[Candrama] YearInReview 2023 from the Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET)

[CSET]

>From the Desk of the Founder/ Director, Centre for Socially Engaged
Theatre (C-SET) at the University of Regina

Executive Summary of C-SET’s Activities for Year 2023

Happy New Year!

I would like to start by expressing my profound appreciation for all the
support that the Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre
(C-SET) at the University of Regina has received over the past year. As
I look back on last year, I am reminded of the old African
proverb: it takes a village to raise a child. Whilst C-SET is my
brainchild, I am deeply grateful for the community you have
formed around it to catalyze it to an impressive height in 2023.

As you may know, The Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET) is
driven by a simple but bold mission: to create a space for a
wide range of artistic practices that share the desire to provoke and
shape personal and systemic change around the world. As we
start another year, I thought I would inspire you all by taking a moment
to remind us of the achievements we made last year in
driving this mission forward. We did the impossible!

First, we officially launched C-SET. It was an impressive start as we
had almost 100 people attend the commemorative event
including the President of the University of Regina, MLA and our
partners across the world. The event was covered by different
media outlets including CTV Television Network. From hearing the
participants’ feedback, this opening event even meant much more
to me because our vision for the Centre vividly came across in the
details including the Centre’s structural arrangement and the
depth of the research activities, community engagement and training that
take place at the Centre. I have no doubt that it will be
a space to foster collaboration and the birthplace of different
community initiatives.

Second, we further expanded our partnerships and collaborations. We
signed two Memorandum of Understanding with La Cite
(University of Regina) and the UNESCO/Janusz Korczak Chair in Social
Pedagogy at the Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw,
Poland. Among other things, the MoUs will strengthen our goal to develop
more robust cultural, educational and research
initiatives globally. We are already operationalizing this MOU as
illustrated by the jointly published open-access book,
Researching Social Inclusion: Discourses and Debates Across Disciplines.
This book was co-edited by myself and Professor Anna
Odrowąż-Coates. In this new year, we will be building on this remarkable
relationship with more research institutions around the
globe.

In addition, we partnered and engaged with more than 20 institutions and
organizations locally, nationally and internationally.
These collaborations resulted in strengthening existing initiatives;
more than five new initiatives; more than 10 major research
trips to 10 countries across four continents; more than 15 conference
presentations; and more than 20 publications (traditional
academic and non-traditional academic publications). Additionally, the
Centre has proudly hosted one international visiting
researcher. These bodies of work speak to the depth and richness of our
research across the five research clusters at the Centre.

Third, we continue to engage train and mentor graduate students and
Highly Qualified Personnel through our various research,
scholarship and artistic work. To illustrate, C-SET supported two
doctoral students in attending the UNESCO Doctoral Summer School
in Poland. Specifically, my doctoral student Luba Kozak presented at
various conferences in Canada and abroad, co-authored with me
in The Frontier in Sociology, a highly reputable journal and continues
to work with me on different projects. Also, the article
titled “The Sky is the Limit”
[https://theconversation.com/the-skys-the-limit-a-brief-history-of-in-flight-entertainment-218996]
which was written by Dr Olusola John, C-SET’s first visiting researcher
was published in The Conversation (with over 8,000 reads
and still counting!).  Based on his article,interview on 630 CHED Afternoons located in Edmonton. You
can listen to his interview on the advancements of air travel, and the
way technology is changing in-flight entertainment here
[https://dcs.megaphone.fm/CORU6113552975.mp3?key=882261cbd2a607b17ad96b9ed782a57b&request_event_id=6e3f92bb-a7f0-480e-ac28-7b6cd67eb37d].

Similarly, in December 2023, the two articles I authored were the
most-read articles on The Conversation at the University of
Regina with a combined total of 10,705 reads (and still counting!). This
interest from a global community shows the impact of the
work at the Centre and is a testament to our multipronged knowledge
mobilization strategy to engage with various communities as
the research centre grows. We will continue to leverage accessible
platforms like The Conversation and build our portfolio of
audio-visual content to make an even wider impact in this new year.

Fourth, and much more on a personal note, I am delighted to share the
highlight of the year. I was inducted into the College of
New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada, Canada’s
most prestigious council of distinguished Canadian
scholars, humanists, scientists, and artists. This achievement was
particularly special because it recognized my research,
scholarly and artistic works in over 20 countries across five
continents. This achievement will further bring more recognition to
the work of C-SET globally. Here is a recap of the video of the
induction ceremony.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzzzwRIw6S4&ab_channel=UniversityofRegina]

As we start the journey of 2024, we are determined not to rest on our
laurels – the drive to achieve our mission is evergreen.
Here are some of the highlights I want you to be on the lookout for:

1. We will be hosting at least four seasoned researchers from the
University of London, the University of the Free States in South
Africa, and Howard University and Three Mitacs’ Globalink Research
Interns from the London School of Economics (UK), University of
Durham (UK) and Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste – UNICENTRO
(Brazil). These individuals will be coming to C-SET to assist in
co-hosting the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (2024)
conference.

2. I will be honouring the invitations to share my research and the work
of C-SET around the world including at Stanford
University. Stay connected to our social media platforms and newsletter
to receive all the scoops in real time.

My hopes are high for the year, and I look forward to continuing to
engage across different disciplines and geographies to enrich
learning experiences through my research, scholarly, and artistic work.

Beyond the statistics, what we value the most are the meaningful
connections we have made, the ideas we have shared and learned
from, the conversations we have been part of, and the new opportunities
we have created. C-SET has leveraged these existing and
new relationships to build a robust experience that benefits students,
faculty, communities, partners, the province and the
country at large. At C-SET, we continue to find ways to embrace one of
our mantras: “Thinking globally and acting locally and
personally”.

As I wrap up this short note, I would like to share with you the
YearInReview [https://youtu.be/Ul7xlJzHC6c]video
[https://youtu.be/Ul7xlJzHC6c] that my research students at the Centre
and C-SET’s community volunteers have put together for your
viewing pleasure.

Finally, I invite you to subscribe to the C-SET monthly
[https://cset.ca/newsletter-subscription/]newsletter
[https://cset.ca/newsletter-subscription/] for updates. You can also
listen to our podcast on Spotify
[https://open.spotify.com/show/27wozt9D9QFH5tJhqgH5n7] and watch our
videos on the C-SET YouTube
[https://www.youtube.com/@centreforsociallyengagedth2207] channel.

The child you are helping us build at C-SET is excited to grow again in
2024 and I can’t wait to see our new horizon.

Thank you for your time and continued interest.
Founder & Director, Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET),
University of Regina

Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre

Associate Professor, Theatre Department.

Member, College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, Royal Society
of Canada.

 

 
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