feedback session.

The video ballad is a form of performance which mixes live music and video actuality to tell a story. Maria, Don and Catherine will use the oral histories and historical research as the basis of the creative process. Maria will select themes and phrases to develop into songs and write ten original songs. Don will pull together video clips and visual materials. Catherine will identify images and advise on historical authenticity. Maria will collaborate with musicians on arrangements and rehearse with the video elements.  

The GWG: Piece by Piece and Troublemakers: Working Albertans, 1900-1950 video ballads have toured provincially and nationally. Of GWG, Red Deer arts reporter Donald Teplyske wrote, “Running at about an hour, this collection of film, interviews, images, and song – all composed by Dunn – in collaboration with filmmaker Don Bouzek and Catherine Cole, a writer whose recent book GWG: Piece by Piece serves as an illustrated history of GWG – was simply breathtaking.”

Train of Thought Workshop, May 17, 2015

Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre organized a cross-country creative journey by train to connect community arts and heritage practitioners across Canada. A workshop incorporating Packingtown song and video was held during the Edmonton stop.

Maria Dunn, Catherine C. Cole, and Don Bouzek leading the 2015 Jane's Walk through Packingtown

Jane’s Walk 2014 & 2015

On Saturday, May 2, Jane’s Walk participants braved the cold to walk along Fort Road and into North Edmonton sharing stories about the area. Held the first weekend of May each year, Jane’s Walks give people the opportunity to get together to walk and talk about their neighbourhoods, past and present, in honour of the late urbanist Jane Jacobs. The walk led by Catherine C. Cole and Don Bouzek helped participants imagine what North Edmonton was like when the meatpacking industry was at its height and thousands of people worked at Swift’s/Gainers, Burns and Canada Packers as well as smaller companies and related industries, when Fort Road was a booming commercial district, and the community of North Edmonton grew around the plants. It featured a portable theatre, included video clips from oral history interviews and an original song performed a capella by Maria Dunn.

“Jane’s Walk is special because it opens your eyes to what can be seen from the ground up. Exploring Packingtown inspired a sense of wonder about the buildings I saw every day growing up, in a pocket of northeast Edmonton that often flies under the radar.” Ester Malzahn, North Edmonton resident

Don Bouzek and attendees of the 2014 Jane's Walk through Packingtown