Raising Voices Events
Stories have the power to engage, to transform and to move. Our communities are a reservoir of stories, and thus, of power waiting to be unleashed. This is one of our core beliefs in CIRCA-Pintig. We also believe that the arts can harness and release this power in unimaginable ways. But the arts can be used against the very same communities where the stories come from. This is why we also believe that it is crucial and necessary for community members, our storytellers, to be fully engaged in our work as ATORS – Artists – Teachers / Trainors – Organizers – Researchers – Service providers. We must have integrity and be accountable for the stories that are entrusted to us. Our work, hence, must be rooted, developed and conducted with, by, and for the communities that we claim to serve.
From its founding, CP has always tapped into the rich reservoir of immigrant stories, starting with its own members’ personal stories, to address pressing community issues. The Raising Voices program aims to continue CP’s decades-old home-grown tradition of story-collection and storytelling from the personal experiences of community members most directly affected and whose issues CP aims to educate, organize and mobilize around and whose interests CP hopes to serve.
In 2020, the Raising Voices program focus will be on the front-line care providers facing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with other community organizations, CP will gather stories from home-based senior/elderly caregivers whose voices and struggles have been buried under the heavy weight of the pandemic’s toll on many fronts. Collected stories will then be transformed into short monologues, podcasts, social media and newspaper releases as a way to generate community dialogues and popular education. The end goal is to be able to engage community members and the larger public in direct action such as contacting elected officials for the passage important legislation such as earned paid sick leave for home-based caregivers, connecting caregivers with social service providers such as social workers, counsellors, mental health professionals for specific needs, or providing interpretation and/or translation services as needed.
