Many people fear that after the resignation of Indigenous cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, the process of reconciliation in Canada will significantly slow down.
The Story Studio project for Inner City Youth Alive, the new project of Winnipeg’s non-profit, aimed precisely at maintaining positive trends in this process. After the resignation of the Minister, the relevance of this project has increased significantly.
The essence of the project lies in the fact that anyone can come to a modern recording studio built specifically for this purpose and tell his story, share something very important and thereby make connections with others. The project leader believes that sharing stories is very important for society as a whole and for reconciliation in particular.
"I think of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and all the Calls to Action," said Kristin Hicks, co-ordinator of the Story Studio project. "So much of it is about recognizing what's happened. Understanding what's happened. That comes from historical documents. That also comes from people's personal testimonies."
The idea to create such a recording studio came to her 3 years ago, when Inner City Youth Alive celebrated its 30th anniversary. Now the studio invites any Winnipegger to come and share everything he wants from the history of his family to his hopes and dreams. This can also be done by any desired means – it can be music, poetry or just a story.
Already dozens of people visited the studio with their stories. Some of them you can hear on ICYA's YouTube channel, but most will never become public.
“We can look at tons of different people and say, 'Why are you like that?' But take the time to hear where they're at and hear people out. I think that stories can change so much,” Kristin Hicks added.
One of the most popular stories of the studio is the video by Jamaica-born Winnipeg musician Scribe. He began his career as a soccer player but could not stand such a saturated rhythm of life. He always loved poetry and eventually came to singing rap.
At the studio, he recorded several songs. "For anyone watching this video, I just wanna encourage you to share your story," he says in one. "As I've done that, I've started to realize I'm not the only one who's gone through these things. I'm not the only one who's got struggles and challenges but I'm also not the only dreamer out there. So if you're a dreamer in the arts world, I want to seek only to inspire you to make that shift from being a dreamer to a visionary."
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