Presented in partnership with Polyphonic Ground and in association with Venus Fest. Part of Small World Music Society's 17th annual Asian Music Series.

An evening showcasing two up and coming Canadian artists who are pushing musical boundaries while fostering social awareness and change. With ties to LGBTQ2I+ and Indigenous communities and roots in Chinese and Korean culture, they combine ambient improvisation, folk music and storytelling to capture a unique contemporary sound.

Panel Discussion: Aerin Fogel of Venus Fest talks with both artists about their creative process and navigating the industry starting at 6:30 p.m.

respectfulchild

pronouns: they/them/theirs

respectfulchild (敬兒) is the solo instrumental project of Gan from Saskatoon on Treaty 6 Territory. They build experimental ambient soundscapes through slow progressions of meticulous improvisation using just their violin. With a sound that has been likened to artists such as Brian Eno, Nils Frahm, and Owen Pallett, the lone presence of respectfulchild is able to bring quiet to even the noisiest of rooms.

在找 ::searching:: is respectfulchild’s debut full-length album, meticulously crafted with feelings of curiosity, discomfort, contemplation, relief, and tension. It’s an exploration of the thoughts and anxieties that respectfulchild toys with daily, opening more questions than it can answer, falling somewhere between searching and finding.

Listen: https://respectfulchild.bandcamp.com/album/searching



Janice Jo Lee

pronouns: she/her

A folk artist. An artist of the people! A storyteller. It is my responsibility as a folk artist to affirm our contemporary stories, emotions and ideas through art and carry these stories onward. Art is my tool to build just and joyful communities that are as free as possible from systemic oppression. My art comforts the struggling and challenges political complacency. As a writer and performing artist, I combine my literature, music and theatre background with my political activism to create art that engages through its truth, comedy, lyricism and power.

Janice offers educational workshops in arts, leadership and anti-oppression in the community. Janice is interested in the questions “What is the artist’s responsibility to the community?” and “How can we use art as a tool towards empowerment, social change, community-building and joy?”

Janice will be joined on stage by Alé Suarez (he/she/they) and Justin James (he/him).

Listen: http://janicejolee.ca/play/



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